Transcendental Meditation

Transcendental Meditation is a meditation technique, practiced twice daily for twenty minutes while sitting with your eyes closed. It involves neither concentration nor contemplation.

The technique is taught to trainees in a standardized, seven-step procedure. This includes two introductory lectures, a personal interview, and a two-hour instruction session given on each of four consecutive days. Instruction begins with a ceremony done by the teacher, after which the student learns and starts practicing. Succeeding sessions are given for more explanation of the correct practice.

The Goal of Meditation

Transcendental Meditation is a technique that is claimed to put the practitioner to a state of consciousness characterized as enlightenment. It postulates a theory of enlightenment that comprises seven major states of consciousness as the following:
• Waking
• Dreaming
• Deep dreamless sleep
• Transcendental Consciousness
• Enlightenment/Cosmic Consciousness
• God Consciousness
• Unity Consciousness
As of 2007, the cost for Transcendental Meditation (TM) training is a one-time fee of US$2,500 and that which is being claimed to have a program that is scientifically validated to overcome stress. The method also makes use of a mantra (a sacred word often repeated as an incantation) given to trainees in exchange for hundreds of dollars.

The Origin

TM is a trademarked spiritual business started by a man born in India now known as Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. He studied with Swami Brahmananda Saraswati. In 1957, Maharishi began the Spiritual Regeneration Movement in Madras, India. Since 1958, 6 million people have learned and practiced his technique. In 1990, Maharishi has coordinated the teaching of TM through an organization he calls the Global Country of World Peace from the town of Vlodrop, the Netherlands.

In the latter part of 1990s, his business organization has grown to more than US$3 billion in assets that included real estate holdings, clinics, and schools.
TM is based on the “Science of Creative Intelligence,” in which one may get a degree at the Maharishi University of Management (MUM) in Fairfield, Iowa. MUM offers a “Full Range of Academic disciplines for Successful Management of All Fields of Life.

Physiological Effects

Research studies found a positive connection between TM technique and various health-related conditions. This includes younger biological age, reduction of high blood pressure, better sleep, reduction of bad cholesterol, reduced illness, less outpatient visits, minimized cigarette smoking, less alcohol use, and reduced anxiety.

One of these studies was published in the1970’s in Science, American Journal of Physiology and Scientific American. It was found that the Transcendental Meditation technique produced a physiological state termed “restful alertness.” During the practice the physiology becomes relaxed, as indicated by reductions in respiration, minute ventilation, tidal volume, blood lactate, and increases in basal skin resistance. The EEG measurements had shown increased coherence and integration of brain functioning, indicating that the body was alert rather than asleep.

Studies suggest that this physiological state promotes regulation of cortisol and other hormones associated with chronic stress and a healthier regulation of serotonin (a neurotransmitter associated with mood) that resulted in stress reduction.

Grants have been awarded to MUM by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) e.g.

• $20 Million funding research on the effects of TM on heart disease
• $8 Million grant to establish the first research center specializing in natural preventive medicine for minorities in the U.S.
• A long-term study partly funded by NIH that looked at stress reduction with TM technique and mortality among patients receiving treatment for high blood pressure. The study tracked subjects up to 18 years and found that the group practicing TM had death rates reduced by 23%.

Various studies found that TM practice

• Improved conditions of coronary heart disease patients in their blood pressure, insulin resistance, and autonomic nervous system tone.
• Decreased the risk of heart attack and stroke in hypertensive, adult subjects who experienced reduced thickening of coronary arteries.
• Reduced the brain’s response to pain.
Although TM has a number of critics disclaiming its effectivity, the record shows otherwise. It would be better to try it first.