2. The Myths And Truths About Transcendental Medita-
tion
It’s that one thing that Katy Perry, Oprah Winfrey, Jennifer Lopez and John Lennon have
a connection in. No, it’s not fame nor fortune, it’s something deeper and more compli-
cated. A type of meditation that claims to go beyond deep concentration or intense fo-
cus. Aspects that both focused meditation and open-focus meditation enhance. Instead,
this type of meditation breaks the boundaries by allowing for mind relaxation without any
effort at all. This, my friends, is called transcendental meditation or simply TM, as its ad-
vocates and supporters like to call it.
How did transcendental meditation came into the limelight?
Much like the other types of meditation, transcendental meditation came from the same
background of Indian Vedic traditions. Over the years, this type of meditation had its ups
and downs. The founder of transcendental meditation is Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, one of
the disciples of Guru Swami Brahmananda Saraswati. Before the death of the guru, he
tasked Mahesh to spread the very foundations of what would be later called transcen-
dental meditation.
It was in 1955 when Mahesh began teaching the traditional meditation technique he
learned from his guru. Initially, he taught the technique in various regions of India and
then Asia including Burma, Hong Kong and Thailand. In 1959, he travelled to Hawaii,
the first place in America where he taught transcendental meditation. Years later, he
would travel to other regions of the continent including major cities like Boston, Los An-
geles and New York.
Thereafter, transcendental meditation took a leap from the shadows. Mahesh became
known as Maharish Mahesh Yogi. He further travelled into Europe and other regions of
America to spread the teachings of his guru. It was at this point when then celebrities
3. like The Beatles, Mick Jagger and Brian Jones made the organization even more suc-
cessful. Maharish Mahesh Yogi died in 2008 in the Netherlands but his legacy and con-
tribution to the world of meditation still stand strong.
Understanding how transcendental meditation works
For the non-practitioners of this type of meditation, understanding how it works can be
daunting. There are little free resources online because most organizations require a
fee for an individual to actually learn transcendental meditation. Investing time and
money into something that you have no idea or background of can be very risky. That’s
why in this blog post, we would uncover the myths and truths about transcendental
meditation. This way, you can decide for yourself if you are willing to take the risk when
it comes to your time and money in order for you to learn this golden type of meditation.
1. Transcendental meditation is the same as mantra meditation.
MYTH - If you’re an avid reader of our website, you might remember our previous post
about Om meditation, which is a form of mantra meditation. If you haven’t read the post,
I encourage you to do so because it can help you distinguish between mantra medita-
tion and transcendental meditation. Simply put, mantra meditation entails one to choose
a specific mantra according to his or her intentions. For example, Om stands for the trio
of creation, preservation and destruction of the universe. Its chanting can lead you to a
oneness with all concrete and cosmic things.
Transcendental meditation also utilizes mantras, only the individual isn’t supposed to
verbalize them. The chanting can only occur mentally, as opposed to mantra meditation
wherein you can choose whether to chant verbally or mentally. Additionally, only certified
TM instructors can give an individual a specific mantra suitable for him or her. These
mantras, unlike those from mantra meditation, do not have meanings at all. In Tantric
Hinduism, these are called bijas, their power lies within the vibrations they make, even if
4. you utter them just silently. Since they don’t have specific meanings, the individual who
utters them won’t make any associations with them, making the process of meditating
effortless.
2. You can only learn transcendental meditation from a certified in-
structor or school.
TRUTH - The mantras and techniques used in transcendental meditation have been
kept like a secret all these years. It has become much like an organization, with its own
website and members. There is little free resources online that teaches you about this
type of meditation. And although the Maharish Foundation is a non-profit organization,
they require middle-class to elite-class individuals to learn the meditation type from cer-
tified instructors and schools for a fee.
For the lesser-fortunate individuals, there are some organizations that teach transcen-
dental meditation without any fees at all. An example of which is the David Lynch Foun-
dation, founded by director/producer of the same name. The organization aims to teach
5. transcendental meditation to trauma and stress patients who can’t afford the courses in
normal schools. Similarly, there are other schools with instructors who were former TM
practitioners that have separated from the organization and had made their own paths
towards this meditation type.
3. Transcendental meditation takes a lot of time to learn.
MYTH - At the most, you only need four days to learn how to do transcendental medita-
tion. The course goes like this, you pay the required fee and either an instructor goes to
your home or you go to the school. There would be an introductory session about the
history and background of transcendental meditation. The instructor would then pick a
mantra specific for your case, after investigating aspects of your personality, lifestyle
and occupation. In the remaining three days, the instructor would check up on how you
practice meditation. That’s it!
Maharish Mahesh Yogi recommends practicing transcendental meditation 15 to 20 min-
utes a day. You could choose to do this once or twice a day. So as you can see, tran-
6. scendental meditation doesn’t really require lots of time to learn. The course itself runs
for three days, although you can still contact your instructor in the future for any clarifi-
cations. Maintaining your practice doesn’t also require much time, just a few minutes of
two sessions daily.
4. The fee for transcendental meditation is expensive.
TRUTH - Well, we can’t hide this fact as you can see from the official website of the
Maharish Foundation. For a one-time payment, the fee is at 960 USD per adult. And al-
though the fee includes a personalized session and lifetime support, it’s still set at such
a higher rate as compared to other meditation types. Not to mention the hundreds of re-
sources online that you can utilize for free if you decide to use other meditation pro-
grams.
7. No doubt that this is the main downside with transcendental meditation. The main rea-
son why some people are against this meditation type. Yet it’s also the very reason why
many are curious about its effectiveness. As the advocates and supporters of the orga-
nization has pointed out, this fees are required for the maintenance and upkeep of the
facilities as well as the instructors of transcendental meditation. Further, since they are
involved in non-profitable activities, some of the money also goes to their charitable
missions.
5. Transcendental meditation is neither focusing nor observing.
TRUTH - This is what makes it different from focused type of meditation and open-focus
type of meditation. According to Mahesh, transcendental meditation aims to bring out
the innate stillness that we all have. With this stillness, we become more energetic,
aware, creative and wise. Transcendental meditation does all this without the efforts of
focusing or observing. How? We’d discuss that in the following section.
8. As have been mentioned, transcendental meditation requires the use of a special
mantra. A mantra which has no designated meaning nor attachments to the person. As
the individual utters the mantra silently, his breathing follows the pattern as well. An ef-
fortless chanting begins, the stillness of the mind follows and transcendence is
achieved. It’s that sweet moment between drowsiness and sleep itself. More on that in
the section below.
6. Alpha waves are abundant in the brain during transcendental medi-
tation.
TRUTH - Many studies have already proven that transcendental meditation increases
the presence of alpha waves in the brain. In this study, researchers found that alpha
wave activity were particularly abundant in the anterior cingulate cortex and medial pre-
frontal cortex of the brain. In long-term transcendental meditators, a study found that
these alpha waves encompass the whole brain beyond the sessions of meditations. So
9. what are alpha waves? They are mostly abundant during periods of awareness coupled
with relaxation.
Alpha waves are well-studied and it is believed that increased levels induce moments of
creativity and insights. In this study, the researchers gathered data from other studies to
understand how alpha waves measure with creativity. In complicated tasks such as di-
vergent thinking and ill-defined problem solutions, they found that alpha waves were in-
creased. Therefore, there’s a bidirectional relationship between alpha wave generation
and creativity. This is perhaps the reason why celebrities and artists promote the use of
transcendental meditation as it has helped them harness their inner creativity better.
7. Transcendental meditation is only suitable for elite or upper-society
individuals who are dealing with stress.
MYTH - It is a known fact that transcendental meditation can reduce cortisol levels in
the body which is the main indicator of stress. But this is not the only health benefit of
10. engaging into the practice, nor is it suitable only for elite individuals. Other mental is-
sues such as anxiety and cognitive impairments can also be affected positively by tran-
scendental meditation.
There are also other physiological health benefits as well. Transcendental meditation
has been proven to decrease diastolic and systolic blood pressure. In older and long-
term transcendental meditators, it was found that their dehydroepiandrosterone levels
were higher than those who didn’t practice this meditation type. Dehydroepiandros-
terone is the precursor for female and male sex hormones, which normally decreases
as we age. In another study, it was found that transcendental meditation was able to
decrease the incidence of bronchial asthmatic symptoms in patients who were inter-
vened using this therapy.
11. Transcendental meditation is just one of the many subtypes
of meditation
It’s just like breathing meditation or mindfulness meditation which are categorized under
focused meditation and open-focus meditation respectively. Transcendental meditation
is a type of self-transcending meditation. It is popular amongst the upper society be-
cause it doesn’t require as much effort or time. It works quickly though, with its advo-
cates stating that one can achieve awareness or even full consciousness of the mind
even just within a few months.
Transcendental meditation may or may not work for you. The reason you’re here is per-
haps because you’re adamant about spending money into a short-term program that
isn’t too transparent on its claims. But the only way to know if this program would work
for you is to try it. If the fees are too exuberant for you, consult a TM instructor that is
nearest to you so that you can find out if you fit unto the special discounted offers. Alter-
natively, you can try out the descendants of TM like Acem or Natural Stress Relief in-
stead. These subtypes of self-transcending meditation were founded on the basis of TM
itself. But their fees are on the lower side, perfect for those who just don’t have too
much monetary resources for funding their meditative practice.
If this blog post had helped you clear your doubts about transcendental meditation,
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