Transcendental Meditation technique

The Transcendental Meditation technique is a specific form of mantra meditation, often referred to as Transcendental Meditation or simply, TM. The meditation practice involves the use of a sound or mantra, and is practiced for 15–20 minutes twice per day, while sitting comfortably with closed eyes. It is reported to be one of the most widely practiced, and among the most researched meditation techniques. Its published research studies have been both recognized and criticized. The technique is made available worldwide by certified TM teachers in a seven step course.

Advanced courses and activities that supplement the TM technique include group meditations, advanced lectures, weekend Residence Courses, and an advanced meditation technique called the TM-Sidhi program. In 1970, the Science of Creative Intelligence (SCI) became the theoretical basis for the Transcendental Meditation technique, while skeptics questioned its scientific nature. According to proponents, when 1% of a population practices the TM technique daily, it influences the quality of life for that city or country. This has been termed the "Maharishi Effect".

Beginning in 1965, the Transcendental Meditation technique was incorporated into selected institutional programs such as schools, universities and corporations, as well as social programs aimed at veterans, prison inmates and the homeless. In the United States, the TM technique and the Science of Creative Intelligence were deemed religious activities as taught in two New Jersey schools in 1977. The technique is now included in educational and social programs worldwide.

The Transcendental Meditation technique has been described as both religious and non religious, as an aspect of a New Religious Movement, as having it roots in Hinduism, and by the TM movement as scientific and non-religious. Publicity campaigns for the TM technique have varied over its 50 year history. It has been praised for its visibility in the mass media and its effective global propagation, and criticized because celebrity status and scientific endorsements have propagandized it. The fees for the TM course vary from country to country.

Practice

The technique is practiced for 20 minutes, twice daily. It is recommended once after waking in the morning, and in the afternoon before dinner, but is not recommended immediately before or after eating. According to the Maharishi, "bubbles of thought are produced in a stream one after the other", and the Transcendental Meditation technique consists of experiencing a "proper thought" in its more subtler states "until its subtlest state is experienced and transcended". Because it is mantra based, the technique "ostensibly meets the working definition of a concentration practice", however, the TM organization emphasizes that "focused attention" is not prescribed, and that the "aim is an[sic] unified and open attentional stance". Other authors describe the technique as an easy, natural technique or process, and a "wakeful hypometabolic physiologic state". During an interview with David Frost, George Harrison described TM, saying, "the energy is latent within everybody. It’s there anyway... meditation is a natural process of being able to contact that". British chess grandmaster Jonathan Rowson described his TM practice as giving "a feeling of serenity, energy and balance", while not providing "any powerful insight into your own mind". Laura Tenant, a reporter for The Independent, described her TM experience as going "to a place which was neither wakefulness, sleeping or dreaming", and becoming "detached from my physical self". Worldwide, as many as six to ten million people are reported to be practitioners of the TM technique..

Mantra

The TM technique consists of silently repeating a mantra with "gentle effortlessness" while sitting comfortably with eyes closed without assuming any special yoga position. The mantra is said to be a vehicle that allows the individual's attention to travel naturally to a less active, quieter style of mental functioning. One author describes it as entering "the central nervous system via the brain’s speech area", and representing "a direct input of ease and order". TM meditators are instructed to keep their mantra secret to ensure maximum results ("speaking it aloud, apparently defeats the purpose"), to avoid confusion in the mind of the meditators, and as a "protection against inaccurate teaching". Author Adam Smith writes that his TM teacher "Buzz" said to him: "Every once in a while somebody goes through TM, and then a friend gets interested and they tell the friend the mantram, [sic] just to save the initiation fee. It doesn't work". William Jefferson, in The Story of the Maharishi, writes that "virtually no one" is "willing to reveal his secret word", and he quotes an ex-TMer as saying: "whether I believe it or not, one should respect the principles".

Selection

The Maharishi standardized and "mechanized" the mantra selection process by using a specific set of mantras and making the selection process "foolproof". Professor of psychiatry, Norman E. Rosenthal writes that during the training given by a certified TM teacher, "each student is assigned a specific mantra or sound, with instructions on its proper use. He explains that the selection of a proper thought or mantra "becomes increasingly important when we consider that the power of thought increases when the thought is appreciated in its infant stages of development". The Maharishi says that mantras chosen for initiates should "resonate to the pulse of his thought and as it resonates, create an increasingly soothing influence", and that the chosen mantra's vibrations "harmonize" with the meditator, and suits their "nature and way of life". Sociologist William Sims Bainbridge writes that TM teachers say the mantras are selected "to match the nervous system of the individual". Author George D. Chryssides writes that, according to the Maharishi, "using just any mantra can be dangerous", the mantras for "householders" and for recluses differ. The Transcendental Meditation mantras are appropriate mantras for householders, while most mantras commonly found in books, such as "Om", are mantras for recluses and "can cause a person to withdraw from life".

Former TM teacher and author Lola Williamson reports that she told her TM students that their mantra was chosen for them based on their personal interview, while sociologist Roy Wallis, religious scholar J. Gordon Melton and Bainbridge write that the mantras are assigned by age and gender. In 1984, 16 mantras were published in Omni magazine based on information from "disaffected TM teachers". According to Chryssides, TM teachers say that the promised results are dependent on a trained Transcendental Meditation teacher choosing the mantra for their student.

Meaning and sound value

In his 1963 book The Science of Being and Art of Living, the Maharishi writes that words create waves of vibrations, and the quality of vibration of a mantra should correspond to the vibrational quality of the individual. Likewise, religious studies scholar, Thomas Forsthoefel writes, "the theory of mantras is the theory of sound". Author William Jefferson writes that the "euphonics" of mantras are important. Sociologist Stephen J. Hunt and others say that the mantra used in the Transcendental Meditation technique has no meaning, but that the sound itself is sacred. In Kerala, India, in 1955, the Maharishi spoke of mantras in terms of personal deities, and according to religious studies scholar Cynthia Ann Humes, similar references can be found in his later works.

According to authors Peter Russell and Norman Rosenthal, the sounds used in the technique are taken from the ancient Vedic tradition, have "no specific meaning", and are selected for their suitability for the individual. Author, Lola Williamson writes that the bija, or seed mantras used in TM come from the Tantric, rather than Vedic tradition, and that bija mantras are "traditionally associated with particular deities and used as a form of worship". Vishal Mangalwadi says the mantras, having the names of deities, are meaningless sounds used in the Japa yoga tradition. According to Needleman, many mantras come from the Vedas or Vedic hymns, which are "the root for all later Hindu scripture", while others note that an undisputed fact in the the 1977 court case Malnak vs. Yogi was that the TM mantras were taken as meaningless sounds. Likewise, philosophy of science scholar and former Maharishi International University professor Jonathan Shear, writes in his book The Experience of Meditation: Experts Introduce the Major Traditions, that the mantras used in the TM technique are independent of meaning associated with any language, and are used for their mental, sound value alone. Fred Travis, Professor of Maharishi Vedic Science at Maharishi University of Management, writes in a 2009 article published in the International Journal of Psychophysiology that "unlike most mantra meditations, any possible meaning of the mantra is not part of Transcendental Meditation practice".

Course Description

The Transcendental Meditation technique is taught in a standardized seven-step course over 6 days by a certified TM teacher. Except for a requirement to refrain from using non-prescription drugs for 15 days before learning TM, all who want to learn are taught. The technique is taught via private and group instruction by a TM teacher trained to instruct students and provide follow up. Instruction is given on separate days, beginning with a one hour "introductory lecture" intended to prepare the student for subsequent steps. The lecture discusses mind potential, social relationships, health, and "promoting inner and outer peace". The second step is a 45 minute "preparatory lecture", whose topic is the theory of the practice, its origins and its relationship to other types of meditation. This is followed by the third step: a private, ten minute, personal interview, allowing the TM teacher to get acquainted with the student and answer questions.

According to the TM web site, the personal instruction session takes 1–2 hours, and students are required to bring a clean handkerchief, some flowers and fruit, and their course fee. The initiation begins with a short puja ceremony performed by the teacher. The stated purpose of the ceremony is to show honor and gratitude to the lineage of TM "masters", or "Holy Tradition" that is listed in the Maharishi's translation and commentary of the Bhagavad-Gita. It is regarded as putting students in the right frame of mind to receive the mantra. The ceremony is conducted in a private room with a "little" altar "draped in white", filled with incense, camphor, rice, flowers and a picture of Guru Dev. The initiate observes passively as the teacher recites a text in Sanskrit. After the ceremony, the "meditators" are "invited to bow", receive their mantra and begin to meditate. Former TM teacher and University professor Don Krieger, calls the ceremony "an act of idolatry", while former U.S. Congressman Richard Nolan describes it as "corny". According to author William Jefferson, "even people who no longer do TM were never bothered by the ceremony".

On the day after the personal instruction session, the student begins a series of three, 90 to 120 minute "teaching sessions", held on three consecutive days, called "three days of checking". Their stated purpose is to "verify the correctness of the practice" and to receive further instruction. The first day's checking meeting takes place in a group on the day following personal instruction, and gives information about correct practice based on each student's own experience. The second day of checking uses the same group format, and gives more details of the mechanics of the practice and potential results of the practice, based on student experiences. The third day of checking focuses on subjective growth and the potential development of higher stages of human consciousness, and outlines the follow-up programs available as part of the course. The new meditator later returns for private follow-up sessions to confirm that they are practicing the technique properly, a process called "personal checking". The preferred schedule for follow up classes is 30 minutes, once per week for one month, and once per month thereafter. The purpose of the follow-up, or "checking sessions", is to verify the practice, give an opportunity for one-on-one contact with a TM teacher, and to address any problems or questions. Course graduates may access the lifetime follow-up program at any Transcendental Meditation center, which includes a "consultation with any certified TM instructor", as well as "refresher courses", advanced lectures, special events, group meditations, and celebrations, with no additional fees.

Course fees

The TM course fees cover initial training and the lifetime follow-up program, while helping to build and maintain TM centers and schools in India and around the world. The fees also provide TM scholarships for special needs groups, as well as grants and scholarships available through the David Lynch Foundation and the TM movement's Maharishi Foundation USA, a government approved 501(c)(3) non-profit, educational organization. The fee may vary from country to country, depending on the cost of living, and has varied over the 50 year period in which it has been taught.

The Maharishi has drawn criticism from yogis and "stricter Hindus" who have accused him of selling "commercial mantras". At the same time, the Maharishi's "promises of better health, stress relief and spiritual enlightenment" have drawn "devotees from all over the world", despite the fees. According to the book Alternative Religions:A Sociological Introduction by Stephen Hunt, insistence on fees for TM instruction has caused critics to question the Maharishi's motives, "but the movement is not, to all appearances, an exploitive one".

TM teachers

The Maharishi began training TM teachers in the early 1960s, and by 1978, there were 7,000 TM teachers in the U.S. In 1985, there were an estimated 10,000 TM teachers worldwide, and by 2003, there were 20,000 teachers, and a reported 40,000 teachers in 2008. Notable individuals trained to teach the Transcendental Meditation technique include Prudence Farrow, John Gray, Mitch Kapor, and Mike Love.

A four month teacher training course was held in 1970 in two parts, the first part of over four weeks in Maine and California, then three months in Colorado. About 300 people completed the training. In 1973, the TM teacher training course consisted of three months in-residence. A 2007 TM web page, and 2009 book report that the TM teacher training course consists of six-months in-residence, with the goal of giving extensive knowledge of Maharishi Vedic Science, the experience of extended meditation practice, and becoming "custodians of an ancient Vedic tradition". Additionally, TM teachers are trained to speak on the Transcendental Meditation program, teach it to others, provide "personal checking" of their student's meditation, create lectures on related topics, organize and lead weekend in-residence courses and administrate various advanced TM courses and programs. The Maharishi trained his teachers to "make logical presentations in language suitable to their audiences", and teachers led their students through a sequence of predetermined steps.

A 2007 research study reported that details of the training and knowledge imparted to teachers are kept private. In 1976, Janis Johnson wrote in The Christian Century that TM teachers sign a "loyalty-oath employment contract", saying "It is my fortune, Guru Dev, that I have been accepted to serve the Holy Tradition and spread the Light of God to all those who need it." The TM teacher is said to "worship" the picture of Guru Dev during the TM instruction, puja ceremony. Author William Bainbridge writes that a section of a training bulletin for TM teachers called "Explanations of the Invocation" draws a "connection to Brahma, the Lord of Creation". A 1993 article in the The Ottawa Citizen reported a partial translation of the puja as "Whosoever remembers the lotus-eyed Lord gains inner and outer purity. To Lord Naryan, to Lotus-born Brahman the creator, to Vaishistha, to Shakti, to Shankaracharya the emancipator, hailed as Krishna, to the Lord I bow down and down again. At whose door the whole galaxy of gods pray for perfection day and night".

Some teach the TM technique full-time while others such as doctors, lawyers, and executives, teach part-time. Jerry Jarvis, one of the first TM teachers in the U.S. "has personally instructed 5,000 people". Some former TM teachers have said they felt they were lying and deceiving their students, regarding details about the mantras and the religious nature of TM. TM teachers who have taken the TM-Sidhi course are called "Governors of the Age of Enlightenment", and a former TM teacher said in 2004 that he had spent tens of thousands of dollars on "TM sessions, retreats, and teacher training". Some TM teachers who object to the cost of the instruction teach independently.

Advanced Courses

The TM program includes group meditations, special events, advanced lectures and other advanced courses, such as Residence Courses and the TM-Sidhi program.

Residence Course

The TM Residence Course is a multi-day, in-residence event that aims to "enrich a person's experience and understanding" of the Transcendental Meditation technique, and accelerate personal growth and progress towards a state of enlightenment. During the course, participants add extra TM sessions to their daily routine and receive information about the "principles underlying the program" in an effort to deepen the restful and revitalizing aspects of the practice. The courses may be up to a week in duration and are supervised by TM teachers, who lead the group meditations, give lectures, teach yoga postures called asanas and breathing exercise called pranayama. The TM Residence Course utilizes a more intensive meditation process called "rounding", wherein yoga asanas, pranayama, a standard TM meditation, and rest, are practiced in sequence. Each sequence takes about 50 minutes and may be repeated several times. Rounding is said to produce "unstressing", which author Michel Cazenave describes as a release of tension in which deep relaxation may be accompanied by physical and emotional effects, including insomnia, anxiety, headaches and spontaneous imagery.

TM-Sidhi program

The TM-Sidhi program, which is sometimes referred to as Yogic Flying, is an extension of the TM technique, and was introduced in 1975 during a downturn in TM program enrollment. It is said to cost thousands of dollars. The difference between the TM technique and the TM-Sidhi program is that the TM technique gives the practitioner the experience of their inner Self, the "field of all possibilities", whereas the TM-Sidhi program is a practice that develops the ability to "activate the field of all possibilities". The program claims that one is able to gain the power of levitation and invisibility, walking through walls, colossal strength, ESP, perfect health, immortality and more, as "signposts" of spiritual progress. During an interview with Merv Griffin, the Maharishi said that "thousands" had learned to levitate, but skeptic James Randi reports that according to his investigations, there is "no levitation, no walking through walls, no invisibility".

Research

Main article: Transcendental Meditation research

There has been ongoing research into the Transcendental Meditation technique since studies were first conducted at UCLA and Harvard University in the early 1970s. The research has included studies on physiological changes during meditation, clinical applications, cognitive effects, mental health, addiction, and rehabilitation. Beginning in the 1990s, a focus of the research has been the effects of Transcendental Meditation on cardiovascular disease, with over $20 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health.

Independent systematic reviews have found that the research to date is insufficient to draw any conclusions as to the effects, if any, of TM in managing high blood pressure and anxiety. It is difficult to determine definitive effects of meditation practices in healthcare, as the quality of research has design limitations and a lack of methodological rigor. In addition, according to Canter and Ernst, some studies have the potential for bias due to the connection of researchers to the TM organization, and enrollment of subjects with a favorable opinion of TM.

Institutional programs

In schools and universities

For educational institutions belonging to the Transcendental Meditation movement, see Educational institutions

1965 to 1979

The Students' International Meditation Society (SIMS) incorporated in 1965/1966 and focused on offering the TM technique to students and faculty at schools and universities. The UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) chapter had 1,000 members and was co-founded by researcher and physiologist, Robert Keith Wallace, the first president of Maharishi International University. By 1974, 14 states had encouraged local schools to teach TM in the classroom, and it was taught at 50 universities. Among the public school systems where TM was taught were Shawnee Mission, Kansas, Maplewood, Paterson, Union Hill and West New York, New Jersey, Eastchester, New York and North York, Ontario. The organization was described as a "phenomenal success" and continues to function in some countries including the U.S.A. A 33-lesson video course called the Science of Creative Intelligence was offered at universities such as Stanford, Yale, the University of Colorado, the University of Wisconsin, and Oregon State University.

In 1979, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the 1977 decision of the US District Court of New Jersey that a course in Transcendental Meditation and the Science of Creative Intelligence (SCI) was religious activity within the meaning of the Establishment Clause and that the teaching of SCI/TM in the New Jersey public high schools was prohibited by the First Amendment. The court ruled that, although SCI/TM is not a theistic religion, it deals with issues of ultimate concern, truth, and other ideas analogous to those in well-recognized religions. The court found that the religious nature of the course was clear from careful examination of the textbook, the expert testimony elicited, and the uncontested facts concerning the puja ceremony, which it found involved "offerings to deities as part of a regularly scheduled course in the schools' educational programs". State action was involved because the SCI/TM course and activities involved the teaching of a religion, without an objective secular purpose. The Malnak decision resulted in the dismantling of the Maharishi's programs to establish Transcendental Meditation in the public schools with governmental funding. However, according religious scholars Douglas E. Cowan and David G. Bromley this "judicial rebuff" of the New Jersey school project did not render "a negative evaluation of the program itself" and those that oppose the practice in public schools are said to be mainly conservative Christians and civil libertarians who seek to preserve church-state separation.

1980 to 1999

Students in a Peru classroom practicing the TM technique

Since that time schools and universities in the U.S. and abroad have introduced the Transcendental Meditation technique using private, non-governmental funding. The technique has been introduced on a voluntary basis, with parental consent, and teachers and parents are taught the meditation before the students learn. Often referred to as the Quiet Time Program, the students and teachers meditate for 10 to 20 minutes twice per day. The program consists of TM instruction and follow-up, as well as training of school faculty and staff to supervise the TM sessions offered at the school.

The David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace (DLF) provides funding for many school programs and subsidizes the schools cost for the program, which was $650 per student/teacher in the US, as of 2004. According to the DLF, it has funded school programs in New York City, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Vietnam, Nepal, Northern Ireland, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, South Africa and Israel.

The Fletcher Johnson Educational Center, a charter school with 1,500 students in Washington, D.C., introduced the TM program for schools in 1994. Its principal, George H. Rutherford, is a member of the DLF's Board of Advisors. The Ideal Academy Public Charter School began its program with the approval of the Washington, D.C. Board of Education in 1997. The 2005–2006 pilot project at Ideal Academy was conducted along with research to document the effects of the program. The Nataki Talibah Schoolhouse in Detroit began using the program for students in the fifth through eighth grade in 1996 and was featured on the Today Show in 2003. The school has since been classified by the Skillman Foundation as a "High-Performing Middle School". Over the years, the program at Nitaki Talibah has been funded by various foundations including General Motors, Daimler Chrysler, the Liebler Foundation and the DLF. The program at the school has been researched by Rita Benn of the University of Michigan's Complementary and Alternative Medicine Research Center.

2000 to present

The Chelsea School, a private school in of Silver Spring, Maryland, offers the program to its fifth through twelfth graders who have attention deficit and hyperactivity disorders (ADHD). The program was part of a three month pilot study conducted by William R. Stixrud, a clinical neuropsychologist and health advisor for the TM's Committee for Stress-Free Schools.* The New York Times reported in 2005 that American University, in Washington D.C., was scheduled to begin offering Transcendental Meditation in its classes the following year, pending approval, and conducted a research project to study its effect on mental health, IQ and student grades. Later, the practice of the technique by 250 students at American University, Georgetown University and Howard Universities in the Washington D.C. area was monitored as part of a research study conducted by American University and Maharishi University of Management.

In 2004, the New York Committee for Stress-Free Schools held a press conference in New York City. It included testimonies from students, educators and scientists who support the use of TM in the school setting. The following year the TM technique was taught to "more than 100 administrators, teachers and students" and over the next five years, 300 additional high school students learned the technique. According to the DLF web site, the TM program was introduced to the Arts and Technology Academy at Weaver High School in Hartford CT in 2006. Four hundred and fifty students as well as principals and administrators are reported to have been instructed in the technique. A voluntary program at the Kingsbury school, a private K-12 school for students with learning disorders located in Washington D.C., began in 2005 and was featured on the PBS program, To The Contrary in 2007. According to the school director, about 10 percent of the teachers, parents and students declined to participate because they found it be religious and cult-ish. Conferences sponsored by the New England Committee for Stress-Free Schools were held in Providence, Rhode Island; Fairfield, Connecticut; and Boston, Massachusetts in 2005. The Boston conference was attended by 100 teachers and featured testimonies from school principals who have experience with the TM program in schools.

In 2006, six public schools were each awarded $25,000 to begin a TM program and a total of twenty five public, private, and charter schools in the United States had offered Transcendental Meditation to their students. In 2006, the Terra Linda High School in San Rafael, California canceled plans for Transcendental Meditation classes due to concerns of parents that it would be promoting religion. In the San Francisco area there are three schools which offer the technique as part of their school program, funded primarily by the David Lynch Foundation. The Visitacion Valley Middle School began the program in 2007 and the Everett Middle School and John O’Connell High School began the program sometime after that. The Maharishi Institute, an African university, was founded in 2007 and uses the Transcendental Meditation technique in its programs.

As of 2008, the David Lynch Foundation had funded more than 2,000 students, faculty and parents at 21 universities and schools, in addition to substantially higher numbers at schools overseas. Programs have been conducted in Washington D.C., Hartford CT, San Francisco CA, Detroit MI, Steamboat Springs CO, Tucson AZ, Los Angeles CA and Chicago IL. One of those programs was the Lowell Whiteman Primary School in Steamboat Springs, Colorado which implemented a two-year trial program using Transcendental Meditation in their classrooms. The program was used with fifth through eighth graders. After instruction, the TM teachers visit the school once per month to asses the students progress and their meditation technique. The following year, about 160 students and teachers at Tucson Magnet High School in Tucson AZ, took the training in Transcendental Meditation and meditate daily for 15 minutes before or after school. In 2010, the women's squash team at Trinity College in Hartford, CT began practicing the TM technique together after every practice. In 2011 music mogul Russell Simmons announced plans to provide financial support to the David Lynch Foundation to teach TM at Hillhouse High School in New Haven Connecticut.

The web site for Consciousness-Based Education, South Africa lists 12 partner schools in the USA, Netherlands, Australia, India, Ecuador, Thailand, China, and Great Britain and says that "Consciousness-Based Education has been introduced into more than 230 schools and more than 25 universities or other tertiary institutions worldwide".

Reception

According to a 2008 Newsweek article, there is a "growing movement to bring Transcendental Meditation... into more U.S. schools as a stress-buster for America's overwhelmed kids". At the same time, critics say that Transcendental Meditation is a revised form of Eastern, religious philosophy, and oppose its use in public schools. Some parents and critics view it as an overstepping of boundaries that could lead to "lifelong personal and financial servitude to a corporation run by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi". Despite the critics, many parents feel the meditation has created "profound results", and that they "hardly view TM as exclusively, or even overtly, religious", while advocates describe it is a physiological technique that calms the mind, improves grades and attention span, while reducing disruptive behavior.

University of South Carolina sociologist Barry Markovsky describes the TM technique in schools as "stealth religion", and Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, says Transcendental Meditation is rooted in Hinduism and crosses the same constitutional line as in the Malnak case and decision of 1979. Since then, however, "TM has made a comeback of sorts with some governmental sponsorship" according to authors Forsthoefel and Humes. In May 2008, Lynn said that the Americans United for Separation of Church and State was keeping a close legal eye on the TM movement and there are no imminent cases against them. At the same time, Brad Dacus of the Pacific Justice Institute says doing Transcendental Meditation during a school's "quiet time" (a short period of school time for private prayer or relaxation) is constitutional.

A 2009 article in The Guardian quoted complementary medicine professor, Edzard Ernst, as saying "there is no good evidence that TM has positive effects on children and the existing data is deeply flawed." On the other hand, a 2011 research review that discussed three "carefully conducted" studies on TM and a study on the TM and TM-Sidhi programs, concluded that, "These findings provide good support for the use of TM to enhance several forms of information processing in students".

Corporate programs

Transcendental Meditation has been utilized in corporations, both in the U.S.A and in India. As of 2001, companies such as General Motors helped their salaried employees pay for TM, and IBM reimbursed half the TM course fee for its US employees.

The Washington Post reported in 2005, that The Tower Companies, "one of Washington D.C.'s largest real estate development companies", has added classes in Transcendental Meditation to their employee benefit program in order "to contain stress-related ailments and health care costs". Seventy percent (70%) of the employees at The Tower Companies participate in the program.

A number of Indian companies give their managers training in Transcendental Meditation to reduce stress. These companies include: AirTel, Siemens, American Express, SRF and Wipro, Hero Honda, Ranbaxy, Hewlett Packard, BHEL, BPL, ESPN-Star Sports, Tisco, Eveready, Maruti, and Godrej. All employees at Marico practice Transcendental Meditation in groups as part of their standard workday. According to the Times of India, this practice benefits both employees and employers.

Social programs

The TM technique has been incorporated in a variety of social programs that address criminals, the homeless and U.S. war veterans. In 1979, the TM technique was one of the programs offered to inmates at three California correctional institutions: Folsom prison, San Quentin and the Deuel Vocational Institute. A TM representative stated that meditation has been included at "over 25 prisons and correctional institutions". In the African country of Senegal, more than 11,000 prisoners and 900 correctional officers in 34 prisons received instruction in the Transcendental Meditation technique between 1985 and 1987, and the wardens at 31 prisons signed a proclamation recommending that TM be offered throughout the entire system. More recently, the TM technique has been introduced to prisoners in the Oregon Correctional System and a research study is underway.

In 1996, Judge David Mason of 22nd Judicial Circuit of St Louis, Missouri, began offering the Transcendental Meditation program to criminal offenders in Missouri. The program, administered by the non-profit Enlightened Sentencing Project, continues to this day and has received endorsements from several judges, including Judge Philip Heagney, Judge Henry Autrey, and others from the Missouri District, Federal, and Supreme Court.

In 2010, the Doe Fund of New York City began offering the TM technique to its residents, and homeless men were given instruction in the TM technique through an organization called Ready, Willing and Able. In 2010, the Superintendent of Prisons announced that the TM technique was being offered to inmates at the Dominica State Prison.

In 2011, the technique was taught to about 65 individuals at the Children of the Night shelter for teen prostitutes in Los Angeles.

The Transcendental Meditation technique was taught to military personnel with post traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) as part of a two research studies conducted at the University of Colorado and Georgetown University. In 2012, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced that it was "studying the use of transcendental meditation to help returning veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars". Other initiatives to teach the TM technique to war veterans at risk for PTSD, are ongoing. Psychiatry professor, Norman E. Rosenthal says that TM is compatible with most "drug treatment approaches" and could be incorporated "into an overall treatment program."

Theoretical concepts

Views on consciousness (1963)

In his 1963 book, The Science Of Being and Art Of Living, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi says that, over time, through the practice of the TM technique, the mind gains familiarity with deeper levels of the mind, bringing the subconscious mind to within the capacity of the conscious mind, resulting in expanded awareness in daily activity. He also teaches that the Transcendental Meditation practitioner transcends all mental activity and experience the 'source of thought', which is said to be pure silence, 'pure awareness' or 'transcendental Being', 'the ultimate reality of life'. TM is sometimes self described as a technology of consciousness. Pathologist, Vimal Patel, says TM has been shown to produce states that are physiologically different from waking, dreaming and sleeping. According to the Maharishi's nephew, Girish Varma, chairman of the Maharishi Vidya Mandir Schools Group, "scientific researches have proved that one can attain divine power through Transcendental Meditations".[sic]

Seven States of Consciousness

According to the Maharishi, there are seven levels of consciousness: (i) waking; (ii) dreaming; (iii) deep sleep; (iv) Transcendental or Pure Consciousness (Skt: turiya); (v) Cosmic Consciousness (Skt: turiyatita); (vi) God Consciousness (Skt: bhagavat-chetana); and, (vii) Supreme knowledge, or unity consciousness (Skt: brahmi-chetana). The Maharishi says that the fourth level of consciousness can be experienced through Transcendental Meditation, and that the fifth state can be achieved by those who meditate diligently. A sign of cosmic consciousness is "ever present wakefulness" that is present even during sleep. Research on long term TM practitioners experiencing what they describe as cosmic consciousness, have identified unique EEG profiles, muscle tone measurements, and REM indicators that suggest physiological parameters for this self described state of consciousness. The Cambridge Handbook of Consciousness notes that it is premature to say that the EEG coherence found in TM is an indication of a higher state of consciousness.

Science of Creative Intelligence (1971)

In 1961, the Maharishi created the "International Meditation Society for the Science of Creative Intelligence", and inaugurated "Maharishi's Year of Science of Creative Intelligence" in 1971, describing SCI as the connection of "modern science with ancient Vedic science". An international symposium on the Science of Creative Intelligence was held at Humboldt State University in 1971, and was attended by several scientists, including a Nobel Prize-winner. The following year, the Maharishi developed a World Plan to spread his teaching of SCI around the world, and KSCI, a UHF television station in San Bernardino, California, began broadcasting several years later.

Cynthia Humes in Gurus In America describes SCI as the Maharishi's teachings derived from the philosophy of Advaita Vedanta, while author Michael Phelan describes it as the "educational branch of the TM organization". While the TM organization describes SCI as a "science of consciousness" that aims to provide both personal experience and a theoretical understanding of that experience. SCI has been described as the study of "pure creative intelligence" as the basis of all life, with Transcendental Meditation as the means to experience it. Russell describes SCI as the interface between the subjective experience of the Transcendental Meditation technique and the objective experience of the various fields of knowledge. It has been called the Maharishi's "unified theory of life", and "the science of expansion of awareness". Shear describes the TM technique itself as having its origins in the Advaita Vedanta, and reporter Steve Rabey writes that the phrase "Science of Creative Intelligence" has sometimes been used as an alternate name for "Transcendental Meditation".

The theoretical part of SCI is taught in a 33-lesson video course. In the early 1970s, SCI was offered at universities such as Stanford, Yale, the University of Colorado, the University of Wisconsin, and Oregon State University. Until 2009, Maharishi University of Management (MUM) required its undergraduate students to take SCI classes, and both MUM and Maharishi European Research University (MERU) in Switzerland have awarded degrees in the field. The Independent reports that children at Maharishi School learn SCI principles such as "the nature of life is to grow" and "order is present everywhere". SCI is reported to be part of the curriculum of TM related lower schools in Iowa, Wheaton, Maryland and Skelmersdale, UK.

Theologian Robert M. Price, writing in the Creation/Evolution Journal (the journal of the National Center for Science Education), compares the Science of Creative Intelligence to Creationism. Price says instruction in the Transcendental Meditation technique is "never offered without indoctrination into the metaphysics of 'creative intelligence'". Skeptic James Randi says SCI has "no scientific characteristics", and in his 1982 book, says that TM's claims are no more substantiated by scientific investigation than other mystical philosophies. Astrophysicist and skeptic Carl Sagan writes that the 'Hindu doctrine' of TM is a pseudoscience. Irving Hexham, a professor of religious studies, describes the TM teachings as "pseudoscientific language that masks its religious nature by mythologizing science". In a 1980 book, Neurophysiologist Michael Persinger wrote that "science has been used as a sham for propaganda by the TM movement". While an article in the Harvard Review says that "despite the criticisms its organizational structure and religious viewpoints have aroused, TM’s medical claims have been taken seriously." Sociologists Rodney Stark and William Sims Bainbridge describe the SCI videotapes as being largely based on the Bhagavad Gita, and say that they are "laced with parables and metaphysical postulates, rather than anything that can be recognized as conventional science". In 1979, the court case Malnak v Yogi determined that although SCI/TM is not a theistic religion, it deals with issues of ultimate concern, truth, and other ideas analogous to those in well-recognized religions. Maharishi biographer Paul Mason suggests that the scientific terminology used in SCI was developed by the Maharishi as part of a restructuring of his philosophies in terms that would gain greater acceptance and hopefully increase the number of people starting the TM technique.

Maharishi Effect (1974)

Main article: Maharishi Effect

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi predicted that the quality of life, the growth of harmony and order in society, would be noticeably improved if one percent of the population practiced the Transcendental Meditation technique. This is known as the "Maharishi Effect" and according to the Maharishi, it was "discovered" in 1974 after an analysis of crime statistics in 16 cities. Author Ted Karam writes that there have been "hundreds of studies on the Maharishi Effect" including a gathering of over 4,000 people in Washington DC in the summer of 1993.

With the introduction of the TM-Sidhi program including Yogic Flying, the Maharishi proposed that only the square root of 1% of the population practicing this advanced program together at the same time and in the same place would be required to create benefits in society, and this was referred to as the "Extended Maharishi Effect". According to a follower, the Maharishi said the earth will "yield up its treasures" when the one percent threshold is met.

The TM organization has correlated the group practice of the TM and TM-Sidhi programs (the Maharishi Effect) with the fall of the Berlin Wall, a reduction in global terrorism, US inflation and crime rates. The Maharishi Effect has been endorsed by the former President of Mozambique Joaquim Chissano, who applied this technology in his country, and positive results have been reported in 42 independent scientific studies. Some have described this research as "pseudoscience". James Randi investigated effects attributed to the Maharishi Effect by Maharishi International University of faculty member Robert Rabinoff in Oregon in 1978. Randi spoke to the Fairfield Chief of Police who said he had not experienced any drop in crime rate and the regional Agriculture Department whose statistics on yield showed no difference between Jefferson County and the state average. A reporter for The Sunday Times was initiated into the TM technique and said it had a calming effect, but that the idea that TM could help bring world peace seemed "ludicrous".

Maharishi Vedic Science (1981)

The Maharishi proclaimed 1981 as the Year of Vedic Science. Maharishi Vedic Science (MVS) is defined by author Patrick Williams as “a practical, workable Vedic science that is integrated with modern science” and a "scientific approach to human development based on complete knowledge and systematic techniques". It is based on the Maharishi's interpretation of ancient Vedic texts and includes subjective technologies like the Transcendental Meditation technique and the TM-Sidhi program plus programs like Maharishi Sthapatya Veda (MSV) and Maharishi Vedic Astrology(MVA) services which apply Vedic science to day-to-day living. Vedic science studies the various aspects of life and their relationship to the Veda. In 2006 the High Country Press reported that TM teacher, Tony Miles said "Our new Maharishi Peace Center has been established to offer all sixty programs, products and courses of the TM movement including Transcendental Meditation".

Characterizations

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi describes Transcendental Meditation as a technique which requires no preparation, is simple to do, and can be learned by anyone. The technique is described as being effortless and natural, involving neither contemplation nor concentration, and relying on the natural tendency of the mind to move in the direction of greater satisfaction. An article in Newsweek reports that, according to TM advocates, the technique is "purely a mechanical, physiological process", the "two-minute ceremony" invokes no deities, the mantras are "sounds without meaning" and the technique "pre-dates Hinduism by 5,000 years". In his book The TM Technique, Peter Russell, a teacher of Transcendental Meditation who had spent time with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, says Transcendental Meditation allows the mind to become still without effort, in contrast to meditation practices that attempt to control the mind by holding it on a single thought or by keeping it empty of all thoughts. He says trying to control the mind is like trying to go to sleep at night — if a person makes an effort to fall asleep, his or her mind remains active and restless. This is why, he says, Transcendental Meditation avoids concentration and effort. Anthony Campbell, author of the book Seven States of Consciousness, writes that TM is a natural process that requires no "special circumstances or preparations", is "complete in itself" and does "not depend upon belief" or require the practitioner to accept any theory. The official TM web site describes the TM technique as a non-religious, mental technique for deep rest. Former Maharishi University of Management Dean of College of Arts and Sciences, James Grant writes that the Maharishi's techniques for the development of consciousness are non-sectarian and require no belief system. A 2011 article in Details characterizes the TM technique as a "Hindu meditation practice ["stripped"] of its religious baggage" and offered "as a systematic, stress-reducing, creativity-building technique".

Government

The characterization and attitude towards the TM technique by governmental agencies varies depending on the time period, the specific agency and its country of origin. In 1968, the Maharishi conducted a one hour meeting with Secretary General of the United Nations U Thant. In the 1970s, courses in the TM technique were conducted at 47 military installations around the world (including eight in the U.S.), with 150 enrolling in the course at the West Point military academy. The TM technique was also taught at five U.S. federal prisons, and three in Germany and Canada. During this period, ten U.S. Senators and more than 100 Congressional staff members learned the technique. In 1972, the Maharishi met with the Governor of Illinois (Daniel Walker) and received "a standing ovation" when he addressed the Illinois state legislature before they passed a resolution characterizing Maharishi’s Science of Creative Intelligence as useful for Illinois public schools. In 1975, TM's founder met with Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau to discuss "the possibility of structuring an ideal society" through Transcendental Mediation, and the U.S. Congress passed Senate Resolution #64: A Resolution to Increase Public Awareness of Transcendental Meditation and gave TM a "favorable" characterization. A few years later, however, two U.S. courts held SCI/TM to be a religion (Malnak v Yogi 1977 and 1979), and a 3rd Circuit opinion held that although SCI/TM is not a theistic religion, it deals with issues of ultimate concern, truth, and other ideas analogous to those of well-recognized religions and it therefore violated the Establishment Clause. "TM tried to block" a 1980 report (released in 1989) by the West German government's Institute for Youth and Society which "called TM a psychogroup".

In 1996, a commission appointed by the German government concluded that new religious movements and "psychotherapy groups," including TM, did not present any danger to the state or to society. In 1987, an Israeli government report defined TM as a "cult group" that was "targeted by anti-cult activists". However, Gabriel Cavaglion, an Israeli social scientist, says that scholars in Israel tended to view the report as "one-sided and negative". The 1995 report of the Parliamentary Commission on Cults in France included Transcendental Meditation in its list of cults. On the other hand, the U.S. government has characterized the Transcendental Meditation technique as worthy of research funding and during the last decade has supplied more than $10.5 million in research grants as part of a prevention-oriented natural medicine program. In total, more than $20 million in funding from different branches of the National Institutes of Health has been allocated to TM research. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs characterized the TM technique as a potential tool for the "treatment" of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, when it commenced research on the technique (and two other meditation systems) in 2012. According to author Patrick Gresham Williams, "the government will pay" for any U.S. veteran to learn TM if it is prescribed by a Veterans Administration medical doctor.

Religious leaders

Some religious leaders and clergy find Transcendental Meditation to be compatible with their religious teachings and beliefs while others do not. Catholic monk Wayne Teasdale writes in his book The Mystic Heart: Discovering a Universal Spirituality in the World’s Religions, that Transcendental Meditation is what is called an open or receptive method that can be described as giving up control and remaining open in an inner sense. In 1968, the archbishop of Canterbury, Michael Ramsey "came to the support of Maharishi's theory". In 1984, Cardinal Jaime Sin, the Archbishop of Manila, wrote a pastoral statement after Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos invited more than 1,000 members of the TM movement to Manila, saying that neither the doctrine nor the practice of TM are acceptable to Christians. In 2003, the Roman Curia, a Vatican council, published a warning against mixing eastern meditations, such as TM, with Christian prayer. A Jewish Revivialist called TM "an insidious form of worship" while Trappist monks in Spencer, Massachusetts find it useful. Catholic Father Len Dubi says that he uses the TM technique to "deepen" his "religious commitment", and that he is "a better man, a better priest" because of his TM practice. Orthodox Rabbi Abe Shainberg says that TM "leads me to better prayer to better service and I feel I’m on more of a path to God"..."its a practice, its not religion". William Johnston, an Irish Jesuit, says that despite its religious origins, the TM technique, as introduced by the Maharishi, has no attachments to any particular religion. According to author R.S. Bajpai, the Maharishi "secularized the TM [sic] by purging it of all the religious rites and rituals and spiritual mysticism".

Notable laypersons

The New York Times reports that David Lynch, who was raised as a Presbyterian, insists Transcendental Meditation is not a theology, "but simply a private, personal, practice". Andrew Sullivan, political commentator for The Atlantic and a Roman Catholic, wrote in 2010 that he does not consider his practice of Transcendental Meditation to be a "contradiction of my faith in Christ". Pulitzer Prize winning music critic Tim Page says after 33 years of TM practice "the technique would be invaluable, no matter what religion you are". According to TM practitioner Clint Eastwood, "when I found out there were no religious aspects to it, I figured it was worth a try".

Scholars

The Transcendental Meditation technique has been variously described by sociologists and religious scholars as religious and non-religious. According to author Stephen Hunt, the TM technique describes itself as a "technology of consciousness" with the goal of developing the full potential of the person, including spiritual and psychological progress, while fulfilling some of the self-improvement goals of many religious and semi-religious organizations. Religious studies scholar Eugene V. Gallagher writes that, "TM practitioners describe TM as a science rather than a religious discipline", but its "meditation principles were clearly derived from Hindu practice".

In the book Cults and New Religious Movements, author Roy Wallis characterizes Transcendental Meditation as a "world affirming new religion" that "lacks most of the features traditionally associated with religion". Authors Liebler and Moss write that "unlike some forms of meditation, the TM technique does not require adherence to any belief system". Religious studies scholars Michael Phelan and James R. Lewis say that TM participants "may meditate for relaxation, but otherwise have no contact with TM", and that TM "attracts a large number of people with low levels of commitment around a much smaller group of highly committed followers." Moreover, Phelan writes that TM is "being opposed by many religious groups who believe that it is a religious practice", and that "the TM objectives and methods are congruous with the criteria of revitalization movements [as] defined by Anthony F.C. Wallace"... "whose goal is to create a better culture." Religion scholar Charles H. Lippy writes that earlier spiritual interest in the technique faded in the 1970s, and it became a practical technique that anyone could employ without abandoning their religious affiliation.

On the other hand, Bainbridge finds Transcendental Meditation to be a "...highly simplified form of Hinduism, adapted for Westerners who did not possess the cultural background to accept the full panoply of Hindu beliefs, symbols, and practices", and describes the Transcendental Meditation puja ceremony as "...in essence, a religious initiation ceremony". Metropolitan Maximos of Pittsburgh of the Greek Orthodox Church describes TM as being "a new version of Hindu Yoga" based on "pagan pseudo-worship and deification of a common mortal, Guru Dev". Martin Gardner, a mathematician, has referred to TM as "the Hindu cult". In one of his books, the Maharishi refers to TM as "a path to God".

In the book Cults and New Religions, Cowan and Bromley write that TM is presented to the public as a meditation practice that has been validated by science, but is not a religious practice nor is it affiliated with a religious tradition. They say that "although there are some dedicated followers of TM who devote most or all of their time to furthering the practice of Transcendental Meditation in late modern society, the vast majority of those who practice do so on their own, often as part of what has been loosely described as the New Age Movement." They say that most scholars view Transcendental Meditation as having elements of both therapy and religion, but says that "Transcendental Meditation has no designated scripture, no set of doctrinal requirements, no ongoing worship activity, and no discernible community of believers." They also say that Maharishi did not claim to have special divine revelation or supernatural personal qualities.

Authors of the book A Reader in New Religious Movements, George D. Chryssides and Margaret Z. Wilkins, write that Transcendental Meditation and other new religious movements have been criticized for "surreptitiously smuggling in forms of Eastern religion under the guise of some seemingly innocuous technique of self improvement or health promotion". Chryssides goes on to say in his book Exploring New Religions that although one can identify the Maharishi's Hindu background, Hindu lineage, mantras and initiation ceremony, TM is unlike religion in its "key elements": "there is no public worship, no code of ethics, no scriptures to be studied, and no rites of passage that are observed, such as dietary laws, giving to the poor, or pilgrimages." Psychiatry professor Norman E. Rosenthal, author of Transcendence: Healing and Transformation Through Transcendental Meditation, writes that "Maharishi extracted the TM technique from its religious context and distilled it to is essence, which he believed could be of value to people of all creeds."

Marketing

The public presentation of the TM technique has varied over its 50 years history. Some authors have praised its methods and success while others have criticized its marketing techniques. For example author G. Francis Xavier writes, the Maharishi is "one of the best salesman" and has made full use of the mass media to propagate TM around the world while authors Bainbridge and Stark criticize the TM movement for using endorsements from the scientific establishment as "propaganda", reprinting favorable articles and using positive statements by government officials in conjunction with their publicity efforts.

In the 1970s, according to author Philip Goldberg, the Maharishi began encouraging research on the TM technique because he felt that hard scientific data would be a useful marketing tool and a way to re-brand meditation as a scientific form of deep rest, rather than a mystical "samadhi"; one of his first steps in secularizing the technique. The Maharishi's "appropriation of science was clearly part of his agenda from the beginning" says Goldberg, and so his "organization was incorporated as an educational non-profit, not a religious one". The Maharishi asked people with marketing expertise, like SIMS president, Jarvis, to present TM as a method for inner peace and relaxation based on scientific proof and, because the TM technique was the first type of mediation to undergo scientific testing, it "has always received the most publicity". According to Bainbridge and Stark, TM had engaged in several mass media campaigns prior to 1973, and had received a great amount of publicity, but the main source of new TM students was word of mouth, or the "advice of friends", because "TM was a relatively cheap, short-term service, requiring no deep commitment". Author Jack Forem agrees, and writes: "the main source of publicity for the movement has been satisfied practitioners spreading the news by word of mouth".

Characterizations

In 1988, author J. Isamu Yamamoto wrote that "TM was called the McDonald’s of meditation because of its extravagantly successful packaging of Eastern Meditation for the American mass market". While the 2010 book, Teaching Mindfulness, says that TM's eventual success as a new social movement was based on the "translation in Western language and settings, popular recognition, adoption within scientific research in powerful institutions, and the use of sophisticated marketing and public relations techniques." The book goes on to say that TM's "use of sophisticated marketing and public relations techniques, represents a model for success in the building of new social movements". Sociologist Hank Johnston, who analyzed TM as a "marketed social movement" in a 1980 paper, says that TM has used sophisticated techniques, such as tailored promotional messages for different audiences, and pragmatically adapted them to different cultures and changing times. Johnston says that TM's "calculated strategies" have led to its "rapid growth". In particular, it has objectified the rank-and-file membership, marketed the movement as a product, and created a perception of grievances for which it offers a panacea.

According to an article in The Independent, despite early criticism, the TM technique has moved from margin to mainstream, due mostly to its "burgeoning body of scientific research". Its recent appeal seems due to the possibility of relaxation with no chemical assistance. Jerrold Greenberg in his book Comprehensive Stress Managment writes that the Maharishi was a "major exporter of meditation to the Western world" who "developed a large, worldwide, and highly effective organization to teach Transcendental Meditation". Greenberg goes on to say that "the simplicity of this technique, coupled with the effectiveness of its marketing by TM organizations quickly led to its popularity." According to Goldberg, research and meditation in general are likely to be the Maharishi's "lasting legacy".