1. Transcendental Meditation - an introduction

2. Transcendental Meditation The plan
What is Transcendental Meditation?
What are the benefits?
How does it work?
What is the technique itself?
How can I learn?

3. Transcendental Meditation - What is it, in a nutshell?
Transcendental Meditation is EASY
Sitting comfortably
20 minutes twice a day
Can be done anywhere
Practised by people from all walks of life, all around the world

4. How does Transcendental Meditation compare?
TM is fundamentally different
Relaxation techniques vary 10-fold!
TM is not mind control, not contemplation
We will explore the difference from several angles
the experience
physiological changes
long-term effects
the actual technique itself
But first a brief review of the benefits …

5. Benefits – why people learn
Common reasons people give for starting Transcendental Meditation:
Stress relief, relaxation, insomnia, anxiety, depression, anger
Self-improvement, clarity of mind, peace, confidence
Health related issues e.g. general health, hypertension, chronic fatigue (ME), energy, injury, addiction, Alzheimer's …

6. Benefits – What do people find?
On the first occasion, 90% remark on the depth of relaxation
After 4 days, 50% report one or more of:
sleeping better
calmer, inner peace, quiet
more energy, mental and physical
more positive, less affected by problems
more efficient and productive
A long-term strategy: routine daily practice is what brings the benefits

7. Benefits – What does science say?
100s of studies in top journals over 35 years
Scientifically proven benefits and applications
Examples
Improved mental functioning
Brain integration, increased creativity, improved educational and occupational performance
Improved health
Cumulative reduction in health care costs in all categories of disease including heart disease, “as effective as anti-hypertensive drugs”
Improved personality and behaviour
Improved job performance and team work, less absenteeism, reduced alcohol use ...
Reduced conflict, increased peace
Reduced crime rate, reduced conflict and war ...

8. - HOW does it work? Dynamic rest Ordinary rest Idle Little improvement
Fine-tuning
Performs better

9. A special quality of rest
Wide awake yet silent, c.f. relaxation
Built into the physiology
Dynamic fine-tuning, mobilisation of unused reserves
NOT passive rest, slowing down, withdrawal from life

10. Alpha Coherence Maps Front Middle Eyes Open Eyes Closed TM Practice
References: International Journal of Psychophysiology, 116, (2006); Biological Psychology, 61, (2002); Consciousness and Cognition, 8(3), (1999); Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, 35 (1973); International Journal of Neuroscience 14: 147–151, 1981.

11. Zen: Theta, (Kubota et al 2001)
Compassion: Gamma, (Lutz et al. 2004)
EEG Patterns Differ
Mindfulness = Eyes Closed (Cahn, personal communication)
TM: Global Alpha (Travis 2009)

12. Increased Physiological Relaxation
Meta-analysis of 32 studies
Effect Size (Standard Deviations)
Dillbeck MC, Orme-Johnson DW: American Psychologist [42] , 1987
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8 1
Basal GSR
Respiration Rate
Plasma Lactate
Transcendental Meditation
Rest

13. Cortisol, stress hormone
Increased levels of the hormone cortisol in the circulation are well established correlates of both acute and chronic stress. The study shows that plasma cortisol decreased during Transcendental Meditation, whereas it did not change significantly in control subjects during ordinary relaxation.
Sources: The transcendental meditation technique, adrenocortical activity, and implications for stress, Experientia 34(5): , Adrenocortical activity during meditation, Hormones and Behavior 10(1): 54ú60, 1978.

14. Reduced ill health
A study of health insurance statistics on over 2,000 people practicing the Transcendental Meditation programme over a 5-year period found that the Transcendental Meditation meditators consistently had less than half the hospitalization than did other groups with comparable age, gender, profession, and insurance terms. The difference between the Transcendental Meditation and non-Transcendental Meditation groups increased in older-age brackets. In addition, the Transcendental Meditation meditators had fewer incidents of illness in 17 medical treatment categories, including 87% less hospitalization for heart disease and 55% less for cancer.
Reference I: Medical care utilisation and the Transcendental Meditation programme, Psychosomatic Medicine : 493ú507. 
Reference II: Reduced health care utilisation in Transcendental Meditation practitioners, presented at the conference of the Society for Behavioral Medicine, Washington, D.C., March 22, 1987.

15. Meta-analysis of Stress Reduction Programmes in Patients
with High Blood Pressure 5
* p = .0002
** p = .02 4 3 2 1
* **
Blood Pressure
Change Scores -1
Relaxation assisted biofeedback -2
Simple
bio-
feedback -3
Progressive
muscular
relaxation
Stress mgt + -4
relaxation -5
Transcendental
Meditation
Rainforth M, Schneider R, Nidich S, et al: Stress Reduction Programs in Patients with Elevated Blood Pressure: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Current Hypertension Reports 2007 [9]

16. Personality and behaviour
Benefits to behaviour are SPONTANEOUS
How you FEEL is the no. 1 health factor
Rediscovering the self, wholeness
Some examples: dependency, relationships
Hardware upgrade: potentiates new software

17. Effect Size (standard deviations)
Decreased Substance Dependence 19 studies on Transcendental Meditation, n>3,200
Tobacco Use
Alcohol Use
Illicit Drug Use
Effect Size (standard deviations)
Treating and preventing alcohol, nicotine, and drug abuse through Transcendental Meditation: A review and statistical meta-analysis, Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly 11: 13-87, 1994.

18. Decreased Trait Anxiety Meta-analysis of 146 studies
Muscle relax
EMG biofeed
Concentration
Relax Resp
Mantra Med
T.M.
Placebo
Other relax
Other med
Effect Size (standard deviations)
A statistical meta-analysis conducted at Stanford University of all available studies-146 independent outcomes-indicated that the effect of the Transcendental Meditation programme on reducing anxiety as a character trait was much greater than that of all other meditation and relaxation techniques, including muscle relaxation. This analysis also showed that the positive Transcendental Meditation result could not be attributed to subject expectation, experimenter bias, or quality of research design.
Reference: Differential effects of relaxation techniques on trait anxiety: A meta-analysis, Journal of Clinical Psychology 45: , 1989.

19. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Vedic Tradition
The big picture
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Vedic Tradition

20. Transcendental Meditation - technology of the Unified Field
… it is the Unified Field of modern physics – the single substrate of everything in the universe including ourselves, our thoughts, and everything we do.
Pure meditation, effective meditation, dhyan, is the process by which the mind settles to a state of silent wakefulness, the simplest state of awareness. This is "transcending". Transcending is the easiest, most natural, and most universal human ability. It is not a mental skill that has to be acquired, a philosophy that has to be mastered, an attitude that must be cultivated, or a state of control that has to held onto. It is something a five-year-old child can do without any difficulty. Indeed it is ease itself, by definition.
Samadhi is a fourth state of consciousness as different from the waking state as waking is from dreaming, and dreaming from sleep. When we deprive ourselves of this naturally occurring state of consciousness the result is - stress, unhappiness and ill health.

21. Enlightenment Spontaneous right action Stress-free Complete fulfilment
Absolute freedom
Nourishing everything
When, through regular transcending, samadhi, or pure consciousness, is permanently experienced 24/7, this is Enlightenment. CLICK
The enlightened woman or man does not make mistakes. Without trying or thinking about it, everything they do, say or even think is spontaneously, naturally, in accord with the entirety of natural law; and natural law supports their every need and desire. They nourish everything and everyone in their environment. CLICK Their nervous systems are so strong, stable, and flexible that as soon as a stress is incurred it is simultaneously eliminated: there is no lasting damage. CLICK This is a state of complete fulfilment, and CLICK absolute freedom.
Far from the common misunderstanding, the enlightened man or woman is more passionate, more motivated, more energetic, more feeling, simply more ALIVE! The profound silence they experience, and identify with, is deep inside; and it naturally witnesses the surface activity.

22. A day-by-day study of a two-month assembly in Israel during August and September of 1983 showed that, on days when the number of participants at a peace-creating assembly was high, the intensity of an ongoing war in neighboring Lebanon decreased sharply. When the number of participants was high, war deaths in Lebanon dropped by 76%. (p<.0001). [The mathematical expression p<.0001 indicates that, as a result of standard mathematical analysis, the likelihood that this result could be attributed to chance variation in levels of fighting was less than 1 in 10,000. This amounts to a much higher confidence level than is typical in the social sciences.] Reference: Yale University Journal of Conflict Resolution 32: 776–812, 1988.

23. In this carefully controlled experiment, the coherence-creating group increased from 800 to 4,000 over the two-month period. Although violent crime had been steadily increasing during the first five months of the year, soon after the start of the study, violent crime (measured by FBI Uniform Crime Statistics) began decreasing and continued to drop until the end of the experiment (maximum decrease 23.3%), after which it began to rise again. The likelihood that this result could be attributed to chance variation in crime levels was less than two parts per billion (p < ). The drop in crime could not be attributed to other possible causes, including temperature, precipitation, weekends, and police and community anti-crime activities (Social Indicators Research 47: , 1999).

24. Progress towards international peace: “Super-Radiance” Effect
-0.25
0.00
0.25
0.50
1.25
1.50
1.00
0.75
Fairfield, Iowa, USA
Utopia Assembly,
Yugoslavia
Netherlands
Israel
Washington
D.C., USA
Lebanon
Peace/War Index (standard scores)
Non-experimental
period
Fairfield
Seven Transcendental Meditation TM-Sidhi Assemblies
P<10-19

25. Transcendental Meditation - the mind is like an ocean

26. Transcendental Meditation - what happens

27. Transcendental Meditation - other techniques

28. Transcendental Meditation - the TM technique itself - 1

29. Transcendental Meditation - the TM technique itself - 2

30. Transcendental Meditation - the TM technique itself -3

31. Transcendental Meditation - the TM technique itself -4

32. Transcendental Meditation - the TM technique itself -5

33. Transcendental Meditation - how do I learn?
Personal interview: 5 mins
Day 1: Personal instruction: 1.5 hrs
Day 2: Seminar 1.5 hrs
Day 3: Seminar 1.5 hrs
Day 4: Seminar 1.5 hrs
Periodic meetings over 6 months

34. The Vedic Tradition
Guru Dev

35. Transcendental Meditation - what does it cost?
Standard adult fee-high income £590 Income > £40,000
Standard adult fee-middle income £490 Income > £25,000
Standard adult fee-lower income £390 Income < £25,000
Concessionary fee £290 Income < £15,000, unemployed and
people on low income
Student fee £290 Full-time >18 with student card
Under 18 fee £190 Full-time aged 10-18
Under 10 fee % of appropriate adult fee for the main parent
Family fee – both parents working 2 x course fee applicable to average of incomes.
Includes children <18 living with parents and learning within 3 months of each other
Family fee – one parent working x course fee applicable to income.
VIP and private instruction £1,180
All the attention required over 6 months
A sound strategic investment
Registered educational charity Maharishi Foundation

36. Transcendental Meditation - coming to learn
When you learn:
Have enough time, few other commitments
Not “under the influence”
Please bring:
One new white hanky
Two ripe fruits
Six or more cut flowers