How does the Transcendental Meditation technique differ from lower-cost alternatives—and why can't it be learned from a book, CD, online, or with less personal guidance?
The process of automatic self-transcending through TM practice is simple and easy, but also very delicate—so delicate it was long lost to society (even in India, the land of its origin) because of misunderstanding and inadequate teaching methods.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi revived correct practice of the technique and structured a systematic, standardized course of personalized instruction and follow-up, so that teachers could be trained in all languages and everyone who learns can practice with ease and success.
If the Transcendental Meditation technique could be learned successfully from a book, CD, online, or without the personal instruction and follow-up, it would be taught that way. Selling CDs or offering instruction online might reduce educational expenses, but such teaching methods would surely compromise the technique’s effectiveness.
The TM organization's purpose is not to make money or sell a product at the most marketable price point, but to bring the full benefit of meditation to everyone who wishes to learn. This is accomplished through teaching policies and organizational procedures that preserve the technique’s completeness and effectiveness. The experience of thousands of certified instructors, successfully teaching the Transcendental Meditation technique around the world since 1957, confirms that personalized instruction and the seven-step course and follow-up is a reliable and fail-safe way to ensure and preserve the technique’s effectiveness. Otherwise, the practice of effortless, natural transcending would soon be lost to society once again.
The TM organization's purpose is not to make money or sell a product at the most marketable price point, but to bring the full benefit of meditation to everyone who wishes to learn. This is accomplished through teaching policies and organizational procedures that preserve the technique’s completeness and effectiveness. The experience of thousands of certified instructors, successfully teaching the Transcendental Meditation technique around the world since 1957, confirms that personalized instruction and the seven-step course and follow-up is a reliable and fail-safe way to ensure and preserve the technique’s effectiveness. Otherwise, the practice of effortless, natural transcending would soon be lost to society once again.
“Low-cost alternatives”
Perhaps with good intentions, various meditation practices have been developed as lower-cost alternatives to the Transcendental Meditation technique. These practices typically involve minimal time spent with an instructor and are sometimes taught from books, CDs or online.
Getting the right mantra:
Practices promoted as alternatives to the TM technique commonly use “made up,” computer generated, or randomly chosen mantras or sounds, selected without knowledge or consideration of the sound’s effects. Because of the natural, intimate connection between mind and body, a mantra used mentally affects the system in ways the user (or teacher) may not be aware, especially if used consistently over time.
No medicine has proven to have the range of positive effects known to result from TM practice—with 50 randomized controlled trials and hundreds of peer-reviewed studies verifying the TM technique’s holistic benefits. Surely no pharmaceutical company should be allowed to offer an experimental drug as a low-cost alternative to a proven medicine without proper testing. Similarly, meditation practices and sounds used mentally will have real and subtle effects. It is wise to use only a mantra proven to have an entirely positive and life-supportive influence on mind and body—and only a sound known to be suitable and effective for the individual.
The short- and long-term positive effects of the mantras used in the TM program—upheld by the oldest tradition of meditation on earth—have been verified by millions of people, and modern researchers in leading universities and medical schools have also proven the TM technique to be all-positive in its effects.
Completely Safe?
The Internal Review Board (IRB) at American University—a team of independent physicians and scientists—conducted an exhaustive review of all published research on the Transcendental Meditation technique and unanimously agreed that the technique was safe to be learned by 300 college students from American University, Georgetown University, George Washington University and University of the District of Columbia. Students learned the TM technique for participation in a carefully controlled, two-year study into the technique’s effects on student life. The study's results were published in peer-reviewed journals and showed that TM practice reduces stress, improves health and strengthens brain functioning.
For maximum benefit it is also important that the mantra is specifically suitable for transcending or settling the mind inward to experience subtle states of thought. It is equally necessary that the mantra is used correctly—in a way that allows the mind to effortlessly and systematically transcend.
How TM practice differs from:
How TM practice differs from:
