Transcendental Meditation technique

This article is about the techniques used in Transcendental Meditation. For an overview of the system and the movement, see Transcendental Meditation.

The Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique is that associated with Transcendental Meditation, developed by the Indian spiritual figure Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. It uses a private mantra and is practised for 20 minutes twice per day while sitting comfortably with closed eyes.[1][2] TM instruction encourages students to be not alarmed by random thoughts which arise and to easily return to the mantra once aware of them.[3]

Advocates of TM claim that the technique promotes a state of relaxed awareness, stress-relief, creativity, and efficiency, as well as physiological benefits such as reducing the risk of heart disease and high blood pressure.[4] The technique is purported to allow practitioners to experience higher states of consciousness.[5] Advanced courses supplement the TM technique with the TM-Sidhi program.

The methodological quality of scientific research on the therapeutic benefits of meditation in general is poor, because of the varying theoretical approaches and frequent confirmation bias in individual studies.[6] A 2012 meta-analysis published in Psychological Bulletin, which reviewed 163 individual studies, found that Transcendental Meditation performed no better overall than other meditation techniques in improving psychological variables.[7] A 2014 Cochrane review of four trials found that it was impossible to draw any conclusions about whether TM is effective in preventing cardiovascular disease, as the scientific literature on TM was limited and at "serious risk of bias".[8] A 2015 systematic review and meta-analysis of 12 studies found that TM may effectively reduce blood pressure compared to control groups.[9]

  1. ^ "The Transcendental Meditation Program". Tm.org. Archived from the original on February 16, 2013. Retrieved February 17, 2013.
  2. ^ Lansky, Ephraim; St Louis, Erik (November 2006). "Transcendental meditation: a double-edged sword in epilepsy?". Epilepsy & Behavior. 9 (3): 394–400. doi:10.1016/j.yebeh.2006.04.019. PMID 16931164. S2CID 31764098.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Cazenave was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Heritage, Stuart (March 2014). "Transcendental meditation: does it work?". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  5. ^ Mason, L. (Feb 1997). "Electrophysiological correlates of higher states of consciousness during sleep in long-term practitioners of the Transcendental Meditation program". Sleep. 20 (2): 102–110. doi:10.1093/sleep/20.2.102. PMID 9143069.
  6. ^ Ospina, M. B.; Bond, K.; Karkhaneh, M.; Tjosvold, L.; Vandermeer, B.; Liang, Y.; Bialy, L.; Hooton, N.; Buscemi, N.; Dryden, D. M.; Klassen, T. P. (June 2007). "Meditation practices for health: state of the research". Evid Rep Technol Assess (Full Rep). 155 (155): 1–263. PMC 4780968. PMID 17764203.
  7. ^ Sedlmeier, Peter; Eberth, Juliane; Schwarz, Marcus; Zimmerman, Doreen; Haarig, Frederik; Jaeger, Sonia; Kunze, Sonja; et al. (May 2012). "The Psychological Effects of Meditation: A Meta-Analysis". Psychological Bulletin. 138 (6): 1139–1171. doi:10.1037/a0028168. PMID 22582738. The global analysis yielded quite comparable effects for TM, mindfulness meditation, and the other meditation procedures...So, it seems that the three categories we identified for the sake of comparison, TM, mindfulness meditation, and the heterogeneous category we termed other meditation techniques, do not differ in their overall effects.
  8. ^ Hartley, L.; Mavrodaris, A.; Flowers, N.; Ernst, E.; Rees, K. (1 December 2014). "Transcendental meditation for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease". The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 12 (12): CD010359. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD010359.pub2. PMID 25436436.
  9. ^ Bai, Z.; Chang, J.; Chen, C.; Li, P.; Yang, K.; Chi, I. (12 February 2015). "Investigating the effect of transcendental meditation on blood pressure: a systematic review and meta-analysis". Journal of Human Hypertension. 29 (11): 653–62. doi:10.1038/jhh.2015.6. PMID 25673114. S2CID 22261.