Dr. Nader & Transcendental Meditation

Transcendental Meditation (TM) thus allows the mind to transcend or go beyond the surface levels of thinking to the source of thought. It expands awareness and develops higher states of consciousness with profound benefits in all areas of life. TM comes from the same ancient tradition of Yoga called the Vedic tradition (the word “Veda” means knowledge). The practice of TM had been passed on from teacher to student over the ages as the highest technique of Yoga that gives the experience of Samadhi or total evenness, balance, and peace of the mind and intellect. Due to the passage of time, misinterpretations were introduced into some practices of meditation and the simplicity and easiness of the process of transcending was largely forgotten. It started to be considered as an advanced step requiring lots of preparation and arduous effort. Eager teachers and students thought that body - and mind-control were first needed. Forcing the mind and strenuous practices led to limited results and more and more effort was thought to be needed as well as withdrawal from the active world and increasing ascetism and renunciations. As a result, transcending became reserved to more advanced Yogis and the simplicity and universality of Transcendental Meditation became known to only a few.
In the past 70 years, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, inspired by his own teacher, Brahmananda Saraswati, emphasised natural, effortless transcending and brought out the scientific nature of the practice – you don’t have to believe in TM or in its tradition for it to work. Research has established a wide range of effects for health, relief from stress, and development of the mind.
Transcendental Meditation can be understood as the essence of Yoga – a supreme Yoga of the mind. Yoga means “unity”, or “to unify”: to reach a state of peace, inner stability, and strength which unifies all aspects of life. The mind’s own nature to move towards greater happiness allows it to easily turn inwards towards the Self or Being in the process of “transcending”, or going beyond, thoughts. Our deep inner Self is the infinite source of energy and intelligence that is identified as the unified field – the same Self which is the Self of everything in the universe. The mind gravitates in a natural way to that field of infinite bliss, harmony, and silence.
We are always motivated for more and more in life. We want more happiness, we want better health, more energy, and greater intelligence, but we usually search for these through our senses that project to the outside world. In Transcendental Meditation we take the inward direction and allow the mind, guided by its own nature, to desire more and more, to settle down within itself. The reality of the Self, the reality of consciousness, can only be found at the depths of the ocean – there we discover that infinite unbounded pure Being that is our true inner Self.

THE TM TECHNIQUE

The TM technique is taught in five short sessions (an introduction then four additional sessions) by a certified teacher of TM and is very simple to learn. Each session is about an hour and a half. During this course, the person learning can master the technique of effortless transcending.
By sitting comfortably in a chair, closing the eyes, and allowing the mind to settle down for about twenty minutes morning and evening, we find that automatically a high coherence in brain functioning is created. This allows us to process information better and to make decisions in a more accurate and powerful way. Better decision making and greater awareness and alertness are only a few of the benefits. At the same time as the mind settles down in TM, the technique brings deep rest, removing tiredness and fatigue from the body. A body that is tired and stressed has a greater possibility of developing hypertension, inflammatory problems, and cardiovascular issues. More than 600 scientific research studies, conducted at the best universities around the world and published in peer review journals, provide evidence of how health, efficiency, and well- being improve through regular TM practice.

WHY PRACTICE TM?

If we want to improve our health, we can start from improvement of the mind. Because mind and body are intimately related, what happens in the mind influences activities and transformations in the body.

If we want to move beyond the immediate fight-or-flight response in stressful situations, we need to have a calm mind that can consider a large number of variables in making decisions. Transcendental Meditation allows us to utilise the mind more fully – and for mind and brain to think in a more coherent and synchronous way.
Knowledge of life has different levels – knowledge we gain at school and university is usually on the level of information. Then there is knowledge that comes from the Self, from Being – from being aware.

All knowledge is actually structured in this inner awareness. Vedic knowledge is a science of life, based on ancient teachers who fully knew this level of Being. In the West, we have been mostly looking outside at the objective world. We do research on the outside, we do research on objects – we want to know how the objects work. In the ancient traditions, they did research on the inside, on the Self. They came back to the Self and for thousands of years established and taught that technology of transcending.
With our practice of TM, once we become familiar with experiencing our inner Being or transcendental state, there are Advanced Techniques that can be learned to stabilise the experience of transcending and encourage even faster and more effective growth. There is also the TM-Sidhi program, for deeper integration of mind and body – “Sidhi” is from a Sanskrit word meaning perfection. Then we begin to be able to think and act all the time from the level of inner Being. Things work better for us and our thoughts are fulfilled more effortlessly. These advanced practices have the same effortless, natural approach as Transcendental Meditation, enlivening laws of nature deep within our own thinking process from the infinite source of creativity and intelligence.
This is the ultimate goal of Yoga, experiencing oneness with everything through lasting experience of the Self – which is the Self of everything – even during dynamic activity and amidst all the changes of life in the world. The purpose of Yoga is fulfilled through Transcendental Meditation, its Advanced Techniques, and the TM-Sidhi program.

BENEFITS OF TM

People report greatly improved behavior and fulfillment – and improved relationships and interconnectedness with others. The benefits are even further - reaching than that. Each one of us directly contributes to the collective consciousness of society. When we improve ourselves, and others do the same, society also improves. Studies of this social effect conclude that even one percent of a population practicing TM can lead to increased positive trends and decreased negative trends in a community or nation. With the TM-Sidhi program, even the square root of one percent can have a powerful effect on society. Improving ourselves allows for improvement of the collective quality of society – and ultimately our whole world. Then we can help guide the decisions of humanity towards a more peaceful and sustainable future, for ourselves and the beautiful planet that is our home. We can live in unity – both here on earth and with the whole universe: all the diversity of the entire cosmos in one Unity.