Transcendental meditation is a popular and yet highly controversial practice.
Transcendental mediation (TM) was founded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. In TM you are taught how to meditate (opponents call it a trance-like state) for twenty minutes, twice a day. Practitioners claim it's easy to learn, though you have to learn it from a trained transcendental meditation teacher. Proponents claim that transcendental meditation
- Decreases stress
- Improves health
- Improves relationships
- Increases self-knowledge
- Increases personal effectiveness (clarity of thought, creativity and energy)
The following are some places to learn more about transcendental meditation from a positive point of view.
- Start by checking the official website on the transcendental meditation program (link included). This website will teach you what transcendental meditation is, where to learn it, and how it will 'help' your life. According to this website, the only place you can learn TM is through one of the teachers at the named programs. The cost is $2500.00, though they offer free introductory lectures.
- Read The Tm Technique: A Skeptic's Guide to the Tm Program by Peter Russell. This book teaches the history of TM, and provides information about how TM can help in your daily life.
- Read The Science of Being and Art of Living: Transcendental Meditation by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is the founder of Transcendental Meditation. This book is designed to be an introduction to learning about TM.
- Read TM - Transcendental Meditation: A New Introduction to Maharishi's Easy, Effective and Scientifically Proven Technique for Promoting Better Health, Unfolding Your Creative Potential, and Creating Peace in the World by Robert Roth. This book explains what transcendental meditation is, why you should incorporate TM into your life, and where to take a seminar. It does not teach you how to perform transcendental meditation.
- Check out Transcendental Meditation in the United Kingdom. Though this website is focused on teaching centers in the United Kingdom, articles include benefits, endorsements, course details and a clear explanation of what transcendental meditation is.
Transcendental meditation also has some very strong opponents. Opponents claim:
- TM classes are extremely expensive
- TM is not helpful and may actually be harmful
- TM is actually a cult
The following is some information about transcendental meditation from less positive points of view.
- Check out the Skeptic's Dictionary. This article is opposed to TM, and feels this meditation technique teaches little for a great price. The article questions the benefits of TM, and equates the technique to a cult.
- Read Transcendental Meditation: What do they believe? by Val Waldeck. This is a downloadable book from Amazon. This book is very well researched, questions the benefits of transcendental meditation, and compares TM to other popular cults.
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Comments
Here's how TM works: Have you ever sat in a chair and "dozed off", only to be suddenly jerked back awake by a slight to strong shock-like sensation in your body? Most people have had this experience which, for lack of a better phrase, we will call the Jerking Shock Phenomenon. Scientists, psychologists, psychiatrists and metaphysicians have been postulating theories to explain this phenomenon for thousands of years. Among other things, it has been explained as a "short circuit" in the brain, or the slightly askew re-entry of the "astral body" back into the physical body.
All explanations have been incorrect.
The fact is that the Jerking Shock Phenomenon is primarily a side effect of a natural (and fortuitous) release of a small to large amount of stress from the psyche. The more violent the jerk, the more stress released. You might recall from your own experience that the jerking shock is usually immediately preceded by a wild little dream (or daydream) which often includes a feeling of falling. When performing Transcendental Meditation, a focusing technique is used to cause that same initial stage of the falling asleep process to be repeated again and again, on increasingly deeper levels, until the session ends, resulting in a substantial amount of stress, anxiety, tension, and negativity being released from the psyche. In other words, a series of progressively deepening daydreams, each with its own "climax", is the means by which long-stored stress is released. In its use of the initial stage of the falling asleep process, Transcendental Meditation is unique in that it clearly harnesses the mind/body's natural ability to release deep seated stress, anxiety, tension, and negativity, over and over within a 20 minute session. TM is simply a method of "garbage disposal" for the psyche, and nothing more. When done correctly, it is extremely effective in cleaning up the mind. I have been doing TM since 1975, and at that time, it cost me $60 to join.
I learned TM a while ago and was very happy with the results, while not as cheap as some other types of meditation, in hindsight it was well worth the prize tag, because of what I got and continue getting from it. I am more relaxed, happier and generally more in tune with myself. I like the new relaxed me a lot more that the old stressed one. Mind you, it is not a miracle cure, I am still the one in charge of my life, but it’s as if my resources increased tenfold. So things don’t feel as difficult.
I don’t know that the explanation in one of the previous posts about how the Transcendental Meditation technique works is exactly right on. However, there is no question that stress is released in the process of meditating. When I meditate in the evening after work I may start out feeling tired, irritable, stressed and hyper from rushing around and driving in traffic. After meditating I feel refreshed, relaxed and energized, and I am ready to enjoy several more hours of activity.
I would like to point out that the price of learning the TM technique has been reduced. I believe that it is currently $1500. There are also special prices for families and students. It is possible to get a student loan to learn TM, and the monthly payments are probably less than what most people pay for their cell phone service. TM really is accessible and it is a great investment in your health and well-being.
I was so skeptical when I first heard about TM. I changed nothing in my life except that I added TM for 20 minutes twice a day as instructed. Immediately after learning, I experienced much more energy in my daily activity. After practicing TM regularly for a while, I couldn't deny all the benefits accruing in my life and it was obvious to me it was because I practiced TM twice a day. The increasing energy continued and at the same time I was more relaxed and much happier. I was participating at the time in a very challenging course of study at college that involved many long hours of work. The benefits came without any effort on my part. it was such an amazing experience to have something so easy, that I did for such a short period of time, that took up so little of my day, make such a huge improvement in my quality of life! Little did I know when I started as such a skeptic, that it would be the best decision I ever made. Thankfully, one might say this subject is now out of the realm of opinion and philosophizing. TM is in a class by itself: 350 peer-reviewed research studies were conducted on over 10,000 subjects who were practicing the TM technique. These studies included numerous randomized controlled trials, along with eight meta-analyses of 597 separate studies on the effects of meditation. The studies were conducted at Harvard Medical School, Yale Medical School, Stanford Medical School, University of PA, University of Kentucky, and more than 200 other independent institutions, and were done by 360 scientists from 29 countries. All total, over 30,0000 subjects (participating in TM, other techniques or controls) were involved in the hundreds of research studies on TM. The majority of these studies compared TM to other practices or control groups. My very best to everyone reading this.
