Transcendental Meditation

Lucid Lounge
1

A little background.

Supposedly, it is the original teachings for meditation, which have along time twisted into all other meditation techniques known.

Every once in a while, a teacher brings this deep truth about meditation and in this time, it is Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, commonly known just as Maharishi.

Maharishi spent many years in recluse and was a student of the great master, Guru Dev. Maharishi never takes personal credit for his work, and therefore will always end a lecture or discussion with the phrase:
“Jai Guru Dev” -->
By the grace of Guru Dev
meaning that this teaching is only made available today again by the grace of Guru Dev.
( hence the famous Chorus from The Beatles Across The Universe: Jai Guru Deva Om )

Anyway, he suggests that meditation should be something very easy, effortless.

This technique does not require any degree of concentration , and requires absolutely 0 efforts.

Maharishi, opposed to most eastern and spiritual teachings does not suppress physical life and emphasizes the need for physical well being.
Maharishi talks about the nature of mind and of thoughts.
There’s an ocean.
The bottom is the pure self, a field of pure consciousness , pure intelligence and creativity. Science calls this the Unified field. No content, just pure consciousness.
A bubble is coming up from the bottom through the water until reaching the surface when it gets noticed. Likewise, all thoughts are generated from the field, from the pure self, and as they come up , they gain more and more volume and concrete form until they overcome the mental noise (water) to be heard consciously as a thought in your mind.
TM (transcendental meditation) is diving into the water and experiencing more and more subtler levels of thought, until you reach the bottom, the unified field, the field of pure consciousness and intelligence, where no thoughts are, only pure being. That is transcendental consciousness

Studies have shown immense physical changes in subjects while Transcending.

Metabolic rate has significantly decreased and breathing . An rough average is about 6 breaths a minute (which is very little) . You would expect the subjects to take deep breaths to cover for the oxygen loss, but the opposite is the truth, their very few breaths are also very shallow.
Paradoxically, the oxygen level in the blood remains the same. The body is not derived of oxygen, its as if the need for oxygen decreases.
In the state of complete mental stillness, pure consciousness, breathing (and everything else) stands completely still. This has been observed by scientists.
It usually lasts for about 30-60 seconds but very experienced TM practitioners can go for many minutes.
Basically, the technique is about NOT trying to concentrate or trying to do anything and just let the mind fall naturally of its own record to more and more subtler levels of being.

It is supposed to be practiced for 20 minutes, usually twice a day.

Maharishi’s intentions were to spread the technique as fast as possible all around the world. It is only taught in a very specific manner by TM instructors in order to make sure that the subjects will actually Transcend. It is therefore not possible to really learn the technique unless you attend the course.

The learning procedure has 7 steps to it.
the first 2 are talks about the nature and history of meditation and TM.
Then comes a one on one interview with the instructor.
The next step is the technique itself, and then the instructor checks on the progress and experience of the subject to make sure he gets it the right way.
After that, for some time, the instructor has a check on on the subjects to make sure they are doing it correctly.
I explained it kinda in a messy way but that’s it, generally.

A good book on the subject is Peter Russell’s The TM Technique
and most important is the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s book:
“Science of Being and Art of Living
Transcendental Meditation”

Hope you enjoyed this little presentation on TM.

If by any chance, someone here has experienced it, I will be very happy to hear about it.

Any thoughts are welcome !

:smile:

Peace

2

Very interesting. I had already heard the name, but knew nothing about it.

I’ll see if I can look into it a bit.
thanks for sharing. :smile:

3

My pleasure…
:content:

4

a little updated for those who take some interest in this.

the last 4 steps of the road are as followed:

Step 4: Personal Instruction—Learning the Transcendental Meditation technique (1-2 hours)

Step 5: First Day of Checking—Verifying the correctness of the practice and further instruction (1-2 hours)

Step 6: Second Day of Checking—Understanding the mechanics of the Transcendental Meditation technique from personal experiences (1-2 hours)

Step 7: Third Day of Checking—Understanding the mechanics of the development of higher states of consciousness (1-2 hours)

The Transcendental Meditation Course, Phase 2
This 2nd phase of instruction involves important follow-up meetings with your teacher of the TM technique. These classes will be scheduled at your convenience over your first several months of practice based on an assessment of need by you and your teacher.

Note: This semester-long course may be taken for college credit through Maharishi University of Management, an accredited institution of higher education.

this is taked from www.tm.org
international TM website.

I took the first step today ! :content:

Im very excited about it ^^

Edit:

Some bonuses:

Younger “Biological Age”
For example, one scientific study examined the effect of the Transcendental Meditation program on what researchers call “biological age”—how old a person’s body is—in contrast to their chronological age, or how many birthdays they’ve had. The researchers used standard measures of aging, such as blood pressure, near-point vision, and auditory discrimination.

The study found that people who had been practicing the Transcendental Meditation program regularly for five years or less had a biological age five years younger than their chronological age. But people who had been meditating more than five years had a biological age twelve years younger than their chronological age. This is just one example of how the benefits add up with regular practice of the Transcendental Meditation program.

The Transcendental Meditation-Sidhi Program
During the Transcendental Meditation technique, the active mind becomes the settled mind—like a lake with waves becoming completely smooth and silent. During the Transcendental Meditation-Sidhi program, the settled mind begins to be active within itself—like creating tiny ripples on that smooth surface that spread to reach the farthest shore.

“The TM-Sidhi program is the key to heavenly life on earth. This is because it trains the conscious mind to function from bliss consciousness, the self-referral state of pure consciousness, which is the total potential of Natural Law. It trains the awareness to function in the same self-interacting style as the intelligence of Nature. Functioning from this level the individual gains mastery over Natural Law. With this perfect science and technology of Natural Law, we are in a position to accomplish anything—we are in a position to create Heaven on Earth.” —Maharishi

Yogic Flying Creates Maximum Coherence
The most powerful aspect of the Transcendental Meditation-Sidhi program is called Yogic Flying. During the first stage of Yogic Flying, the body lifts up and moves forward in short hops. Internally, the experience is often accompanied by a feeling of exhilaration, lightness, and “bubbling bliss.”

Scientific research has established that the Transcendental Meditation-Sidhi program cultures a profound integration of brain functioning (EEG coherence), promoting an optimal state of brain functioning that provides the basis for the unfoldment of an individual’s full creative intelligence.

During Yogic Flying individuals experience significant positive correlations between the abundance of alpha EEG coherence in four regions of the brain and the experience Transcendental Consciousness. This coherence and integration of brain functioning is maximum at the moment the body lifts into the air.

When Yogic Flying is practiced in a group, this influence of coherent brain functioning creates a positive and harmonious influence in the environment, reducing negative tendencies and promoting positive, harmonious trends throughout the whole society.

just to make it clear, you do not jump, your body lifts into the air spontaneously

Yogic Flying for World Peace
By Craig Pearson

Maharishi predicted in 1957 that if just one percent of the world’s population practiced the Transcendental Meditation technique, there would be no more war. This “one percent effect” was first verified in 1974 when scientists found a drop in the crime rate after one percent of a city’s population learned the TM technique. In recognition of Maharishi’s promise, researchers named this phenomenon the Maharishi Effect.

In 1976, with the introduction of the TM-Sidhi program, including Yogic Flying, a more powerful effect was expected. Scientists discovered that just the square root of one percent of a population, practicing Yogic Flying together in one place, could create the same influence. This much-reduced requirement was called the Extended Maharishi Effect.

The Global Maharishi Effect was first created in 1983 by the group practice of 7000 Yogic Flyers—7000 being approximately the square root of the world’s population at the time. The Global Maharishi Effect was witnessed during three large World Peace Assemblies which were held over a period of two to three weeks in the United States, Holland, and India. During the periods of three assemblies approaching or exceeding 7000 experts in the TM-Sidhi program, there was a significant decrease in international conflict worldwide.

Over 40 independent research studies confirm that the Maharishi Effect improves the quality of life in society and the trends of life in the entire world.

During a World Peace Project in 1978, over 1400 experts in Yogic Flying traveled to calm the violence in the five most troubled spots on the globe. Research by the Conflict and Peace Data Bank of the University of Maryland found a significant reduction of hostile acts and an increase in cooperative events in these trouble spots during the three months of the project.

In 1983, a group of Yogic Flyers was established for two months near an ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Studies published in the Journal of Conflict Resolution verified a significant decrease in war intensity and war fatalities.

Research has also verified that the Maharishi Effect made a significant contribution toward improving the quality of international relations between the United States and the Soviet Union prior to the end of the Cold War.

For those who do not already know something about Yogic Flying, these results may strain belief. Most people have no framework for understanding how the body could rise by itself into the air, much less how a group of people sitting with their eyes closed could reduce the crime rate and stop wars.

Yet experts agree that we use only a fraction of our full potential—perhaps only five or ten percent. Some researchers place the figure much lower. Using so little, who would venture to place a limit on what might be possible if we should use significantly more? Henry David Thoreau wrote, “Man’s capacities have never been measured; nor are we to judge of what he can do by any precedents, so little has been tried.”

The modern writer Norman Cousins expressed the same idea: “The human brain is a mirror to infinity. There is no limit to its range, scope or creative growth. No one knows what great leaps of achievement may be within reach of the species once the full potentiality of the mind is developed.”

Inspired by their own experiences and supported by this compelling research, Yogic Flyers have made detailed proposals to governments around the world to create large, permanent groups of Yogic Flyers. Such coherence creating groups, research indicates, will bring an end to local and global violence.

Here is the key to lasting world peace.

5

this is interesting

and all must be given freely , unless teaching is your only source of income

now

it sounds as if this is a methodless method

like “Just sitting”
not doing any-thing
but what i read of TM is it uses mantras based upon your age…?

i did see the yogic flying on tv once.

the first time i ever meditated i was in band and staring at my shoe

and i decided to just stare at it
i wasn’t doing anything
just being
and eventually i became aware of some subtle thing and it brought me a great feeling of peace, and i almost totally forgot about it for many years.

the ginormous difference between meditation for relax and guru / mystic meditation is that the latter will take you into other planes of reality beyond the tides of birth / death, which is what the guru is for.

6

there’s too much to say about it here…

The TM Technique by Peter Russell will make a lot of things clear.

It completely changed my whole view on meditation and more…

I will give you some more details when I go through the course itself.

The Maharishi’s intentions were always to spread TM as fast as possible.
However, he could not give it in a book since that would destroy the purity of the technique, he wanted to make sure that the people who are getting it actually do TM.
If it was possible to hand down in a book properly, he would have done it…

edit:

a little analogy

you can liken the mind to a monkey.
A monkey is hopping around, going from one branch to the other. It is hard to settle it down, that’s where the usual meditation techniques come in, they try to tie it to the tree.
But the monkey isn’t going around for no reason, he is looking for a banana or perhaps something else.
So does the mind, it is looking for greater fields of satisfaction, greater fields of bliss and joy.
Transcendental meditation technique is all about letting the mind fall of itself, out of its natural seeking and desire, to greater fields of stillness, reduced mind activity, diving into the pool until you reach the bottom, pure transcendental consciousness. It is not thinking about nothingness or anything like it.
It is simply beyond any thought, a state of just being.
It is impossible to describe this state, just as it is impossible to make a blind man understand what color is. You can tell me all sorts of things, but until he experiences it for himself, there’s no way he will really understand you.

So, you could say that the purpose of meditation is not to think about nothingness or anything like that. As thinking about that is a mental activity in and out itself. Trying not to try is also a mental activity.
The purpose of meditation is to reach Transcendental Consciousness.
A state that is beyond all levels of thought.
Pure being, pure consciousness, pure creativity, pure bliss.

7

this sounds like to “just sit” and do absolutely nothing, and then, the thoughts go away ?

i have always wondered about this “bliss” the yogis advocate, it seems pretty far out ,

and easier to induce through hatha yoga than through meditation itself

though i have had moments of sweet sweet love that is beyond intense and REAL.
:wink:

8

I agree fully that it should be free, even if teaching is the only source of income. If such a simple task can improve the world and it’s ails, it should be given like a kind word. Is there anywhere else to attain this knowledge besides paying for an online course? If I knew such teachings I certainly would spread it far and wide.

9

You don’t pay for an online course…

That’s the thing, it is passed on verbally from a TM instructor and there are sessions for weeks to come after you finished the basic course to make sure you are indeed transcending.

I can say that here, in Tel Aviv, it’s a non profit institute and it only costs me 400 $ (I have a discount cause I study music ) and you pay for a lifetime membership, not for the course itself. There’s many advanced courses, lectures and all kinds of things and this payment is a one time payment for your whole life.

10

I took steps 2 & 3 today :content:

my teacher is quite ignorant though :sad:

In the personal interview he asked me what I want to achieve from this,
like, what kind of benefits am I looking forward to reap ,
so I told him Im pretty much satisfied with my life the way they are developing at the moment, and I want to learn the technique to experience it.
So he said something like:
“youre not a monk or something, you’re a civilized person living in society.
The experience is not so special because it is so natural.
You do it for what the effect it has on your life, not for the experience it self.”
Which is partially true, but basically he’s normally teaching israelis who don’t know anything about meditation or the likings and just want to be more calm, creative etc…
so, not the best teacher I could have,
but it’s ok…
I just want to transcend ^^

11

well take what you’ve got

if it brings good fruit then it is good

there are schools that will teach you for free, every step of the way,

but any progress, any work, is good,

it sounds like you have a special aspiration, which requires very high teachers,

and it sounds like you’ll meet them :smile:

i would suggest every day and every night to send a clear statement “Bring me to my absolute highest path of divinity and enlightenment, and move heaven and Earth to bring me to my guru.”
or, “teacher” , or “path”
Yogananda went high and wide looking for a spiritual master and when he finally met him it was while he was in his own home town :razz:
[recommends with great enthusiasm Autobiography of a Yogi ! :open_mouth: :happy: :smile: ]

12

take what you’ve got

if it brings good fruit then it is good

sure :smile:

there were times when I thought of finding a ‘teacher’
but I realized it is outdated, for me.

I am suggesting what you said every minute of the day, subconsciously, and I am certain I’m well on the way :content:

Thanks for the recommendation and everything else

peace

13

I’ve heard TM teachers here are really expensive :bored: I haven’t looked around that much though. I think my aunt did a class once and it was expensive. :sad: :sad:

14

I just have to respond to this. I somewhat have my own method of meditation, it’s what works for me and i don’t think i can really explain it. It feels like slowly floating downwards and giving every thought, or whatever comes to mind, quickly a place of it’s own so i can drift onward without obstacles. I do this after i have completely shut down my body and i won’t be able to feel my body, i’m only aware of my breathing and my self-being.

Anyways the reason i’m responding to this… at a certain ‘level’ when everything is blank and almost feels non-existant, my breath completely stops and there’s nothing left. Like everything goes blank… void.

I wonder if the reason i’m not breathing is what you said about your awareness of time… perhaps time stops for me and that’s why i don’t breathe?

Either way interesting stuff. I just think it’s a bit odd a technique this “simple” and “natural” has to be tought, and paid for.

15

wow, this sounds like an incredible attainment of transcendence,

are you able to stay in the nothingness, conscious, as long as you wish, or do you go in and out of it?

16

Great to hear Kaizu ! :smile:

Keep it up,
I posted this just to enrich anyone who will want to about the subject,
I am not suggesting that this is the best/only way for any/every person .

It’s just a way
and Im very happy to hear you found yours ! :content:

17

Well to start of i’ll have to say i for one can’t always get to that point, it takes time, patience and effort, but i never really know how long i am in that state to be honest. While i’m there it feels like a long time but afterwards i didn’t think it was that long, and i can’t really remember much since there isn’t anything to see really. I don’t know how to explain. Either way i haven’t been doing this for long, and since i don’t really think about anything i mostly drift off to places, unintentionally. I often end up falling asleep, end up in a dream (i’ve been trying WILD for ages and now ive accidently figured it out somewhat). But yesterday for instance i found myself sideways hanging above my bed, i felt a really high vibration through my body. I’m not going to shout OBE right away but it was pretty odd.

To really answer your question; no, i can’t attain it for very long i think, i’ve never really tried to stay there either… it’s just a point where everything is clear and empty.

I actually don’t really know what i’m doing, but it’s interesting. :content:

18

Hey relV, been a while, i remember sending you some questions a while ago.
I didn’t mean my comment as criticism by the way. I think it sounds very interesting. If i had the oportunity to learn it from someone i would.
So good luck with that :smile: I hope you find what you’re looking for.

-Kaizu.

19

i have come to enjoy , sitting in meditation, and using the mind constructively, to form a conscious understanding of my goals, and to ask for the presence of my divinity

then when this is thoroughly stated to my-Self ,

i can cease thinking with greater ease, and use a mantra if i please,

it brings clarity , to understand, what you wish for your-self, and then allows silence