Transcendental Meditation, History and Beliefs

Transcendental Meditation, also known as just TM, was founded as a meditation technique in 1957, introduced by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The technique is aimed at developing the consciousness of those who practice it, and is used to enable an individual’s mind to ‘rise above’ the noise and confusion of everyday life, and to leave everything else behind. The ‘rising above’ is what gives this kind of meditation its ‘transcendental’ nature.

Transcendental Meditation is practiced for a number of reasons, among them: reducing stress; achieving clarity of thought; increasing creativity, and personal productivity; improving relationships; keeping healthy; and for coming to know oneself better.

It’s a now accepted as a useful way of encouraging your mind to let go of your stressful emotions and free your mind. One of the main European Transcendental Meditation websites describes it as “simple, effortless yoga for the mind, the world’s most practiced and scientifically validated, non-religious meditation technique.”

In 1970, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi created a plan to build a Transcendental Meditation teaching centre for every million of the world’s population. This, at the time of the plan, would have meant 3600 centers throughout the world. Nowadays, there are over 80 centres in the UK alone.

In 1970, the first scientific research about the practice was published. In 1973, Maharishi founded the Maharishi University of Management, and started offering classes in California, eventually moving to the USA in 1974. He also founded and inspired a number of schools and other buildings. Since then, more than 5 million people have learned the Transcendental Meditation technique and practice it regularly.

You may have heard, for example, about the famous fans of Transcendtal Meditation - including the Beatles, and Mia Farrow. They travelled to Rishikesh, in northern India, during the 1960s, to find out more about the practice. In fact, it’s largely due to them that young people in the West found about, and came into contact with, TM and other Buddhist practices. Since then, Charles Lloyd, the Beach Boys, Howard Stern, Heather Graham and many more, have all found it a useful and beneficial addition to their lives.

The Transcendental Meditation technique is generally practiced for approximately twenty minutes, twice a day. The meditating person sits with their eyes closed, tries to free their mind of all thoughts, enter a state of ‘restful alertness’ and concentrate. The focus of the concentration is usually a sound, known as a mantra. Mantras are used in many kinds of meditation practices, but in Transcendental Meditation, a particular mantra is chosen for an individual by the TM organisation, usually for a fee.

Nowadays, even Western medical practice seems to acknowledge that Transcendental Meditation (along with other kinds of meditation practices) has real, scientifically monitored and evaluated physiological effects. For example, studies carried out in universities such as Yale and Harvard, among others, have shown it can reduce blood-pressure in hypertensive patients over long periods of time. Meditators also showed less of a tendency to feel depressed than those who didn’t practice, and they have a more positive state of mind in general.