Transcend deeper into a healthier mind and body with transcendental meditation

What is Transcendental Meditation?

Popularized by Maharshi Yogi in India in the mid 1950s, transcendental meditation is a specific type of meditation that concentrates on removing distractions from mind and elevating levels of awareness. Though this is a part of the Vedic culture in India, it was revived and brought into notice of the western world by Maharshi Yogi through a series of world tours done by him. 
 
In Transcendental Meditation, a person is supposed to sit in a calm and relaxed position and chant a specific mantra. This process is believed to help the mind transcend into a state of pure consciousness and awareness. The meditation is done with the eyes closed and this entire procedure enables the person reach an extremely relaxed and aware state of mind with zero mental boundaries and limitations. 
 
The usual way for practising transcendental meditation is to perform this meditation twice a day for at least 15-20 mins each time. The first session is supposed to be done in the morning and the second can be done during the afternoon or early evening. 

What makes transcendental meditation so unique?

From Oprah to Clint Eastwood, transcendental meditation has taken the world by storm. Advocates of this meditation swear by its amazing benefits and how life-changing it has been for them. Just by chanting a simple mantra ( in Sanskrit) people are able to gain tremendous levels of control over their bodily functions such as breathing and blood pressure, not to mention lower their stress and anxiety levels too.
 
But how does this actually happen? Let’s find out.
 
There have been more than 600 studies to analyze the health benefits associated with transcendental meditation and almost all of them support its effectiveness in regulating and controlling numerous chronic diseases, starting from the biggest killers of the human beings, the CVDs or cardiovascular diseases.
 
Often called as a deceptively simple meditation routine, the transcendental meditation aims to ( and often accomplishes to) remove the one element triggering stress, anxiety, and a host of life-threatening diseases – mindlessness. At its very core, the proponents of TM consider the state of mindlessness as the number one contributor to restlessness. Mindlessness is our automatic response to external stimuli. Most of us tend to remain mentally absent in our everyday events and interactions. Each action that we perform, is not performed with 100% mindfulness and mental presence. 
 
In the continued practice of being mentally absent from the present moment creates a tension between the two worlds – the actual present world and the world that we keep our minds preoccupied in. This tension, as per Maharshi Yogi, catalyzes negative emotions and response leading to higher levels of dissatisfaction and thus stress.
 
What most people don’t realize is that stress is one of the most significant contributors to chronic and lifestyle diseases. Starting from hypertension, heart attacks, obesity, diabetes,depression, Alzheimer’s, asthma, and gastrointestinal disorders to even cancer, high stress levels have now been scientifically proven to increase the risk factor and exacerbation of symptoms in case of all these life-threatening conditions. 
 
Transcendental meditation comes as a rescue for the modern man caught in the quagmire of physical and mental stress owing to unhealthy lifestyle habits. The numerous studies done on TM have revealed that it has the potential to help fight the wrath of these diseases and more.

Other added benefits of transcendental meditation 

– By increasing frontal coherence it can actually help people, especially students improve their academic performance. It also reduces absenteeism owing to ill-health and promotes better mental states for students preparing for stressful exams.

– Lower stress levels and better mental energies can also drive efficiency at workplace. No wonder many companies have now made transcendental meditation a part of their office life.

– Since your neuronal interconnectivity and synchronicity is higher, you are much more capable of being more creative and adept at solving complex problems. Supporters of TM often claim that it has helped them come up with more and more original and creative ideas by expanding their awareness level.

– Transcendental meditators are known to have more optimistic outlook and empathetic nature. Regular meditation brings the mind closer to self-awareness and it results in people being more happy, content, and kind.

– Most Silicon Valley biggies and Fortune 500 CEOs have one thing in common. They meditate. And most of them have nothing but praises for transcendental meditation. As per a recent report, transcendental meditation has been called the biggest investment in the business world that pays off big. This is because it creates an upsurge of creative and original thinking while aiding critical thinking – skills that are much needed to make it big in the world of both business and technology.

-Did you know meditation can cut your risk of death by CVDs by a whopping 48%? This means that if one has a high risk of developing CVD symptoms, he/she can realistically increase the lifespan by practising transcendental meditation.

– It invariably improves the quality of sleep you get every night. When your quality of sleep improves, the benefits trickle down to every aspect of your mental and physical health. You end up waking fresh and energetic each day, instead of putting your alarm into snooze mode trying to catch a few more minutes of sleep. –

Popularity of transcendental meditation

Transcendental Meditation in education (also known as Consciousness-Based Education) is the application of the Transcendental Meditation technique in an educational setting or institution. These educational programs and institutions have been founded in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, India, Africa and Japan. 

The Transcendental Meditation technique became popular with students in the 1960s and by the early 1970s centers for the Students International Meditation Society were established at a thousand campuses in the United States with similar growth occurring in Germany, Canada and Britain. 

How to perform the transcendental meditation?

The transcendental meditation is taught as a formal standardized course during a period of 6 days. In the USA, the price of learning transcendental meditation is close to $960 for adults and $480 for students. People who want to undergo this training must refrain from using certain non-prescription drugs. 

The selection of the mantra has been streamlined and standardized by Maharshi Yogi himself to ensure that the entire process of TM becomes foolproof and highly effective for you. The following are the basic steps in which TM is done. 

– It is practiced for 20 minutes twice a day.

– Sit in a comfortable chair in a relaxed position

– Slowly close your eyes and take a few deep breaths to relax your body.

– Open your eyes and close them again. You should now keep your eyes closed for the entire session of meditation.

– Repeat a Sanskrit mantra in your mind ( this is usually given by your teacher/trainer). As soon as you recognize a thought rising in your mind, return to chanting the mantra.

– After 20 minutes, slowly start moving your toes and fingers to ease your transition to the real world.

– Sit in the same position for few more minutes before getting back to your daily life.