TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION

The transcendental meditation technique allows your mind to settle inward until you experience a deep level of your own awareness. Its regular practice helps have less constant anxiety, provides a state of calmness, and brings your mind to a clearer and more creative place. It is scientifically known to bring the body into a state of rest that is far deeper than even the deepest sleep. 

What exactly is transcendental meditation?

TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION

Transcendental meditation is an effortless technique that is scientifically known to bring the body into a state of rest that is far deeper than even the deepest sleep. This allows the body to eliminate stresses and toxins that the rest of the night cannot get rid of.

Transcendental meditation is a natural mental technique. It uses the very nature of the mind to go to greater wellness and happiness.

Do usually people have difficulty to concentrate or to empty their mind?

That is the big difference between transcendental meditation and the other meditation; it is very easy because it is the opposite of concentration; you don’t need to have special capacity, anyone can do it. We do not try to empty the mind because that is impossible for a stressed person.

So, we have thoughts in transcendental meditation and we don't fight with them. It is so easy and that is why millions of people, some of the most creative minds of our time, get immense benefit from it every day.

This practice is a simple and effective tool for increasing inner energy and relieving stress.

How could a simple technique lead to health benefits connecting body and mind?

transcendental meditation

Because mind and body are working together and in transcendental meditation the mind is naturally calming down, correspondingly the body receives a very deep state of rest much deeper than that of the sleep and thus makes it possible to get rid of the stress and the toxins that the night rest cannot eliminate.

Regular meditation helps you have less constant anxiety, it provides a state of calmness and brings your mind to be clearer and more creative.

Transcendental meditation has been the subject of more than 700 scientific studies (much of which has been published in renowned scientific journals) which have shown its positive effects on the body, mind and behavior.

According to recent Harvard Business School reports, the benefits of meditation go far beyond stress reduction. Practicing the art of TM can lower blood pressure, improve blood sugar and insulin levels. 

How does it happen in the body?

To answer we need to understand the scientific source of stress.

Dr Hans Selyé was one of the pioneers to define psychological stress in the 70’s: it is an abnormal response of the body to a too powerful experience be it sensory (loud noise or intense flash of light) physical, emotional, challenging situations in life etc. The body will then react in producing physical and chemical distortions. These are what Dr Selye called physiological stresses and they are stored allover in our body and prevent the normal functioning of many bodily systems. The rest of the night cannot eliminate these deep-rooted stresses we need a more powerful tool for that and transcendental meditation is a very efficient one.

In other words, meditation can help develop a response to the sources of stress we can’t avoid in our lives?

TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION

Indeed, we can't avoid stressful situation, but we can develop mind-body protective ways of responding to them. This is called the "relaxation response” (Dr. Benson, Harvard, 1970’s). It's a state of profound rest that, with regular practice, develops into a sort of personal shield: a source of calmness creating within you that helps you counter the body’s stress response when you need it.

This is a well-studied physiological change that can help reduce your blood pressure and levels of the stress hormone cortisol, slow heart rate, breathing rate, oxygen consumption, and relax muscles.

Research revealed that when blood pressure falls during the relaxation response, inflammation and blood vessel constriction become less active and blood vessels widen.

Back in 2016, the American Heart Association was already studying and promoting the benefits of the TM technique for the cardiovascular system.

According to Dr. Vernon Barnes, in most cases the high blood pressure is reduced after a month or two of practicing TM. By reducing stress, TM profoundly improves cardiovascular health as well as physical and mental health in general.  How? Although it is a mental technique, it triggers a unique neurophysiological state, that is shown to lead to lower cholesterol levels and lower blood pressure.

What are the most common reasons why people want to learn how to meditate?

Life in society these days is inducing so much pressure and stress and most people accumulate so much of it that they have sleep disorders, burnout, anxiety, depression and all the consequences on health like cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, digestive difficulties etc. They all understand that it comes from stress whatever the end problem and they come to TM to decrease their level of stress, somehow eliminate the stress by deep rest.

How ? Although it is a mental technique, it triggers a unique neurophysiological state, that is shown to lead to lower cholesterol levels and lower blood pressure.

How can transcendental meditation improve insomnia?

Especially with insomnia, the results with transcendental meditation are usually coming quite quickly and some clients have got relief of sleep problems in a few days even. Some scientific research showed that the insomniacs had a significant decrease of their time to fall asleep after a few weeks of transcendental meditation practice.

To know more about meditation

Longevity Podcasts by Clinique La Prairie

"What happens when you meditate?" By Guenael Boucher

 

What happens when you meditate?