Transcendental Meditation research

Scientists have been conducting Transcendental Meditation (TM) research since the late 1960’s and 340 studies have been published in peer-reviewed journals. The Transcendental Meditation technique is a specific form of mantra meditation developed by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and has become one of the most widely researched meditation techniques. It has played a role in the history of mind-body medicine and helped create a new field of neuroscience.

Early studies examined the physiological parameters of the meditation technique. Subsequent research included clinical applications, cognitive effects, mental health, medical costs, and rehabilitation. Beginning in the 1990s, research focused on cardiovascular disease supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health. Research reviews of the effects of the Transcendental Meditation technique have yielded results ranging from inconclusive to clinically significant. More research is needed to determine the therapeutic effects of meditation practices and sources vary regarding their assessment of the quality of research. Some cite design limitations and a lack of methodological rigor, while others assert that the quality is improving and that when suitable assessment criteria are applied, scientific evidence supports the therapeutic value of meditation. Authors Canter and Ernst assert that some studies have the potential for bias due to the connection of researchers to the TM organization while TM researchers point to their collaboration with independent researchers and universities as signs of objectivity.

History

The first study on Transcendental Meditation, done at UCLA by Robert Keith Wallace and published in 1970 in Science, and a follow-up study in 1971 at Harvard by Wallace, Herbert Benson, and Archie Wilson, characterized Transcendental Meditation as a wakeful hypometabolic state, using measures such as EEG, oxygen consumption, respiratory rate, heart rate, blood lactate, blood pH, and skin resistance. The research suggested that Transcendental Meditation produced a state in which the body was at rest, yet the mind was alert. Harvard's Benson termed this physiological response "the relaxation response" and hypothesized that meditation and other techniques trigger a physiological response in the body that is beyond simple relaxation. He developed a technique similar to Transcendental Meditation that he called "respiratory one method." Wallace then ended his collaboration with Benson, seeing TM as being more than a relaxation response.

In the 1980s, researchers at MUM began a series of randomized controlled trials on the effects of TM on blood pressure in collaboration with hospitals and medical centers around the country. The first studies were published in Hypertension, a journal of the American Heart Association, in 1995 and 1996, and, based on those results, the National Institutes of Health funded additional clinical trials on risk factors for cardiovascular disease and on individuals suffering from cardiovascular disease.

Research on the Transcendental Meditation technique, "a scientifically framed, tradition-based technique," has been recognized as playing a significant role in the history of mind-body medicine, and science writer Sharon Begley credited the Maharishi with "helping launch a legitimate new field of neuroscience."

Health outcomes

Cardiovascular disease

A 2007 systematic review and meta-analysis funded by the NIH Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) found that the effects of TM were no greater than health education regarding blood pressure, body weight, heart rate, stress, anger, self-efficacy, cholesterol, dietary intake, or level of physical activity. This same review performed a meta-analysis that compared TM to progressive muscle relaxation and found that TM produced a greater reduction in blood pressure. The report analyzed studies that compared TM to no treatment and found that it did not produce significantly greater benefits on blood pressure but did produce improvement in cholesterol levels. In studies that compared TM to a wait-listed control group, TM resulted in greater reduction in blood pressure. The report's assessment of before-and-after studies on patients with essential hypertension found a reduction in blood pressure after practicing TM. Overall, the report found a small but statistically significant reduction in blood pressure associated with the practice of TM, but said that they were unable to draw firm conclusions due to their assessment of the quality of the research.

A 2007 medical textbook on heart disease said that "TM has been shown to not only improve blood pressure but also the insulin resistance components of metabolic syndrome and cardiac autonomic nervous system tone" in subjects with cardiovascular disease, compared with matched controls given only health education. A 2007 review said that data from two studies found reduced mortality from all causes over a mean period of eight years in subjects practicing Transcendental Meditation, compared to controls. In both studies, the controls practiced relaxation techniques, and in one study TM was compared with health education. The review said that its findings are consistent with other research that has found improved blood pressure, insulin resistance, and cardiac autonomic-nervous-system tone in subjects with cardiovascular disease. The review concluded that psychosocial interventions are effective in alleviating distress in cardiovascular patients but that further research is needed to firmly establish that these interventions can affect disease processes, morbidity, and mortality. Independent research reviews also note that a 2000 study published in Stroke found that Transcendental Meditation, compared to health education, reduces atherosclerosis.

A 2006 independent systematic review said, "a small body of research suggests that TM and group-oriented stress management may be effective in reducing psychosocial stress and its effects for African Americans..." The findings include reduced sleep dysfunction and increased health locus of control. The review noted a finding of reduced mortality in African Americans in comparison to a standard relaxation technique. The reviewer said that of the six studies on African-Americans involving TM, one showed no improvement, and only two used blinding; however all were randomized controlled trials. The study also found that in first-world populations, several meta-analyses indicate that TM reduces anxiety, smoking, alcohol and drug misuse, and improves psychological health.

A 2004 research review by Canter and Ernst said that there was "insufficient good-quality evidence to conclude whether or not TM has a cumulative positive effect on blood pressure". A 2008 meta-analysis of nine studies found a 4.7 mmHg systolic blood pressure and 3.2 mmHg diastolic blood pressure decrease in those who practiced TM compared to control groups that included health education. These decreases were judged to be clinically significant. Three of the studies were assessed as good quality, three as acceptable, and three suboptimal, with subgroup analyses finding no significant difference among the results of the weaker and stronger studies. The review and its primary author were partially funded by Howard Settle, a proponent of TM. The meta-analysis was cited by a 2011 research review in the Journal of Clinical Hypertension.

A 2007 meta-analysis by researchers at Maharishi University of Management and the University of Kentucky found that TM significantly lowered blood pressure but that biofeedback, progressive muscle relaxation, and stress management training did not. Referring to this meta-analysis and two other studies, a 2012 medical textbook says that "Efficacy of TM in lowering blood pressure has led to its consideration as both a legitimate recommendation for patients with elevated blood pressure to prevent the development of essential hypertension, and as a treatment option among those diagnosed with essential hypertension and CHD."

A 2009 review reported on research by MUM graduate Vernon Barnes and his colleagues at the Medical College of Georgia on variables related to blood pressure that found that, compared to an eyes-closed relaxation control group, the TM group had increased cardiac output and decreased peripheral resistance as well as decreased systolic blood pressure.

Cardiovascular function in students

A 2009 independent systematic review and a 2010 narrative review reported on several randomized controlled trials on school students that found an improvement in blood pressure and cardiovascular function in the TM group compared to health education. In addition, they reported on a randomized controlled trial on psychosocial and behavioral outcomes that compared TM to health education and found that the TM group had decreased absentee periods, rule infractions, and suspension days, but found no difference in the TM and control groups in regard to tardiness, lifestyle, or stress. The 2010 review concluded that "Studies of TM’s effect in youth on cardiovascular risk, cognition, affect, and behavior are promising, but larger, more definitive comparative effectiveness research is needed." The 2009 review said that because of limitations of the research, larger-scale and more demographically diverse studies need to be done to clarify treatment efficacy."

Scientific texts in 2011 and 2012 reported a 2009 study by MUM and American University researchers on 298 college students that found decreased blood pressure in the TM group that was associated with a reduction in stress and hostility, and an increase in coping.

Cardiovascular function in the elderly

A 2005 integrative review said that research shows that TM improves cardiovascular function in the elderly and slows the aging process.

Mental function

ADHD

A 2010 systematic review and meta analysis by the Cochrane collaboration was unable to draw any conclusions regarding the effectiveness of meditation therapy (including TM ) for ADHD due to the lack of suitable evidence.

Anxiety

Seventy studies on TM were included in a 1989 meta-analysis conducted by a Stanford University physicist and longtime TM practitioner and two past members of the MUM faculty which found that relaxation techniques reduce trait anxiety and that Transcendental Meditation had a larger effect size than the other relaxation techniques used in the studies. The meta-analysis was criticized in a 2003 editorial by Peter Canter because it included studies with no control groups, while a 2009 textbook on research-based alternative medicine characterized it as "thorough and well designed."

A 2012 medical textbook reporting the findings of a 2007 systematic review and meta-analysis, said, "TM has been shown to have a beneficial impact on psychosocial stress and anxiety . . ."

A 2006 review by the Cochrane collaboration that considered only randomized controlled trials of adults diagnosed with an anxiety disorder found one study on TM that met their criteria, which showed that TM is equivalent to modified progressive muscle relaxation in reducing anxiety. The review found insufficient evidence to draw conclusions regarding the effectiveness of meditation for anxiety disorders. A 2012 systematic review and meta-analyses that included three studies on TM found, overall, that meditation reduces anxiety.

According to research reviews and a 2009 psychology textbook, three studies conducted by a Maharishi University of Management doctoral student and reported in 2001 in the scholarly journal Intelligence found that TM reduced anxiety compared to simple rest, contemplative meditation, and no treatment. A randomized controlled trial involving 154 high school students in China found that TM reduced anxiety compared to a control group that simply lay down to rest or sleep. The study was twice replicated with Chinese and Taiwanese students.

Cognitive function

The three studies in the journal Intelligence, characterized by Shauna Shapiro and Roger Walsh in a 2003 research review as being "well-designed studies", also found that TM improves cognitive performance, including increased practical intelligence, creativity, and speed of information processing. A 2011 review by Shapiro, et al., said the studies "provide good support for the use of TM to enhance several forms of information processing in students." A 2007 systematic review and meta-analysis funded by the NIH Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) analyzed studies that compared TM to no treatment and found that TM produced improvement in verbal creativity.

A 2003 review by Peter Canter and Edzard Ernst concluded that evidence does not support a specific or cumulative effect from TM on cognitive function. The review did find positive results in studies that recruited people with favorable opinions of TM, and used passive control procedures. However, a 2012 meta-analysis of studies of the psychological effects of TM and other meditations found that expectation didn't play a role in the positive findings.

Walsh, in a 2007 psychotherapy textbook, characterized as "well-designed" a randomized controlled trial which found that TM improved cognitive function and mental health in nursing home residents compared to relaxation, no treatment, and mindfulness training. He writes that other studies have found that TM subjects typically score higher on measures of cognitive development, self-actualization, coping skills, and moral development.

Personality growth

According to the research review by Shapiro and Walsh, a study involving 120 female subjects found that long-term TM practice may increase positive personality growth, with the subjects in the TM group being more confident, relaxed, introverted, satisfied, and conscientious, as well as being less anxious, compared to the control group.

Criminal rehabilitation, addiction

Rehabilitation

Transcendental Meditation has been used in correctional settings, and research has shown a reduction in negative psychological states and recidivism. According to a 2010 research review, studies involving hundreds of prisoners at San Quentin and Folsom State Prisons in California and Walpole State Prison in Massachusetts found that recidivism rates were reduced by as much as 47%. Overall, the TM prisoners at Folsom were 43% less likely to return to prison compared to control groups. The study at Folsom also looked at anxiety measures and found a sharp reduction compared to controls. The review said that meditation studies may be subject to researcher bias and self-selection bias, but concluded that policy makers and prison officials may want to implement meditation programs in prisons.

Addiction

A 2009 review by Dakwar et al. looked at the effect of TM on addiction and noted that while many studies exist, they were conducted by researchers affiliated with Transcendental Meditation and were not randomized controlled trials. Thus the evidence for treating addictive disorders is speculative and inconsistent. This review also said that although the quasi-religious aspects and cost may deter people, the simplicity of the technique, the physiological changes it induces, and the apparent effectiveness in nonpsychiatric settings merit further study and that "the theoretical basis for meditation’s role in addressing substance use disorders is compelling" based on the physiological mechanisms that have been found.

The Cambridge Textbook of Effective Treatments in Psychiatry concurs with Dakwar’s assessment, stating that the research to date on TM and substance abuse is mostly dated, and with the exception of a 1994 randomized controlled trial by Taub et al., has been plagued by serious methodological deficiencies. Describing the single 1994 study judged to be of good quality, trial groups assigned TM and biofeedback showed increased abstinence versus the other groups. The authors also reported that in the group practicing TM alone, pre-post mood improved significantly as reflected by higher scores on 5 of 6 scales in a standardized test, compared to increases in 2 of 6 scales for the biofeedback group.

Based on the 1994 study, a textbook on evidence-based adjunctive treatments lists TM as a “probably efficacious” treatment for alcohol abuse disorder. The same text reports two other randomized controlled trials (RCT’s) finding reduced drug or alcohol abuse in TM subjects: a study on college students finding that both TM and karate training reduced drug usage compared to a no-treatment control group, and a study on drug users treated for hepatitis finding a reduction in drug use in the TM group, and an increase in usage in the no-treatment control group.

Effects on the brain

Alpha brain waves and alpha coherence

Transcendental Meditation has been found to produce specific types of brain waves as measured by electroencephalography (EEG). Studies have found that, compared to a baseline, during meditation there is an increase in alpha amplitude followed by a slowing of the alpha frequency and the spread of this to the frontal cortex. Alpha brain waves are classically viewed as reflecting a relaxed brain. When compared to control groups using a different relaxation technique, the increase in alpha is similar and integrated alpha amplitude may even decrease compared to a baseline of eyes-closed rest.

Transcendental Meditation also produces alpha coherence, that is, large-scale integration of frequencies in different parts of the brain. These brain patterns generally suggest a decrease in mental activity and are associated with a relaxed state. This pattern is also sometimes seen while a subject is actively focusing his or her attention on an object or holding some information in mind.

In the Cambridge Handbook of Consciousness, Lutz says that claims in TM promotional material that this coherence represents a higher state of consciousness or a more orderly state of the brain and one that is unique to TM may be overstated or premature "because alpha rhythms are ubiquitous and functionally non-specific...." Lutz says "alpha frequencies frequently produce spontaneously moderate to large coherence (0.3–0.8 over large inter-electrode distance). The alpha coherence values reported in TM studies, as a trait in the baseline or during meditation, belong to this same range. Thus a global increase of alpha power and alpha coherence might not reflect a more 'ordered' or 'integrated' experience, as frequently claimed in TM literature, but rather a relaxed, inactive mental state." On the other hand, in the book The Brain's Alpha Rhythms and the Mind, Shaw says that the EEG changes in alpha coherence are indeed related to meditation, citing Austin. The coherence is distinguished by appearing in the frontal lobes of the brain and is correlated with mental clarity and changes in respiration.

States of consciousness

Research suggests that the practice of TM results in neurophysiological states not ordinarily observed and that are associated with enhanced awareness. A state referred to by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi as "transcendental consciousness" and experienced during Transcendental Meditation is characterized as being distinct from the ordinary states of waking, sleeping, and dreaming, and as being a "deeply restful yet fully alert state of inner wakefulness with no object of thought or perception." Research has found that specific physiological measures correlate with the experience of transcendental consciousness, including lower respiratory rates, greater heart rate variability, higher amplitude alpha brain waves, and greater alpha coherence.

In addition, a state Maharishi Mahesh Yogi called "cosmic consciousness", may be characterized by the experience of transcendental consciousness outside of meditation and that is present even during sleep. Research on individuals experiencing this state during sleep as a result of practice of TM has found EEG profiles, muscle tone measurements, and REM indicators that suggest there is physiological evidence of this state. Fred Travis of Maharishi University of Management and Joe Tecce of Boston College have also done research on individuals experiencing transcendental consciousness during activity, finding that they also exhibited brain wave signatures that were different from control groups. In addition, the research suggested more efficient functioning in the frontal cortex of the brain.

Epilepsy: kindling or therapy?

EEG studies have shown an increase in theta waves and a dominant pattern of alpha waves in the frontal and occipital lobes. With long-term practice these changes seen in meditation carry over into activity. These changes may enhance brain integration and reduce emotional reactivity. According to a review by Lansky and St Louis, EEG measurements that show neuronal hypersynchrony are similar to those found in epilepsy, leading to concerns about the potential risk of kindling of epilepsy from repetitive Transcendental Meditation. But the authors say clinical studies have found meditation to be a possible antiepileptic therapy. They say that more research is needed "to establish the safety of this technique and its potential efficacy for seizure reduction and improvement of quality of life."

Experience of pain

A brain imaging study on practitioners of Transcendental Meditation conducted by researchers affiliated with Maharishi University and the University of California at Irvine led by David Orme-Johnson showed that TM decreases activity in the thalamus, prefrontal cortex, and anterior cingulate cortex in response to pain. The tests, which used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) found approximately a 50% reduction in these pain-processing regions of the brain compared to a control group. The results suggest that, while it does not reduce pain, TM does reduce the emotional distress associated with the experience of pain, resulting in greater tolerance.

Effects on the physiology

TM has been found to produce a set of characteristic responses such as reduced respiration, decreased breath volume, decreased lactate and cortisol (hormones associated with stress), increased basal skin resistance, and slowed heartbeat. Maharishi University researchers Michael Dillbeck and David Orme-Johnson conducted a meta-analysis of 31 studies which found that compared simply resting with eyes closed, TM had a greater effect on parameters associated with rest, such as respiration rate, blood plasma lactate levels, and skin resistance. A 2002 review notes studies showing decreased total peripheral resistance, an increase in alpha brain waves, and increased frontal and occipital blood flow, and hormonal changes including to DHEA sulfate, prolactin, epinephrine, norepinephrine and beta-endorphins. The mechanism for the effects of TM has been explained by proponents as being due to greater order in the physiology, decreased stress, and growth of creative intelligence.

In a 1985 book on religion, Bainbridge and Stark say that articles published in the 1970s suggested "that the original findings had been false or exaggerated". However, in a 2009 research review in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, William Bushell referred to the original research as "classic," and said that the preponderance of evidence has shown a reduction in metabolic rate.

Medical costs

Public health researchers say that evaluating health insurance records can be an effective means of estimating whether there are cost savings from various approaches to health care. According to research reviews, a retrospective, non-randomized study that examined the health care utilization records for over 2,800 subjects in Quebec found that the 1,400 subjects in the TM group needed less health care after learning TM, whereas the control group’s need increased. These preliminary findings "suggest the potential for decreased usage and costs among patients using TM."

Contraindications

While meditation is usually considered safe for healthy people, there are possible adverse effects. In particular, meditation may be contraindicated for those with psychiatric illnesses. A 2009 research review on TM, Buddhist meditation, and mindfulness meditation states that "[i]t has been reported that meditation can cause depersonalization and derealization, and several reports have found associations between meditation and psychotic states. In general, however, meditation is a safe and well-tolerated practice." The same paper notes that it is unclear whether persons will respond equally to the same intervention: more generally, as noted in the context of a short anecdotal paper on Trancendental Meditation, "specific techniques produce specific changes in specific patients under specific conditions."

According to Mosby's Complementary & Alternative Medicine: A Research-Based Approach by Lyn Freeman, for persons with mental health issues, it is best if meditation is introduced in the context of a clinical setting, and those patients who are seriously disturbed should only be introduced to meditation under the supervision of a doctor or psychotherapist. Individuals with moderate symptoms were observed to benefit from the practice.

Meditation researcher Patricia Carrington, author of the books Freedom in Meditation and The Book of Meditation on her website talks about problems from "over-meditation" (e.g. for 3 or more hours at a time) among a Zen practitioner and a TM practitioner. She notes that TM teachers and checkers repeatedly stress the proper amount of time for meditation.

Research quality

Approximately 700 studies have been conducted on Transcendental Meditation, and 340 have been published in peer-reviewed scientific journals. A 2004 research review by Canter and Ernst said that many of these 700 studies may be biased or methodologically flawed because they have been produced by researchers at Maharishi University of Management in Iowa or other institutions directly associated with the TM organisation. According to The Encyclopedia of Complementary and Alternative Medicine, a substantial amount of the research has been conducted at other universities: 200 different research institutions and universities in 27 countries. According to a newspaper report, Maharishi University of Management (MUM) is increasingly collaborating with other universities, such as the University of California (Irvine) and the University of Iowa, in its research. David Orme-Johnson, a former director of scientific research at Maharishi University, said that a meta-analyses of studies on TM and anxiety found that those studies done by researchers with no connection to TM showed a slightly larger effect than those studies by researchers who had a connection.

A 2008 systematic review and meta-analysis by researchers at the University of Kentucky found six randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on TM and hypertension that were of either acceptable or high quality. A 2011 cardiology textbook says these RCTs met strict entry criteria for experimental quality.

Canter and Ernst's 2004 review said that all randomized clinical trials on blood pressure had important methodological weaknesses and were potentially biased by the affiliation of authors to the TM organization. Psychologist and medical researcher Harald Walach said Canter and Ernst applied inappropriate quality standards in this review, leading to false conclusions. Also, in a reply to Canter and Ernst published in the Journal of Hypertension, David Orme-Johnson of Maharishi University of Management, said that the methodologies used in these studies were sound because they had been approved in advance by expert reviewers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), as part of the "highly competitive" process for procuring NIH funding. He also said that in order to minimize bias, the six studies referred to by Canter and Ernst were conducted in collaboration with 10 independent researchers, working at eight other universities not affiliated with the TM organization, including Harvard University, the University of Maryland, and the University of Arkansas. American University professor David Haaga, who has collaborated with TM researchers on six studies published 2009-2011 and who is "not committed to a favorable or unfavorable view of its effects," says that such collaboration helps to "ensure that procedures to minimize bias are always given highest priority in the conduct of the research."

Research on Transcendental Meditation has been published by the American Medical Association and the American Heart Association, as well as other medical journals such as the American Journal of Hypertension, the American Journal of Cardiology, and the International Journal of Psychophysiology.

A 2007 systematic review of research on meditation, including Transcendental Meditation, said that firm conclusions on health effects cannot be drawn, as the majority of the studies are of poor methodological quality. The review, authored by Ospina et al., included studies on adults through September 2005, with a particular focus on research pertaining to hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and substance abuse. The review used the Jadad scale to assess the quality of the studies using control groups and Newcastle-Ottawa scale for the others. The quality assessment portion of the 2007 review was published in 2008. The article stated that "Most clinical trials on meditation practices are generally characterized by poor methodological quality with significant threats to validity in every major quality domain assessed."

A 2012 systematic review of meditative therapies for anxiety by Chen et al. is critical of quality assessment used by previous reviews, including the 2007 review by Ospina et al., mentioned above. Chen et al. said that in general, reviews of meditation research have applied evaluation criteria based on pharmaceutical RCT’s with a resulting tendency to "underestimate the actual quality of the studies." For example, Ospina et al. found only 10 percent of studies on meditation to be of good quality, whereas Chen et al. found meditation studies to mostly acceptable, and rated 40 percent to be of good quality. They found that the overall quality of meditation research increased substantially after 2006, and said that for this reason also, less recent reviews (such as Ospina et al., which considered research up until Sept. 2005) will tend to report lower quality in meditation research.

A 2007 meta-analysis by researchers at Maharishi University of Management and the University of Kentucky found differing results from the 2007 government report mentioned above because the authors removed overlapping studies, corrected data collection errors, and included studies outside the scope of that report. They said that the use of double blinding, which is required by the Jadad scale, is not appropriate to meditation research and that the review failed to assess more relevant determinants of research quality. Research reviews in science journals say that double blinding may not be possible in meditation research. Canter and Ernst say that blinding of participants isn't feasible, and a Cochrane review says that it's only possible to blind the raters or assessors in meditation trials.

David Orme-Johnson, former director of research at Maharishi University of Management, raised concerns of reporting bias in the 2007 government-funded review, noting that 98 "potentially relevant" research papers that were suggested for inclusion by the study’s peer reviewers in the meta-analysis portion of the 2007 government report were disregarded by the authors. He also said that the study inappropriately excluded three categories of studies on meditation that have been included in previous reviews: meditation and substance abuse, adolescent health, mortality.

Some researchers have noted the methodological soundness of studies on Transcendental Meditation. A 2003 review by Shapiro characterized a group of 15 studies as being well-designed. Selected studies have been characterized as being high quality, rigorous, sound, and meeting most of the criteria for well-designed studies on alternative medicine. Commenting on the quality of the research on TM, Sidney Weinstein, editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Neuroscience (IJN) said,

Over the past 10 years, the editors and reviewers of the International Journal of Neuroscience have accepted several papers on Transcendental Meditation because they have met the rigorous standards of scientific publication. IJN . . . has a distinguished group of scientists from leading universities on every continent who judge the scientific value of the papers submitted for consideration. Not once have these scientists ever questioned the integrity or scientific validity of the papers on Transcendental Meditation.

IJN is published by Informa Healthcare.

A 2009 review said that despite criticisms of the TM organization, "TM’s medical claims have been taken seriously," noting over $20 million in NIH funding for research on TM and cardiovascular disease.

Recent research

In 2011, the editors of Archives of Internal Medicine decided to withhold publication of a paper on a nine-year study of TM and mortality shortly before it was to be published online. The decision was made to allow the review of new data that was obtained after the submission of the original manuscript. The paper was subsequently published in the Nov. 2012 issue of the American Heart Association journal, Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. During the intervening time, the data was re-analyzed, and the study underwent an independent review, said a report in WebMD.

Research funding and promotion

In 1991, The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published an article on Maharishi Ayurveda of which the Transcendental Meditation technique is a part. Later, allegations were made saying that the authors Deepak Chopra, Hari M. Sharma, and Brihaspati Dev Triguna had failed to disclose that they were "involved in organizations that promote and sell the products and services about which they wrote."

In 1999, the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine awarded a grant of nearly $8 million to Maharishi University of Management to establish the first research center specializing in natural preventive medicine for minorities in the U.S. According to the MUM website, the research institute, called the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention (INMP), was inaugurated on October 11, 1999, at the University's Department of Physiology and Health in Fairfield, Iowa. By 2004, the U.S. government had awarded more than $20 million to Maharishi University of Management to fund research.

In 2009, the National Institutes of Health awarded an additional grant of $1 million distributed over two years for research on the use of TM in the treatment of coronary heart disease in African-Americans. The award was for research in collaboration with the INMP and Columbia University Medical Center in New York City. The award was from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 via the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

According to a 1980 article by sociologist Hank Johnston, the movement's two main universities, Maharishi International University (now Maharishi University of Management) and Maharishi European Research University, have been significant sources of the studies used in promotional materials. Leading individuals and organizations associated with TM cite the existence of many studies, "more than 600 published research studies, conducted at over 200 independent research institutions in 33 countries", to support TM-related concepts. The quantity of studies has been cited to support the political programs of the Natural Law Party, the tax status of a TM property, the use of TM to rehabilitate prisoners, the teaching of TM in schools, the issuance of bonds to finance the movement, as proof that TM is a science rather than a religion, to show the efficacy of the Maharishi Vedic Approach to Health, and as a reason to practice TM itself.

Philip Goldberg, in his 2010 book, American Veda, said some of the experts he spoke with accused TM advocates of using research findings to proselytize. David Orme-Johnson, who directed the TM research program for many years, responded that "enthusiasm for your data does not make your data wrong."

See also

• Research on meditation

Further reading

• Gablinger, Tamar (2010). The Religious Melting Point: On Tolerance, Controversial Religions and the State : The Example of Transcendental Meditation in Germany, Israel and the United States. Language: English. Tectum. pp. 354 pages. ISBN 3-8288-2506-0. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Persinger, Michael (1980). TM and Cult Mania. Language: English. Christopher Pub House. pp. 198 pages. ISBN 0-8158-0392-3. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Rothstein, Mikael (1996). Belief Transformations: Some Aspects of the Relation Between Science and Religion in Transcendental Meditation (Tm) and the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. Language: English. Aarhus universitetsforlag. pp. 227 pages. ISBN 87-7288-421-5. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)