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Transcendental
Meditation®
by Sue Spencer
From our book
Bypassing Bypass, published in 2002 |
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The Transcendental Meditation®,
or TM®, program of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is the single most
effective technique available for gaining deep relaxation,
eliminating stress , promoting health, increasing creativity and
intelligence, and attaining inner happiness and fulfillment. (http://tm.org/stress/stress-management.html)
The Transcendental Meditation®
technique practiced by 5 million people worldwide, is a simple,
natural, effortless technique. The effectiveness of the
Transcendental Meditation program has been validated by over 500
scientific studies at more than 200 independent research
institutions in 30 countries. The TM® technique requires no belief
or lifestyle change, is non-religious, is not time-consuming, and
can be learned by anyone regardless of age or level of education.
We invite you to use the menu to
explore the www.TM.org web site and
find out how the Transcendental Meditation® program can improve all
aspects of your life in a way you never dreamed possible.
To find out how to learn, please
attend a free introductory presentation, either in the St. Paul -
Minneapolis area, or in Ely, Minnesota. You will find it very
enlightening. To find when the next lecture is, in the Minneapolis -
St. Paul area, call (888) 532-7686; in the Ely area, call Sue
Spencer, Transcendental Meditation Teacher, at (218) 365-4409, or
email her at lilapaa@aol.com.
Be sure to put TM in the subject field of your message.
Here is a selection of TM
research on cardiovascular health improvements.
Title: Effect of
Transcendental Meditation on serum cholesterol and blood pressure.
Findings: Improved
cardiovascular health: decreased serum cholesterol levels in normal
and hypercholesterolaemic patients. Reduction of blood pressure to
more ideal levels in normotensive subjects.
COOPER, M. J., and AYGEN, M. M.
Findings previously published in Harefuah, the Journal of the Israel
Medical Association, 95(1): 1-2, 1978.
Collected Papers v3.233.
Title: Effect of
Transcendental Meditation on mild and moderate hypertension.
Findings: Improved
cardiovascular health: decreased blood pressure in patients with
mild and moderate hypertension.
AGARWAL, B. L., and KHARBANDA,
A. Postgraduate Department of Medicine, M.L.N. Medical College,
Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India. Paper presented at the VIIth
Asian-Pacific Congress on Cardiology, Bangkok, Thailand, November
1979.
Collected Papers v3.235.
Title: In search of an optimal
behavioral treatment for hypertension: A review and focus on
Transcendental Meditation.
Findings: Reduction of High
Blood Pressure.
SCHNEIDER, R. H.; ALEXANDER, C.
N.; and WALLACE, R. K. In Personality, Elevated Blood Pressure, and
Essential Hypertension., eds. E. H. Johnson, W. D. Gentry, and S.
Julius, pp. 291-316. Washington, D. C. : Hemisphere Publishing
Corp., 1992.
Recent Research 454.
Title: Transcendental
Meditation, mindfulness, and longevity: an experimental study with
the elderly.
Findings: Benefits for the
elderly demonstrating reversal of aging: increased longevity (higher
survival rate). Reduction of systolic blood pressure to more ideal
levels. Improved mental health (improvements on nurses’ mental
health ratings). Increased cognitive flexibility (less premature
cognitive commitment, increased learning ability on associate
learning and greater perceptual flexibility). Increased word
fluency. Improvements in self-reported measures of behavioral
flexibility and aging (greater ability to cope with inconvenience,
reduced feelings of being old, less impatience with others). Greater
sense of well-being (feeling better during the TM program, high
interest in the TM program and high ratings of the value of the TM
program. Feeling better and more relaxed after the TM program).
ALEXANDER, C. N.; LANGER, E. J.;
NEWMAN, R. I. . CHANDLER, H. M.; and DAVIES, J. L. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology 57(6): 950-964, 1989.
Recent Research 453.
Title: Elevated serum
dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate levels in older practitioners of the
Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi programs.
Findings: Hormone levels
indicating younger biological age.
GLASER, J. L.; BRIND, J. L.;
EISNER, M. J.; DILLBECK, M. C.; VOGELMAN, J. H.; and WALLACE, R. K.
Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for
Neuroscience, Washington, D.C., November 1986. (An abstract of these
results also appeared in AGE 10(4): 160, 1987.)
Collected Papers v5.376.
Title: The effects of
Transcendental Meditation on cognitive and behavioral flexibility,
health, and longevity in the elderly: An experimental comparison of
the Transcendental Meditation program, mindfulness training, and
relaxation.
Findings: Benefits for the
elderly: increased longevity. Increased cognitive and perceptual
flexibility. Increased behavioral flexibility. Increased learning
ability. Improved mental health and sense of well-being. More ideal
levels of blood pressure.
ALEXANDER, C. N.; DAVIES, J. L.;
NEWMAN, R. I.; and CHANDLER, H. M. Department of Psychology and
Social Relations and Graduate School of Education, Harvard
University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A., and Macquarie
University, North Ryde, New South Wales, Australia, 1983.
Collected Papers v4.300.
Title: Improved mental and
physical health and decreased use of prescribed and non-prescribed
drugs through the Transcendental Meditation program.
Findings: Improvements in
physical and mental health correlated with duration and regularity
of practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique. Decreased
use of alcohol. Decreased use of cigarettes. Decreased drug abuse.
Decreased need for anti-hypertensives, drugs for heart disease,
sleep medications, tranquilizers, anti-depressants, anti-asthmatics,
anti-histamines, analgesics, and drugs for hypertension, asthma, and
heart disease.
BROWNE, G. E.; FOUGÉE, D.;
ROXBURGH, A.; BIRD, J.; and LOVELL-SMITH, H. D. Age of Enlightenment
Medical Council, Christchurch, New Zealand; Heylen Research Centre,
Auckland, New Zealand; and Dunedin Hospital, Dunedin, New Zealand,
1983.
Collected Papers v3.247.
Title: The Transcendental
Meditation and TM-Sidhi program and reversal of the aging process: A
longitudinal study.
Findings: Reversal of biological
aging: longitudinal reduction in biological age. Younger biological
age compared with norms. Length of time practicing the
Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program correlated with
younger biological age and younger functional age. Decreased
systolic blood pressure and improved auditory threshold.
TOOMEY, M.; CHALMERS, R.; and
CLEMENTS, G. MERU Research Institute, Mentmore, Buckinghamshire,
England, 1983. Collected Papers v3.246.
CLEMENTS,
G. MERU Research Institute, Mentmore, Buckinghamshire, England,
1983. Collected Papers v3.246.
Title: The practice of the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi
program reverses the physiological aging process.
Findings:
Reversal of biological aging: younger biological age compared with
norms. Length of time practicing the Transcendental Meditation and
TM-Sidhi program correlated with younger biological age and younger
functional age, and predictive of lower systolic blood pressure and
auditory threshold.
TOOMEY,
M.; PENNINGTON, B.; CHALMERS, R.; and CLEMENTS, G. MERU Research
Institute, Mentmore, Buckinghamshire, England, and Department of
Biology, University of York, Yorkshire, England, 1982.
Collected
Papers v3.245.
Title: Systolic blood pressure and long-term practice of the
Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program: Effects of TM on
systolic blood pressure.
Findings:
Improved cardiovascular health: lower systolic blood pressure
compared to norms for age. Effect more pronounced in long-term
meditators.
WALLACE, R. K.; SILVER, J.; MILLS, P. J.; DILLBECK, M. C.; and
WAGONER, D. E. Psychosomatic Medicine 45(1): 41-46, 1983.
Collected
Papers v3.244.
Title: Transcendental Meditation: A multipurpose tool in clinical
practice.
Findings:
Benefits in general medical practice: improvements in general health
and in a wide variety of physical and mental disorders including
hypertension, angina pectoris, bronchial asthma, chronic bronchitis,
diabetes mellitus, menorrhagia, periodontal inflammation, recurrent
upper respiratory infections, allergic rhinitis, chronic back pain,
rheumatoid arthritis, dyspepsia, chronic colitis, insomnia, chronic
headaches, anxiety, depression, fatigue, obesity. Decreased need for
tranquilizers, sleep medications, anti-asthmatics, anti-hypertensives,
and drugs for hypertension, asthma, and heart disease. Increased
cooperation with medical advice. Faster recovery from major illness,
chronic musculoskeletal complaints.
KIRTANE,
L. General medical practice, Poona, Maharashtra, India, 1980.
Collected
Papers v3.238.
Title: Transcendental Meditation in the management of
hypercholesterolemia.
Findings:
Improved cardiovascular health: long-term reductions in serum
cholesterol in hypercholesterolaemic patients.
COOPER, M. J., and AYGEN, M. M. Transcendental
Meditation in the management of hypercholesterolemia. Journal of
Human Stress 5(4): 24-27, 1979.
Collected
Papers v3.236.
Title: Effect of Transcendental Meditation on mild and moderate
hypertension.
Findings:
Improved cardiovascular health: decreased blood pressure in patients
with mild and moderate hypertension.
AGARWAL,
B. L., and KHARBANDA, A. Postgraduate Department of Medicine, M.L.N.
Medical College, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India. Paper presented at
the VIIth Asian-Pacific Congress on Cardiology, Bangkok, Thailand,
November 1979.
Collected
Papers v3.235.
Title: The effect of Transcendental Meditation on ambulatory blood
pressure and cardiovascular reactivity.
Findings:
More ideal levels of blood pressure in normotensive subjects:
decreased mean diastolic ambulatory blood pressure.
WENNEBERG, S. R.; SCHNEIDER, R. H.; MACLEAN, C. R. K.; LEVITSKY, D.
K.; WALTON, K. G.; MANDARINO, J.; and WAZIRI, R. Presented at the
52nd Annual Meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society, Boston,
MA, April 13-16, 1994.
Recent
Research 459.
Title: The Impact of Transcendental Meditation practice on medical
expenditures.
Findings:
Decreased medical care expenditures. Greatest savings for elderly
and high cost people.
HERRON,
R. E. Summary of Doctoral Dissertation, Department of Management,
Maharishi University of Management, U.S.A. Dissertation Abstracts
International 53(12):4219A, 1993.
Recent
Research 458.
Title: Acute immunoreactivity, Transcendental Meditation, and Type
A/B behavior.
Findings:
Improved immune response to stress.
BLASDELL, K. S. Abstract of Doctoral Dissertation, Department of
Physiological and Biological Sciences, Maharishi University of
Management, U.S.A. Dissertation Abstracts International 50(10):
4806B, 1990.
Recent
Research 455.
Title: In search of an optimal behavioral treatment for
hypertension: A review and focus on Transcendental Meditation.
Findings:
Reduction of High Blood Pressure.
SCHNEIDER, R. H.; ALEXANDER, C. N.; and WALLACE, R. K. In
Personality, Elevated Blood Pressure, and Essential Hypertension.,
eds. E. H. Johnson, W. D. Gentry, and S. Julius, pp. 291-316.
Washington, D. C. : Hemisphere Publishing Corp., 1992.
Recent
Research 454.
Title: Transcendental Meditation in the management of
hypercholesterolemia.
Findings:
Improved cardiovascular health: long-term reductions in serum
cholesterol in hypercholesterolaemic patients.
COOPER,
M. J., and AYGEN, M. M. Journal of Human Stress 5(4): 24-27, 1979.
Collected
Papers v3.236.
Title: The role of the Transcendental Meditation program in the
promotion of athletic excellence: Long- and short-term effects and
their relation to activation theory.
Findings:
A unique state of deep rest during the Transcendental Meditation
technique. Decreased metabolic rate (decreased oxygen consumption).
Increased basal skin resistance. Fewer spontaneous skin resistance
responses. Improved physiological functioning outside the practice
of the Transcendental Meditation technique. Improved cardiovascular
efficiency. Improved respiratory efficiency (increased vital
capacity). Improved athletic performance and neuromuscular
integration. Improved running speed. Improved standing broad jump.
Improved agility. Faster reactions.
REDDY,
M. K. Master’s thesis, Centre for the Study of Higher States of
Consciousness, Maharishi European Research University, Switzerland,
1976.
Collected
Papers v2.130.
Title: Lymphocyte beta-adrenergic receptors and cardiovascular
responsivity in TM participants and Type A behavior.
Findings:
Improved stress reactivity: lower beta-adrenergic receptor
sensitivity. Lower blood reactivity to stress. Lower resting blood
pressure. Lower resting epinephrine level.
MILLS,
P. J.; SCHNEIDER, R.; HILL, D.; WALTON, K.; and WALLACE, R. K. This
is a summary of a paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the
American Psychosomatic Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, March,
1987. (Refer also to Psychosomatic Medicine 49: 211, 1987, and
Journal of Psychosomatic Research 33(6), 1989).
Collected
Papers v5.367
Title: Neurohumoral correlates of Transcendental Meditation.
Findings:
Changes in biochemical and hormonal balance outside the practice of
the Transcendental Meditation technique: decreased levels of
catecholamine and steroid metabolites. Decreased plasma cortisol
levels. Improved cardiovascular health: decreased serum cholesterol
levels. Benefits for patients with aggressive behavior, mental
retardation, and epilepsy: normalization of neurotransmitter
metabolite levels, plasma cortisol levels, and EEG features.
Decreased aggression in aggressive patients. Improved iq and
cognitive functioning in mentally retarded subjects. Reduction of
frequency and severity of epileptic seizures in epileptic patients.
SUBRAHMANYAM, S., and PORKODI, K. Journal of Biomedicine 1: 73-88,
1980.
Collected
Papers v3.202.
Title: Low normal heart and respiration rates in individuals
practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique.
Findings:
Increased basal skin resistance during the practice of the
Transcendental Meditation technique. Maintenance of a relaxed style
of physiological functioning outside the practice: lower heart rate.
Lower respiration rate.
ROUTT,
T. J. Department of Psychology, Huxley College of Environmental
Studies, Western Washington State College, Bellingham, Washington,
U.S.A., 1973.
Collected
Papers v1.30. Title: In search of an optimal behavioral treatment
for hypertension: A review and focus on Transcendental Meditation.
Findings: Reduction of High Blood Pressure.
SCHNEIDER,
R. H.; ALEXANDER, C. N.; and WALLACE, R. K. In Personality, Elevated
Blood Pressure, and Essential Hypertension., eds. E. H. Johnson, W.
D. Gentry, and S. Julius, pp. 291-316. Washington, D. C. :
Hemisphere Publishing Corp., 1992.
Recent
Research 454.
Title:
Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and the Transcendental
Meditation (TM) program.
Findings: Lower erythrocyte sedimentation rate levels indicating
less serious illness and slower aging.
SMITH, D.
E.; GLASER, J. L.; SCHNEIDER, R. H.; and DILLBECK, M. C.
Psychosomatic Medicine 51: 259, 1989. (Also, refer to AGE 10(4):
160, 1987.)
Collected Papers v5.377.
Title:
Elevated serum dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate levels in older
practitioners of the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi
programs.
Findings: Hormone levels indicating younger biological age.
GLASER, J.
L.; BRIND, J. L.; EISNER, M. J.; DILLBECK, M. C.; VOGELMAN, J. H.;
and WALLACE, R. K. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the
Society for Neuroscience, Washington, D.C., November 1986. (An
abstract of these results also appeared in AGE 10(4): 160, 1987.)
Collected Papers v5.376.
Dissertation Abstracts
Cardiovascular and adrenergic reactivity and beta-adrenergic
receptor sensitivity in practitioners of the Transcendental
Meditation program and type A behavior.
Excessive
cardiovascular reactivity to stress has been identified as a risk
factor for coronary heart disease. To test the hypothesis that
meditation may be an effective means to reduce cardiovascular
reactivity, and thus reduce risk of heart disease, this study
examined the acute and chronic effects of the Transcendental
Meditation® (TM) program on cardiovascular and adrenergic reactivity
to stress, including the determination of lymphocyte beta-adrenergic
receptor sensitivity, while controlling for Type A behavior, a
marker for cardiovascular reactivity.
Forty
two males, mean age 32.5 (aged 20-48, 21 practicing the TM program
and 21 non-meditating controls) were rated by the Structured
Interview for Type A behavior pattern. The experiment consisted of a
30-minute baseline followed by: 5 minutes of mental arithmetic, 20
minutes of TM or relaxation, 5 minutes of a second mental
arithmetic, and a 4-minute isometric hand grip at 30% maximum
voluntary contraction. A 20-minute rest period separated each
intervention period.
The
results indicated that the TM group had both a lower resting blood
pressure prior to, and a lower blood pressure level during, all
three stressor periods. Following the acute TM period, the TM group
had a lower diastolic blood pressure response, and a higher initial
heart rate response, to the second mental stress, as well as a lower
diastolic blood pressure response to the isometric hand grip task.
The TM group had a higher beta-max, a lower percent of receptors in
the high affinity state, and a lower mean resting epinephrine level.
There were no significant differences between the TM and control
groups for any of the Type A behavior or Spielberger anger
expression scale components. Regression analysis revealed that the
Type A behavior components verbal competition, rapid, and explosive
were predictive of diastolic blood pressure reactivity and heart
rate reactivity. The Spielberger angerout component was predictive
of both resting and response values of heart rate and catecholamines.
These
findings support the hypotheses that TM is associated with (1)
reduced blood pressure reactivity to stress, and (2) altered
beta-adrenergic receptor sensitivity. The results also support
previous research showing TM’s long-term effects of lowered blood
pressure. Source: DAI, 48, no. 06B, (1987): 1612
Reduced
cardiovascular and all-cause mortality in older African Americans
practicing the Transcendental Meditation Program
African
Americans have a well-documented excess of CVD mortality which is at
least in part due to psychosocial stress. The Transcendental
Meditation® (TM) program has been reported to reduce psychological
stress, cardiovascular risk factors and incidence of heart disease.
A randomized controlled trial indicated that TM reduced hypertension
significantly more than progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) and an
educational control (EC) in older (mean age = 67 years) African
Americans after 3 months. Pilot research in Caucasian elderly has
found a 73% reduction in all-cause and cardiovascular (CVD)
mortality in the TM group compared to the combined control group.
Based
on these findings, TM (n = 36) was hypothesized to reduce incidence
of all-cause and CVD mortality compared to PMR (n = 37) and EC (n =
36) and a combined control (CC, n = 73) group among the African
American participants with mild hypertension in the original BP
study. After 5 years, an all-cause and CVD mortality follow-up was
conducted with data provided from Vital Statistics, Sacramento, CA.
Survival distributions were compared by the Wilcoxon and Cox
proportional hazards tests. There were 0.0% (0/36) CVD fatalities
for TM compared to 9.5% (7/73) for CC, and 8.5% (3/36) all-cause
fatalities for TM compared to 19% (14/13) for CC. Both all-cause (P
=.045) and CVD (P =.021) mortality were significantly lower for TM
compared to combined controls. The relative risk (RR) for TM
compared with combined controls was 0.00 (95% CI 0-0.63) for CVD
mortality and 0.32 (95% CI 0-0.96) for all-cause mortality.
These
findings suggest that TM practice may reduce incidence of CVD and
all-cause mortality in older hypertensive African Americans.
According to Maharishi’s Vedic Approach to Health, TM enhances the
holistic inner intelligence of mind and body, and thereby promotes
balance in psychophysiological functioning and thus helps prevent
premature disease and death. The demonstrated benefit for the
Transcendental Meditation program seems to have important
implications for clinical and public health policy for reducing
excessive CVD and all-cause mortality in African Americans. Source:
DAI, 57, no. 08B, (1996): 4999
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