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Transcendental Meditation or TM is a trademarked form of meditation developed in 1955 by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a disciple of Brahmananda Saraswati. It is also the name of a movement led by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Transcendental Meditation is derived from Hindu tantric practices. Scientific research that shows its meditation techniques produce a variety of positive effects, for the community as well as individual practitioners.

History

In 1957, at the end of a great "festival of spiritual luminaries" in remembrance of the previous Shankaracharya of the North, Swami Brahmananda Saraswati, his disciple Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (or simply "Maharishi" to followers) announced the formal beginning of TM. In the movement's initial stages, Maharishi operated under the auspices of an organization he called the "Spiritual Regeneration Movement".

In the early 1970s, Maharishi launched his "World Plan" to establish a TM teaching center for each million of the world's population, which at that time would have meant 3,600 TM centers throughout the world. Since 1990, Maharishi has co-ordinated his global activities from his headquarters in the town of Vlodrop in the municipality of Roerdalen in the Netherlands.

The TM Movement founded a nationally accredited university, the Maharishi University of Management (formerly, Maharishi International University), in Fairfield, Iowa, USA, in 1971; a number of schools around the world; Maharishi Vedic City in south-east Iowa, (incorporated 21 July, 2001); political parties in many countries around the world known as the Natural Law Party, the US branch having closed on April 30, 2004 (see *) in favour of the Global Country of World Peace, founded in 2002.

The movement claims more than 6 million people worldwide have learned the Transcendental Meditation technique since its inauguration *, including celebrities such as the Beatles, radio personality Howard Stern, film director David Lynch, and actresse Heather Graham.

Procedures and theory

The Transcendental Meditation technique comes from the ancient Vedic tradition of India and is practiced for twenty minutes twice daily while sitting with the eyes closed. The TM technique involves effortless, mental use of a simple sound known as a mantra. The first research on the Transcendental Meditation technique, conducted at UCLA and Harvard Medical Schools and published from 1970 to 1972 in Science, American Journal of Physiology, and Scientific American, indicated that the Transcendental Meditation technique produces a state which the the TM movement calls “restful alertness” in the mind and body.*.

The deepest state of rest in this form of meditation, according to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, is called "Pure Consciousness". The TM organization emphasizes in its teaching that the procedure for using the mantra is very important, and can only be learned from a trained teacher authorized by the TM movement. TM is considered a form of "dhyana", using the terminology of Patanjali. However, while most translations suggest that dhyana means "concentration," the TM movement claims this is misleading from a TM perspective, because TM is "concentration" in the same way as one's attention can become attracted to a beautiful sunset, rather than as something the mind is forced to pay attention to.

Theory of Consciousness

According to Transcendental Meditation theory there are seven major states of consciousness, of which the first three are familiar to non-TM meditators. The last three states fullfill the definition of Enlightenment - the ultimate goal of long-term TM-practice:

Learning TM

The technique has been taught to people in a variety of formats over the years. Currently, it is taught - for a fee - in a seven step process, which include an introductory lecture, personal interview and instruction, and checking afterwords to verify the technique was learned properly. *

TM-Related Research

Research conducted or supported by the TM movement suggests that numerous health benefits are associated with the TM technique, including reduction of high blood pressure Hypertension 26: 820–827, 1995, younger biological age International Journal of Neuroscience 16: 53–58, 1982, decreased insomnia Journal of Counseling and Development 64: 212–215, 1985, reduction of high cholesterol Journal of Human Stress 5: 24-27, 1979, reduced illness and medical expenditures The American Journal of Managed Care 3: 135–144, 1997, decreased outpatient visits The American Journal of Managed Care 3: 135–144, 1997, decreased cigarette smoking Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly 11: 13–87, 1994, decreased alcohol use Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly 11: 13–87, 1994, and decreased anxiety Journal of Clinical Psychology 45: 957–974, 1989.

Some studies indicate that regular practice of TM leads to significant, cumulative benefits in the areas of mind , body , behavior and environment . One study showed that TM had positive effects on arterial wall thickness in African-American people with high blood pressure. (PMID 10700487).

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has spent more than $21 million conducting research on the beneficial effects of the Transcendental Meditation program on heart disease alone In 1999, NIH awarded a grant of nearly $8 million to Maharishi University of Management to establish the first research center specializing in natural preventive medicine for minorities in the U.S. The new research institute, called the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention, was inaugurated on October 11, 1999, at the University's Department of Physiology and Health in Fairfield [http://www.mum.edu/inmp/nih.

Articles on the benefits of TM and Maharishi Ayurveda products have continued to be published in medical journals, for example: The American Journal of Cardiology which was funded in part by a grant from the controversial National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine and in the American Journal of Hypertension [http://www.forbes.com/lifestyle/health/feeds/hscout/2005/02/09/hscout523804.html.

Other components of TM

Beyond the initial meditation technique, the TM organization offers numerous other programs and products, such as its TM-Siddhi program. The TM movement claims the advanced meditation technique taught in this program brings many additional benefits to practitioners -- who are called "Yogic Flyers," because Maharishi Mahesh Yogi says its practice will eventually lead to levitation. So far, only hopping not hovering has been demonstrated to non-practitioners, despite wide circulation of photographs showing TM-Siddhi practitioners hovering in the air.

The TM movement also offers Maharishi Ayurveda, its own trademarked version of Ayurveda, the traditional medicine of India; Vedic Astrology, which the movement calls Maharishi Jyotish; and even its own trademarked brand of food, Vedic Organic Agriculture. *

Sthapatya Veda

In his televised press conference of November 16, 2005, Maharishi stated that he believed that it was vital for everyone in the world to live and work in buildings constructed according to Sthapatya Veda or Vastu, architecture based on Vedic principles according to which the arrangement and layout of one's home has important effects on all areas of one's life (similar beliefs exist in Feng Shui). According to Sthapatya Veda, it is most auspicious for the main entrance of all structures to face the east, and all the rooms in a Vedically-correct building must be arranged around a central "Brahmastan" or seat of divinity.

In his November press conference, Maharishi said that it was imperative that all members of the organization quickly move into dwellings constructed according to Vedically-correct principles and that he would no longer talk or deal with any member of the TM community who lived in structures not built according to Vedic principles.

TM-Sidhi Program and the Maharishi Effect

The TM movement claims that regular practice of TM and TM-Sidhi programs produces a "Maharishi Effect" which benefits society in general as well as individual practitioners, by increasing "the influence of coherence and positivity in the social and natural environment."*." A later study on the Maharishi effect found a correlation between the installation of a group of 4,000 participants in the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi programs in the District of Columbia, and a reduction in violent crime in that city Hagelin, J. S., Orme-Johnson, D. W., Rainforth, M., Cavanaugh, K., & Alexander, C. N. (1999). Results of the National Demonstration Project to Reduce Violent Crime and Improve Governmental Effectiveness in Washington, D.C. Social Indicators Research, 47, 153–201.

At a press conference to announce the analysis of their study, John Hagelin claimed that, during the period of the experiment, Washington, D.C. experienced a significant reduction in psychiatric emergency calls, fewer complaints against the police, and an increase in public approval of President Clinton -- all of which was consistent with the hypothesis that a coherence-creating group of TM experts can relieve social stress and reverse negative social trends. Overall, there was an 18 percent reduction in violent crime, he told the press. When a reporter asked, an 18 percent reduction compared to what, Hagelin answered, compared to the level of violent crime had the TM meditators not meditated. In his book Voodoo Science, physicist Robert Park called the TM study a "clinic in data manipulation." *

Political activities of the TM organization

The TM organization founded the Natural Law Party in 1992 in support of candidates for public office dedicated to promoting both TM and Maharishi's far-reaching political goals at all levels of society. The Party ran Dr. John Hagelin, former physics professor at Maharishi University of Management, for president of the United States in the 1992, 1996, and 2000 elections, when he received fewer than 84,000 votes-or less than one tenth of one percent of the total number of votesThe Natural Law Party did not run a candidate for president in the 2004 election and the NLP is no longer a registered party in the UK. Following repeated NLP failures at the polls, Maharishi unilaterally inaugurated his own Global Country of World Peace * of the new government, which is devoted to achieving Maharishi's goals, including the practice of TM in the public schools and reconstruction of public and also private structures in the world along Vedic principles. In many of his most recent weekly press conferences, Maharishi has repeatedly expressed his strong opinion that democracy is an ineffective and weak form of government.

Criticisms and controversies

Compared to many other Eastern-inspired religious movements with a footing in the West, the Transcendental Meditation movement has experienced no high-profile controversies. "

The TM movement's policy for dealing with critics has been consistent throughout the movement's history: a rather Gandhi-like or Christian "turn-the-other-cheek" approach, summed up in the phrase, "don't engage in negativity."

Among the major complaints of the TM movement's critics:

  • The TM movement is a cult or religion

The TM Movement does not claim to be a religion. In fact, it encourages it's practitioners to continue practicing whatever religion they might already pursue. Still, the connection between TM and Hinduism, from where the movement's founder Maharishi Mahesh Yogi comes, appears to become increasingly evident as time passes. In the mid-70s, as the Movement started to teach Yogic Flying.

Today, given the Movement's impressive array of practices apparently echoing features found in Hinduism, such as Jyotish (Astrology), Ayurveda (Health care), Sthapathya Veda (Architecture), etc, the issue appears more confused - or perhaps simply moot.

The TM Movement itself does not appear to view this as a problem, perhaps so since practice of TM or any other of the services offered by the TM Movement (such as Maharishi Ayurveda, etc) does not require adherence to any particular way of life or belief system.

  • Scientific research in support of TM is biased

A review of the critique forwarded against TM as an effective relaxation technique indicate that none of these claims are founded on clinical studies but limit themselves to reviews of published TM performed by others. In 2003, for example, the Middle European Journal of Medicine in 2003 reportedly claimed that "of 700 studies on TM spanning 40 years, only 10 were conducted in the clinical tradition of using strict control groups, randomization and placebos."

Overall, the balance of scientific research in support of TM as an effective relaxation technique vastly out-numbers papers claiming otherwise and continues to be published in medical journals; recently so in The American Journal of Cardiologyreportedly funded in part by a grant from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, the American Journal of Hypertension*, a specialty journal published by the American Medical Association.

  • TM is expensive
In the late 1970s, the fee for basic initiation in the United States was $75. Today (2006), and higher today. *

The raise in fees is not the same in all countries and it appears that the high fees in i.a. United States and Europe are in fact used to fund large-scale TM projects in i.a. India, Indonesia, Kampuchea, and other countries.

Altruistic as this scheme appears to be in a global context (rich countries helping needy countries), what critics are highlighting here without explicitly saying so is the presence of what might be described as a strategic shift of focus the TM Movement has experienced during the last twenty five years: from an "open door" or "counter culture" pricing policy in the 1960s and 70s, to a financially more sustainable business-like approach that appears to have finally taken root.

Footnotes

References

Further reading

New Age Pseudoscience Meditation

Transcendental meditation Transzendentale Meditation Υπερβατικός διαλογισμός Méditation transcendantale מדיטציה טרנסצנדנטלית Transcendente meditatie Transcendental meditasjon Трансцендентальная медитация

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Transcendental Meditation".

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