Transcendental Meditation - A Path To Stress Relief, Euphoria And Inner Peace

Transcendental Meditation (also known as TM) may be the most popular form of meditation practiced in the Western world. Pioneered by Hindu sage Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (b. 1917), the technique requires less concentration than other forms of meditation. Transcendental meditation has been found to benefit the cardiovascular system and general health of many of its practitioners. Introduced in 1958, TM is practiced today by millions of people across the world, taught at schools in several countries, promoted by show business celebrities and has even inspired a political movement.

Originally derived in part from Vedic texts, the foundation of Hinduist faith and tradition, the TM method is delivered to the student by a program lasting four days. Each session concludes in the assignment of a mantra, a distinct keyword that begins each meditation session. TM organizations in North America routinely charge $2500 for the introductory course, after which the student is ready for a life of meditative study.

Course instructors recommend that the practitioner meditate twice daily for twenty minutes, eyes shut so as to free the mind and approach a level where the body is at rest but the mind is alert. Practitioners report a strong combination of stress relief, euphoria and inner peace, followed by a post-meditative period of energy renewal and mental clarity.

Beginning in 1958, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, convinced that his system of meditation had the potential to transcend the euphoria of practicing individuals to serve as a direct conduit to world peace, set out on a world tour to teach and certify instructors in the TM method. His efforts culminated in the first international Teacher Training Course near Rishikesh, India in 1961, attended by students from over twelve different countries.

The strong endurance and widespread international growth of TM to this day may be due in part to the Maharishi's insistence on a uniform teaching technique, ensuring that every TM recruit is instructed the same way everywhere without exception. This is emphasized in the TM affirmation of "source, practice, proof and universality."

Although the Maharishi now operates from his headquarters in the Netherlands, there are TM schools and administrative centers all over the world. A particularly influential and historic school is the Maharishi University of Management (MUM), located in Fairfield, Iowa, which has expanded since its 1973 inception to offer PhD programs and establish alternative medical research facilities aided by over $20 million in federal research funding.

The school continues to operate under the Maharishi's original mission of world peace through the realizing of educational and spiritual goals.

Outside the MUM, there have been over 200 independent research studies to date, primarily for the purpose of measuring the physiological and psychological effects of TM. These studies have been generally positive and are regularly featured in US and international medical journals.

Famous TM adherents include the Beatles, Clint Eastwood, Deepak Chopra and Howard Stern among many others. Particularly notable is a recent TM promotional effort from US film director David Lynch, a practitioner for over 30 years who founded the David Lynch Foundation For Consciousness-Based Education and Peace to help fund research into the positive effects of TM. Lynch has toured college campuses across the US to set out a plan for the realization of the Maharishi's dream of world peace through meditation. As the TM leader turns 90, the movement he founded shows no sign of slowing down.