National Institutes of Health Researches TM - Poorly

The National Institutes of Health (NIH), a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, "...is the nation’s medical research agency — making important discoveries that improve health and save lives….”(1)

The David Lynch Foundation, a proponent of TM, states,

“...The National Institutes of Health have granted more than $26 million over the past 18 years to study the effects of the Transcendental Meditation program on cardiovascular disease….”(2)

The TM movement likes to point out that there are over 600 published research projects showing the benefits of TM.  However, critics have pointed out that most TM research is of poor quality.  Inadequate controls, small samples, cherry picking of results, biased design, self-reporting, conflict of interest - the flaws are astonishing.(3)  Whether these flaws are due to poor researcher skills, researcher prejudice in favor of TM, or some other reasons, I don't know.

The NIH doesn't want researchers with conflicts of interest doing their research.  This led me to ask, who exactly is doing the NIH-funded TM research?  Are there any conflicts of interest?  

I have researched the names of most of the researchers studying TM with NIH money.  I’ve discovered that for virtually every study, many of the researchers are affiliated with TM.(4)  They are  Maharishi University of Management (MUM) professors, MUM researchers, MUM graduates, TM teachers.  People with these credentials have gone through months or years of TM indoctrination consisting of one-sided education and meditation retreats, which put people into suggestible states.  Further, many of these researchers work for TM for very little pay, as volunteers, or on work-exchange.  I consider these credentials indicative of bias towards TM.  In fact, I feel it would be appropriate to say that some people with such a background could be considered to have a “missionary” approach towards TM.

A few years ago, I attempted to contact NIH to alert them to the bias of many of their researcher. Unfortunately, what I learned is that the only "conflict of interest" they acknowledge is financial.  They do not consider belief/missionary zeal/faith to be conflicts of interest.  But that still leaves the question of if the NIH considers TM teachers, MUM professors, MUM researchers, etc., to lack financial conflict of interest.  After all, if an MUM professor publishes “positive” results, then more people might learn TM, and then more people might attend MUM, and then the professor might get a raise, or tenure.  Alas, the NIH website stated that concerns about conflicts of interest would only be considered before research has begun.  Also, they stated that the only strategy the NIH employs on conflicts of interest is to ask the researchers what steps they propose to take in order to eliminate the bias.

So, if you ever read that NIH research on TM has proven that TM is a unique, marvelous, beneficial technique for the human race, please consider the points above.  The research is probably seriously biased.

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(1) nih.gov

(2) davidlynchfoundation.org:  “...The David Lynch Foundation helps to prevent and eradicate the all-pervasive epidemic of trauma and toxic stress among at-risk populations through promoting widespread implementation of the evidence-based Transcendental Meditation (TM) program in order to improve their health, cognitive capabilities and performance in life…."

(3) TMFree.blogspot.com:  How to Design a Positive Study: Meditation for Childhood ADHD, Abstracts of Independent Research on Transcendental Meditation, Problems with TM Research by Barry Markovsky, Evaluating Heterodox Theories, including "Maharishi Effect" (Markovsky and Fales)

(4) I have highlighted in red those researchers for whom I found TM affiliations.  (Note: Variations in footnote style is due to copying directly from research papers).

1. Stress Reduction Programs in Patients with Elevated Blood Pressure: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. 
Maxwell V. Rainforth, PhD, Robert H. Schneider, MD, Sanford I. Nidich, EdD, Carolyn Gaylord-King, PhD, John W. Salerno, PhD, and James W. Anderson, MD

2. Cardiovascular Disease Prevention and Health Promotion with the Transcendental Meditation Program and Maharishi Consciousness-Based Health Care. 
Robert H. Schneider, MD, Kenneth G. Walton, PhD, John W. Salerno, PhD, and Sanford I. Nidich, EdD.
Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention, Maharishi University of Management, Fairfield, Iowa.

3. Effects of a Randomized Controlled Trial of Transcendental Meditation on Components of the Metabolic Syndrome in Subjects With Coronary Heart Disease.
Maura Paul-Labrador, MPH; Donna Polk, MD, MPH; James H. Dwyer, PhD; Ivan Velasquez, MD; Maxwell Rainforth, PhD, Robert Schneider, MD, and C. Noel Bairey Merz, MD

4. Long-Term Effects of Stress Reduction on Mortality in Persons ≥55 Years of Age With Systemic Hypertension. 
Robert H. Schneider*, MD, Charles N. Alexander, PhD*, Frank Staggers, MD*,  Maxwell Rainforth, PhD*, John W. Salerno, PhD*, Arthur Hartz, MD, Stephen Arndt, PhD, Vernon A. Barnes, PhD+, and Sanford I. Nidich, EdD*
*From the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention, Maharishi University of Management, Fairfield, Iowa; the West Oakland Health Center, Oakland, California; the Departments of Family Medicine and Psychiatry, University of Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City, Iowa; and the Georgia Prevention Institute, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, Georgia. +Vernon A. Barnes, PhD from Maharishi University of Management

5. Reduced Blood Pressure and Use of Hypertensive Medication (American Journal of Hypertension, January 2005).
Robert H. Schneider#, Charles N. Alexander#, Frank Staggers, David W. Orme-Johnson#, Maxwell Rainforth#, John W. Salerno#, William Sheppard, Amparo Castillo-Richmond", Vernon A. Barnes", and Sanford I. Nidich#
# From the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention, Maharishi University of Management (RHS, CHN, DWO-J, MR, JWS, SIN)
“ Maharishi University of Management, Fairfield, Iowa graduates (VAB, AC-R)

6. Effectiveness of Transcendental Meditation on Functional Capacity and Quality of Life of African Americans with Congestive Heart Failure: A Randomized Control Study. 
Ravishankar Jayadevappa, PhD, Jerry C. Johnson, MD, Bernard S. Bloom, PhD, Sanford Nidich, EdD, Shashank Desai, MD, Sumedha Chhatre, PhD, Donna B. Raziano, MD, and Robert H. Schneider, MD
From the Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania (RJ, JCJ, BSB, SD, SC); Elder Health Pennsylvania (DBR), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Center for Natural Medicine and Prevention, Maharishi University of Management, Fairfield, Iowa (SN, RS). 

7. Effects of a Randomized Controlled Trial of Transcendental Meditation on Components of the Metabolic Syndrome in Subjects With Coronary Heart Disease.
Maura Paul-Labrador, MPH; Donna Polk, MD, MPH; James H. Dwyer, PhD; Ivan Velasquez, MD; Sanford Nidich, PhD., Maxwell Rainforth, PhD; Robert Schneider, MD;  C. Noel Barry

8. Neuroimaging of meditation’s effect on brain reactivity to pain. 
David W. Orme-Johnson(a), Robert H. Schneider(a), Young D. Son(b), Sanford Nidich(a), and Zang- Hee Cho(b)
a Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention, Maharishi University of Management, Fairfield, Iowa, USA 
b Departments of Radiological Sciences & Psychiatry and Human Behavior, MED SCI I, University of California at Irvine, Irvine, California, USA

9. Effects of Stress Reduction on Carotid Atherosclerosis in Hypertensive African Americans. 
Amparo Castillo-Richmond, MD; Robert H. Schneider, MD; Charles N. Alexander, PhD†; Robert Cook, MD; Hector Myers, PhD; Sanford Nidich, PhD; Chinelo Haney, MBA; Maxwell Rainforth, PhD; John Salerno, PhD 
From the Center for Natural Medicine and Prevention (A.C.-R., R.H.S., C.N.A., S.N., M.R., J.S.), Maharishi University of Management, College of Maharishi Vedic Medicine, Fairfield, Iowa; the Department of Radiology (R.C.) and Biobehavioral Research Center (H.M., C.H.  [C.H. is a TM teacher]), Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science, Los Angeles, Calif; and the Department of Psychology (H.M.), University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, Calif.  
†Deceased. 
Correspondence to Amparo Castillo-Richmond, MD, Center for Natural Medicine and Prevention, Maharishi University of Management, College of Maharishi Vedic Medicine, 1000 North 4th St, FB 1134, Fairfield, IA 52557. E-mail amparo@mum.edu 

TM Marketing Timeline

Guest contributor Michael H. Jackson has written this thought-provoking article for TM-Free Blog.  Thanks, Michael!
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TIMELINE:  Maharishi Sells the Soporific of TM and All Its Adjunct Programs


1950's:  Maharishi begins to sell TM; tells people they can live 200% of life and even get enlightened.

Beginning in 1961:  Maharishi begins to market his teacher training courses to train people to teach TM, in essence giving him as many salesmen and saleswomen as possible all over the world to sell him and his brand of meditation, and later all his other goods, products and services. He also begins offering and selling in-residence courses to give people longer experience in meditation.

1967:  After announcing he is retiring back to India, he meets the Beatles, and every reporter in the world shoves a camera and microphone in his face.

1967 on:  Capitalizing on his Beatles-fueled notoriety, Maharishi continues to sell TM as a means of spiritual rejuvenation. At some point Maharishi sells "advanced techniques" for the devoted to accelerate their race to enlightenment, including techniques to sleep better and quit smoking. Maharishi also, in response to questions about time, states that 3-5 years is how long it takes to get enlightened through the practice of TM. This time frame is later expanded to 10 years or more after many complain they have been meditating longer than 5 years and are still not enlightened.

Early 1970's:  Maharishi realizes that all the long-haired hippies who are coming to him asking all kinds of spiritual questions are not going to give him what he wants.  He realizes it's their parents who have the money, so he begins to market TM to "the responsible people of society" from the cradle of science - and dubious pseudo-science at that.

Merv Griffin learns TM and gives Maharishi a big boost by having him on Merv's talk show.  Lots of people get initiated into TM on the strength of their love for Merv.

Early to mid-1970's:  Maharishi continues to use celebrity endorsements from Clint Eastwood, Mary Tyler Moore and others to try to keep the Merv wave going. It doesn't last long.

1974:  With initiations and therefore revenues down, Maharishi secretly begins to experiment on TM teachers, charging them for the privilege of being human guinea pigs on expensive courses as Maharishi develops his own version of the sutra yoga of Patanjali. Very secret.

1976:  Ignoring the massive amounts of physical and emotional distress (called "unstressing" by Maharishi) that some initiators experience during the sutras courses, Maharishi directs all TM centers to reveal the TM-Sidhi Program for regular folks. TM loses much of its scientifically-backed credibility upon Maharishi's announcement that he can teach people to fly. Many people, including some TM teachers, distance themselves from TM at this time.

But Maharishi knows what he is doing, because those who are left in the TM fold, who can stomach his ridiculous and unfounded claims, could possibly (and hopefully, from his point of view,) be hooked for life. Maharishi claims that the TM-Sidhi practice is "10,000 times more powerful" than practicing TM alone.

The race to inner space is on, and those who have the money rush to become supermen or superwomen through the practice of the TM-Sidhis. Maharishi markets the new program at one point with exactly that blandishment: "Learn TM-Sidhis to become a superman."

Due to intense and ongoing physical and mental distress (still called "unstressing") on the part of MANY participants of the new program, Maharishi announces that from now on, one has to take OTHER courses, such as the TM-Sidhi Preparatory courses, to qualify for the TM-Sidhis themselves. Odd that an enlightened man couldn't have foreseen that happening. More money is taken in through the TM-Sidhi Prep courses.

Late 1970's to early 1980's:  Problems crop up with TM-Sidhi revenues.  People begin to question how a program that is 10,000 times more powerful than TM alone, which in itself is supposed to bring enlightenment within 10 years, has not yet produced any enlightened individuals. Also no one actually levitates, which brings up more questions.

Maharishi states that there are stages of levitation, hopping like frogs being the first.  He later amends that to shaking being the first and hopping being the second.  Since people are already at stage 2 (hopping like frogs on floors covered with thick foam), Maharishi claims that very soon people will be flying above the taxis, and that TM teachers will be running to the mountains to get away from all the people who want to learn TM.

Maharishi shifts the emphasis from getting enlightened more quickly through TM-Sidhi practice to the effect of the practice of TM-Sidhis in groups. Maharishi claims group practice will reduce negativity in the spiritual and psychic atmosphere, and eventually lead to world peace - another fine marketing ploy to redirect TM believers' attention away from what they are not getting to promises of future rewards. Maharishi emphasizes the importance of living and working in the same locale so as to be able to practice "program" together. This also has the effect of concentrating the people who are contributing regular revenue to Maharishi into a group that can help manage group point of view to keep the believers believing.

1986:  Revenues need a boost.  Maharishi reveals that he, with his amazing enlightened consciousness, has delved into and revealed the full value of natural law in the ancient Indian system of health care called ayurveda. Of all the rishis and holy men and women in India, only Maharishi was able to revive the real deal of ancient ayurveda that had fallen into corruption over the years. 

(A little research will reveal that Maharishi actually didn't cognize or know anything about ayurveda, and relied on ayurvedic practitioners like Dwivedi, Balraj Maharishi and Triguna, whom he flattered into working for him.)

"Maharishi Ayurveda" gives a plentiful opportunity to market goods and services to true believers who were once told that all they needed to lead a high-quality life was TM 20 minutes twice a day.

Ayurvedic consultations, herbal formulas, massages and various therapies are marketed and sold.

A month or two after ayurveda is rolled out, Maharishi reveals that another part of ayurveda is jyotish, a form of astrology practiced in India. This was after years of Maharishi warning TM meditators not to do or be involved with astrology.  Maharishi never gives any explanation on why astrology is suddenly acceptable, except to say that his "Maharishi Jyotish" is superior to Western astrology.

Now Maharishi and the TM Movement recommend that everyone get a yearly jotish chart done to improve the quality of one's life and be able to discern if one has any negative karma that one could then alleviate with jyotish remedies. These remedies include wearing very expensive gemstones, using certain kinds of mantras to curry favor with whatever planet is out of whack in your jyotish chart, and having Hindu sacrifices or prayers called "yagyas" done for you regularly.  Yagyas cost from $1,000 to $1,000,000 apiece.

What came to be known with typical hubris as "Maharishi Yagyas" becomes an important source of revenue for Maharishi and the TM Movement.

1970's or 1980's:  Maharishi solicits funds for constructing many different kinds of buildings called by various names that purport to have various purposes. Most of these are never built,  and no accounting is ever given as to the whereabouts of the funds that had been raised for them. Most of the ones that are built fall into disuse or are sold. This includes Maharishi Veda Land, a vedic-themed fantasy park that the TM movement heavily marketed, promoted and raised money for. It was never built.

1986 on:  The emphasis is on selling TM, TM-Sidhis, teacher training courses, various kinds of in-residence courses, ayurveda and all its herbal and massage and consultation products, jyotish charts and jyotish remedies, especially yagyas, for unpleasant karma. At one point a "vedic observatory" was offered, or rather a plastic model of an astronomical observatory that supposedly was used in ancient India. This was offered for several thousand dollars, and all one had to do was look at it a few minutes a day to get the good vibrations from it.

1990's:  Maharishi announces to his TM teachers that the emphasis is to be on selling TM and all its adjunct programs to the millionaires and billionaires of the world. From time to time Maharishi asks the wealthy people of the world and the governments of the world to give him huge amounts of money so that he can formulate courses to create world peace. The amounts he requests range from $20 million to $1 billion.

1990's(?):  Maharishi begins to offer various healing techniques from various Indian healers, using what sound like shamanic techniques - blowing the breath on the client, making various kinds of sounds directed toward certain parts of the client's body and so on. These cost from several hundred dollars to more than a thousand for each session.

1990's and 2000's:  Maharishi continually exhorts the world to give him money to create permanent groups of people practicing the TM-Sidhi program and Maharishi Yagya program. Much money is donated, few of the groups are ever created.

2000:  Maharishi creates the "Global Country of World Peace," a non-existent country that exists only in the minds of the true believers in Maharishi and everything he says. This is interesting because in...

2002:  Maharishi creates what he calls "the global development currency Raam Mudra." The Raam is a generally unrecognized and nearly unusable currency that Maharishi claims he created to alleviate poverty in the world. The only places the Raam is used are in TM facilities and communities. In these communities, one Raam is said to be worth ten US dollars. The TM organization attempts to sell the Raam to anyone who will buy it.

2004:  Maharishi and Dr. Benjamin Feldman, Minister of Finance and Planning of the Global Country of World Peace, announce that the Raam development currency is now backed by gold. No word is given on who owns the gold or where the gold is located.

Today the TM organization says, "Some might claim that since there is no gold or other material asset backing up the issue of the complementary currency, it will lead to inflation. This is not a valid argument, because the RAAM is backed by material assets—the new and more profitable crops that can be grown in the nation’s precious soil, and the underutilized energy and creativity of the people of the nation."  Source  http://www.globalcountry.org/wp/finance-and-planning/

No word from the TM movement as to what happened to the gold that once backed the Raam currency.

2005:  Maharishi creates the Raja training courses. Maharishi charges $1,000,000 per person for these courses.

He also tells all TM teachers (whom Maharishi has retitled "Governors of the Age of Enlightenment") that they will no longer be permitted to teach TM until they take a "Refresher and Recertification Course." The TM teachers are required to pay for this out of their own pockets at a cost of a couple thousand dollars per person.

2005-2006:  Maharishi rolls out yet another fabulous aspect of the vedas, this time called sthapatya veda, the "science" of vedic architecture, an Indian version of feng shui that promises all sorts of benefits for people who live in a home with a proper alignment and orientation.

Maharishi claims that he suddenly realized that the whole world needed to redesign all buildings in the world to conform not just to ancient Indian ideas of architecture, but to HIS version. 

Maharishi is very clear that not any kind of sthapatya veda or vastu veda would do, only his brand, appropriately called "Maharishi Sthapatya Veda." All others are off-base. Maharishi is also very adamant that if one lives or works in a building with a south-facing entrance, all sorts of problems would occur in that individual's life and family.

No word on why TM (which was once all one needed to improve life on all physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and relationship levels) and the TM-Sidhi program (which is 10,000 times more powerful than TM alone) would be ineffective if one were not living in a Maharishi Vastu Veda home.

2008:  Maharishi dies.  Since that time, the leaders of the TM movement are using David Lynch and his foundation to market TM as a scientifically-backed and proven program. They are attempting to sanitize the image of TM using the exact same marketing techniques and even the same language that was used by the TM movement in the early 1970's.

Using celebrity endorsements and TM practitioners who are placed in news media outlets such as Soledad Obrien, George Stephanopoulos and various writers for the Huffington Post, they are marketing pre-TM- Sidhis-program TM, ignoring or minimizing all the other programs and aspects of the TM movement. It is my understanding that when potential students visit Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa for their Visitors Weekend, the gold-crowned, silk-robed "rajas" who administer the TM movement are never seen nor mentioned, just to pick one example.

I may have missed some things, but that's a part of the TM timeline as it has unfolded.

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Michael H. Jackson is a former TM junkie who feels learning TM was one of the biggest mistakes he ever made. He lives in South Carolina running his own computer repair business and working part time as a freelance writer. 

TM-Free Does The Scientific Research that TM Avoids

I am undertaking a research project about Transcendental Meditation here on TM-Free Blog.  The purpose of this project is to fill in the missing gaps in the "more than 350 scientific studies verifying the wide-ranging benefits of the Transcendental Meditation technique [that] have been conducted at 250 independent universities and medical schools in 33 countries during the past 40 years."(1)  

The tone of this article may be snarky, but my goal is dead serious.  Various TM-connected organizations are currently pushing to get TM into schools, health centers, etc., throughout the world.  The 350+ studies they quote have unfortunately been designed to skew results in favor of TM.  They avoid assessment of possible risks.  If TM is going to be spread to large populations, isn't it responsible to make sure that negative as well as positive results are uncovered?  To the best of my knowledge, the questions I ask here have never been asked in the "[s]even volumes of Collected Papers of Scientific Research on Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation"(2).  

I am not a scientist; I am not a trained researcher.  The quality of my research is undeniably open to question.  But at least I am honest in admitting my design weaknesses and my biases.  I think I compare favorably with the TM-approved research in that regard.

Here are some of the flaws in my research:

1.  Subjects should be randomly chosen.  Since my subjects are readers of TM-Free Blog, they can hardly be considered random.  At minimum, they are people who are interested in reading about "independent, skeptical and critical views of TM claims and research."(3)  Some of them may be downright critical of some aspect of TM.  

Oh well.  My non-random sample probably doesn't matter, because lots of TM research didn't use random samples either.  For example, TMers have sometimes been "pre-screened" to make sure only TMers with specific brain waves patterns were allowed to be research subjects.(4)  

2.  My research design is composed of subjects who self-report subjective experiences on a questionnaire.  You could barely have a poorer scientific design.  I mean, self-reporting of subjective experiences is a gateway to reporting expectation, placebo, belief, desire to slant the results, desire to please researcher, etc., etc.

I hope this minor flaw in my design is balanced by the fact that some TM research also uses self-reporting.  My favorite example of this is the brilliant and witty critique, "How to Design a Positive Study: Meditation for Childhood ADHD...."(5).  

3.  This researcher is not neutral.  I'm a writer for TM-Free; how objective could I possibly be in my research design, my interpretation of the results, etc.?  A basis for objective research is that the researcher or funder should not have an ax to grind.

But please don't be too discouraged by this flaw.  After all, many TM research studies have been funded or conducted by TM college students, TM professors, pro-TM foundations.  (The foundations often have names that obfuscate their origin - "Quiet Time, " "Consciousness-Based Education," etc.  Some of these objective-sounding research facilities are located on Maharishi University campus!)  Open the TM "Collected Papers" at random and see for yourself how many non-neutral researchers and organizations sponsor TM research (1, 5, 6).

Many of the research papers done by TMers claim to have been produced by "independent researchers."  I looked up the definition of "independent researcher," and it turns out that an independent researcher can mean a grad student who is independent of his/her teacher, or a researcher who works without co-workers, etc.  It is a title chosen, I believe, to mislead the reader as to the objectivity of the research. 

4.  Where's my control group?  My placebo group?  My "correlation does not prove cause and effect" group?  Nowhere, that's where.  Oops.

But not to worry.  So much of the research in the "Collected Papers" has this flaw that I'm sure it will all even out.(2)  At random, I bring to your attention the scientific chart, "Increased EEG Coherence," which is given a place of honor on the home page of the TM organization's main website.(1)  Notice how in this chart there is no non-TM control group, and how correlation has been equated with cause and effect.  See also my TM-Free article, "TM Leader Hagelin Perverts Science to Sell Expensive TM Products."(7)     

5.  And finally, my questionnaire asks for ONLY deleterious results from TM!  So if you have anything good to say about TM, please don't even bother to fill out the questionnaire, because we will not post or tally your comments!  

Before you are too incensed by my insultingly obvious bias, please read the Roark Letter (8).  "...Confirmed to me by investigators at MIU was the suppression of negative evidence that these investigators had collected.  Strong bias was present in selecting only data favorable to a conclusion that was made prior to the data collection...."    

So without further ado, here is my: 
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SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH QUESTIONNAIRE

Question 1:  Have you had any negative results from practicing the TM technique for 20 minutes twice a day?  If "yes," please describe.

Question 2:  Have you had any negative results from any other aspect of the TM organization's offerings?  (Advanced techniques, TM-Sidhis program, rounding, Maharishi Ayurveda, Maharishi yagyas, etc.)  If "yes," please describe.

Question 3:  Have you stopped doing TM for 20 minutes twice a day?  If "yes," please describe, and explain why.

Question 4:  Over time, did you find that "TM just stopped working"?  If "yes," please describe.

Question 5:  Do you know of someone who might answer the above questions negatively?  If so, please ask them to fill in this questionnaire.  If they are dead, hospitalized, etc., please fill it in for them to the best of your ability.

END OF RESEARCH QUESTIONNAIRE

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Dear readers, please help us do the research the TM organization has avoided for over 40 years in over 600 studies.  These questions, consistently omitted from the official body of TM research, may begin to offer an important window into the dangers as well as the benefits of TM.

Please provide your answers in the "comments" section.  If you need anonymity, please feel free to use a pseudonym.  Thank you very much for your help, and for the help you may provide to people around the world who may be harmed by TM.


(1) www.tm.org/research-on-meditation
(2)  www.t-m.org.uk/SCI_Glance.shtml   
(3)  TM-Free Blog homepage, introduction
(4)  TM-Free Blog, reported in various comments.  Unfortunately I haven't had the time to dig up the quotes.  If anyone wants to take that on, I commend you.  Or, alternately, maybe someone will be kind enough to write up their experiences a second time in the comments section.  
(5) spacecityskeptics.wordpress.com/2009/01/07/how-to-design-a-positive-study-meditation-for-childhood-adhd/ 

(6) TM-Free Blog, "Who Are These People?  The Background of David Lynch's 'Researchers' " by Mike Doughney   tmfree.blogspot.com/2010/12/who-are-these-people-backgrounds-of.html
(7) http://tmfree.blogspot.com/2012/11/tm-leader-hagelin-perverts-science-to.html
(8) TM-Ex Newsletter, Spring 1992

Transcendental Meditation : Research = Biased Advertising

At long last, critique emerges of Transcendental Meditation’s so-called “scientific data” which is really just masked advertising. Mere publication, even in scientific journals, does not demonstrate truth.

“Mysterious Disappearing Paper Finally Reappears In Another Journal “ was published on November 13, 2012  and may be read both here at “CardioBrief, a one-stop source for cardiology news and links”  and here in "Forbes". Larry Husten cited concerns about the re-publication of a TM study-cum-advertising which had previously been revoked before press by the Archives of Internal Medicine. Husten questioned this TM study now published in “Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality & Outcomes”. 

Husten reviewed the study’s mysterious retraction by The Archives of Internal Medicine, critiqued the study’s statistical methods and alluded to cult-like association of the researcher from the Institute of Natural Medicine and Prevention at Maharishi University of Management.

In 1975 Herbert Benson compared the benefits from TM with other forms of Judeo-Christian prayer and, (lo!) found identical results. The same results have been repeated many times with various forms of meditation, prayer and restful states. Resting quietly for a few minutes daily, in prayer, day dreaming or contemplation proved beneficial without the use of a mystical fruit-flowers-handkerchief Hindu puja with secretive mystical mantra. Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine continues to provide medical support for meditative practices without a hidden agenda.

TM True Believers repeatedly site “over 600 scientific articles” of so-called research on Transcendental Meditation to justify that TM is the best method for stress management (or to solve any of life’s maladies, for that matter). Not one of those TM-cited journals compares TM to other forms of meditation or mindfulness practices.

On Monday November 12th, American Veteran’s Day, CNN’s Soledad O’Brien aired a few minutes with TM spokesperson Bobby Roth, speaking about TM to help military veterans cope with PTSD.

A man (anonymity requested) raised in the TM Movement by a former political candidate for TM’s Natural Law Party  offered us the following critique of CNN’s recent TM docu-sales pitch :

Ever since I donated to the TM movement twelve years ago I've been receiving all the requests for donations associated with every current event from the gulf war and having a Rakshasa as our president to affecting the presidential election and bringing rain or stopping rain, depending.  I found the deception incredibly blatant in this recent CNN piece on Veterans Day.  No talk of  Tony Nader or in movement lingo Maharaja Adhiraj Rajaraam, no talk of enlightenment, they didn't even mention Maharishi or the Holy Tradition, or for gods sake the The Beatles!!!  This was a pure propaganda piece focused on the angle of perceived benefits for veterans.  Yes, finding religion and a simple belief system that has all the answers to life can be soothing to the soul, but guess what we have many REAL religions on earth today and these veterans don't need to be lied to and manipulated by one of the largest eastern religious cults in America.  Not to mention the very real side effects of falling down the TM rabbit hole!!!!

In this couple minute clip they hit the following points:

1)  The solution to all problems

2)  Heals the brain by removing deep stress

3)  Simple, easy, mental technique

4)  Non religious, yet at the same time the common denominator of all religions

5)  Benefits everyone not just veterans

6)  Young people are the ones we can convert

7)  Its a therapy, tested, sound, the missing element regular medicine is no longer needed yet its in addition to that regular medicine

8)  Government funded to give illusion of credibility

9)  Its just like going to a yoga class

So deceptive and I find it amazing that one of the shows hosts (that learned) doesn't mention the Puja or Maharishi or Guru Dev or anything else spicy.  No wonder people fall for this pitch, our media is asleep at the wheel.  I guess if you can fool Oprah you can fool these amateurs.

Maharishi Came From India

A few days ago I was reading the April 30, 2012 issue of The New Yorker magazine.  I chanced upon an article entitled, "The Secret of the Temple:  The discovery of treasure worth billions of dollars shakes southern India" by Jake Halpern.  The article tells about the treasure found in the catacombs of the Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple in Trivandrum, India, and the actions and attitudes that followed this discovery.

Although Transcendental Meditation and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi are never mentioned, I found tremendous food for thought in the article.  I realized that though Indians speak English and were influenced by the British, their world view may be so different from Westerners' that their  words, logic, ethics, may all mean something very different from a Westerner's concepts.  As I read, I experienced culture shock as I tried to translate the Indian values into Western terms.  And I realized that some of the incidents described in the article might be instructive for Westerners trying to understand the conundrum that is Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

All quotes are taken from the article.

1.  What do you make of Mahesh's idea of giving Tony Nader his weight in gold?

"...[I]n centuries past, maharajas had performed a ceremony in which they weighed local princes approaching adulthood, then donated to the temple an equivalent weight in gold...." (p. 49)

2.  What about Mahesh's teachings about God:   Guru Dev, humans, names of gods and visual representations of gods are God?

An Indian lawyer explains that the statue of Vishnu "is like an incarnation of God, so it is as if God himself is coming out of the temple" when the idol is taken outdoors...."Like many observant Hindus, [he] believes that a temple's deity...resides within its walls...." (p. 49)

"...Photographs of [an Indian historian's ancestors hanging on the walls of his home] were adorned with flowers.  Like many Hindus, [he] reveres his ancestors almost as deities...." (p. 50)

"As a Hindu, I see my father and mother as gods.  We won't raise our voice against them."  (p. 56)

 3.  What about all the money the TM organization takes in?  What about its apparent lack of ethics and social conscience around money?  What about Mahesh's apparent comfort in meshing wealth with spirituality?

"...Worshippers make offerings of flowers, incense, silver and gold.  Whatever wealth accumulates belongs to the deity.  [One lawyer's]...driving purpose in life [was] to serve Vishnu and, in so doing, protect the deity's hoard...." (p. 49)

"Wouldn't it be a good thing," asked the Western author, "if the deity's wealth were used to help people?"  An Indian replied that because of government corruption, the money wouldn't end up in the right hands. (p. 57)

Communist activists in the town didn't press for the release of the money to the people because they'd risk alienating their Hindu constituents.  The author asked, "What do you think Marx and Lenin would have done?"  They replied, "When they are reincarnated, we must ask them." (p. 57)

"...When India became independent, the maharajahs...continued to preside over the temple, both as spiritual leaders and as custodians of the deity's wealth.  For centuries, the royal family's management of the temple received little scrutiny...." (p. 49)

"...In India the wealth...in...Hindu temples is viewed largely in spiritual, not monetary, terms...."
(p. 50)

Says an American scholar of Hinduism, "People make deals with deities, and if they receive what they want they pay up." (p. 50)

4.  What about Mahesh's lax attitude towards science?

An Indian historian believes the treasure vault "...was connected to the temple's sanctum sanctorum by a 'spiritual charge' which emitted special vibrations that could be felt only 'if you are exceptionally lucky.'  This energy should not be disturbed....[T]he picture of the cobra outside [the] Vault gave a clear warning."  (pp. 54-55)

The author "asked what would happen if the energy was disturbed.  The [historian] told me a story she's heard about an Indian temple that contained a...levitating idol...and it continued to hover until workers began renovating the temple; suddenly the idol came crashing down....Several
gurus had...warned her that opening [the vault] would bring 'danger and damage' to the city." (p. 55) 

5.  What about Mahesh's lax attitude toward logic, proof and truth?

The Western author notes that it may always remain a mystery whether the vault had ever been robbed.  The temple executive, he said, "initially assured me that nobody had entered it for more than a century, but then admitted that there were no records....How could he be certain that nothing had been stolen?  'I am sorry, I cannot answer that question,' he said.  'It is believed that nothing has been stolen.' " (p. 54)

6.  What about Mahesh's attitude towards astrology, fate, belief, rituals, puja, divine intervention?

"As the citizens debated what to do about [the vault], the royal family and officials from the temple invited a group of astrologers to hold a four-day ceremony...in order to ascertain the will of the deity....One of the astrologers...said that the key to making the ceremony work was finding a child who could serve as the 'instrument' through which the deity conveyed his wishes...."  When the child was found (through coincidences termed "a matter of destiny"), they seated the boy in front of "a lamp, a mirror, a piece of cloth, some grains of rice, betel leaves, a betel nut, an ancient gold coin, and a copy of the Bhagavad Gita.  A 'sacred powder' was sprinkled on the ground....The boy was presented with 108 conch shells....As the boy arranged the shells, everyone chanted prayers.  'We prayed to God to show the kid the right message....It's all science.  (Emphasis added by TMFree editor.)  It's like the doctor who diagnoses a disease from various symptoms.' "  (p. 55)

After the ceremony was completed, the astrologer "said, 'It is advised that the wealth found in the chambers is not moved out....These are not just valuables but also divine, and displacing this will invite the wrath of the Lord.'  He warned that opening the doors...would 'bode ill for the people and for the land....[T]he deity had already made its displeasure known.  The biggest proof...is that [a proponent of opening the vault] has died.' "  (p. 55)  (Emphasis added by TM-Free editor.)

My friend's doctor recommended Transcendental Meditation

My new friend Sherry told me that her M.D. had recently recommended that she learn either Transcendental Meditation or the Relaxation Response to improve her health. Sherry checked out the local TM center, but felt the ambiance there was too "weird and culty" so she decided not to learn TM.

It started me thinking. What would be an appropriate thing to say to a doctor who suggested that their patients learn TM? I have come up with my own answer. Would you like to develop your own response in the "Comments" section? Or, best of all, would you like to edit and improve my little lecture? Maybe together we can come up with an optimum response. Then you could print it out for your doctor if you want to.

To start the ball rolling, here is my first draft:

1) One can learn the Relaxation Response for free from a library book. Learning TM costs $1,500. (Links to websites needed.)

2) Much of the money you give the TM organization (TMO) goes to making the family of the founder wealthy and powerful. (Links to websites needed.)

3) The research on the benefits of TM is flawed. Experimental design is often biased to make TM look good. Outside research shows that other techniques of meditation are effective, but the TMO does not disseminate that information. Some people receive no benefits from TM and occasionally people are harmed by TM, but the TMO does not disseminate that information either. (Links to websites needed.)

4) The TMO encourages TM students to get more deeply involved in the TM world: to spend lots of money on retreats, advanced techniques, TM ayurvedic medicines, TM rituals, TM astrology, etc. Not only can students end up spending lots of money and time on TM products, they are encouraged to assume a lifestyle which can extend to diet, celibacy, what to wear, where to live, what to believe, etc. (Links to websites needed.)

5) Some people may object to the religious nature of TM: its mantras are names of Hindu gods, the ceremony during personal instruction includes praising and bowing down to Hindu gods, and its belief system is contrary to Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Humanism, and probably other religions. There are no religious objections to the Relaxation Response technique. (Links to websites needed.)

Can you help improve upon this first draft?

Critiquing Transcendental Meditation's "scientific research"

Question: How valid is TM's scientific research?
Answer: Not very.

A Brief Overview of TM Research:
According to the Transcendental Meditation organization (TMO), "...More than 600 scientific studies have been conducted at more than 250 universities and research institutes in 33 countries. These studies have been published in over 100 leading scientific journals worldwide, and they objectively document the profound physiological, psychological, and sociological benefits of Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi Programme in every area of life...." (1)

What the TM organization does not publicize, however, is:
(1) that a high percentage of these studies are suspect. The research is specifically designed so that TM will come out looking good. (See http://trancenet.net/research/index.shtml

In addition, the quote above from the TMO website does not mention that:

(2) a lot of the research is done by TMers or funded by TMers, and is therefore inherently biased; and
(3) when non-TM scientists do research, they compare various types of meditations, and the results have been that each meditation has its own strengths and weaknesses. TM does not stand out as best. These studies are ignored by the TMO. For information, google "Google -- Scholar" and type in something like "comparision meditation techniques research results." Also, see http://www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/expressnews_template/article.cfm?id=8572and
(4) Research has shown that TM can sometimes be harmful. These studies are never quoted by the TMO. (See http://minet.org/research.html.)

So where do we come in?
While most TMFree readers are not professional researchers, I think we can contribute something useful to the research, specifically to the bias problem mentioned in item (1) above. Critics of the research papers have done a good job in critiquing what has been published. But what if something questionable was done that was not reported in the final paper?

So that's where we come in.

Many of us have "insider" experiences with the TMO. During our time in the TMO, we may have accidentally stumbled upon a small piece of the research that was unscientific. So I invite readers to search their memories. Do you recall incidents which at the time seemed simply quirky or isolated, but in retrospect, were examples of a violation of the scientific method? You may have to think outside the box or reframe the incident to see how it is related to the scientific method. You may have to consider not what was done, but what was not done; not what you saw, but what you didn't see....

Our stories will only be anecdotes, and anecdotal evidence is not scientific proof. However, these anecdotes provide glimpses which may inspire researchers to dig deeper into questionable practices.

So, to get the ball rolling, I will share my own memories that relate to the biased quality of TM research. In addition, I will relate a few anecdotes from old TMFree posts and comments. Unfortunately I have neither the time nor the inclination to dig up all the original posts and comments, so I apologize in advance for any errors in my memory or interpretation.

So here goes. To reiterate, the question for the day is:

Did you ever personally see evidence of violation of the scientific method in TM studies?

1. The year was 1980, I think. I lived on the MIU campus in Fairfield, Iowa, USA. I did the TM and TM-Sidhis program in the meditation hall from 2 to 4 times a day with up to 700 other women. One day, after everyone was seated on the mattresses, the leader announced that we were all going to add something to our program. She had something like an electric meter in her hand. She spoke a phrase that went something like: "Turn back the meter." She instructed us to think this phrase in the same manner as we thought the "sutras" in our TM-Sidhis program (the technique in which the phrase we thought was supposed to manifest in the world.) We were to think the above phrase 2 or 4 times (I can't remember which), after we finished TM but before we started the TM-Sidhis. She didn't tell us who had ordered this change, or who had designed it, or why we were doing it. The only additional thing she said was, "Do not say a word about this to anybody!"

We did this practice for about a week, and then we were told to stop doing it. We weren't told why we were now stopping. We were reminded, "Do not mention this to anyone!" And we never heard another word about it.

What was this all about?

Today, I believe we were guinea pigs in an experiment to prove that the TM-Sidhis actually produced effects in the physical world. (An illegal experiment, I might add, since we had not volunteered, and we had not been warned about possible harmful effects.) If 700 sidhas had actually succeeded in causing the meter's hand to move even a millimeter, I think they would have published that. I think we failed to produce the result they wanted, so the experiment was scrapped, we were warned against spilling the secret, and the failure was never reported.

2. A few years ago, one of our TMFree regulars (possibly Sudarsha) wrote that he once saw Maharishi sit with someone and review a line graph illustrating the results of a study showing the benefits of TM. Maharishi asked, "Couldn't you draw the line 'this' way instead of 'that' way, in order to make the results look better?" The other person agreed to make the change.

3. About a year ago, one of our readers shared that she had chatted with a researcher at MIU who was studying the "Maharishi Effect." (The ME states that when a certain percentage of the population practices TM, quality of life improves, as shown by crime statistics, pollution, unemployment rate, etc.) The research compared cities that had comparable demographics but a different percentage of TMers. The researcher told her, "In some cases, the city with the higher percentage of TMers did not show an improved quality of life. So we deleted those groups of cities from our final study."

4. A few months ago, contributor Gina wrote that when TM researchers in Fairfield were studying TMers to prove TM's benefits, they first eliminated "heavy unstressers" from their sample.

5. An old TMFree post is a reprint of a public letter from Earl Kaplan, a TMer who together with his brother David had donated over $100 million dollars (U.S.) to the TMO. He writes that "Mahesh for years had been raising hundreds of millions of dollars for his world peace groups...." (World peace groups were the gatherings of thousands of pundits to one location to chant together, thus assuring world peace forever.) According to Earl's letter, Earl said to Maharishi, "Maharishi, since you have the money and supposedly you have enough pundits, why don't you create a 10,000 group in India and the world will experience peace?..." (Several years previously, his brother David had obtained U.S. governmental approval to bring one or two thousand pundits to the USA. before this could happen, he got word that Maharishi had changed his mind and felt it was not a good time to send them.) Mahesh looked at Earl like he was crazy and said, "Earl, if we created the group then we don't know if it would create world peace or not. We would have to have the group and then see what the effect it has." Earl and David have since left the TMO.

Aside from the contempt and deceit Maharishi exhibited, I believe Maharishi was also saying that he did not want an experiment to be performed if the results would not make TM look good, i.e. if the results disproved the "Maharishi Effect."

OK, those are my offerings. Anyone else have memories about TMO's corruption of the scientific method in TM studies?

Footnotes:
(1) www.globalgoodnews.com/research.html

The Charisma of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the Founder of Transcendental Meditation

About a month ago, I attended a 2-hour workshop on healing through movement. After this brief workshop, I wanted to immediately buy the presenter's book, take his classes, do home practice off his audiotapes, immerse myself in his technique and philosophy, and become a true believer, practitioner and follower.

I had to shake myself awake! It was only because of my years in recovery from TM that I so quickly recognized that I was thinking irrationality. Why would I become a "true believer" after only 2 hours?

I picked apart my reactions, and realized that what I had been reacting to had been the teacher's "charismatic" presentation. Here is what he did that won me over:

1. He appears absolutely sure of the truth of his knowledge.

2. His teaching encompassed sweeping areas of life (health, biology, movement, evolution, physiology, healing, the brain).

3. His teaching was internally consistent.

4. He promised us great things.
(fluidity of movement, no more aches and pains, healing of chronic injuries).

5. He backed up his promises both with fascinating anecdotes and with quotes from science.

6. He appeared knowledgeable about his competitors' products, and discredited them in a way both loving and condescending.

7. His teaching was original and off the beaten track.

8. His personality was attractive (a happy, warm man.)

9. He promised his technique would give me exactly what I longed for (relief from chronic pain and healthy aging.)

Put this all together, and it was so easy to take the internal steps from, "How nice if this were true," to "Wow, there is some evidence that this is true," to "This must be true. How lucky I am to have found it!"

Upon reflection, I could see how closely this brief experience paralleled my experience with Maharishi. Each of the qualities I experienced in this exercise teacher, I also experienced 40 years earlier in Maharishi:

1. Maharishi seemed absolutely convinced of the truth of his knowledge. No gray areas.

2. Maharishi's teachings encompassed physical, mental, emotional, social, financial, governmental, educational, philosophical and spiritual regeneration.

3. His teachings were internally consistent. (If you didn't dig too deep.)

4. He promised great things for us: enlightenment, having the support of nature and inner peace; and later he also promised us perfect health, immortality, and world peace.

5. He backed up his promises with endless fascinating anecdotes of people who he said had benefited from TM, as well as appeals based on scientific research.

6. He described what he said were the different types of meditations, and explained why his meditation technique was superior. He quoted scientific research to back it up.

7. His teaching was original and off the beaten track.

8. His personality was attractive (joyous, bubbly, happy).

9. He promised that his technique would give me exactly what I personally longed for (peace of mind, self-esteem.)

So it wasn't surprising that at the naive age of 19, I fell under the sway of Maharishi and his teachings.

What were your experiences of the persuasive powers of Maharishi?

As long as I'm talking about Maharishi's public appeal, I wanted to comment on Maharishi's physical appearance. It's ironic that TM teachers became known for looking "corporate" (business suits, clean shaven, etc.), - Maharishi had a strict dress code - because in fact, Maharishi looked like the quintessential "flower child." He had the long hair, flowing beard , beads, carried a flower, sandals or bare feet, sat cross-legged, talked about love. In fact, his only lapse was wearing a dhoti instead of blue jeans and a tie-dyed shirt! Which came first - Maharishi, with flower children emulating him? Or flower children, with Maharishi imitating them?

Quantum gods don't deserve your faith

Interesting, brief article on the state of "quantum spirituality." Worth a peek.

Revisiting TM Initiation, Part 2: The Puja ("Traditional Ceremony of Gratitude")

Please note: This is a four-part series. "Revisiting TM Initiation, Part 1," was posted 11/11/2008. "Revisiting TM Initiation, Part 3: The Mantra" was posted 12/5/08. "Revisiting TM Initiation, Part 4: Bowing Down" was published 1/1/2009.

The initiator finishes instructing the initiate, and he leaves. The initiator is now alone.

The initiator is striken with a bout of conscience. "Good heavens!" she thinks to herself. "I told that initiate one lie after another. I thought I was a person of integrity. I'm ashamed of myself. I've got to turn over a new leaf. I hereby promise myself that from this moment forward, while keeping my promises to Maharishi, I will also be truthful with my initiates."

There is a knock at the door. The next initiate enters with his basket. They both sit down.

Fantasy Initiation #2:

Question from initiate: Is it OK if I ask you a few questions as I'm learning?

Answer from initiator: Sure.

Q: Why do you do the ceremony of gratitude in the traditional way? Why don't you express gratitude in a Western way?

A: Well, Maharishi said that to assure the purity of the teaching of TM, we should start with this traditional ceremony.

Q: But you do so many other things that deviate from the tradition, that are the Western way.

A: You're right. Maharishi was very strict about us wearing Western clothes - he forbade us from wearing Indian costumes when representing TM. And he told the men that they were absolutely not to grow their hair long in imitation of him - they had to keep their hair cut short. Also he modified the traditional meditation posture into sitting in a chair to make it comfortable for Westerners. And he was insistent that we use Western scientific research to sell TM. He changed the language from traditional "God" to "Creative Intelligence" to make it more Western. So you're right - I really can't prove to you that the traditional way is essential.

Q: You said in the preparatory lecture that the reason you do the ceremony is to remind yourself to teach TM in its purity, accurately. Why do you have to remind yourself? My school teachers taught me all sorts of things accurately, without a big reminder priming themselves to teach it accurately. Isn't it enough to just have a minimum level of integrity?

A: Well, when I was learning to be a TM teacher, Maharishi told us to tell the public something different from what was the real reason for the ceremony. He said that when the initiator invokes all those great teachers or gods during the puja -

Q: Gods? Didn't you assure us that this wasn't a religious ceremony?

A: Yes, that's what I said, but there are gods named in the puja.

Q: And didn't you assure us that TM wasn't a religious technique?

A: Well, yes, it isn't. Anyhow, when the initiator invokes the names of the gods and masters, it sort of enlivens the room with the qualities of those beings -

Q: What are you talking about? This sounds like some weird spiritualist religion.

A: Oh, no, it's not a religion. TM is a simple natural non-religious technique. Anyhow, when the initiator invokes the names of the gods and masters, it sort of conjures up the essence of those beings, and Maharishi said that the initiator takes on some of the qualities of those beings -

Q: It sounds like Maharishi trained you to be a medium. It sounds like you're channeling these creatures. Now you're taking on their qualities. Do you think you're "possessed?"

A: Of course not. I continue to say the words I had planned to say; I don't find myself speaking the being's words.

Q: I don't believe in this conjuring stuff. To put it in Western terms, don't you think it would be accurate to say that you go into an altered, highly suggestible state?

A: I've never heard that. But anyhow, when the initiator is vibrating with the qualities of the gods and masters, in that state, we can teach TM properly.

Q: You said in the introductory lectures that TM is a mechanical technique that uses the natural tendency of the mind to go to increasing charm. If it's such a natural technique, why do you have to go into an altered state in order to teach it properly?

A: Maharishi told us on Teacher Training that when the initiator is in that state, the initiate becomes sort of in awe of or intimidated by the initiator, sort of like "cat and mouse" were his words. If the initiator does something, the initiate does it back.

Initiate: That sounds nefarious. It sounds like you're trying to control me. Why can't I just follow your instructions of my own free will, because I want to learn? Why do you have to entrance me into obeying you?

A: I don't know. Maharishi didn't cover that point.

Q: You told us that the ceremony is just a reminder for yourself. But you want me in a suggestible state, right? That's why I have to be present, right?

A: Well, I wouldn't put it that way.

Q: Well, does the puja do anything else aside from supposedly making you resonate with these beings and making me compliant?

A: Well, during the ceremony, I sing out loud in Sanskrit as I simultaneously translate it into English in my head. Then there's a certain point where I start offering objects to the painting of Guru Dev in a very prescribed way. And at the same time, I am supposed to be thinking prescribed "puja feelings" that the actions and words are supposed to be inspiring in me. Like when I am offering water, I am supposed to be thinking of feeling "I feel an upsurge of purifying waves of knowledge." So I am doing four things at once.

Q: Yeah, so what's the point?

A: Maharishi said that the purpose of thinking the "puja feelings" was to amplify the feelings that I was already having.

Q: What's wrong with the feelings you're having naturally? Why do you have to amplify them?

A: I don't know.

Q: So Maharishi wants you to amplify your feelings. You mean talking yourself into feeling an emotion strongly that you may only feel slightly?

A: Yeah, I guess so. Embroidering. Embellishing. Mood-making. It's strange, because Maharishi had such contempt for, and taught us the worthlessness of, what he termed "mood-making." That was the term he used for when people kidded themselves that they were having a spiritual experience. He used the term contemptuously for people who claimed spiritual experiences but did not practice TM. And here he was encouraging us to "mood make."

Q: Well, did you find it successfully amplified your feelings?

A: No. Most of the time I find it sort of disorienting, because it's not easy to keep two thoughts going at the exact same time. (I don't know if other initiators have that same problem. ) Even though he said it was a "feeling," we had to memorize the feeling as specific words. I think it made me sort of woozy. By the end of the puja, I am thoroughly zonked.

Q: Why would Maharishi want you in an altered state by the end of the puja?

A: He said that between invoking the beings to possess some of their qualities, and amplifying the feelings, we get into a deep state, and it is from there that we "pick up" the mantra. Then when we impart it to the initiate, we are "planting" the mantra, and it heads right back inward from whence it came, thus facilitating the inward direction of the meditation.

Q: Wait a minute. In the preparatory lecture, you said that the mantra moves inward due to the natural tendency of the mind to seek increasing charm. Now you're giving me this mumbo jumbo that the mind moves inward because with the help of these beings and your trance state, you have dug up the mantra from some esoteric realm and the mantra wants to go back there. This doesn't make any sense to me, and it certainly doesn't square with what you told us, that this is scientific and non-religious. You have a whole esoteric spiritual teaching going on here. So Maharishi told you that you virtually channel these creatures, and that you and the initiate go into a hypnotic state?

A: Isn't it strange that you should put it that way; because at the end of the teacher training course, he told us there were two things we should specifically avoid: channeling and hypnosis. Well, do you have any more questions? No? OK, then shall we begin?

- End -

(Note: The author attended TM Teacher Training in La Antilla, Spain in 1974, and is using those experiences to inform this article. People on other Teacher Training courses may have learned different things.)

Book Review. The Relaxation Response by Herbert Benson M.D. with Miriam Z. Klipper

(NOTE TO READERS:

I originally published this book review on TMFree on October 15, 2008, but for some reason it has disappeared. So here it is again. - Laurie)


Published 1976 by William Morrow & Co., 181 pages.

Commentors and contributors have been recommending books on TM-Free Blog for some time now. I have recently read a few of those books, and thought you might enjoy some book reviews. This is my second review in a series.

First, a little background information about this book, (from my memory, so a few facts may be off). About 1970, Herbert Benson M.D. (not a TMer) and Robert Keith Wallace (a TMer), then either a new M.D. or a post-graduate student writing his thesis, collaborated on research on the effects of TM. Theirs was the first scientific study on TM, and a long line of scientific studies on TM by them and others were to follow, now officially touted by the TM organizations as "over 600 scientific research studies, published in peer-reviewed journals, showing the benefits of the Transcendental Meditation program in all fields of life." (Skeptical and alternate TM websites have pointed out the inaccuracy of many of these studies.)

Benson's and Wallace's research focused on physiological changes in the subjects during the practice of TM itself, in areas such as blood pressure and oxygen consumption. All indices pointed to a state of reduced physical activation, or relaxation, yet wakefulness, a state they called "restful alertness." If my memory serves me, this first research project of Benson and Wallace was published in approximately 1970 in The Lancet, a respected British medical journal.

These early experiments gave scientific standing to the heretofore esoteric practice of Transcendental Meditation. I remember that in the TM introductory lectures I attended in 1971, I and my friends were much impressed and influenced by this scientific validation.

As my friends and I got deeper into the TM world, Benson and Wallace were our secular "heroes" for the legitimacy they had given TM. The first crack I recall in this "love affair" was Benson's wistful comment that he now had so much evidence on the benefits of TM that he would love to do it himself, however he felt that if he learned TM his impartiality as a researcher would be compromised.

Some time after this, Benson made the leap to the theory that the state of "restful alertness" must be a physiologically imbedded state, and therefore be attainable through ways other than Transcendental Meditation. He then went on to theorize, study and research, and out of that came his book The Relaxation Response.

Benson studied many meditation, contemplation and prayer techniques from around the world and from many centuries, techniques developed by mystics, saints, nuns, monks, and so on from different spiritual traditions (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, etc.) and discovered that other teachings appeared to use similar techniques to TM and appeared to produce
similar results to TM.

When I was on my TM Teacher Training course back in 1974, I was taught contempt and condescension for all other techniques, which, Maharishi taught, were all completely different from - and inferior to - his Transcendental Meditation. (Please see my TM-Free Blog post, published 10/13/2008, "Book Review. The Maharishi: The Biography of the Man Who Brought Transcendental Meditation to the World by Paul Mason," where I describe how Maharishi isolated himself from all other traditions.) So, in reading The Relaxation Response in 2008, I was struck, humbled and shamed to see the obvious similarities between TM and techniques handed down by myriad traditions. One example, "dhikr," from the mystic Islamic tradition known as Sufism, will suffice to show the similarities. The instructional language is poetic with its emphasis on divine love and religious devotion, but the underlying technique is strikingly similar.

"Let [the practitioner] sit alone in some corner....Let him not cease saying continuously with his tongue 'Allah, Allah,' [God, God,] keeping his thoughts on it. At last he will reach a state when the motion of his tongue will cease, and it will seem as though the word flowed from it. Let him persevere in this until all trace of motion is removed from his tongue, and he finds his heart persevering in the thought. Let him still persevere until the form of the word - its letters and shape - is removed from his heart, and there remains the idea alone, as though clinging to his heart, inseparable from it....If he follows the above course, he may be sure that the light of the Real will shine out of his heart."

I was struck by how much these instructions resemble the instructions I memorized on TM Teacher Training in 1974, on how to instruct someone in TM. Following the puja (ceremony), the TM teacher says, "Aem, aem, aem, aem," (or some other mantra, all of which are the names of gods). Teacher gestures to student to repeat the mantra. When the student is doing so, teacher gestures to the student to sit and continue repeating. When student does so, teacher says, "Close the eyes and continue....More quietly....More quietly....More quietly....Now, mentally, without moving tongue and lips....Slowly open the eyes. It's easy? Mental repetition is not a clear pronunciation. It's just a faint idea. Now close the eyes and continue...."

Benson determined that all these different techniques - including TM - had four elements in common: (1) a quiet environment, (2) a mental device such as a word, phrase, object to be gazed at, etc., to be repeated in a specific fashion, (3) a passive attitude, in which ideation drifts into the mind, and one does not concentrate or be concerned with how well one is doing it, and (4) a comfortable position, but not a lying down one which might induce sleep.

After reviewing the similarity of various techniques. Benson studied subjects doing six different techniques that followed these four rules in order to see if they did indeed produce the same physiological results as TM. Benson tested subjects during the practice of TM, Zen and yoga, autogenic training, progressive relaxation, hypnosis with suggested deep relaxation, and sentic cycles for changes in oxygen consumption, respiratory rate, heart rate, alpha waves, blood pressure and muscle tension. The results were almost indistinguishable.

I can imagine the horror, disbelief and denial I would have experienced if I had read this book in 1974, after I became a TM teacher. I repeat the heresy: The results of the six techniques were almost indistinguishable from each other and from TM.

I do remember Benson's name fading from TM lectures after the the publication of this book. I remember what contempt and pity we TM teachers had for Benson for "betraying the movement." I remember never bothering to read his book until 2008. I remember hearing with triumph (and relief) that people who took up Benson's "relaxation response" technique were soon bored and gave it up, but we TMers found our experience fulfilling and kept at it. I remember one TM teachers saying dismissively, "Well, you get what you pay for."

This short, easy-to-read, down-to-earth book is food for thought, a "how-to" book on how to achieve the relaxation response, and also a useful tool for people wanting to take the next step in deprogramming themselves from the TM mindset.

Science vs Religion

In Focus: Hindutva on the Attack




Optimists like to think, and say, that religion and secularism can co-exist peacefully. That each has its own realm - its Nonoverlapping Magisterium, as Stephen Jay Gould so mistakenly called it - and there is no need for rivalry or conflict. That ‘science’ (which is never defined when such assertions are being made) can answer the questions in its realm, and religion can answer the questions in its. Of course, that raises the obvious question, can it really? Can religion really answer the questions that ‘science’ (i.e. rational inquiry) cannot? ‘Answer’ in what sense? In the sense of saying something? No doubt it can do that, but then so can anyone else. In the sense of saying something true? But how do we know the ‘answer’ is true? Because religion says so? But that just goes around in a circle. Because it’s written in a book? But there are other books that give different answers. Because we evaluate the answers in a rational manner as we do with any other form of rational inquiry? But then we’re in that other realm. Is there a fourth possibility? Because - what? Religious people have some special wisdom or insight? If so, where does it come from? And so on. The questions are endless, and the claim for religion’s jurisdiction over the questions that science and rational inquiry cannot answer rests on very shaky premises.






Perhaps that is why pessimists disagree with optimists about the possibilities for peaceful co-existence. Perhaps it is because we are reluctant to accept claims that are based on mere assertion and authority and tradition, and we know from experience that that reluctance makes many religious people very angry. Perhaps it is because we know that claims that rest on shaky premises are just the ones that people tend to enforce with violence.






Ill-founded claims are the ones that get backed up with sticks, car antennas, guns, threats, petitions, calls for silencing, fatwas. There is a lot of that sort of thing around. The anger at the American scholar of mythology James Laine and his book about the Hindu king Shivaji is one example. A mob attacked and vandalized the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute in January, destroying books and irreplaceable manuscripts. Scholars sat in tears among the wreckage afterward. In March the state of Maharashtra where the BORI is located sought the help of Interpol in arresting and extraditing James Laine. Other scholars of mythology such as Wendy Doniger and Paul Courtright are the object of threats and worse. ‘Vedic’ science and mathematics are introduced into the public school curriculum and history textbooks are altered without the consent of their authors, as the articles by Meera Nanda and Latha Menon for Butterflies and Wheels tell us. The war against research, inquiry, secularism, independent thought, scholarship and rationality goes on and indeed intensifies. It is a trend that needs watching.






Apposite Quotations






The fury with which untenable beliefs are defended is inversely proportional to their defensibility.

Richard Dawkins: The Annual Edge Question 2004



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