An Undiscovered State of Consciousness?

The Key To Health And Happiness: 

A 'Lost' State of Consciousness?

Posted: 7/15/11 08:32 AM ET (View Jeanne's articles on the Huffington Post)

Life happens within the realm of three, ever-changing phases: waking, dreaming and sleeping. Yet most of us intuit there's more to human consciousness than what we ordinarily experience.

Scientists have long said each of the three major states of consciousness has its own distinct style of physiology and brain activity. Could there be a fourth major state of consciousness that likewise has its own physiological signature and brain pattern, a state that's been overlooked or forgotten?

What if the loss of this state were the cause for much of what ails us -- personally and collectively?

Transcendental Consciousness

Scientists first proposed the existence of a fourth state of consciousness in the early 1970s, when UCLA researchers discovered that people practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique shifted into a state never before seen in a physiology lab. In the history of science, if there has been a single, overarching moment of "East meets West," surely, it was this. The pioneering research appeared in Scientific American, American Journal of Physiology and the journal Science.¹ The findings were expanded by numerous follow-up studies done at other research institutes and medical schools, establishing meditation as a new frontier of scientific research.²

The mind-body state associated with TM practice is very different from waking, dreaming or sleeping and distinct from other meditative states or ordinary relaxation.³ Your muscles become deeply relaxed while your breathing slows markedly. There's a sharp decrease in cortisol and plasma lactate. There's a natural re-balancing of biochemicals, such as serotonin. Changes in Galvanic skin response and other markers reflect a state of whole-body relaxation. But perhaps most interesting is what happens in the brain.

Neuroscientists know that when we're sleeping, our brain produces mostly delta waves, and during dreaming, theta. When we're awake, there can be a scattered mix -- beta, theta, gamma or even alpha. During TM practice there are widespread, high-amplitude alpha waves (10-12 Hz), which shows this is not merely a restful state, but restful alertness.⁴ More important, the alpha waves are rising and falling together, in phase. This EEG coherence -- strongest throughout the prefrontal cortex -- indicates brain functioning has become more holistic and integrated.⁵

Typically, during this fourth state, thoughts subside and one becomes increasingly more awake; the mind settles down and consciousness itself becomes primary. Meditators describe this as pure consciousness or unbounded awareness.

Why We Need to Transcend

"We propose that what happens during TM is a fourth state of consciousness, because it's very different from the other three states," says neurologist Gary Kaplan, M.D., Ph.D., of New York University School of Medicine. "After 40 years of research, we now know that TM produces a unique, wakeful, coherent state of deep rest -- physiologically the opposite of stress. The science also suggests that experiencing this state twice daily through TM is the key to maximizing well-being and overcoming stress."

The fourth state may be a new discovery for modern science, but knowledge of this state has existed for thousands of years in the traditions of yoga and meditation. In ancient Sanskrit, this state is called turiya, meaning "the fourth."

Experiencing the fourth state repeatedly over time is said to be the key -- the elusive "requisite stimulus," to borrow from William James -- for positive human transformation and full awakening of consciousness.

Transcendence Deprivation

When you're sleep deprived, you know what happens: alertness, reaction time, tolerance and appreciation of others and the world around you all diminish. You're not yourself, and you're probably less fun to be around.

Similarly, research shows that subjects deprived of dream state become anxious, confused, suspicious, withdrawn, irritable and have difficulty concentrating.

If we're hardwired to experience a natural, rejuvenating, fourth state of consciousness, what is the consequence of omitting this fourth state from daily life? Dr. Kaplan says: "There's a growing pandemic of stress. There's a healthcare crisis. As a nation we have widespread anxiety, depression, hypertension and stress-related disorders that costs us billions every year, with untold costs in human suffering. This is what happens when life is lived without the restorative experience of transcending. Human history becomes the story of stress and suffering."

Restoring the Fourth State: A Return to the Self

What happens to people who routinely experience transcendental consciousness?

Renowned author Norman E. Rosenthal was a senior researcher at the National Institutes of Health for 20 years. He's now clinical professor of psychiatry at Georgetown University Medical School and oversees pharmaceutical trials. His new book, "Transcendence", is about what happens when you experience the fourth state twice daily. Dr. Rosenthal: "There's something about entering that state of transcendence twice a day that has a remarkable effect. In the morning, it seems to put the mind in a positive state for facing the day -- everything feels more manageable. In the evening, it seems to erase the accumulated burdens of the day, like grime off a windshield. When you enjoy transcendence twice a day, every day, the overall effect is to experience life as less stressful and more vibrant."

Iowa psychologist and TM instructor Patrick Pomfrey has used meditation as a clinical tool for decades, often prescribing it to patients. He sees transcending as the primary human mechanism for creating a higher state of mind-body health. "The ultimate goal of psychology is to develop the whole person," says Pomfrey. "But you cannot develop the whole person without including the whole person. To do this, each person must discover for themselves this lost experience of the fourth state."

Sages throughout history, from Laozi to Ralph Waldo Emerson, have sung the praises of this exalted "lost" state. Transcendental consciousness is the essence of who we are -- our inmost self. If we don't have an effective technique for diving deep within and taking our attention there, then this rich, vibrant field of all possibilities may remain virtually of no use to us. A person can live an entire lifetime not even knowing it exists.

Awakening to this state, we access a limitless wellspring of energy, creativity and intelligence. Even if we were already happy, when we start transcending we discover there's more to life than waking, dreaming and sleeping.

References:

1. Scientific American, 226, 84-90, 1972; American Journal of Physiology, 221, 795-799, 1971; Science, 167, 1751-1754, 1970
2. American Psychologist [42] 879-81, 1989; Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 16(3): 415-424, 1992; The Journal of Mind and Behavior 10(4):307-334, 1989
3. American Journal of Health Promotion, 12, 297-299, 1998
4. International Journal of Neuroscience, 14: 147-151, 1981
5. Consciousness and Cognition, 8, 302-318, 1999; Cognitive Processing, 11:1, 2010

Watch: The Transcending Brain, Dr. Fred Travis

  

VIDEO: Dr. Mehmet Oz: Transcendental Meditation for Reducing Stress and Promoting Heart Health

VIDEO: Dr. Mehmet Oz speaks about the Transcendental Meditation program's health benefits: "This meditation can help a lot of people. It is important to understand exactly how it effects stress—which of course impacts our physiology— and in particular how TM reduces stress and stress-related disorders."

BBC World News: Using the Transcendental Meditation technique to alleviate ADHD

A new study suggests that the Transcendental Meditation technique could help improve brain functioning and reduce stress in students.

Fifty students took part in the trial at the American University, in Washington, DC. After ten weeks of meditation the students scored higher on performance tests, reported feeling more alert and said they coped better in difficult situations.

Josh Goulding, featured in this video, participated in the study and claims it has helped to get him off a cocktail of drugs he was taking to control Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Click here to go to BBC video


Visit the Website ADHD, the Mind, and Transcendental Meditation

ADHD: Medicate or Meditate? ...new research: an effective alternative

NBC News: The TM program for High Blood Pressure

This NBC News report from Washington, DC, aired on January 8th, 2009. It describes a study on the TM technique and Blood Pressure currently underway at Howard University Hospital, and includes some inspiring interviews with meditating participants. CLICK TO WATCH

How can sitting quietly and doing nothing bring such extraorindary results?

Dr. Steven Rector: Scientists call what happens during TM practice a fourth state of consciousness, a state of restful alertness, unlike waking, sleeping or dreaming. This fourth state, called Transcendental Consciousness, has it’s own physiological style of functioning—slower breath rate, reduced stress hormones, more orderly brainwaves.

We know from hundreds of research studies that experiencing this fourth state of consciousness for twenty minutes twice a day through the TM technique leads to a wide range of health benefits. Scientists around the world have lauded the discovery of this fourth state as a major breakthrough in health and human potential, because experiencing it twice daily appears to be the key to maximizing health and overcoming the ravaging effects of stress.

Everyone knows what happens when a person is deprived of sleep, and researchers have found that dreaming state is also necessary to function in daily life. What is the result of omitting the fourth state, Transcendental Consciousness? What results is the widespread condition of anxiety, hypertension and general ill health that I see everyday as a physician, and which costs America billions every year in the treatment of stress-related diseases and behavioral disorders.

There’s an epidemic of stress in the world. This is what happens when the restorative experience of the fourth state of consciousness is excluded from daily life. This is why as a doctor I wholeheartedly endorse the Transcendental Meditation program.


Dr. Steven Rector has practiced emergency medicine for 18 years. A Diplomate of the American Board of Emergency Medicine, he currently works as an emergency physician and in the education of paramedics and other emergency medical personnel. In Georgia he served as Medical Director of the Atlanta Center for Chronic Disorders. Dr. Rector has lectured internationally on stress management and on the integration of modern conventional medicine with alternative approaches to health optimization. He has conducted many seminars training physicians in these strategies and methods in Atlanta and in the Washington, D.C. area. He has been practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique over 35 years.

Why a course fee — can't the TM technique be taught for free?

The Transcendental Meditation technique is not just watching your breath, contemplating, concentrating, or trying to be mindful. It's not guided imagery or common mantra meditation. It's authentic meditation that's easy to practice—once properly learned—but it can't be learned from a book, website or download.

Click here >>

Personal instruction: Learning the TM technique remains refreshingly human, involving in-person private instruction, along with a series of classes (either in person or remotely through a digital course) taught by a professional teacher who is rigorously trained and certified. The program also comes with a lifetime of free personal follow-up and support.

If learning the TM technique requires the time of a professional instructor, in-depth classes, an adequate teaching space and continuing follow-up, obviously expenses will be incurred—thus the course fee.

Non-profit: The TM technique is offered by a non-profit educational organization [501(c)(3)] called Maharishi Foundation USA, which exists solely to train and certify teachers and bring the benefits of fully effective meditation to people everywhere. Part of every TM course fee helps fund someone to learn who cannot afford to pay. Over 1 million people at risk have learned the TM technique for free over the past 10-15 years. See http://www.tm.org/inside-story


The TM course fee is determined by what it costs to make the program available—there are no added profit margins. The reason you can learn the TM technique today is because so many others before you have paid their course fee to sustain the program—giving something back and paying it forward.

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Uniqueness: The TM technique is distinguished by its ease of practice, holistic benefits and scientific verification. It's standardized, systematic instruction process ensures effectiveness and consistency of results. As science has shown, all meditation techniques are not the same and do not produce the same results—and other forms of meditation have not been found by scientific research to produce the broad range of benefits associated with TM practice. For example, the American Heart Association, after doing its own comparative research, determined that the TM technique is the only form of meditation effective for reducing high blood pressure.

Rediscovery: This technique of effortless transcending had been long lost to society, even in India, before Maharishi Mahesh Yogi introduced it to the world in 1955. To maintain the technique's original effectiveness and authenticity, and help ensure that it doesn't get lost again, it is taught in the same systematic way by certified instructors worldwide.

Could it be taught for free? Does one really need a trained and certified teacher, personalized instruction, a seven-step course and follow-up to properly learn and correctly practice this meditation technique and enjoy its full benefits? The experience of thousands of TM teachers providing meditation instruction around the world for the past fifty years—along with hundreds of independent, peer-reviewed scientific research studies verifying the program’s effectiveness—definitively says yes: this careful, professional way of teaching may require a course fee, but it has proven marvelously beneficial for those who learn. 

Anyone who wants can learn: There is a sliding scale of standard fees for the TM course, based on household income, with reduced rates for full-time students and those under financial hardship. There are also payment plans, grants, scholarships and work-study options to help cover the cost. Due to the program's non-profit and non-commercial structure, anyone who wishes to learn the TM technique can learn.

Tuition, payment plans & scholarships       

• Why pay to learn the TM technique when you can learn other forms of meditation for free?  
• Will other practices give the same results?
• Do authentic meditation teachers ever charge money?  

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Dr. Sandeep Chaudhary: When you purchase anything of value, of course, cost is a consideration. But the TM technique is actually inexpensive if you consider what you're getting: a program you'll benefit from every day of your life—a program known to help prevent heart attack and stroke, to help people sleep better, to avert the harmful effects of stress. And those are just side effects. The real benefit is that you enjoy your life so much more.

There's also ongoing follow-up and personal checking of meditation to ensure correct practice, and there's continued knowledge and guidance, if desired, at TM centers everywhere for the rest of your life—and you get all that follow-up for free.

As a physician, I see the TM technique not only as lifesaving but also as a cost-savings tool. We know how much the average American spends on health care in a lifetime. I live with these statistics. And I see the cost of it everyday in human terms.

I've also seen the statistics on how the TM technique reduces health care costs. Let me tell you, anyone who says the TM technique is too expensive, just take a look at how much money America is spending on medical bills and health insurance every year. It's a lame argument.

The Transcendental Meditation program is the most powerful preventive medicine we have. It pays for itself many times over.

Dr. Sandeep Chaudhary is Medical Director of Wellspring Endocrinology at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, California.

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Filmmaker David Lynch answers this question >>

FAQ:

When you pay for the TM course, where does the money go?

How can you put a price on Transcendental Meditation?

Why is TM trademarked?

What you get when you learn the Transcendental Meditation technique:

• Personalized instruction in how to meditate correctly and effectively

• Comprehensive knowledge about meditation and self-development (four initial in-depth classes)

• Optional weekly follow-up classes with group meditation (free)

• A lifetime of one-on-one meditation support (free)

• Instructors with over 30 years experience teaching meditation and yoga

• The most effective meditation practice there is—to benefit from and enjoy for the rest of your life

• Celebrations and special community events

• Advanced programs to facilitate personal growth

• Ever increasing happiness and well-being...

How to learn
More about the Transcendental Meditation technique
Are all forms of meditation the same?
Why a course fee?
Why is the technique trademarked?