Transcendental Meditation – The Healing Power of the Mind

 

This special meditation technique mobilizes hidden brain resources, awakens creativity, reduces stress and anxiety, develops personality and much more. Try to practice it daily and you will definitely feel the beneficial effect.

Get ready to relax and enjoy life. If you're seeking an effective relaxation technique to maintain serenity and peace, try transcendental meditation.

What it is?

Many people have likely encountered articles and videos about a unique meditative technique that involves mentally reciting a mantra. There are hundreds of organizations around the world that are united by one name: "Transcendental Meditation Movement."

This technique improves physical and emotional state and generally has a beneficial effect on the psyche. Usually, the practice takes place in the morning and evening, for 15-20 minutes: adherents repeat the chosen mantra to themselves, sitting, lying down or standing. It is not necessary to take the lotus position and chant the sacred sound "om", everything is simpler.

How to Perform Transcendental Meditation?

You can practice at home or in a group, under the guidance of a certified instructor. Those who want to master the practice on their own, just find a quiet place and get comfortable. Sit, lie down or stand, the main thing is to be comfortable.

Transcendental Meditation is beneficial for mental health and normal brain function.

Choose a mantra to recite in your mind. By repeating it to yourself, you can turn off the endless stream of thoughts that constantly rush through your head. Don’t worry if you can’t get rid of an obsessive thought at this time. Become aware of it, let it go, and continue to focus your attention on the mantra. Try doing this for 15-20 minutes, twice a day or more often.

History of Transcendental Meditation

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi first introduced his technique in India in the mid-1950s. In the 1960s and 1970s, the knowledge spread throughout the world, and many celebrities began to practice this type of meditation. 

Among the adherents is film director David Lynch, who founded his own foundation to support its widespread use in the educational system.

The current goals of the project are to improve the academic performance of schoolchildren and students, reduce stress in prisoners, and help military personnel and veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and substance abuse. 

The David Lynch Foundation helps women who have experienced sexual and domestic violence. Universities and health institutes have conducted studies that have confirmed the beneficial effects of meditation.

The TM technique is beneficial for mental health and normal brain function. It has also gained widespread acceptance in clinical applications, particularly in lowering blood pressure and sugar levels in diabetes. One of the main benefits it provides is the reduction of stress and anxiety.

Personal experience

For several decades, I considered the technique mystical and secret. I first became acquainted with this method of coping with stress in the 1990s, when I lived in California, but began independent practice only ten years later. 

Interest was reawakened during the period of work in the field of social protection, where stress loads are inevitable.

I spent a couple of years just exploring what transcendental meditation could do for a social worker, and then I took the plunge and joined a group. Today, I still practice to maintain my mental balance and keep stress under control. 

For me, the main benefit is that by meditating, I reduce my psychological stress and can calmly respond to everyday unforeseen situations.

Transcendental Meditation is a fantastic way to maintain emotional balance.

Social security is an endless stress. Those who work here have almost no time for proper rest. The usual regime is to act, then think. Due to depression, anxiety, poor sleep, people are constantly on edge, in anticipation of the next disaster. 

This type of meditation supports the ability to distance oneself from experiences and adequately respond to the most outrageous cases.

By meditating regularly, I have become more attentive, I have learned to think before I respond "automatically". Thanks to inner calm, I can look at situations from all sides, take into account different opinions and then start working together to solve problems.

Transcendental Meditation is not only effective for social workers who often feel stressed, tired, and undervalued. It is a fantastic tool for anyone who wants to maintain emotional balance. If you are anxious, upset, or exhausted, it will help you get back to normal.

Here are two questions I am often asked: How is Transcendental Meditation different from regular meditation and what does the word “transcendental” mean in Transcendental Meditation?

Let's start with the first question. Meditation means thinking. So, different meditations use different thinking techniques. As I said, there is thinking that keeps the mind focused (concentration), thinking that keeps the mind in the present (contemplation), and thinking that allows the mind to access inner peace, or transcend (self-transcendence).

So what does transcendental mean? What is transcendence? For some people, transcendence has a strange sound, almost mystical or otherworldly. 

The Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary defines transcendence as “lying beyond the limits of ordinary experience.”

In truth, there is nothing strange about this. In fact, we strive for transcendence all the time - whenever we try to overcome limits, whenever we test our capabilities. We want to run faster, jump higher, learn better, earn more, see more clearly, and feel more strongly. 

We love routine, but over time it can become overwhelming, stifling. Then we seek change. We step out of our comfort zone in one way or another. We take on a new job, more challenging and creative. 

We do something we have never done before, like join a theater troupe or take a class. We go to an exotic vacation. We experiment with new restaurants, new cuisines. 

We bring the extraordinary into everyday life. We feel excited, alive, energized. But only for a while, because eventually the extraordinary can also become ordinary.

Transcendence can be experienced by athletes, neurosurgeons, trial lawyers, school teachers, musicians, and stay-at-home moms.

We seek transcendence, but it does not come simply by making changes in our daily life on a horizontal level, like one wave giving way to another on the surface of the ocean. 

True transcendence is much deeper. It is vertical. It is going beyond the waves and accessing the vast silence that lies deep within. And once you have experienced this pure silence within yourself, even for a moment, at the source of thought, you will remember that experience for the rest of your life.

Top athletes call it the zone. The noise of the crowd and the pressure of the big game dissipate as they focus on the match. That's when these talented kids are left with just the game itself - a smooth sequence of flawless moves, as if in silent slow motion.

It’s not just athletes who experience this feeling. Neurosurgeons, trial lawyers, school teachers, musicians, and stay-at-home moms can also experience transcendence. In fact, it can happen to some degree to anyone. 

For example, when you hold your new-born baby, the boundaries of time blur. 

Or when you’re with someone you love, the moment can last forever. 

Or the child in kindergarten throwing hoops when no one is looking, and he makes ten incredibly accurate throws in a row. 

Or the author who has been struggling with a block in writing, suddenly diving into a stream of words and writing page after page.

What is important to know about transcendental meditation?

TM is simple not because it is simplistic, or because it is a meditation for beginners; rather, it is simple because there is an incredible simplicity to the practice.

It is natural because there are no instructions or interventions in it.

It is easy because it doesn't require concentration or control.

TM is not a religion. Almost eight million people of all faiths, as well as people who do not profess any religion, have learned TM over the past sixty years.

It is not a philosophy. TM is a technique that you learn and then practice on your own, nothing more.

It's not a lifestyle change. Once you learn to meditate, you don't have to change your diet and suddenly start eating tofu (if you don't like it).

And finally, you don't have to believe in it. You can be 100% sceptical, it doesn't matter. This technique works equally well whether you believe in it or not.

TM is not an acquired skill that will improve after weeks or months of practice. You will master it in a few days, devoting a couple of hours, and then it will be with you for the rest of your life.

 

As I mentioned earlier, TM is practiced for twenty minutes twice a day, sitting comfortably in a chair (or bed, or wherever you are comfortable sitting) with your eyes closed. 

It can be practiced in the privacy of your home, but it can be done just as easily on a train, plane, or car (if someone else is driving!). It is a silent technique, so you will not disturb anyone while you meditate.

I once had a recording studio executive as a student; when I told him that he could move during meditation, his eyes literally filled with tears of relief. 

For decades, he had worked hard to master various meditation techniques that required total concentration and control of the mind and body. He always felt like a failure because during meditation he always had too many thoughts in his head or suddenly wanted to scratch himself, move his leg to get more comfortable.

 

If you feel an itch while meditating, be sure to scratch yourself!

If you feel sleepy during meditation, don’t fight it. It’s okay! If you fall asleep because you’re tired, it usually lasts for a minute or two, and then you wake up rested, refreshed, and continue your practice. 

It just means your body needs some extra deep rest. These moments are part of meditation. You may be excited about the idea of ​​meditating, but sitting still for twenty minutes seems daunting, if not impossible. 

Why do so many people believe that meditation is challenging? The answer is simple: a misunderstanding of the nature of the mind. For a long time, the prevailing view was that thoughts were the enemy of meditation—distracting, disturbing, and reducing its effectiveness—and therefore should be kept to a minimum, if not eliminated.