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{{Short description|Form of mantra meditation}}
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[[File:Maharishi Huntsville Jan 1978A.JPG|thumb|upright=0.9|[[Maharishi Mahesh Yogi]], developer of the Transcendental Meditation technique.<ref name="Bromley-Cowan 2015"/>]]
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'''Transcendental Meditation''' ('''TM''') is a form of silent [[meditation]] developed by [[Maharishi Mahesh Yogi]]. The TM technique involves the silent repetition of a ''[[mantra]]'' or sound, and is practiced for 15–20 minutes twice per day. It is taught by certified teachers through a standard course of instruction, with a cost which varies by country and individual circumstance. According to the Transcendental Meditation movement, it is a non-religious method that promotes relaxed [[awareness]], [[stress relief]], [[self-development]], and [[higher consciousness|higher states of consciousness]]. The technique has been variously described as both religious<ref name="transcendental deception">{{cite book |last1=Siegel |first1=Aryeh |title=Transcendental Deception: Behind the TM Curtain |date=2018 |publisher=Janreg Press |location=Los Angeles, CA |isbn=978-0-9996615-0-5}}</ref> and non-religious.{{refn|group=nb|[[Sociology|Sociologists]], [[Religious studies|religion scholars]], and a [[New Jersey]] judge and court are among those who have expressed views on it being religious or non-religious.<ref name="Bromley-Cowan 2015"/><ref name="Praeger">{{cite book |author-last=Calo |author-first=Zachary |year=2008 |chapter=Chapter 4: The Internationalization of Church-State Issues |editor1-first=Ann |editor1-last=Duncan |editor2-first=Steven |editor2-last=Jones |title=Church-State Issues in America Today |location=Westport, Connecticut |publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group|Praeger Publishers]] |isbn=978-0-275-99368-9 |page=159 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zzOn09EaETgC }}{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name="American Bar Association 1978 144">{{cite journal |author-last=Ashman |author-first=Allan |date=January 1978 |title=What's New in the Law |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eDu0e8buVPAC&pg=PA124 |journal=[[American Bar Association Journal]] |location=Chicago |publisher=[[American Bar Association]] |volume=64 |pages=124–144 |issn=0002-7596}}</ref> The [[United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit]] upheld the federal ruling that TM was essentially "religious in nature" and therefore could not be taught in public schools.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.leagle.com/decision/1979789592F2d197_1763/MALNAK%20v.%20YOGI |title=Malnak v. Yogi |date=1979 |website=Leagle |access-date=19 May 2017 }}</ref><ref name="Evans2000">{{cite book|author=Bette Novit Evans|title=Interpreting the Free Exercise of Religion: The Constitution and American Pluralism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7lzMCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA65|date=9 November 2000|publisher=Univ of North Carolina Press|isbn=978-0-8078-6134-9|page=65|quote=Proponents of the program denied that Transcendental Meditation was a religion; the Third Circuit concluded that it was.}}</ref>}}
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Maharishi began teaching the technique in India in the mid-1950s.<ref name="Bromley-Cowan 2015">{{cite book |editor1-last=Cowan |editor1-first=Douglas E. |editor2-last=Bromley |editor2-first=David G. |editor2-link=David G. Bromley |year=2015 |orig-year=2007 |chapter=Transcendental Meditation: The Questions of Science and Therapy |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p_xgBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA38 |title=Cults and New Religions: A Brief History |location=Chichester, West Sussex |publisher=[[Wiley-Blackwell]] |edition=2nd |series=Blackwell Brief Histories of Religion |pages=38–58 |isbn=978-1-118-72350-0 |lccn=2015005385}}</ref> Building on the teachings of his master, the [[Advaita Vedanta|Hindu Advaita]] monk [[Brahmananda Saraswati]] (known honorifically as Guru Dev), the Maharishi taught thousands of people during a series of world tours from 1958 to 1965, expressing his teachings in spiritual and religious terms.<ref name="Bromley-Cowan 2015"/><ref>{{cite book |last=Dawson |first=Lorne |year=2003 |publisher=[[Blackwell Publishing]] |title=Cults and New Religious Movements |url=https://archive.org/details/cultsnewreligiou00daws |url-access=limited |location=Hoboken, New Jersey |page=[https://archive.org/details/cultsnewreligiou00daws/page/n61 54]|isbn=9781405143493 }}</ref> TM became more popular in the 1960s and 1970s as the Maharishi shifted to a more secular presentation, and his meditation technique was practiced by celebrities, most prominently members of [[the Beatles]] and [[the Beach Boys]]. At this time, he began training TM teachers. The worldwide TM [[organization]] had grown to include educational programs, health products, and related services. Following the Maharishi's death in 2008, leadership of the TM organization passed to [[neuroscientist]] [[Tony Nader]].
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Research on TM began in the 1970s. A 2012 [[meta-analysis]] of the psychological impact of meditation found that Transcendental Meditation had a comparable overall effectiveness to other meditation techniques in improving general wellbeing, but might have distinctive effects on specific psychological variables.<ref name="Sed12a"/> A 2017 overview of systematic reviews and meta-analyses indicates TM practice may lower blood pressure, an effect comparable with other health interventions. Because of a potential for bias and conflicting findings more research is needed.<ref name="J. Hum. Hypertens.">{{cite journal |last1=Bai |first1=Z |last2=Chang |first2=J |last3=Chen |first3=C |last4=Li |first4=P |last5=Yang |first5=K |last6=Chi |first6=I |date=February 2015 |title=Investigating the effect of transcendental meditation on blood pressure: a systematic review and meta-analysis |journal=[[Journal of Human Hypertension]] |publisher=[[Nature Publishing Group]] |volume=29 |issue=11 |pages=653–662 |doi=10.1038/jhh.2015.6 |issn=1476-5527 |pmid=25673114 |s2cid=22261}}</ref><ref name="Complement. Ther. Med.">{{cite journal |last1=Ooi |first1=Soo Liang |last2=Giovino |first2=Melisa |last3=Pak |first3=Sok Chean |date=October 2017 |title=Transcendental meditation for lowering blood pressure: An overview of systematic reviews and meta-analyses |journal=[[Complementary Therapies in Medicine]] |publisher=[[Elsevier]] |volume=34 |pages=26–34 |doi=10.1016/j.ctim.2017.07.008 |issn=1873-6963 |pmid=28917372 |s2cid=4963470}}</ref>
'''Transcendental Meditation''' or '''TM''' is a form of [[meditation]] and religious practice developed in 1955 by [[Maharishi Mahesh Yogi]], a disciple of [[Brahmananda Saraswati]]. A body of scientific research has found positive effects from Transcendental Meditation, but critics have raised questions about the validity of much of this research and about the nature of the TM Movement itself.


==History==
==History==
{{Main|History of Transcendental Meditation}}


The Transcendental Meditation program and the Transcendental Meditation movement originated with their founder [[Maharishi Mahesh Yogi]] and continued beyond his death in 2008.<ref name="Bromley-Cowan 2015"/> In 1955,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2008-02-05-maharishi-obit_N.htm|title=Beatles guru dies in Netherlands|work=USA Today|author=AP|date=5 February 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/PAGE-ONE-Politics-and-Transcendental-Meditation-3016926.php |last=Epstein|first=Edward|title=Politics and Transcendental Meditation|work=San Francisco Chronicle|date=29 December 1995}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.mum.edu/pdf_msvs/v05/morris.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100527120152/http://www.mum.edu/pdf_msvs/v05/morris.pdf |archive-date=2010-05-27 |url-status=live |last=Morris|first=Bevan |title=Maharishi's Vedic Science and Technology: The Only Means to Create World Peace|journal=Journal of Modern Science and Vedic Science|volume=5|year=1992|page=200|issue=1–2}}</ref> "the Maharishi began publicly teaching a traditional meditation technique"<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1577866/Maharishi-Mahesh-Yogi-guru-to-Beatles-dies.html|last= Rooney|first=Ben|title=Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, guru to Beatles, dies |work=The Telegraph|date=6 February 2008 | location=London}}</ref> learned from his master [[Brahmananda Saraswati]] that he called Transcendental Deep Meditation<ref name="Williamson 2010">{{cite book |last=Williamson |first=Lola |year=2010 |publisher=NYU Press |location=New York |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OxD1SYaelLAC&q=Kriya |title=Transcendent in America: Hindu-Inspired Meditation Movements as New Religion |isbn=9780814794500 |pages=97–99}}</ref> and later renamed Transcendental Meditation.<ref name="Russell">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TZ89AAAAIAAJ&q=maharishi+%22transcendental+deep+meditation%22|last= Russell|first=Peter|title=The TM Technique: An Introduction to Transcendental Meditation and the Teachings of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi|publisher=Routledge |location=London |year=1977|isbn=978-0-7100-8539-9|pages=25–26}}</ref>
In [[1957]], at the end of a great "festival of spiritual luminaries" in remembrance of the previous Shankaracharya of the North, Swami [[Brahmananda Saraswati]], his disciple [[Maharishi Mahesh Yogi]] (or simply "Maharishi" to followers) announced the formal beginning of TM. In the movement's initial stages, Maharishi operated under the auspices of an organization he called the "Spiritual Regeneration Movement".
The Maharishi initiated thousands of people, then developed a TM teacher training program as a way to accelerate the rate of bringing the technique to more people.<ref name=Russell/><ref name=Needleman>{{Cite book | edition = 1st | publisher = Doubleday | last = Needleman | first = Jacob | title = The New Religions| url = https://archive.org/details/newreligions0000unse | url-access = limited | location = Garden City N.Y. | year = 1970|chapter=Transcendental Meditation|page=[https://archive.org/details/newreligions0000unse/page/144 144]}}</ref> He also inaugurated a series of tours that started in India in 1955 and went international in 1958 which promoted Transcendental Meditation.<ref name= "History-of-transcendental-meditation">{{cite book | url=https://www.businessinsider.com/history-of-transcendental-meditation-2016-11 | title=History of transcendental meditation | publisher=Insider | author=Richard Feloni | year=2016 }}</ref><ref name="Philosophers">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=25yC2ePhbXEC&q=Maharishi+World+Tours&pg=PA120 | title=Philosophers and religious leaders | publisher=The Orynx Press |author1=Christian D. Von Dehsen |author2=Scott L. Harris | year=1999 | pages=120| isbn=9781573561525 }}</ref> These factors, coupled with endorsements by celebrities who practiced TM and claims that scientific research had validated the technique, helped to popularize TM in the 1960s and 1970s. By the late 2000s, TM had been taught to millions of individuals and the Maharishi was overseeing a large multinational movement.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The Times (London) |title=Maharishi Mahesh Yogi |date=7 February 2008 |page=62}}</ref> Despite organizational changes and the addition of advanced meditative techniques in the 1970s,<ref>{{cite book|last=Oates |first=Robert M. |title=Celebrating the Dawn: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and the TM technique|page=226|location=New York|publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons|isbn=978-0-399-11815-9|year=1976}}</ref> the Transcendental Meditation technique has remained relatively unchanged.


Among the first organizations to promote TM were the Spiritual Regeneration Movement and the International Meditation Society. In modern times, the movement has grown to encompass schools and universities that teach the practice,<ref>{{cite news|first=T. K. |last=Irwin|title=What's New in Science: Transcendental Meditation: Medical Miracle or 'Another Kooky Fad'|work=Sarasota Herald Tribune Family Weekly|date=8 October 1972|pages=8–9}}</ref> and includes many associated programs based on the Maharishi's interpretation of the [[Vedic]] traditions. In the U.S., non-profit organizations included the [[Students International Meditation Society]],<ref name="Chryssides">{{Cite book | last1 = Chryssides | first1 = George D. | title = Exploring New Religions | year = 1999 | publisher = Cassell | location = London | isbn = 978-0-8264-5959-6 | pages = 293–296| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jxIxPBpGMwgC&pg=PA293 }}</ref> AFSCI,<ref name="Craze">{{Cite magazine| issn =0040-781X| title = Behavior: The TM Craze: 40 Minutes to Bliss| magazine = Time| access-date = 15 November 2009 | date = 13 October 1975 | url = http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,947229,00.html| archive-url = https://archive.today/20130105182424/http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,947229,00.html| url-status = dead| archive-date = 5 January 2013}}</ref> [[World Plan Executive Council]], [[Maharishi Vedic Education Development Corporation]], [[Global Country of World Peace]], Transcendental Meditation for Women, and [[Maharishi Foundation]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.heraldonline.com/2013/07/15/5022454/australian-food-store-offers-transcendental.html | title=Australian Food Store Offers Transcendental Meditation to Employees | publisher=The Herald (South Carolina, USA) | date=15 July 2013 | access-date=3 August 2013 | author=Press Release by Maharishi Foundation | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://archive.today/20130803192934/http://www.heraldonline.com/2013/07/15/5022454/australian-food-store-offers-transcendental.html | archive-date=3 August 2013 | df=dmy-all }}</ref> The successor to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and leader of the Global Country of World Peace, is [[Tony Nader]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Forget the F-16s, Israel needs more Yogic Flyers to beat Hizbullah: 30-strong TM group, sole guests at Nof Ginnosar Hotel, say they need another 235 colleagues to make the country safe|first=Amir|last=Mizroch|work=Jerusalem Post|date=23 July 2006|page=4}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Maharishi's ashes immersed in Sangam|work=The Hindustan Times|location= New Delhi|date=12 February 2008|agency=Indo-Asian News Service}}</ref>
In the early [[1970s]], Maharishi launched his "World Plan" to establish a TM teaching center for each million of the world's population, which at that time would have meant 3,600 TM centers throughout the world. Since [[1990]], Maharishi has co-ordinated his global activities from his headquarters in the town of [[Vlodrop]] in the municipality of [[Roerdalen]] in the [[Netherlands]].


==Technique==
The [[TM Movement]] founded a nationally accredited university, the [[Maharishi University of Management]] (formerly, Maharishi International University), in Fairfield, [[Iowa]], USA, in [[1971]]; a number of schools around the world; [[Maharishi Vedic City]] in south-east Iowa, (incorporated [[21 July]], [[2001]]); political parties in many countries around the world known as the [[Natural Law Party]], the US branch having closed on [[April 30]], [[2004]] (see [http://www.natural-law.org/]) in favour of the Global Country of World Peace, founded in [[2002]].
{{Main|Transcendental Meditation technique}}
The meditation practice involves the use of a silently-used [[mantra]] for 15–20 minutes twice per day while sitting with the eyes closed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tm.org/meditation-techniques |title=The Transcendental Meditation Program |publisher=Tm.org |access-date=17 February 2013}}</ref><ref name="Epi06">{{Cite journal|last1=Lansky |first1=Ephraim |last2=St Louis |first2=Erik |title=Transcendental meditation: a double-edged sword in epilepsy? |journal=Epilepsy & Behavior |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=394–400 |date=November 2006 |pmid=16931164 |doi=10.1016/j.yebeh.2006.04.019 |s2cid=31764098 }}</ref> It is reported to be one of the most widely practiced,<ref name="google138">{{Cite book| last1 = Cotton | first1 = Dorothy H. G. | title = Stress management: An integrated approach to therapy | year = 1990 | publisher = Brunner/Mazel | location = New York | isbn = 0-87630-557-5 | page = 138|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oLsECokSFHwC}}</ref><ref name="Total Heart Health">{{cite book |last1=Schneider |first1=Robert |last2=Fields |first2=Jeremy |year=2006 |publisher=Basic Health Publications |location=Laguna Beach, CA |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EWXz0Y9maukC&q=transcendental+meditation+seven+steps&pg=PA148 |title=Total Heart Health: How to Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease with the Maharishi Vedic Approach to Health |pages=148–149 |isbn=1458799247}}</ref> and among the most widely researched, meditation techniques,<ref name="Murphy">{{cite book|title=The Physical and Psychological Effects of Meditation: A review of Contemporary Research with a Comprehensive Bibliography 1931–1996|last1=Murphy|first1=M|last2=Donovan|first2=S|last3=Taylor|first3=E|publisher=Institute of Noetic Sciences|year=1997|location=Sausalito, California}}</ref><ref name="The Relaxation Response">{{Cite book|last1=Benson|first1=Herbert|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TJDGTP9Sa5UC&q=transcendental%20meditation&pg=PA61|title=The Relaxation Response|last2=Klipper|first2=Miriam Z.|publisher=Quill|year=2001|isbn=978-0-380-81595-1|location=New York, NY|page=61}}</ref><ref name="Sinatra">{{Cite book|last1=Sinatra|first1=Stephen T.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4TfJqNA8sOIC&q=transcendental+meditation&pg=PA192|title=Reverse Heart Disease Now: Stop Deadly Cardiovascular Plaque Before It's Too Late|last2=Roberts|first2=James C.|last3=Zucker|first3=Martin|date=20 December 2007|publisher=Wiley|isbn=978-0-470-22878-4|page=192}}</ref><ref name="Bushell">{{cite journal |first=William |last=Bushell |title=Longevity Potential Life Span and Health Span Enhancement through Practice of the Basic Yoga Meditation Regimen |journal=Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences |volume=1172 |pages=20–7 | year=2009 | quote=Transcendental Meditation (TM), a concentrative technique&nbsp;... has been the most extensively studied meditation technique. | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=TMJRynOxsisC&q=Transendental+Meditation&pg=PA20 |isbn=9781573316774 |doi=10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.04538.x | pmid=19735236|s2cid=222086314 }}</ref> with hundreds of published research studies.<ref>{{Cite journal|vauthors=Ospina MB, Bond K, Karkhaneh M |title=Meditation practices for health: state of the research |journal=Evid Rep Technol Assess (Full Rep) |issue=155 |pages=62|date=June 2007 |pmid=17764203|display-authors=etal |pmc=4780968}}</ref><ref name="Rosenthal 2011 14">{{cite book |first=Norman |last=Rosenthal |title=Transcendence: Healing and Transformation through Transcendental Meditation |publisher=Tarcher/Penguin |year=2011 |page=14 |location=New York |isbn=978-1-58542-873-1 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ssJ6jU0YeNEC&q=340&pg=PT12 | quote = By my latest count, there have been 340 per-reviewed articles published on TM, many of which have appeared in highly respected journals.}}</ref><ref name="Freeman2009">{{cite book |first=Lyn |last=Freeman |title=Mosby's Complementary & Alternative Medicine: A Research-Based Approach |publisher=Mosby Elsevier |year=2009 |pages=176|isbn= 9780323053464}}</ref> The technique is made available worldwide by certified TM teachers in a seven-step course,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tm.org/learn-tm |title=How To Learn |publisher=Tm.org |access-date=17 February 2013}}</ref> and fees vary from country to country.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tm.org/tuition |title=TM Course Fee |publisher=TM.org |access-date=30 May 2012 |archive-date=23 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120523183618/http://www.tm.org/tuition |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.t-m.org.uk/learning.shtml |title=Transcendental Meditation Fees and Course Details |publisher=Transcendental Meditation: Official website for the UK |access-date=31 January 2013 |archive-date=10 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121010161859/http://www.t-m.org.uk/learning.shtml |url-status=dead }}</ref> Beginning in 1965, the Transcendental Meditation technique has been incorporated into selected schools, universities, corporations, and prison programs in the US, Latin America, Europe, and India. In 1977, a US district court ruled that a curriculum in TM and the Science of Creative Intelligence (SCI) being taught in some New Jersey schools was religious in nature and in violation of the [[First Amendment]] of the United States Constitution.<ref name="Praeger"/><ref>{{cite journal|last=American Bar Association|title=Constitutional Law&nbsp;... Separating Church and State|journal=ABA Journal|date=Jan 1978|volume=64|pages=144|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eDu0e8buVPAC&q=Transcendental+Meditation+was+held+to+be+a+religion+in+a+New+Jersey+court+case&pg=PA124}}</ref> The technique has since been included in a number of educational and social programs around the world.<ref name="Humes page 69">{{Cite book|last=Humes|first=C.A.|year=2005|chapter=Maharishi Mahesh Yogi: Beyond the T.M. Technique|title=Gurus in America|editor1-first=Thomas A. |editor1-last=Forsthoefel |editor2-first=Cynthia Ann |editor2-last=Humes|publisher=SUNY Press|page=69|isbn=0-7914-6573-X |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ugSb7mArJlYC |quote=This lawsuit was the most significant setback for TM in the United States&nbsp;... Since then TM has made a comeback of sorts with some governmental sponsorship}}</ref>


The Transcendental Meditation technique has been described as both religious and non-religious, as an aspect of a new religious movement, as rooted in Hinduism,<ref name="Bainbridge">{{Cite book|last1 = Bainbridge | first1 = William Sims | title = The Sociology of Religious Movements | year = 1997 | publisher = Routledge | location = New York | isbn = 0-415-91202-4 | page = 188|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eCKbw8QuhEkC&q=tm }}</ref><ref name="Aghiorgoussis 21, 34">{{Cite journal|title=The challenge of metaphysical experiences outside Orthodoxy and the Orthodox response|first=Maximos|last=Aghiorgoussis|journal=Greek Orthodox Theological Review|location=Brookline|date=Spring 1999|volume=44|issue=1–4|pages=21, 34}}</ref> and as a non-religious practice for self-development.<ref name="Chryssides 2001 301–303">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vyX1sL8-0gMC&pg=PA292 |last=Chryssides|first= George D.|title=Exploring New Religions|publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group|year=2001|isbn=9780826459596|pages=301–303}}"Although one can identify the Maharishi's philosophical tradition, its teachings are in no way binding on TM practitioners. There is no public worship, no code of ethics, no scriptures to be studied, and no rites of passage that are observed, such as dietary laws, giving to the poor, or pilgrimages. In particular, there is no real TM community: practitioners do not characteristically meet together for public worship, but simply recite the mantra, as they have been taught it, not as religious obligation, but simply as a technique to benefit themselves, their surroundings and the wider world."</ref><ref>{{Cite book| last = Partridge | first = Christopher | year = 200 | title = New Religions: A Guide To New Religious Movements, Sects and Alternative Spiritualities | publisher = Oxford University Press | quote = It is understood in terms of the reduction of stress and the charging of one's mental and physical batteries.| location = New York| pages = 184}}</ref><ref name="Rosenthal 2011 4">{{cite book|title=Transcendence: Healing and Transformation Through Transcendental Meditation|author-link=Norman E. Rosenthal|first=Norman E.|last=Rosenthal|publisher=Tarcher Penguin|year=2011|isbn=978-1-58542-873-1|page=[https://archive.org/details/transcendencehea00mdno/page/n18 4]|title-link=Transcendence: Healing and Transformation Through Transcendental Meditation}}</ref>
More than 6 million individuals worldwide have learned the Transcendental Meditation technique since its inauguration [http://tm.org], including celebrities such as the Beatles, radio personality Howard Stern, film director David Lynch, and actresses Mia Farrow and Heather Graham.


The public presentation of the TM technique over its 50-year history has been praised for its high visibility in the mass media and effective global propagation, and criticized for using celebrity and scientific endorsements as a marketing tool. Also, advanced courses supplement the TM technique and include an advanced meditation program called the [[TM-Sidhi]] program,<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Shear|editor-first=Jonathan|title=Experience of Meditation: Experts Introduce the Major Traditions|publisher=Paragon House|location=St Paul, MN|year=2006|isbn=978-1-55778-857-3}}</ref> the unveiling of which created media controversy and a time of crisis for the movement’s image.<ref name="Thursby">{{citation |last = Thursby |first = Gene |chapter = Hare Krishna In America: Growth, Decline, and Accommodation |title = America's Alternative Religions |place = Albany |publisher = [[State University of New York Press]] |pages = 193–195 |isbn = 9780791423981 |year = 1995 |url = https://archive.org/details/americasalternat00mill }}</ref> In 2014, a meta-analysis of research found insufficient evidence that meditation such as TM "had an effect on any of the psychological stress and well-being outcomes".<ref name=Rohrlich>{{cite web | url =https://www.thedailybeast.com/ivanka-trumps-gurus-say-their-techniques-can-end-war-and-make-you-fly | title =Ivanka Trump's Gurus Say Their Techniques Can End War and Make You Fly | last = Rohrlich| first = Justin| date = October 14, 2018| website = thedailybeast.com| publisher = The Daily Beast Company LLC| access-date = May 21, 2024| quote = TM has its own set of scientists, viewed with skepticism by the mainstream scientific community.}}</ref>
==Procedures and theory==
The Transcendental Meditation technique comes from the ancient Vedic tradition of India and is practiced for twenty minutes twice daily while sitting with the eyes closed. The TM technique involves effortless, mental use of a simple sound known as a [[mantra]]. The first research on the Transcendental Meditation technique, conducted at UCLA and Harvard Medical Schools and published from 1970 to 1972 in ''Science, American Journal of Physiology,'' and ''Scientific American,'' indicated that the Transcendental Meditation technique produces a state which they called “restful alertness” in the mind and body.[http://www.mum.edu/tc.html].


==Movement==
The deepest state of rest in this form of meditation, according to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, is called "Pure Consciousness" (in Sanskrit: [[turiya]] or [[samadhi]]). The TM organization emphasizes in its teaching that the procedure for using the mantra is very important, and can only be learned from a trained teacher of TM. TM is considered a form of "[[dhyana]]", using the terminology of [[Patanjali]]. However, while most translations suggest that dhyana means "concentration," this is misleading from a TM perspective. TM is "concentration" in the same way as one's attention can become attracted to a beautiful sunset, rather than as something that the mind is forced to pay attention to.
{{Main|Transcendental Meditation movement}}
The Transcendental Meditation movement consists of the programs and organizations connected with the Transcendental Meditation technique and founded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Transcendental Meditation was first taught in the 1950s in India and has continued since the Maharishi's death in 2008. The organization was estimated to have 900,000 participants worldwide in 1977,<ref name="Stark 1986 page 287">{{cite book|last1=Stark|first1=Rodney|last2=Bainbridge|first2=William, Sims| title=The Future Of Religion|year=1986|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0520057319|pages=287}} "Time magazine in 1975 estimated that the U.S. total had risen to 600,000 augmented by half that number elsewhere" =[900,000 worldwide] "Annual Growth in TM Initiations in the U.S. [chart] Cumulative total at the End of Each Year: 1977, 919,300"</ref> a million by the 1980s,<ref name="Petersen, William J. 1982 p 123">{{cite book|last=Peterson|first=William|title=Those Curious New Cults in the 80s|year=1982|publisher=Keats Publishing|location=New Canaan, Connecticut|isbn=9780879833176|pages=[https://archive.org/details/thosecuriousnewc0000pete/page/123 123]|url=https://archive.org/details/thosecuriousnewc0000pete/page/123}} claims "more than a million" in the USA and Europe.</ref><ref name="Occhiogrosso, Peter 1996 p 66">Occhiogrosso, Peter. ''The Joy of Sects: A Spirited Guide to the World's Religious Traditions.'' New York: Doubleday (1996); p 66, citing "close to a million" in the USA.</ref><ref name="Bainbridge, William Sims 1997 page 189">Bainbridge, William Sims (1997) Routledge, The Sociology of Religious Movements, page 189 "the million people [Americans] who had been initiated"</ref> and 5 million in more recent years.{{when|date=May 2021}}<ref>Analysis: Practice of requiring probationers to take lessons in transcendental meditation sparks religious controversy, NPR All Things Considered, 1 February 2002 | ROBERT SIEGEL "TM's five million adherents claim that it eliminates chronic health problems and reduces stress."</ref><ref>Martin Hodgson, The Guardian (5 February 2008) "He [Maharishi] transformed his interpretations of ancient scripture into a multimillion-dollar global empire with more than 5m followers worldwide"</ref><ref>Stephanie van den Berg, Sydney Morning Herald, Beatles guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi dies, (7 February 2008) "the TM movement, which has some five million followers worldwide"</ref><ref>Meditation a magic bullet for high blood pressure – study, Sunday Tribune (South Africa), (27 January 2008) "More than five million people have learned the technique worldwide, including 60,000 in South Africa."</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">Maharishi Mahesh Yogi - Transcendental Meditation founder's grand plan for peace, The Columbian (Vancouver, WA), 19 February 2006 | ARTHUR MAX Associated Press writer "transcendental meditation, a movement that claims 6 million practitioners since it was introduced."</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Bank makes an issue of mystic's mint|last=Bickerton|first=Ian|work=Financial Times|location=London (UK)|date=8 February 2003|page=09}} the movement claims to have five million followers,</ref><ref name="Maharishi Mahesh Yogi 1955">Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Spiritual Leader Dies, New York Times, By LILY KOPPEL, Published: 6 February 2008 "Since the technique's inception in 1955, the organization says, it has been used to train more than 40,000 teachers, taught more than five million people"</ref>{{excessive citations inline|date=May 2021}}


Programs include the Transcendental Meditation technique, an advanced meditation practice called the TM-Sidhi program ("Yogic Flying"), an alternative health care program called [[Maharishi Ayurveda]],<ref name="Sharma 1998 loc=Preface">{{harvnb|Sharma|Clark|1998|loc=Preface}}</ref> and a system of building and architecture called Maharishi Sthapatya Ved.<ref name="Argus">{{Cite web|url=http://download.tmnews.org/2005_08_05_RockIsArgus_ltr.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100326064802/http://download.tmnews.org/2005_08_05_RockIsArgus_ltr.pdf |archive-date=2010-03-26 |url-status=live|title=Welvaert, Brandy, "Vedic homes seek better living through architecture", ''Rock Island Argus'', (5 August 2005)}}</ref><ref name="Spivack">{{cite news|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|title=Bricks Mortar and Serenity|first=Miranda|last=Spivack|date=12 September 2008|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/11/AR2008121103497.html}}</ref> The TM movement's past and present media endeavors include a publishing company (MUM Press), a television station ([[KSCI]]), a radio station ([[KHOE]]), and a satellite television channel (Maharishi Channel). During its 50-year history, its products and services have been offered through a variety of organizations, which are primarily nonprofit and educational. These include the Spiritual Regeneration Movement, the International Meditation Society, World Plan Executive Council, Maharishi Vedic Education Development Corporation, Transcendental Meditation for Women, the [[Global Country of World Peace]], and the [[David Lynch Foundation]].
== Theory of Consciousness==


The TM movement also operates a worldwide network of Transcendental Meditation teaching centers, schools, universities, health centers, herbal supplements, solar panel, and home financing companies, plus several TM-centered communities. The global organization is reported to have an estimated net worth of [[USD]] 3.5 billion.<ref name="Times0882">{{cite news|date=7 February 2008|title=Maharishi Mahesh Yogi|work=The Times|location=London (UK)|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article3320882.ece|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100524223404/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article3320882.ece|url-status=dead|archive-date=24 May 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Maharishi Mahesh Yogi |encyclopedia=Britannica Concise Encyclopedia |url=http://www.answers.com/topic/maharishi-mahesh-yogi}}</ref> The TM movement has been characterized in a variety of ways and has been called a spiritual movement, a [[new religious movement]],<ref name="books.google.com">For ''new religious movement'' see:
According to Transcendental Meditation theory there are seven major states of consciousness, of which the first three are familiar to non-TM meditators. The last three states fullfill the definition of Enlightenment - the ultimate goal of long-term TM-practice. Another term, [[Brahman Consciousness]], is used to describe the ongoing maturation of the 7th state:
<br />{{cite book|last=Beckford|first=James A.|title=Cult controversies: the societal response to new religious movements|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0pc9AAAAIAAJ|year=1985|publisher=Tavistock Publications|isbn=978-0-422-79630-9|page=23}}
<br />{{cite book|last=Parsons|first=Gerald|title=The Growth of Religious Diversity: Traditions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tlKkZoNPi0oC&pg=PA288|year=1994|publisher=The Open University/Methuen|isbn=978-0-415-08326-3|page=288}}
<br />For ''neo-Hindu'', see:
<br />{{cite book|last=Alper|first=Harvey P.|title=Understanding mantras|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V8Upy4ApG_oC&pg=PA442|date=December 1991|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-0746-4|page=442}}
<br />{{cite book|last1=Raj|first1=Selva J.|author2=William P. Harman|title=Dealing With Deities: The Ritual Vow in South Asia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ov2oltTLinkC&pg=PA129|year=2007|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=978-0-7914-6708-4|page=129}}</ref><ref name="TM and cult mania">{{Cite book | last1 = Persinger | first1 = Michael A. | last2 = Carrey | first2 = Normand J. | last3 = Suess | first3 = Lynn A. | title = TM and cult mania | year = 1980 | publisher = Christopher Pub. House | location = North Quincy, Mass. | isbn = 0-8158-0392-3 }}</ref> a millenarian movement, a world affirming movement,<ref name="Dawson">Dawson, Lorne L. (2003) Blackwell Publishing, Cults and New Religious Movements, Chapter 3: Three Types of New Religious Movement by Roy Wallis (1984), page 44-48</ref> a new social movement,<ref name=Blatter>Christian Blatter, Donald McCown, Diane Reibel, Marc S. Micozzi, (2010) Springer Science+Business Media, Teaching Mindfulness, Page 47</ref> a guru-centered movement,<ref name="Olson, Carl 2007 page 345">Olson, Carl (2007) Rutgers University Press, The Many Colors of Hinduism, page 345</ref> a personal growth movement,<ref name="Shakespeare">{{cite news|last=Shakespeare|first=Tom|title=A Point of View|work=BBC News|date=24 May 2014|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-27554640|access-date=31 May 2014}}</ref> a religion, and a [[cult]].<ref name="TM and cult mania" /><ref name="Market85">{{cite book |author=Stark, Rodney |author2=Bainbridge, William Sims |title=The future of religion: secularization, revival, and cult formation |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley, Calif |year=1985 |isbn=0-520-05731-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lTzPyvT2yusC&q=public+relations+Transcendental+meditation&pg=PA285}}</ref><ref name="Sagan, Carl 1997 16">{{cite book |author=Sagan, Carl |title=The demon-haunted world: science as a candle in the dark |publisher=Ballantine Books |location=New York |year=1997 |page=16 |isbn=0-345-40946-9 }}</ref><ref name="Szimhart">{{cite journal |last1=Szimhart |first1=Joseph |title=A look into the Transcendental Deception |journal=Skeptical Inquirer |date=2019 |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=61–63}}</ref> Additional sources contend that TM and its movement are not a cult.<ref name=Harrison>Harrison, Shirley (1990). Cults: The Battle for God. Kent: Christopher Helm. pp. 93–103 "none of the other 'cultic qualities' defined by cult watchers can be fairly attributed to TM."</ref><ref name="heraldscotland.com">Rowson, Jonathan (23 April 2007) [http://www.heraldscotland.com/meditation-for-old-hippies-or-a-better-way-of-life-1.839896 Meditation: for old hippies or a better way of life?] Sunday Herald (Scotland) " the TM movement is not a cult", accessed 2 Feb 2013</ref><ref name="Hannaford, Alex 2010">Hannaford, Alex (27 December 2010). "Mantra with a mission; Feature Om or ominous? The maverick film director David Lynch wants to bring Transcendental Meditation to our classrooms, and believes in 'yogic flying'. Can he get it off the ground?". The Sunday Times (London).</ref><ref name="Lyster, Samantha 2000">Lyster, Samantha (21 October 2000) Samantha Lyster finds herself in holistic heaven with new-found happiness and tranquillity after learning the art of transcendental meditation, The Birmingham Post (England), "TM is not a religion, a cult or a philosophy"</ref> Participants in TM programs are not required to adopt a belief system; it is practiced by atheists, agnostics and people from a variety of religious affiliations.<ref name="Liebler 2009">Liebler, Nancy and Moss, Nancy (2009) Healing Depression the Mind-Body Way: Creating Happiness with Meditation ["the TM technique does not require adherence to any belief system—there is no dogma or philosophy attached to it, and it does not demand any lifestyle changes other than the practice of it."] [https://books.google.com/books?id=Ac0g-v6gpjkC&q=Transcendental+Meditation] accessed 25 May 2013</ref><ref name="theguardian.com">"Its proponents say it is not a religion or a philosophy."The Guardian 28 March 2009 [https://www.theguardian.com/education/2009/mar/29/schools-pupils-meditation-courses]</ref><ref name="concordmonitor.com">"It's used in prisons, large corporations and schools, and it is not considered a religion." [http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090331/NEWS01/903310312/0/FRONTPAGE] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303195556/http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20090331%2FNEWS01%2F903310312%2F0%2FFRONTPAGE|date=3 March 2016}} Concord Monitor</ref>
The organization has been the subject of controversies that includes being labelled a [[cult]] by several parliamentary inquiries or [[anti-cult movement]]s in the world.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/rap-enq/r2468.asp|title=Commission d'enquête sur les sectes – Assemblée nationale|website=www.assemblee-nationale.fr|access-date=2019-03-03}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ariplex.com/ama/amasenat.htm|title=Die Deutsche Amalgam-Page, SEKTEN – Risiken und Nebenwirkungen|website=www.ariplex.com|access-date=2019-03-03}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1987/07/02/group-claims-tm-movement-is-a-cult/f3ace676-19b6-4968-a712-1be95fa1b428/?noredirect=on|title=GROUP CLAIMS TM MOVEMENT IS A CULT|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref><ref name="TM and cult mania" /><ref name="Market85"/><ref name="Sagan, Carl 1997 16"/>


Some notable figures in pop-culture practicing TM include [[the Beatles]], [[the Beach Boys]], [[Kendall Jenner]], [[Hugh Jackman]], [[Tom Hanks]], [[Jennifer Lopez]], [[Mick Jagger]], [[Eva Mendes|Eva Mendez]], [[Moby]], [[David Lynch]], [[Jennifer Aniston]], [[Nicole Kidman]], [[Eric André]], [[Jerry Seinfeld]], [[Howard Stern]], [[Julia Fox]], [[Clint Eastwood]], [[Martin Scorsese]], [[Russell Brand]], [[Nick Cave]] and [[Oprah Winfrey]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Celebrity Meditators - Celebrities|url=https://uk.tm.org/blog-celebrities/-/asset_publisher/PEXz6kDD8Gc5/blog/celebrity-meditators|access-date=2021-05-10|website=uk.tm.org}}<br>{{Citation|title=Eric Andre Goes Undercover on Reddit, YouTube and Twitter {{!}} GQ| date=6 April 2021 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e739fBD1Zsw| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211030/e739fBD1Zsw| archive-date=2021-10-30|language=en|access-date=2021-05-10}}{{cbignore}}<br>{{Citation|title=Bob Roth Interviews Jerry Seinfeld on "Success Without Stress"| date=5 November 2014 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeRdy6LrOAI| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211030/IeRdy6LrOAI| archive-date=2021-10-30|language=en|access-date=2021-05-10}}{{cbignore}}<br>{{Citation|title=Clint Eastwood on the benefits the Transcendental Meditation technique has had on his life| date=12 July 2011 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utmo3k-mMm8| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211030/utmo3k-mMm8| archive-date=2021-10-30|language=en|access-date=2021-05-10}}{{cbignore}}<br>{{Citation|title=Martin Scorsese & Ray Dalio on Creativity, TM & Success {{!}} Highlights {{!}} David Lynch Foundation| date=16 January 2015 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-kJvsQh8Ak| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211030/5-kJvsQh8Ak| archive-date=2021-10-30|language=en|access-date=2021-05-10}}{{cbignore}}<br>{{Citation|title=Russell Brand talks about Transcendental Meditation at Operation Warrior Wellness launch| date=3 March 2011 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTG4UcxR_8M| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211030/zTG4UcxR_8M| archive-date=2021-10-30|language=en|access-date=2021-05-10}}{{cbignore}}<br>{{Cite web|last=Stieg|first=Cory|date=2020-01-07|title=Oprah, Ray Dalio and Lady Gaga swear by this simple meditation technique|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/06/celebs-who-do-transcendental-meditation-oprah-ray-dalio-lady-gaga.html|access-date=2021-05-10|website=CNBC|language=en}}<br>{{Cite web|date=2020-04-01|title=25 Celebrities Who Know Transcendental Meditation|url=https://maharishischool.org/school-news-blogs/25-celebrities-who-know-transcendental-meditation/|access-date=2021-05-10|website=Maharishi School|language=en-US}}<br>{{Cite web |last=Cairns |first=Molly |date=2019-11-05 |title=Nick Cave - The Red Hand Files - Issue #69 - How do I stop fearing the end of the world? |url=https://www.theredhandfiles.com/fearing-the-end-of-the-world/ |access-date=2022-08-19 |website=The Red Hand Files |language=en-AU}}</ref>
* waking state of consciousness
* dreaming state of consciousness (REM)
* dreamless sleeping state of consciousness
* [http://www.mum.edu/m_effect/alexander/index#innerpeace Transcendental Consciousness] (TC) In Sanskrit, Tur¥ya Chetanå
* [http://www.mum.edu/m_effect/alexander/index#CC Cosmic Consciousness] (CC) In Sanskrit, Tur¥yåt¥t Chetanå
* [http://www.mum.edu/m_effect/alexander/index#GCUC God Consciousness] (GC) In Sanskrit, Bhagavad Chetanå
* [http://www.mum.edu/m_effect/alexander/index#GCUC Unity Consciousness] (UC) In Sanskrit, Bråhm¥ Chetanå


==Health effects==


The first studies of the health [[Effects of meditation|effects of Transcendental Meditation]] appeared in the early 1970s.<ref>Lyn Freeman, ''Mosby's Complementary & Alternative Medicine: A Research-Based Approach'', Mosby Elsevier, 2009, p. 163</ref>


There is no good evidence that TM reduces anxiety, or has any beneficial effect on forms of psychological stress or well-being.<ref name="pmid16437509">{{cite journal | vauthors = Krisanaprakornkit T, Krisanaprakornkit W, Piyavhatkul N, Laopaiboon M | title = Meditation therapy for anxiety disorders | journal = The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews | issue = 1 | pages = CD004998 | date = January 2006 | pmid = 16437509 | doi = 10.1002/14651858.CD004998.pub2 }}</ref><ref name="goyal-2014-ahrq">{{cite book | publisher = [[Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality]] |vauthors=Goyal M, Singh S, Sibinga EM, Gould NF, Rowland-Seymour A, Sharma R, Berger Z, Sleicher D, Maron DD, Shihab HM, Ranasinghe PD, Linn S, Saha S, Bass EB, Haythornthwaite JA | year = 2014 | title = Meditation Programs for Psychological Stress and Well-Being |series=AHRQ Comparative Effectiveness Reviews |pmid=24501780 | url = https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0063263/| quote = Our review finds that the mantra meditation programs do not appear to improve any of the psychological stress and well-being outcomes we examined, but the strength of this evidence varies from low to insufficient.}}</ref>
==Learning TM==
The technique has been taught to people in a variety of formats over the years. Currently, it is taught - for a fee - in a seven step process, which include an introductory lecture, personal interview and instruction, and checking afterwords to verify the technique was learned properly. [http://tm.org/learn/course/index.html]


A 2012 review found that Transcendental Meditation performed no better overall than other meditation techniques.<ref name="Sed12a">{{Cite journal |first1=Peter |last1=Sedlmeier |last2=Eberth |first2=Juliane |last3=Schwarz|last4=Zimmerman|last5=Haarig|last6=Jaeger|last7=Kunze|first3=Marcus|first4=Doreen|first5=Frederik|first6=Sonia|first7=Sonja|date=May 2012 |title=The Psychological Effects of Meditation: A Meta-Analysis |quote=The global analysis yielded quite comparable effects for TM, mindfulness meditation, and the other meditation procedures...So, it seems that the three categories we identified for the sake of comparison, TM, mindfulness meditation, and the heterogeneous category we termed other meditation techniques, do not differ in their overall effects. For most of the specific categories that could be analyzed, we found quite a variation in effects. These results indicate that different approaches to meditation might have differential effects. To date, it is difficult, however, to deduce any consistent differences therefrom.|journal=[[Psychological Bulletin]]|doi=10.1037/a0028168 |pmid=22582738 |display-authors=etal |volume=138 |issue=6 |pages=1139–1171}}</ref> The authors' analysis of a subset of these studies, those that studied specific categories of outcome, found that TM might perform better in reducing negative emotions, trait anxiety, and neuroticism and improving markers of learning, memory, and [[self-actualization]], but performs more poorly in reducing negative personality traits, reducing stress, improving attention and mindfulness and cognition, in comparison with other meditation approaches.<ref name="Sed12b">{{Cite journal |first1=Peter |last1=Sedlmeier|last2=Eberth|first2=Juliane|last3=Schwarz|last4=Zimmerman|last5=Haarig|last6=Jaeger|last7=Kunze|first3=Marcus|first4=Doreen|first5=Frederik|first6=Sonia|first7=Sonja|date=May 2012 |title=The Psychological Effects of Meditation: A Meta-Analysis |quote=A thorough comparison of the three kinds of meditation was difficult, due in part to the small number of studies that used a given category of dependent measure. Again, we only included results that could be calculated from at least three studies. On the basis of these data...there might indeed be differential effects. Comparatively strong effects for TM...were found in reducing negative emotions, trait anxiety, and neuroticism and being helpful in learning and memory and in self-realization...For mindfulness meditation, such comparatively strong effects were identified in reducing negative personality traits, reducing stress, and improving attention and mindfulness...(other meditation techniques) yielded a comparatively large effect in the category of cognition...TM yielded noticeably larger effects than mindfulness meditation for the categories negative emotions, neuroticism, trait anxiety, learning and memory, and self-realization. The opposite results were found for negative personality traits and self-concept, where the effects of mindfulness meditation were larger...For most of the specific categories that could be analyzed, we found quite a variation in effects. These results indicate that different approaches to meditation might have differential effects. To date, it is difficult, however, to deduce any consistent differences therefrom|journal=Psychological Bulletin |doi=10.1037/a0028168 |pmid=22582738 |display-authors=etal |volume=138 |issue=6 |pages=1139–1171}}</ref>
==TM-Related Research==


A statement from the [[American Heart Association]] said that TM could be considered as a treatment for [[hypertension]], although other interventions such as exercise and device-guided breathing were more effective and better supported by clinical evidence.<ref name="AHA">{{cite journal |vauthors=Brook RD, Appel LJ, Rubenfire M, Ogedegbe G, Bisognano JD, Elliott WJ, Fuchs FD, Hughes JW, Lackland DT, Staffileno BA, Townsend RR, Rajagopalan S |title=Beyond medications and diet: alternative approaches to lowering blood pressure: a scientific statement from the American Heart Association |journal=Hypertension |volume=61 |issue=6 |pages=1360–83 |year=2013 |pmid=23608661 |doi=10.1161/HYP.0b013e318293645f |doi-access=free }}</ref>
Research suggests that there are numerous health benefits associated with the TM technique, including reduction of high blood pressure <ref>''Hypertension 26'': 820–827, 1995</ref>, younger biological age <ref>''International Journal of Neuroscience 16'': 53–58, 1982</ref>, decreased insomnia <ref>''Journal of Counseling and Development 64'': 212–215, 1985</ref>, reduction of high cholesterol <ref>''Journal of Human Stress 5'': 24-27, 1979</ref>, reduced illness and medical expenditures <ref>''The American Journal of Managed Care 3'': 135–144, 1997</ref>, decreased outpatient visits <ref>''The American Journal of Managed Care 3'': 135–144, 1997</ref>, decreased cigarette smoking <ref>''Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly 11'': 13–87, 1994</ref>, decreased alcohol use <ref>''Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly 11'': 13–87, 1994</ref>, and decreased anxiety <ref>''Journal of Clinical Psychology 45'': 957–974, 1989</ref>.


TM may reduce [[blood pressure]] according to a review that compared TM to [[Treatment and control groups|control groups]]. A trend over time indicates practicing TM may lower blood pressure. Such effects are comparable to other [[Lifestyle medicine|lifestyle interventions]]. Conflicting findings across reviews and a potential risk of [[bias]] indicated the necessity of further evidence, conducted by researchers without bias.
Some studies indicate that regular practice of TM leads to significant, cumulative benefits in the areas of mind {{Harv|Travis|Arenander|DuBois|2004}}, body {{Harv|Barnes|Treiber|Davis|2001}}, behavior {{Harv|Barnes|Bauza|Treiber|2003}} and environment {{Harv|Hagelin|Rainforth|Orme-Johnson|Cavanaugh|1999}}. One study showed that TM had positive effects on arterial wall thickness in African-American people with high blood pressure. (PMID 10700487).
<ref name="J. Hum. Hypertens."/><ref name="Complement. Ther. Med."/>


By 2004, the US government had given more than $20 million to Maharishi International University to study the effect of meditation on health.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=267105 |title=Delving into alternative care: Non-traditional treatments draw increased interest, research funding|first=SUSANNE|last=QUICK|date=17 October 2004|work=Journal Sentinel|location=Milwaukee, Wisconsin |archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20070929124114/http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=267105 |archive-date = 29 September 2007|quote=Maharishi University ... has received more than $20 million in government support to date to explore the health benefits of meditation.}}</ref>
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has spent more than $21 million conducting research on the beneficial effects of the Transcendental Meditation program on heart disease alone [http://www.tm.org/discover/research/index.html]. In 1999, NIH awarded a grant of nearly $8 million to Maharishi University of Management to establish the first research center specializing in natural preventive medicine for minorities in the U.S. The new research institute, called the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention, was inaugurated on October 11, 1999, at the University's Department of Physiology and Health in Fairfield [http://www.mum.edu/inmp/nih].


==Other components of TM==
==Views and claims==
Beyond the initial technique, the organization that teaches TM also offers numerous other programs, retreats and also healthcare, known as [[Maharishi Ayurveda]].


===Views on consciousness (1963)===
The TM Siddhi program is an advanced technique which is claimed to deepen one's meditation and eventually lead to levitation.
In his 1963 book, ''The Science of Being and Art of Living,'' Maharishi Mahesh Yogi says that, over time, through the practice of the TM technique, the conscious mind gains familiarity with deeper levels of the mind, bringing the subconscious mind within the capacity of the conscious mind, resulting in expanded awareness in daily activity. He also teaches that the Transcendental Meditation practitioner transcends all mental activity and experiences the 'source of thought', which is said to be pure silence, 'pure awareness' or 'transcendental Being', 'the ultimate reality of life'.<ref name="Science of Being">{{cite book |author=Mahesh Yogi, Maharishi |year=1963 |publisher=Meridian Publishing |title=The Science of Being and Art of Living}}</ref>{{rp |pp 44–53}}<ref name=Phelan>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/assr_0335-5985_1979_num_48_1_2186|first=Michael|last=Phelan|journal=Archives de sciences sociales des religions|title=Transcendental Meditation. A Revitalization of the American Civil Religion|year=1979|volume =48|issue=48–1|pages=5–20| doi=10.3406/assr.1979.2186 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Interview with Larry King |first=Larry |last=King |date=May 12, 2002 |work=CNN}}</ref> TM is sometimes self described as a technology of consciousness.<ref name=Hunt>{{Cite book| last1 = Hunt | first1 = Stephen | author-link=Stephen J. Hunt|title = Alternative religions: a sociological introduction | year = 2003 | publisher = Ashgate | location = Aldershot, Hampshire, England; Burlington, VT | isbn = 978-0-7546-3410-2 | pages = 197–198|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0GuWbJhYIccC&q=transcendental%20meditation&pg=PA197 }}</ref> According to author Michael Phelan, "The fundamental premise of the psychology of fulfillment is that within every person exists a seemingly inexhaustible center of energy, intelligence, and satisfaction... To the extent that our behavior depends on the degree of energy and intelligence available to us, this center of pure creative intelligence may be described as that resource which gives direction to all that we experience, think and do."<ref>{{cite journal |title=Transcendental Meditation. A Revitalization of the American Civil Religion |journal=[[Archives de sciences sociales des religions]] |first=Michael |last=Phelan |date=Jul–Sep 1979 |volume=1 |issue=48 }}</ref>


According to the Maharishi, there are seven levels of consciousness: (i) deep sleep; (ii) dreaming; (iii) waking; (iv) transcendental consciousness; (v) cosmic consciousness; (vi) God consciousness; and, (vii) unity consciousness.<ref>Williams, Patrick Gresham (2000) The Spiritual Recovery Manual: Vedic Knowledge and Yogic Techniques to Accelerate Recovery, page 202</ref> The Maharishi says that transcendental consciousness can be experienced through Transcendental Meditation, and that those who meditate regularly over time could become aware of cosmic consciousness.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=dkuHUWYnW80C&dq=maharishi+%22god+consciousness%22&pg=PA66 Tillery, Gary, ''The Cynical Idealist; A Spiritual Biography of John Lennon''] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140304013412/http://books.google.com/books?id=dkuHUWYnW80C&pg=PA66&dq=maharishi+%22god+consciousness%22 |date=2014-03-04}} Quest Books, 2009 {{ISBN |0-8356-0875-1}}, {{ISBN |978-0-8356-0875-6}} pp 66-67</ref> An indication of cosmic consciousness is "ever present wakefulness" present even during sleep.<ref name="Walsh R, Shapiro SL 2006 227–39">{{Cite journal |vauthors=Walsh R, Shapiro SL |title=The meeting of meditative disciplines and Western psychology: a mutually enriching dialogue |journal=The American Psychologist |volume=61 |issue=3 |pages=227–39 |date=April 2006 |pmid=16594839 |doi=10.1037/0003-066X.61.3.227 |s2cid=3015768 |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7885t0n6 }}</ref> Research on long-term TM practitioners experiencing what they describe as cosmic consciousness, has identified unique EEG profiles, muscle tone measurements, and REM indicators that suggest physiological parameters for this self described state of consciousness.<ref name="Walsh R, Shapiro SL 2006 227–39"/><ref name=Shapiro>{{Cite journal |first1=Shauna L. |last1=Shapiro |first2=Roger |last2=Walsh |url=http://www.brittonlab.com/publications/Shapiro,%20Walsh,%20Britton%2003.pdf |title=An Analysis of Recent Meditation Research and Suggestions for Future Directions |journal=Journal for Meditation and Meditation Research |year=2003 |volume=3 |pages=69–90 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091123031814/http://www.brittonlab.com/publications/Shapiro,%20Walsh,%20Britton%2003.pdf |archive-date=2009-11-23 }}</ref> However, the Cambridge Handbook of Consciousness notes that it is premature to say that the EEG coherence found in TM is an indication of a higher state of consciousness.<ref name=Lutz>{{Cite book |isbn=978-0-521-85743-7 |editor1-first=Philip David |editor1-last=Zelazo |editor2-first=Morris |editor2-last=Moscovitch |editor3-first=Evan |editor3-last=Thompson |title=The Cambridge handbook of consciousness |year=2007 |pages=534–535 |publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref>
The TM movement also offers its own version of [[Ayurveda]], Indian Medicine, called Maharishi Ayurveda, practices [[Vedic Astrology]] which the movement calls Maharishi Jyotish, and has its own trademarked brand of food Vedic Organic Agriculture. [http://tm.org/explore/index.html]


===Science of Creative Intelligence (1971)===
===Sthapatya Veda===
In 1961, the Maharishi created the "International Meditation Society for the Science of Creative Intelligence".<ref name=Kennedy>{{Cite news |title=Field of TM dreams |first1=John W |last1=Kennedy |first2=Irving |last2=Hexham. |work=[[Christianity Today]] |date=January 8, 2001 |volume=45 |issue=1 |pages=74–79}}</ref> In 1971 the Maharishi inaugurated "Maharishi's Year of Science of Creative Intelligence" and described SCI as the connection of "modern science with ancient Vedic science".<ref name=Hume2005>{{Cite book |last=Humes |first=Cynthia A |year=2005 |chapter=Maharishi Mahesh Yogi: Beyond the T.M. Technique |title=Gurus in America |editor1-first=Thomas A |editor1-last=Forsthoefel |editor2-first=Cynthia Ann |editor2-last=Humes |publisher=SUNY Press |pages=55–79 |isbn=0-7914-6573-X}}</ref> Author Philip Goldberg describes it as Vedanta philosophy that has been translated into scientific language.<ref name="Philip Goldberg2">Goldberg, Philip (2011) Harmony Books, American Veda, page 165</ref> A series of international symposiums on the Science of Creative Intelligence were held between 1970 and 1973 and were attended by scientists and "leading thinkers", including [[Buckminster Fuller]], [[Melvin Calvin]], a [[Nobel Prize]] winner in chemistry, [[Hans Selye]], [[Marshal McLuhan]] and [[Jonas Salk]].<ref name="Philip Goldberg2"/> These symposiums were held at universities such as [[Humboldt State University]] and [[University of Massachusetts]].<ref>{{Cite news |work=Sociological Analysis |year=1992 |volume=53 |issue=–S S1–S13 |series=Presidential Address — 1987 |title=On Founders and Followers: Some Factors in the Development of New Religious Movements |first=Benton |last=Johnson}}</ref><ref>Jefferson, William (1976). ' 'The Story of The Maharishi' ', pp118-123. Pocket Books, New York, NY.</ref><ref>Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and Fuller, Buckminster (1971) Maharishi Channel Maharishi and Buckminster Fuller Press Conference YouTube, retrieved September 24, 2012</ref><ref name="Una Kroll"/> The following year, the Maharishi developed a World Plan to spread his teaching of SCI around the world.<ref name="Una Kroll"/><ref>{{Cite book |page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofaf00murp/page/1045 1045] |chapter=Eastern Family, Part I |last=Melton |year=2003 |title=Encyclopedia of American Religions |isbn=0-8153-0500-1 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofaf00murp/page/1045}}</ref>
In his televised press conference of November 16, 2005, Maharishi stated that he believed that it was vital for everyone in the world to live and work in buildings constructed according to [[Sthapatya Veda]] or ''Vastu'', architecture based on Vedic principles according to which the arrangement and layout of one's home has important effects on all areas of one's life (similar beliefs exist in [[Feng Shui]]). According to Sthapatya Veda, it is most auspicious for the main entrance of all structures to face the east, and all the rooms in a Vedically-correct building must be arranged around a central "Brahmastan" or seat of divinity.


The theoretical part of SCI is taught in a 33-lesson video course.<ref name="maharishi.org">{{Cite web |url=http://www.maharishi.org/sci/sci.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101125150229/http://maharishi.org/sci/sci.html |archive-date=November 25, 2010 |title=The Science of Creative Intelligence Course |publisher=maharishi.org |url-status=dead }}</ref> In the early 1970s, the SCI course was offered at more than 25 American universities including [[Stanford University]], [[Yale University]], the [[University of Colorado]], the [[University of Wisconsin]], and [[Oregon State University]].<ref name="Una Kroll">Kroll, Una (1974) John Knox Press, The Healing Potential of Transcendental Meditation, chapter 1: The Guru, pp 17-25</ref><ref name="TM ABC guide">{{cite book |author=Goldhaber, Nat |year=1976 |publisher=Ballantine Books |title=TM:An alphabetical guide to the Transcendental Meditation program}}</ref>{{rp |p 125}}<ref>{{Cite news |first=T. K. |last=Irwin |title=What's New in Science: Transcendental Meditation: Medical Miracle or 'Another Kooky Fad' |work=Sarasota Herald Tribune Family Weekly |date=October 8, 1972 |pages=8–9 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=NRAzAAAAIBAJ&pg=5803,3090100}}</ref> Until 2009, [[Maharishi University of Management]] (MUM) required its undergraduate students to take SCI classes,<ref>{{Cite book |edition=24th |publisher=Barron's |isbn=978-0-7641-7294-6 |last=Barron's Educational Series, Inc. |title=Profiles of American colleges |location=Hauppauge N.Y.; London |year=2000}}</ref><ref name=JME>{{Cite journal |last1=Schmidt-Wilk |first1=Jane |last2=Heston |first2=Dennis |last3=Steigard |first3=David |title=Higher education for higher consciousness Maharishi University of Management as a model for spirituality in management education |journal=Journal of Management Education |volume=24 |issue=5 |pages=580–611 |year=2000 |doi=10.1177/105256290002400505 |s2cid=145812629 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |publisher=Random House Information Group |isbn=978-0-375-76557-5 |author=Princeton Review |title=Complete Book of Colleges, 2007 Edition |date=August 15, 2006}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.mum.edu/pdf_catalog/mvs.pdf |title=MUM catalog for the Department of Maharishi Vedic Science |access-date= |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100527194259/https://www.mum.edu/pdf_catalog/mvs.pdf |archive-date=2010-05-27 }}</ref> and both MUM and [[Maharishi European Research University]] (MERU) in Switzerland have awarded degrees in the field.<ref name=DePalma>{{Cite news |title=University's Degree Comes With a Heavy Dose of Meditation (and Skepticism) |last=DePalma |first=Anthony |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=April 29, 1992 |page=B.8}}</ref> ''[[The Independent]]'' reports that children at [[Maharishi School, Lancashire|Maharishi School]] learn SCI principles such as "the nature of life is to grow" and "order is present everywhere".<ref>{{Cite news |first=Michelle |last=Teasdale |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/healthy-living/mummy-can-we-meditate-now-how-relaxation-exercises-can-help-your-child-to-sleep-1990059.html |title=Mummy, can we meditate now? |work=The Independent |date=June 3, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303224507/http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/healthy-living/mummy-can-we-meditate-now-how-relaxation-exercises-can-help-your-child-to-sleep-1990059.html |archive-date=March 3, 2016 }}</ref> SCI is reported to be part of the curriculum of TM related lower schools in Iowa, [[Wheaton, Maryland]]<ref>{{Cite news |title=This School Offers Readin', 'Ritin' and Mantras |first=Stephen |last=Buckley |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=March 19, 1993 |page=D.01}}</ref> and [[Skelmersdale]], UK.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Children meditate on top class GCSEs |first=Claire |last=Tolley |work=Daily Post |location=Liverpool |date=January 12, 2002 |page=13}}</ref> In 1975 SCI was used as the call letters for a TM owned television station in [[San Bernardino, California]].<ref>{{Cite news |title=Eclectic TV KSCI's Programming in 14 Languages Offers News, Entertainment, Comfort to Ethnic Communities |first=David |last=Holley |work=Los Angeles Times |date=June 5, 1986 |page=1}}</ref>
In his November press conference, Maharishi said that it was very important that all members of the organization quickly move into dwellings constructed according to Vedically-correct principles and that he would no longer talk or deal with any member of the TM community who lived in structures not built according to Vedic principles.


The Science of Creative Intelligence is not science.<ref name="sci">{{cite news |url = https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2012/may/13/letters-steiner-maharishi-schools-wrong |title = Schools of pseudoscience pose a serious threat to education |newspaper = The Guardian |date = 12 May 2012 |first1 = Pavan |last1 = Dhaliwal |first2 = Edzard |last2 = Ernst |first3 = David |last3 = Colquhoun |first4 = Simon |last4 = Singh |display-authors = etal |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170910173601/https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2012/may/13/letters-steiner-maharishi-schools-wrong |archive-date = 10 September 2017 }}</ref> Theologian [[Robert M. Price]], writing in the ''Creation/Evolution Journal'' (the journal of the [[National Center for Science Education]]), compares the Science of Creative Intelligence to [[Creationism]].<ref name="Price">{{Cite journal |url=http://ncse.com/cej/3/1/scientific-creationism-science-creative-intelligence |last=Price |first=Robert M. |author-link=Robert M. Price |title=Scientific Creationism and the Science of Creative Intelligence |journal=Creation Evolution Journal |volume=3 |date=Winter 1982 |pages=18–23 |issue=1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100331072532/http://ncse.com/cej/3/1/scientific-creationism-science-creative-intelligence |archive-date=2010-03-31 }}</ref> Price says instruction in the Transcendental Meditation technique is "never offered without indoctrination into the metaphysics of 'creative intelligence{{'"}}.<ref name="Price"/> Skeptic [[James Randi]] says SCI has "no scientific characteristics."<ref name="randi.org">{{Cite web|url=https://web.randi.org/t---encyclopedia-of-claims.html |title=James Randi Educational Foundation — An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural |access-date= }}</ref> [[Astrophysicist]] and sceptic [[Carl Sagan]] writes that the "Hindu doctrine" of TM is a [[pseudoscience]].<ref name="Sagan, 1997 p16">{{Cite book|author=Sagan, Carl |title=The Demon-haunted World: Science as a Candle In the Dark |publisher=Ballantine Books |location=New York |year=1997 |page=16 |isbn=0-345-40946-9 |oclc= |doi= |access-date=}}</ref> [[Irving Hexham]], a professor of religious studies, describes the TM teachings as "pseudoscientific language that masks its religious nature by mythologizing science".<ref name=Kennedy/> Sociologists [[Rodney Stark]] and [[William Sims Bainbridge]] describe the SCI videotapes as largely based on the [[Bhagavad Gita]], and say that they are "laced with parables and metaphysical postulates, rather than anything that can be recognized as conventional science".<ref name=Stark>{{Cite book| last = Stark | first = Rodney | author-link = Rodney Stark |author2=[[William Sims Bainbridge]] |title = The Future of Religion: Secularization, Revival, and Cult Formation | year = 1986 | publisher = University of California Press |location = Berkeley | isbn = 0520057317 | page = 289}}</ref> In 1979, the court case ''Malnak v Yogi'' determined that although SCI/TM is not a theistic religion, it deals with issues of ultimate concern, truth, and other ideas analogous to those in well-recognized religions.<ref name=Merriman>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l_8VFygyaDYC |last=Merriman |first=Scott A. |title=Religion and the Law in America |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-85109-863-7 |page=522 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140101101752/http://books.google.com/books?id=l_8VFygyaDYC |archive-date=2014-01-01 }}</ref> Maharishi biographer Paul Mason suggests that the scientific terminology used in SCI was developed by the Maharishi as part of a restructuring of his philosophies in terms that would gain greater acceptance and increase the number of people starting the TM technique. He says that this change toward a more academic language was welcomed by many of the Maharishi's American students.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mason |first=Paul |title=The Maharishi |location=Great Britain |publisher=Element Books Limited |year=1994 |page=210 |isbn=1-85230-571-1}}</ref>
The Maharishi University of Management demolished a Christian chapel on its campus because it was not constructed according to Vedic principles [http://www.mum.edu/reconstruction/demolition]. The TM movement has encountered public resistance to its plans to tear down historic buildings in order to replace them with Vastu-compliant structures, including a former Christian monastery in the Netherlands [http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm1.html].


===Maharishi effect (1974)===
===TM-Sidhi Program and the Maharishi Effect===
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi claimed that the quality of life would noticeably improve if at least the square root of one per cent (1%) of the population practised the Transcendental Meditation technique. This is known as the "Maharishi effect" and according to the Maharishi, it was perceived in 1974 after an analysis of crime statistics in 16 cities.<ref name="Science of Being"/>{{rp |329}}<ref name="Karam">Karam, Ted (2005) Jumping on Water: Awaken Your Joy, Empower Your Life, page 137</ref><ref name=Wager>{{Cite news |title=Musicians Spread the Maharishi's Message of Peace |first=Gregg |last=Wager |work=Los Angeles Times |date=December 11, 1987 |page=12}}</ref> With the introduction of the [[TM-Sidhi program]] including Yogic Flying, the Maharishi proposed that the square root of 1 per cent of the population (around 6325 people, the square root of 40 million (1% of the global
The TM movement defines the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maharishi_Mahesh_Yogi#The_.27Maharishi_Effect.27 Maharishi Effect] as "the influence of coherence and positivity in the social and natural environment generated by the practice of the TM and TM-Sidhi programs" [http://www.mum.edu/m_effect/]. [[James Randi]], noted skeptic and critic of paranormal claims, investigated the claims of Dr. Rabinoff, an MUM professor and TM researcher on the "Maharishi effect," that a large gathering of TM meditators had reduced crime and accidents and increased crop production in the vicinity of Maharishi International University in Fairfield, Iowa. After speaking with the Fairfield Police Department, the Iowa Department of Agriculture, and Iowa Department of Motor Vehicles, Randi concluded that Dr. Rabinoff's data were simply made up <ref> "Carroll RT" [http://skepdic.com/tm.html "Carroll, RT, Skeptics Dictionary"]</ref>
population of about 4 billion people in 1974<ref name="worldpop1974">{{cite news |url= https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/global-population-doubles-since-74-hits-8-billion-today/articleshow/95517415.cms|title= Global population doubles since 1974, hits 8 billion today|newspaper= The Times of India|date= 15 November 2022}}</ref>)) practicing this advanced program together at the same time and in the same place would create benefits in society. This was referred to as the "Extended Maharishi Effect".<ref name="Karam"/><ref name="Maharishi University of Management">{{cite web |url=http://www.mum.edu/m_effect/ |archive-date=August 23, 2000 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000823041441/http://www.mum.edu/m_effect/ |title=Maharishi Effect – Research on the Maharishi Effect |publisher=Maharishi University of Management |access-date=December 29, 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref>


Author Ted Karam claims that there have been numerous studies on the Maharishi effect including a gathering of over 4,000 people (just under two thirds of the square root of 1% of the population as of 1974) in Washington, D.C. in the summer of 1993.<ref name="Karam"/> The effect has been examined in 42 scientific studies.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Meditation touted as crime-fighter // Study presented builds the case for 'Maharishi effect' |first=Conrad |last=deFiebre |work=Star Tribune |location=Minneapolis, Minn. |date=October 7, 1994 |page=03.B}}</ref> The TM organisation has linked the fall of the [[Berlin Wall]] and a reduction in global terrorism, US inflation and crime rates to the Maharishi effect.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Maharishi mob meditates on Limerick's ills |first=Liam |last=Fay |work=Sunday Times |location=London (UK) |date=June 13, 2004 |page=32}}</ref> The Maharishi effect has been endorsed by the former President of Mozambique [[Joaquim Chissano]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.salon.com/people/feature/2000/12/01/mozambique/print.html |last=Roach |first=Mary |title=The last tourist in Mozambique |work=Salon |date=December 1, 2000 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604161759/http://www.salon.com/people/feature/2000/12/01/mozambique/print.html |archive-date=June 4, 2011 }}</ref>
A later study on the Maharishi effect purportedly found a correlation between the installation of a group of 4,000 participants in the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi programs in the District of Columbia, and a reduction in violent crime in that city <ref>''Hagelin, J. S., Orme-Johnson, D. W., Rainforth, M., Cavanaugh, K., & Alexander, C. N. (1999). '''Results of the National Demonstration Project to Reduce Violent Crime and Improve Governmental Effectiveness in Washington, D.C.''' Social Indicators Research, 47'', 153–201</ref>.


As the theories proposed by TM practitioners<ref name="Park">{{Cite book |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780198604433 |page=30 |last=Park |first=Robert L. |title=Voodoo science: The road from foolishness to fraud |year=2002 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xzCK6-Kqs6QC}}</ref> go beyond modern science{{weasel inline|date=May 2024}}, the Maharishi effect still lacks a [[causality|causal basis]].<ref name="Fales">{{cite journal |doi=10.2307/2580722 |last1=Fales |first1=Evan |last2=Markovsky |first2=Barry |title=Evaluating Heterodox Theories |jstor=2580722 |journal=Social Forces |volume=76 |issue=2 |pages=511–525 |year=1997}}</ref> Moreover, the evidence has been said to result from [[Cherry picking (fallacy)|cherry-picked data]]<ref name="Schrodt">{{cite journal |doi=10.1177/0022002790034004008 |jstor=174187 |last=Schrodt |first=Phillip A. |title=A methodological critique of a test of the Maharishi technology of the unified field |journal=Journal of Conflict Resolution |volume=34 |issue=4 |year=1990 |pages=745–755|s2cid=145426830 }}</ref> and the [[credulity]] of believers.<ref name=Fales/><ref name="SFGate">{{Cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1995/12/29/MN65432.DTL |last=Epstein |first=Edward |title=Politics and Transcendental Meditation |work=San Francisco Chronicle |date=29 December 1995}}</ref> Critics, such as [[James Randi]], have called this research [[pseudoscience]].<ref>{{Cite news |title=Stop the bleeping pseudoscience; Quantum physics film drowns in its own bunk science High point in What The Bleep is stunning animation sequence |first=PETER |last=CALAMAI |work=Toronto Star |date=October 9, 2004 |page=J.13}}</ref> Randi says that he investigated comments made by former Maharishi International University faculty member Robert Rabinoff in 1978. He spoke to the [[Fairfield, Iowa|Fairfield]] Chief of Police who said local crime levels were the same and the regional Agriculture Department who reportedly deemed that farm yields for [[Jefferson County, Iowa|Jefferson County]] matched the state average.<ref name=Randi106>{{Cite book |author=Randi, James |title=Flim-flam!: psychics, ESP, unicorns, and other delusions |publisher=Prometheus Books |location=Buffalo, N.Y. |year=1982 |page=106 |isbn=0-87975-198-3 }}</ref>
At a press conference to announce the analysis of their study, [[John Hagelin]] claimed that, during the period of the experiment, Washington, D.C. experienced a significant reduction in psychiatric emergency calls, fewer complaints against the police, and an increase in public approval of President Clinton -- all of which was consistent with the hypothesis that a coherence-creating group of TM experts can relieve social stress and reverse negative social trends. Overall, there was an 18 percent reduction in violent crime, he told the press. When a reporter asked, an 18 percent reduction compared to what, Hagelin answered, compared to the level of violent crime had the TM meditators not meditated. In his book Voodoo Science, physicist Robert Park called the TM study a "clinic in data manipulation." <ref "Park, RL">[http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2843/is_5_24/ai_67691836]</ref>


===Maharishi Vedic Science (1981)===
The study has become a target for many other critics and wags: Most notably, in 1994 [[John Hagelin]] received an [[Ig Nobel Prize]] [http://www.improb.com/ig/ig-pastwinners.html#ig1994]to commemorate the study. This generally uncoveted spoof of the [[Nobel Prize]] is given annually to recognize "achievements" that "cannot, or should not, be reproduced." What astounded the critics most was the TM researchers' excuse for why Washington D.C.'s murder rate during the study periord had climbed to the highest rate in history. It would have been much higher had the TM meditators not meditated, the researchers explained.
The Maharishi proclaimed 1981 as the Year of Vedic Science.<ref name="Science of Being"/>{{rp |336}} It is based on the Maharishi's interpretation of ancient Vedic texts and includes subjective technologies like the Transcendental Meditation technique and the TM-Sidhi program plus programs like Maharishi Sthapatya Veda (MSV) and Maharishi Vedic Astrology (MVA) services which apply Vedic science to day-to-day living.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bonshek |first1=Anna |last2=Bonshek |first2=Corrina |last3=Fergusson |first3=Lee |title=The Big Fish: Consciousness as Structure, Body and Space. (Consciousness, Literature the Arts) |publisher=Rodopi |isbn=978-90-420-2172-3 |year=2007 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.mum.edu/msvs/Chandler1.html |title=Modern Science and Vedic Science: An Introduction |publisher=Modern Science and Vedic Science, Volume 1 |access-date=November 15, 2009 |first=Kenneth |last=Chandler |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100527213259/https://www.mum.edu/msvs/Chandler1.html |archive-date=May 27, 2010}}</ref> Vedic science studies the various aspects of life and their relationship to the Veda.


===Maharishi Ayurveda===
===Political activities of the TM organization===
{{main|Maharishi Vedic Approach to Health}}
The TM organization founded the Natural Law Party in 1992 in support of candidates for public office dedicated to promoting both TM and Maharishi's far-reaching political goals at all levels of society. The Party ran Dr. [[John Hagelin]], former physics professor at Maharishi University of Management, for president of the United States in the 1992, 1996, and 2000 elections, without notable success. The Natural Law Party did not run a candidate for president in the 2004 election and the NLP is no longer a registered party in the UK. Following repeated NLP failures at the polls, Maharishi unilaterally inaugurated his own Global Country of World Peace [http://www.globalcountry.org/EasyWeb.asp?pcpid=1738] and crowned Dr. Tony Nader as ''Raja'' (Vedic king) [http://www.globalcountry.org/EasyWeb.asp?pcpid=68] of the new government, which is devoted to achieving Maharishi's goals, including the practice of TM in the public schools and reconstruction of public and also private structures in the world along Vedic principles. In many of his most recent weekly press conferences, Maharishi has repeatedly expressed his strong opinion that [[democracy]] is an ineffective and weak form of government.
Maharishi Ayurveda<ref>{{harvnb|Wallace|1993|pp=64–66}}</ref><ref name="harvnb|Sharma|Clark|1998">{{harvnb|Sharma|Clark|1998}}</ref> or Maharishi Vedic Medicine<ref>{{harvnb|Reddy|Egenes|2002}}</ref> is a form of [[alternative medicine]] founded in the mid-1980s by Maharishi.<ref name="Sharma 1998 loc=Preface"/> Distinct from traditional [[ayurveda]], it emphasizes the role of consciousness, and gives importance to positive emotions.<ref>For a brief history of traditional ayurveda, and selected translations from the original Sanskrit sources, see {{harvnb|Wujastyk|2003}}</ref> Maharishi Ayurveda has been variously characterized as emerging from, and consistently reflecting, the [[Advaita Vedanta]] school of [[Hindu philosophy]], representing the entirety of the ayurvedic tradition.<ref>Cynthia Ann Humes, "Maharishi Ayur-Veda", chapter 17 in {{harvnb|Wujastyk|Smith|2008|pp=309 and 326}}</ref><ref name=Sharma95>{{harvnb|Sharma|1995}}</ref>


== Notes ==
==Criticisms and controversies==
{{reflist|group=nb}}


==References==
Compared to many other Eastern inspired movements with a footing in the West, the Transcendental Meditation movement has experienced few controversies, certainly no high-profile ones. Nevertheless, there appear to exist a small body of critics of TM and its founder [[Maharishi Mahesh Yogi]] drawing mainly from Christian and Jewish fundamentalists and former teachers of the [[Transcendental Meditation]] program.
{{Reflist}}


==Sources==
The TM Movement's policy to deal with this and other types of negative phenomenon has been consistent throughout the movement's history, a rather Gandhi-like or Christian: ''turn the other cheek,'' summed up in the phrase: ''don't engage in negativity.''
*{{Citation | last1 = Reddy | first1 = Kumuda | last2 = Egenes | first2 = Linda | title = Conquering Chronic Disease Through Maharishi Vedic Medicine | year = 2002 | publisher = Lantern Books | location = New York| isbn = 978-1-930051-55-3 | page = 10 }}
*{{Citation |doi=10.1089/act.1995.1.364 |title=Maharishi Ayur-VedaAn Ancient Health Paradigm in a Modern World |year=1995 |last1=Sharma |first1=Hari |journal=Alternative and Complementary Therapies |volume=1 |page=364 |issue=6}}
*{{Citation | last1 = Wallace | first1 = Robert Keith | title = The physiology of consciousness | year = 1993 | publisher = Maharishi International University Press | location = Fairfield, Iowa | isbn = 978-0-923569-02-0 | pages = 64–66 }}
*{{Cite book| last1 = Wujastyk| first1 = Dominik| title = The Roots of Ayurveda: Selections from Sanskrit Medical Writings | year = 2003 | publisher = Penguin | location = London, New York, etc. | isbn = 978-0-14-044824-5 }}
*{{Cite book| last1 = Wujastyk| first1 = Dagmar| last2 = Smith| first2 = Frederick M.| title = Modern and global Ayurveda: Pluralism and Paradigms | year = 2008 | publisher = State University of New York Press | location = Albany | isbn = 978-0-7914-7489-1 }}


==Further reading==
Aside personal attacks and other organized attempts to discredit the TM Movement and its representatives, the criticism include these points:
* Bloomfield, Harold H., Cain, Michael Peter, Jaffe, Dennis T. (1975) ''TM: Discovering Inner Energy and Overcoming Stress'' {{ISBN|0-440-06048-6}}
* Denniston, Denise, ''The TM Book'', Fairfield Press 1986 {{ISBN|0-931783-02-X}}
* Forem, Jack (2012) Hay House UK Ltd, ''Transcendental Meditation: The Essential Teachings of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi'' {{ISBN|1-84850-379-2}}
* Roth, Robert (1994) Primus, ''Transcendental Meditation'' {{ISBN|1-55611-403-6}}
* Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (1968) (Bantam Books) ''Transcendental Meditation: Serenity Without Drugs'' {{ISBN|0-451-05198-X}}


==External links==
* '''The TM movement is a cult or religion'''
{{sister project links|d=Q558571|m=no|mw=no|voy=no|species=no|c=Category:Transcendental Meditation movement|n=no|q=no|s=no|b=no|v=no}}
*{{Official website}}
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{{Transcendental Meditation|state=expanded}}
{{Meditation}}
{{Authority control}}


[[Category:1955 introductions]]
:The TM Movement does not claim to be a religion. In fact, it encourages it's practitioners to continue practicing whatever religion they might already pursue. Still, the connection between TM and Hinduism, from where the movement's founder [[Maharishi Mahesh Yogi]] comes, appears to become increasingly evident as time passes. In the 1960s and 1970s critics focused on the claim that the mantras, or sounds used in TM might be short names for Hindu gods[http://www.paulmason.info/themaharishi/mmych22.htm]. Later on, in the mid-70s, as the Movement started to teach Yogic Flying, critics believed they've found more ammunition, since this advanced meditation program is reported to make use of [[Patanjali Yoga Sutras]][http://www.paulmason.info/themaharishi/mmych24.htm].
[[Category:Hindu new religious movements]]

:Today, given the Movement's impressive array of practices apparently echoing features found in [[Hinduism]], such as [[Maharishi Joytish | Jyotish]] (Astrology), [[Maharishi Ayurveda | Ayurveda]] (Health care), [[Maharishi Vastu | Sthapathya Veda]] (Architecture), etc, the issue appears more confused - or perhaps simply moot.

:The TM Movement itself does not appear to view this as a problem, perhaps so since practice of TM or any other of the services offered by the TM Movement (such as [[Maharishi Ayurveda]], etc) does not require adherence to any particular way of life or belief system.

* '''TM in the public school system'''

:There have been numerous attempts to bring Transcendental Meditation into the public school system. This has been a controversial idea in America since TM has been determined by legal precedent to be a religious practice (United States District Court, District of New Jersey, Docket No. 76-341 (H.C.M.) Civil Action, in the case of Alan B. Malnak. et al., Plaintiffs, v. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, et al., Defendants, 1977). Therefore introduction of this Hindu meditation practice into the public school system violates the separation of church and state.

Some critics feel this is merely a new attempt to market and sell this expensive, but common form of meditation as a money making scheme. TM is marketed with claims that it is somehow unique and proprietary when in reality it is a common meditation practice in India. Since many forms of meditation are taught for free or by donation, the high prices charged by the TM movement are often deemed excessive and predatory.

Recent attempts at entering public schools center around the controversy with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and the overuse of ADD medications. TM is being leveraged and marketed as an alternative to medication management with some success.

* '''TM has an adverse effect on its practitioners'''

:The two scientific papers usually invoked by critics of TM include (1) a review made in International Journal of Psychotherapy [http://taylorandfrancis.metapress.com/link.asp?id=8ll2hh506d4gvgky], which reportedly claims an array of negative side effects from TM practice; and (2) an anthology of selected papers dealing with the "sixties counterculture," including contemporary music celebrities and drugs[http://www.realization.org/page/doc0/doc0082.htm].

:There appears to be an issue hinted at (though not explicitly formulated) by the criticism found in these papers - that safe practice of TM requires a minimum level of mental health.

:Even though the TM Movement does not appear to have made any public statement about this, the movement claims to consistently screen potential meditators for psychiatric problems as well any use of controlled substances, which both might disqualify a person from being initiated into Transcendental Meditation or any other of the movements mentally-based techniques such as [[Yogic Flying]].

:The possibility that a minimum level of mental health is required for safe TM practice might recently have been confirmed in a tragic way by a fatal stabbing at the [[http://www.mum.ed | Maharishi University of Management]] in [[Fairfield]], [[Iowa]] [http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1207936,00.html]. The only known official TM statement about the incidence was: ''..this is an aspect of the violence we see throughout society, including the violence that our country (the United States of America) is perpetrating in other countries.'' [http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1207936,00.html]

:MUM has reportedly been sued by the parents of the killed student on the basis that TM might be dangerous for mentally disturbed people and for not taking actions to protect the student after he had been violently attacked earlier in the day by the mentally ill student[http://www.religionnewsblog.com/13814].

* '''Scientific research in support of TM is biased'''

:A review of the critique forwarded against TM as an effective relaxation technique indicate that none of these claims are founded on clinical studies but limit themselves to reviews of published TM performed ny others. In 2003, for example, the Middle European Journal of Medicine in 2003 reportedly claimed that "of 700 studies on TM spanning 40 years, only 10 were conducted in the clinical tradition of using strict control groups, randomization and placebos." {{fact}}

:Overall, the balance of scientific research in support of TM as an effective relaxation technique vastly out-numbers papers claiming otherwise and continues to be published in medical journals; recently so in [[The American Journal of Cardiology]][http://161.58.228.161/TM_and_mortality.pdf], reportedly funded in part by a grant from the [[National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine]], the American Journal of Hypertension[http://www.forbes.com/lifestyle/health/feeds/hscout/2005/02/09/hscout523804.html], and the ''Archives of Internal Medicine''[http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/166/11/1218], a specialty journal published by the [[American Medical Association]].

:Those who claim that the TM movement has been very successful in getting research funding and publications largely through deception often cite the testimony of attorney Anthony D. DeNaro, who served as Director of Grants Administration and legal counsel for Maharishi University of Management in the 1970s. In an affidavit he signed and presented to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in 1986, DeNaro stated: [http://skepdic.com/tm.html

::"It was obvious to me that [the] organization was so deeply immersed in a systematic, wilful pattern of fraud including tax fraud, lobbying problems and other deceptions, that it was ethically impossible for me to become involved further as legal counsel.

::"I discussed this with Steve Druker [the University’s Executive Vice President], but agreed to remain as Director of Grants provided certain conditions and restrictions were met. In practice, however, because I recognized a very serious and deliberate pattern of fraud, designed, in part, to misrepresent the TM movement as a science (not as a cult), and fraudulently claim and obtain tax-exempt status with the IRS, I was a lame duck Director of Grants Administration."

* '''The TM Movement is sexist'''

:Allegations brought forward in support of the TM Movement being sexist include the reported segregation between and women during practice of i.a. Yogic Flying and Panca-Karma treatments (herbal enemas claimed to rid the body of poisons), and a belief apparently held by senior TM staff that females want to consider abstaining from too strenuous and/or gross activities since their nervous systems are believed to be far more subtle and delicate than that of men.

* '''TM is expensive'''
:In the late 1970s, the fee for basic initiation in the United States was $75. Today (2006), it is $2,500 [http://tm.org/learn/course/requirements.html]

:The raise in fees is not the same in all countries and it appears that the high fees in i.a. United States and Europe are in fact used to fund large-scale TM projects in i.a. [[India]], [[Indonesia]], [[Kampuchea]], and other countries.

: Altruistic as this scheme appears to be in a global context (rich countries helping needy countries), what critics are highlighting here without explicitly saying so is the presence of what might be described as a strategic shift of focus the TM Movement has experienced during the last twenty five years: from an "open door" or "counter culture" pricing policy in the 1960s and 70s, to a financially more sustainable business-like approach that appears to have finally taken root.

* '''The Maharishi Effect isn't there?'''

:Many critics ridicule the TM Movement's claim of a Maharishi Effect, which the movement says is produced whenever a sufficient number of TMers practice the TM-Sidhi program together. This effect, they claim, reduces crime, prevents and ends wars, detours hurricanes, and improves life in many other ways for everyone within the area, not just the TM-Sidhi practitioners. One of the most controversal studies published to support the TM movement's claim of a Maharishi Effect is the [http://istpp.org/crime_prevention/ 1993 National Demonstration Project.] In this study, the TM researchers led by [[John Hagelin]], claimed to have produced an 18 percent reduction in violent crimes in Washington, D.C., by having about 4,000 TM-Sidhi practitioners practice the program daily during June and July 1993. The findings were ridiculed by critics as an example of pseudoscientific data cooking [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2843/is_5_24/ai_67691836] [http://www.csicop.org/si/ Skeptical Inquirer], and won the study's lead researcher, an [[Ig Nobel Prize]]. Members of the TM movement have dismissed all criticism of the study and stand by the findings[http://istpp.org/crime_prevention/voodoo_rebuttal.html].


* '''The TM Movement is led incompetently'''

:This [http://www.geocities.com/bbrigante vein of criticism] is internal to the TM Movement and appears to be a reaction against perceived incompetences of mostly mid-level TM leadership.

==Footnotes==
<!--See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Footnotes for an explanation of how to generate footnotes using the <ref(erences/)> tags-->
<references/>

==References==
* [http://www.tm.org The Transcendental Meditation Program official website]
* [http://www.tm.org/discover/research/index.html Discover the benefits] ''- link to unofficial TM site, includes some scientific study summaries
* [http://behind-the-tm-facade.org/ Behind the TM facade]
* [http://www.mum.edu/tm_research Extensive research on the Transcendental Meditation program]
* [http://transcendental.meditation.onwww.net Transcendental Meditation compared to other mantra techniques] from the [[Scientia Institute]]
* [http://tm.berkeley.edu/science.html Selected Studies on Transcendental Meditation]
* {{Harvard reference | Given1=Daniel | Surname1=Druckman | Given2=Robert, editors, | Surname2=Bjork | Year=NRC 1991 | Title=In the Mind's Eye: Enhancing Human Performance | Place=Washington, DC | Pages=122 | Publisher=National Academy Press |}}
* {{Harvard reference | Given1=Vernon A. | Surname1=Barnes | given2=Lynnette B. | Surname2=Bauza | Given3= Frank A. | Surname3=Treiber | Title= Impact of stress reduction on negative school behavior in adolescents | Journal=Health and Quality of Life Outcomes | Year= 2003 | Volume= 1 | Issue=10 | Year= 2003| URL=http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1477-7525-1-10}}
* {{Harvard reference | Surname1=Barnes | Given1=Vernon A. | Surname2=Treiber | Given2=Frank A. | Surname3=Davis | Given3=Harry |Authorlink= | Title=Impact of Transcendental Meditation1 on cardiovascular function at rest and during acute stress in adolescents with high normal blood pressure | Journal=Journal of Psychosomatic Research | Volume= 51 | Issue=4 | Year=2001 | Page=597-605 | URL=http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0022-3999(01)00261-6}}
* {{Harvard reference | Given1=John S. | Surname1=Hagelin | Given2=Maxwell V. | Surname2=Rainforth| Given3= David W. | Surname3=Orme-Johnson | Given4=Kenneth L. | Surname4=Cavanaugh | Given5=Charles N. | Surname5=Alexander | Given6=Susan F. | Surname6=Shatkin | Given7=John L. Surname7=Davies | Given8=Anne O. | Surname8=Hughes | Given9=Emanuel| Surname9= Ross | Title= Effects of Group Practice of the Transcendental Meditation Program on Preventing Violent Crime in Washington, D.C.: Results of the National Demonstration Project, June--July 1993 | Journal=Social Indicators Research | Publisher=Springer | Volume=47| Issue=2| Page=153-201| Year=1999| URL= http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/klu/soci/1999/00000047/00000002/00198917? }}
* {{Harvard reference | Given1=Christopher R. K.|Surname1= MacLean| Given2=Kenneth G. | Surname2=Walton | Given3=Stig R. | Surname3=Wenneberg | Given4=Debra K. | Surname4=Levitsky| Given5=Joseph P. | Surname5=Mandarino | Given6=Rafiq | Surname6=Waziri | Given7=Stephen L.| Surname7= Hillis | Given8=Robert H. Surname8=Schneider| Title= Effects of the Trancendentale Meditation program on adaptive mechanism: changes in hormone levels and responses to stress after 4 months of practice | Journal=Psychoneuroendocrinology | Volume= 22| Issue=4 | Year= 1997| Page=227-295| URL= http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0306-4530(97)00003-6}}
* {{Harvard reference | Given1= Robert A. |Surname1=Rabinoff | Given2=Michael C. | Surname2=Dillbeck | Given3=Robert | Surname3=Deissler | Title=Effect of coherent collective consciousness on the weather | Journal=Scientific Research On Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi Programme - Collected Papers | Volume=4, paper 324 | Issue=| Year=1981 | Page=2564-2565 | URL=http://www.mum.edu/tm_research/tm_biblio/socio_c.html}}
* {{Harvard reference | First=James| Last=Randi | Year=1982 | Title= Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions; [introduction by Isaac Asimov] | Chapter=chapter 5, "The Giggling Guru: A Matter of Levity"| Editor= | Others=| Place=Buffalo, New York|Pages= | Publisher=Prometheus Books| ID=ISBN 0-87975-198-3 | URL=http://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Special:Booksources&isbn=0879751983| Authorlink= James_Randi}}
* {{Harvard reference | Given1= Frederick |Surname1=Travis | Given2=Alarik | Surname2=Arenander | Given3=David | Surname3= DuBois | Title = Psychological and physiological characteristics of a proposed object-referral/self-referral continuum of self-awareness | Journal=Consciousness and Cognition | Volume= 13 | Year=2004 | Page=401-420 |URL= http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2004.03.001}}

==Further reading==
* [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0140192476 Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on the Bhagavad-Gita : A New Translation and Commentary, Chapters 1-6]
* [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0452282667 Maharishi Mahesh Yogi: Science of Being and Art of Living : Transcendental Meditation]
* [http://www.davidlynchfoundation.com/ The David Lynch Foundation For Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace]
* {{Harvard reference | First=Paul| Last=Mason | Year=2005 | Title=Maharishi Mahesh Yogi: The Biography of the Man Who Gave Transcendental Meditation to the World | Chapter= | Editor= | Others=Language: English | Pages=335 pages | Publisher=Evolution Publishing | ID=ISBN 0955036100| URL=http://www.maharishibiography.com | Authorlink= }}

[[Category:New Age]]
[[Category:Pseudoscience]]
[[Category:Meditation]]
[[Category:Meditation]]
[[Category:Parapsychology]]

[[Category:Self religions]]
[[da:Transcendental meditation]]
[[de:Transzendentale Meditation]]
[[Category:Transcendental Meditation| ]]
[[el:Υπερβατικός διαλογισμός]]
[[fr:Méditation transcendantale]]
[[he:מדיטציה טרנסנדנטלית]]
[[nl:Transcendente meditatie]]
[[ru:Трансцендентальная медитация]]

Latest revision as of 20:43, 18 November 2024

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, developer of the Transcendental Meditation technique.[1]

Transcendental Meditation (TM) is a form of silent meditation developed by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The TM technique involves the silent repetition of a mantra or sound, and is practiced for 15–20 minutes twice per day. It is taught by certified teachers through a standard course of instruction, with a cost which varies by country and individual circumstance. According to the Transcendental Meditation movement, it is a non-religious method that promotes relaxed awareness, stress relief, self-development, and higher states of consciousness. The technique has been variously described as both religious[2] and non-religious.[nb 1]

Maharishi began teaching the technique in India in the mid-1950s.[1] Building on the teachings of his master, the Hindu Advaita monk Brahmananda Saraswati (known honorifically as Guru Dev), the Maharishi taught thousands of people during a series of world tours from 1958 to 1965, expressing his teachings in spiritual and religious terms.[1][7] TM became more popular in the 1960s and 1970s as the Maharishi shifted to a more secular presentation, and his meditation technique was practiced by celebrities, most prominently members of the Beatles and the Beach Boys. At this time, he began training TM teachers. The worldwide TM organization had grown to include educational programs, health products, and related services. Following the Maharishi's death in 2008, leadership of the TM organization passed to neuroscientist Tony Nader.

Research on TM began in the 1970s. A 2012 meta-analysis of the psychological impact of meditation found that Transcendental Meditation had a comparable overall effectiveness to other meditation techniques in improving general wellbeing, but might have distinctive effects on specific psychological variables.[8] A 2017 overview of systematic reviews and meta-analyses indicates TM practice may lower blood pressure, an effect comparable with other health interventions. Because of a potential for bias and conflicting findings more research is needed.[9][10]

History

[edit]

The Transcendental Meditation program and the Transcendental Meditation movement originated with their founder Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and continued beyond his death in 2008.[1] In 1955,[11][12][13] "the Maharishi began publicly teaching a traditional meditation technique"[14] learned from his master Brahmananda Saraswati that he called Transcendental Deep Meditation[15] and later renamed Transcendental Meditation.[16] The Maharishi initiated thousands of people, then developed a TM teacher training program as a way to accelerate the rate of bringing the technique to more people.[16][17] He also inaugurated a series of tours that started in India in 1955 and went international in 1958 which promoted Transcendental Meditation.[18][19] These factors, coupled with endorsements by celebrities who practiced TM and claims that scientific research had validated the technique, helped to popularize TM in the 1960s and 1970s. By the late 2000s, TM had been taught to millions of individuals and the Maharishi was overseeing a large multinational movement.[20] Despite organizational changes and the addition of advanced meditative techniques in the 1970s,[21] the Transcendental Meditation technique has remained relatively unchanged.

Among the first organizations to promote TM were the Spiritual Regeneration Movement and the International Meditation Society. In modern times, the movement has grown to encompass schools and universities that teach the practice,[22] and includes many associated programs based on the Maharishi's interpretation of the Vedic traditions. In the U.S., non-profit organizations included the Students International Meditation Society,[23] AFSCI,[24] World Plan Executive Council, Maharishi Vedic Education Development Corporation, Global Country of World Peace, Transcendental Meditation for Women, and Maharishi Foundation.[25] The successor to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and leader of the Global Country of World Peace, is Tony Nader.[26][27]

Technique

[edit]

The meditation practice involves the use of a silently-used mantra for 15–20 minutes twice per day while sitting with the eyes closed.[28][29] It is reported to be one of the most widely practiced,[30][31] and among the most widely researched, meditation techniques,[32][33][34][35] with hundreds of published research studies.[36][37][38] The technique is made available worldwide by certified TM teachers in a seven-step course,[39] and fees vary from country to country.[40][41] Beginning in 1965, the Transcendental Meditation technique has been incorporated into selected schools, universities, corporations, and prison programs in the US, Latin America, Europe, and India. In 1977, a US district court ruled that a curriculum in TM and the Science of Creative Intelligence (SCI) being taught in some New Jersey schools was religious in nature and in violation of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.[3][42] The technique has since been included in a number of educational and social programs around the world.[43]

The Transcendental Meditation technique has been described as both religious and non-religious, as an aspect of a new religious movement, as rooted in Hinduism,[44][45] and as a non-religious practice for self-development.[46][47][48]

The public presentation of the TM technique over its 50-year history has been praised for its high visibility in the mass media and effective global propagation, and criticized for using celebrity and scientific endorsements as a marketing tool. Also, advanced courses supplement the TM technique and include an advanced meditation program called the TM-Sidhi program,[49] the unveiling of which created media controversy and a time of crisis for the movement’s image.[50] In 2014, a meta-analysis of research found insufficient evidence that meditation such as TM "had an effect on any of the psychological stress and well-being outcomes".[51]

Movement

[edit]

The Transcendental Meditation movement consists of the programs and organizations connected with the Transcendental Meditation technique and founded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Transcendental Meditation was first taught in the 1950s in India and has continued since the Maharishi's death in 2008. The organization was estimated to have 900,000 participants worldwide in 1977,[52] a million by the 1980s,[53][54][55] and 5 million in more recent years.[when?][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][excessive citations]

Programs include the Transcendental Meditation technique, an advanced meditation practice called the TM-Sidhi program ("Yogic Flying"), an alternative health care program called Maharishi Ayurveda,[63] and a system of building and architecture called Maharishi Sthapatya Ved.[64][65] The TM movement's past and present media endeavors include a publishing company (MUM Press), a television station (KSCI), a radio station (KHOE), and a satellite television channel (Maharishi Channel). During its 50-year history, its products and services have been offered through a variety of organizations, which are primarily nonprofit and educational. These include the Spiritual Regeneration Movement, the International Meditation Society, World Plan Executive Council, Maharishi Vedic Education Development Corporation, Transcendental Meditation for Women, the Global Country of World Peace, and the David Lynch Foundation.

The TM movement also operates a worldwide network of Transcendental Meditation teaching centers, schools, universities, health centers, herbal supplements, solar panel, and home financing companies, plus several TM-centered communities. The global organization is reported to have an estimated net worth of USD 3.5 billion.[66][67] The TM movement has been characterized in a variety of ways and has been called a spiritual movement, a new religious movement,[68][69] a millenarian movement, a world affirming movement,[70] a new social movement,[71] a guru-centered movement,[72] a personal growth movement,[73] a religion, and a cult.[69][74][75][76] Additional sources contend that TM and its movement are not a cult.[77][78][79][80] Participants in TM programs are not required to adopt a belief system; it is practiced by atheists, agnostics and people from a variety of religious affiliations.[81][82][83] The organization has been the subject of controversies that includes being labelled a cult by several parliamentary inquiries or anti-cult movements in the world.[84][85][86][69][74][75]

Some notable figures in pop-culture practicing TM include the Beatles, the Beach Boys, Kendall Jenner, Hugh Jackman, Tom Hanks, Jennifer Lopez, Mick Jagger, Eva Mendez, Moby, David Lynch, Jennifer Aniston, Nicole Kidman, Eric André, Jerry Seinfeld, Howard Stern, Julia Fox, Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorsese, Russell Brand, Nick Cave and Oprah Winfrey.[87]

Health effects

[edit]

The first studies of the health effects of Transcendental Meditation appeared in the early 1970s.[88]

There is no good evidence that TM reduces anxiety, or has any beneficial effect on forms of psychological stress or well-being.[89][90]

A 2012 review found that Transcendental Meditation performed no better overall than other meditation techniques.[8] The authors' analysis of a subset of these studies, those that studied specific categories of outcome, found that TM might perform better in reducing negative emotions, trait anxiety, and neuroticism and improving markers of learning, memory, and self-actualization, but performs more poorly in reducing negative personality traits, reducing stress, improving attention and mindfulness and cognition, in comparison with other meditation approaches.[91]

A statement from the American Heart Association said that TM could be considered as a treatment for hypertension, although other interventions such as exercise and device-guided breathing were more effective and better supported by clinical evidence.[92]

TM may reduce blood pressure according to a review that compared TM to control groups. A trend over time indicates practicing TM may lower blood pressure. Such effects are comparable to other lifestyle interventions. Conflicting findings across reviews and a potential risk of bias indicated the necessity of further evidence, conducted by researchers without bias. [9][10]

By 2004, the US government had given more than $20 million to Maharishi International University to study the effect of meditation on health.[93]

Views and claims

[edit]

Views on consciousness (1963)

[edit]

In his 1963 book, The Science of Being and Art of Living, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi says that, over time, through the practice of the TM technique, the conscious mind gains familiarity with deeper levels of the mind, bringing the subconscious mind within the capacity of the conscious mind, resulting in expanded awareness in daily activity. He also teaches that the Transcendental Meditation practitioner transcends all mental activity and experiences the 'source of thought', which is said to be pure silence, 'pure awareness' or 'transcendental Being', 'the ultimate reality of life'.[94]: pp 44–53 [95][96] TM is sometimes self described as a technology of consciousness.[97] According to author Michael Phelan, "The fundamental premise of the psychology of fulfillment is that within every person exists a seemingly inexhaustible center of energy, intelligence, and satisfaction... To the extent that our behavior depends on the degree of energy and intelligence available to us, this center of pure creative intelligence may be described as that resource which gives direction to all that we experience, think and do."[98]

According to the Maharishi, there are seven levels of consciousness: (i) deep sleep; (ii) dreaming; (iii) waking; (iv) transcendental consciousness; (v) cosmic consciousness; (vi) God consciousness; and, (vii) unity consciousness.[99] The Maharishi says that transcendental consciousness can be experienced through Transcendental Meditation, and that those who meditate regularly over time could become aware of cosmic consciousness.[100] An indication of cosmic consciousness is "ever present wakefulness" present even during sleep.[101] Research on long-term TM practitioners experiencing what they describe as cosmic consciousness, has identified unique EEG profiles, muscle tone measurements, and REM indicators that suggest physiological parameters for this self described state of consciousness.[101][102] However, the Cambridge Handbook of Consciousness notes that it is premature to say that the EEG coherence found in TM is an indication of a higher state of consciousness.[103]

Science of Creative Intelligence (1971)

[edit]

In 1961, the Maharishi created the "International Meditation Society for the Science of Creative Intelligence".[104] In 1971 the Maharishi inaugurated "Maharishi's Year of Science of Creative Intelligence" and described SCI as the connection of "modern science with ancient Vedic science".[105] Author Philip Goldberg describes it as Vedanta philosophy that has been translated into scientific language.[106] A series of international symposiums on the Science of Creative Intelligence were held between 1970 and 1973 and were attended by scientists and "leading thinkers", including Buckminster Fuller, Melvin Calvin, a Nobel Prize winner in chemistry, Hans Selye, Marshal McLuhan and Jonas Salk.[106] These symposiums were held at universities such as Humboldt State University and University of Massachusetts.[107][108][109][110] The following year, the Maharishi developed a World Plan to spread his teaching of SCI around the world.[110][111]

The theoretical part of SCI is taught in a 33-lesson video course.[112] In the early 1970s, the SCI course was offered at more than 25 American universities including Stanford University, Yale University, the University of Colorado, the University of Wisconsin, and Oregon State University.[110][113]: p 125 [114] Until 2009, Maharishi University of Management (MUM) required its undergraduate students to take SCI classes,[115][116][117][118] and both MUM and Maharishi European Research University (MERU) in Switzerland have awarded degrees in the field.[119] The Independent reports that children at Maharishi School learn SCI principles such as "the nature of life is to grow" and "order is present everywhere".[120] SCI is reported to be part of the curriculum of TM related lower schools in Iowa, Wheaton, Maryland[121] and Skelmersdale, UK.[122] In 1975 SCI was used as the call letters for a TM owned television station in San Bernardino, California.[123]

The Science of Creative Intelligence is not science.[124] Theologian Robert M. Price, writing in the Creation/Evolution Journal (the journal of the National Center for Science Education), compares the Science of Creative Intelligence to Creationism.[125] Price says instruction in the Transcendental Meditation technique is "never offered without indoctrination into the metaphysics of 'creative intelligence'".[125] Skeptic James Randi says SCI has "no scientific characteristics."[126] Astrophysicist and sceptic Carl Sagan writes that the "Hindu doctrine" of TM is a pseudoscience.[127] Irving Hexham, a professor of religious studies, describes the TM teachings as "pseudoscientific language that masks its religious nature by mythologizing science".[104] Sociologists Rodney Stark and William Sims Bainbridge describe the SCI videotapes as largely based on the Bhagavad Gita, and say that they are "laced with parables and metaphysical postulates, rather than anything that can be recognized as conventional science".[128] In 1979, the court case Malnak v Yogi determined that although SCI/TM is not a theistic religion, it deals with issues of ultimate concern, truth, and other ideas analogous to those in well-recognized religions.[129] Maharishi biographer Paul Mason suggests that the scientific terminology used in SCI was developed by the Maharishi as part of a restructuring of his philosophies in terms that would gain greater acceptance and increase the number of people starting the TM technique. He says that this change toward a more academic language was welcomed by many of the Maharishi's American students.[130]

Maharishi effect (1974)

[edit]

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi claimed that the quality of life would noticeably improve if at least the square root of one per cent (1%) of the population practised the Transcendental Meditation technique. This is known as the "Maharishi effect" and according to the Maharishi, it was perceived in 1974 after an analysis of crime statistics in 16 cities.[94]: 329 [131][132] With the introduction of the TM-Sidhi program including Yogic Flying, the Maharishi proposed that the square root of 1 per cent of the population (around 6325 people, the square root of 40 million (1% of the global population of about 4 billion people in 1974[133])) practicing this advanced program together at the same time and in the same place would create benefits in society. This was referred to as the "Extended Maharishi Effect".[131][134]

Author Ted Karam claims that there have been numerous studies on the Maharishi effect including a gathering of over 4,000 people (just under two thirds of the square root of 1% of the population as of 1974) in Washington, D.C. in the summer of 1993.[131] The effect has been examined in 42 scientific studies.[135] The TM organisation has linked the fall of the Berlin Wall and a reduction in global terrorism, US inflation and crime rates to the Maharishi effect.[136] The Maharishi effect has been endorsed by the former President of Mozambique Joaquim Chissano.[137]

As the theories proposed by TM practitioners[138] go beyond modern science[weasel words], the Maharishi effect still lacks a causal basis.[139] Moreover, the evidence has been said to result from cherry-picked data[140] and the credulity of believers.[139][141] Critics, such as James Randi, have called this research pseudoscience.[142] Randi says that he investigated comments made by former Maharishi International University faculty member Robert Rabinoff in 1978. He spoke to the Fairfield Chief of Police who said local crime levels were the same and the regional Agriculture Department who reportedly deemed that farm yields for Jefferson County matched the state average.[143]

Maharishi Vedic Science (1981)

[edit]

The Maharishi proclaimed 1981 as the Year of Vedic Science.[94]: 336  It is based on the Maharishi's interpretation of ancient Vedic texts and includes subjective technologies like the Transcendental Meditation technique and the TM-Sidhi program plus programs like Maharishi Sthapatya Veda (MSV) and Maharishi Vedic Astrology (MVA) services which apply Vedic science to day-to-day living.[144][145] Vedic science studies the various aspects of life and their relationship to the Veda.

Maharishi Ayurveda

[edit]

Maharishi Ayurveda[146][147] or Maharishi Vedic Medicine[148] is a form of alternative medicine founded in the mid-1980s by Maharishi.[63] Distinct from traditional ayurveda, it emphasizes the role of consciousness, and gives importance to positive emotions.[149] Maharishi Ayurveda has been variously characterized as emerging from, and consistently reflecting, the Advaita Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy, representing the entirety of the ayurvedic tradition.[150][151]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Sociologists, religion scholars, and a New Jersey judge and court are among those who have expressed views on it being religious or non-religious.[1][3][4] The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld the federal ruling that TM was essentially "religious in nature" and therefore could not be taught in public schools.[5][6]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e Cowan, Douglas E.; Bromley, David G., eds. (2015) [2007]. "Transcendental Meditation: The Questions of Science and Therapy". Cults and New Religions: A Brief History. Blackwell Brief Histories of Religion (2nd ed.). Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 38–58. ISBN 978-1-118-72350-0. LCCN 2015005385.
  2. ^ Siegel, Aryeh (2018). Transcendental Deception: Behind the TM Curtain. Los Angeles, CA: Janreg Press. ISBN 978-0-9996615-0-5.
  3. ^ a b Calo, Zachary (2008). "Chapter 4: The Internationalization of Church-State Issues". In Duncan, Ann; Jones, Steven (eds.). Church-State Issues in America Today. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Publishers. p. 159. ISBN 978-0-275-99368-9.[permanent dead link]
  4. ^ Ashman, Allan (January 1978). "What's New in the Law". American Bar Association Journal. 64. Chicago: American Bar Association: 124–144. ISSN 0002-7596.
  5. ^ "Malnak v. Yogi". Leagle. 1979. Retrieved 19 May 2017.
  6. ^ Bette Novit Evans (9 November 2000). Interpreting the Free Exercise of Religion: The Constitution and American Pluralism. Univ of North Carolina Press. p. 65. ISBN 978-0-8078-6134-9. Proponents of the program denied that Transcendental Meditation was a religion; the Third Circuit concluded that it was.
  7. ^ Dawson, Lorne (2003). Cults and New Religious Movements. Hoboken, New Jersey: Blackwell Publishing. p. 54. ISBN 9781405143493.
  8. ^ a b Sedlmeier, Peter; Eberth, Juliane; Schwarz, Marcus; Zimmerman, Doreen; Haarig, Frederik; Jaeger, Sonia; Kunze, Sonja; et al. (May 2012). "The Psychological Effects of Meditation: A Meta-Analysis". Psychological Bulletin. 138 (6): 1139–1171. doi:10.1037/a0028168. PMID 22582738. The global analysis yielded quite comparable effects for TM, mindfulness meditation, and the other meditation procedures...So, it seems that the three categories we identified for the sake of comparison, TM, mindfulness meditation, and the heterogeneous category we termed other meditation techniques, do not differ in their overall effects. For most of the specific categories that could be analyzed, we found quite a variation in effects. These results indicate that different approaches to meditation might have differential effects. To date, it is difficult, however, to deduce any consistent differences therefrom.
  9. ^ a b Bai, Z; Chang, J; Chen, C; Li, P; Yang, K; Chi, I (February 2015). "Investigating the effect of transcendental meditation on blood pressure: a systematic review and meta-analysis". Journal of Human Hypertension. 29 (11). Nature Publishing Group: 653–662. doi:10.1038/jhh.2015.6. ISSN 1476-5527. PMID 25673114. S2CID 22261.
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  33. ^ Benson, Herbert; Klipper, Miriam Z. (2001). The Relaxation Response. New York, NY: Quill. p. 61. ISBN 978-0-380-81595-1.
  34. ^ Sinatra, Stephen T.; Roberts, James C.; Zucker, Martin (20 December 2007). Reverse Heart Disease Now: Stop Deadly Cardiovascular Plaque Before It's Too Late. Wiley. p. 192. ISBN 978-0-470-22878-4.
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  37. ^ Rosenthal, Norman (2011). Transcendence: Healing and Transformation through Transcendental Meditation. New York: Tarcher/Penguin. p. 14. ISBN 978-1-58542-873-1. By my latest count, there have been 340 per-reviewed articles published on TM, many of which have appeared in highly respected journals.
  38. ^ Freeman, Lyn (2009). Mosby's Complementary & Alternative Medicine: A Research-Based Approach. Mosby Elsevier. p. 176. ISBN 9780323053464.
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Sources

[edit]
  • Reddy, Kumuda; Egenes, Linda (2002), Conquering Chronic Disease Through Maharishi Vedic Medicine, New York: Lantern Books, p. 10, ISBN 978-1-930051-55-3
  • Sharma, Hari (1995), "Maharishi Ayur-VedaAn Ancient Health Paradigm in a Modern World", Alternative and Complementary Therapies, 1 (6): 364, doi:10.1089/act.1995.1.364
  • Wallace, Robert Keith (1993), The physiology of consciousness, Fairfield, Iowa: Maharishi International University Press, pp. 64–66, ISBN 978-0-923569-02-0
  • Wujastyk, Dominik (2003). The Roots of Ayurveda: Selections from Sanskrit Medical Writings. London, New York, etc.: Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-044824-5.
  • Wujastyk, Dagmar; Smith, Frederick M. (2008). Modern and global Ayurveda: Pluralism and Paradigms. Albany: State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-7489-1.

Further reading

[edit]
  • Bloomfield, Harold H., Cain, Michael Peter, Jaffe, Dennis T. (1975) TM: Discovering Inner Energy and Overcoming Stress ISBN 0-440-06048-6
  • Denniston, Denise, The TM Book, Fairfield Press 1986 ISBN 0-931783-02-X
  • Forem, Jack (2012) Hay House UK Ltd, Transcendental Meditation: The Essential Teachings of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi ISBN 1-84850-379-2
  • Roth, Robert (1994) Primus, Transcendental Meditation ISBN 1-55611-403-6
  • Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (1968) (Bantam Books) Transcendental Meditation: Serenity Without Drugs ISBN 0-451-05198-X
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