Transcendental Meditation: The Extended Version
By Brenna DeBlasio
The mind-calming technique known as Transcendental Meditation is oftentimes shrouded in mystery, but is actually straightforward in its effectiveness and is available locally to anyone and everyone.
“Transcendental Meditation is a simple, easy, effortless, technique that we practice, sitting comfortably for 20 minutes twice a day - once in the morning, once in the afternoon,” said Regine de Toledo, a certified TM teacher and director of the Transcendental Meditation Center of St. Augustine. “In this process the mind settles down, and the body settles down, to a unique state of restful alertness.”
This meditation process is recognized by Katy Perry as “the cure for the common stress,” and is drawing attention across the medical community. Research on the TM technique has brought back both incredible and surprising results. The effects TM can have on the mind and body can be life changing and can even include improvement in heart functionality. “
During the process of Transcendental Meditation, we go from the more active level of the mind to the less active level of the mind in a spontaneous and innocent way,” says de Toledo.
The benefits:
For the Body
Increased energy
A level of rest that’s actually twice as deep as the deepest part of sleep
Reduced risk of heart related issues
For the Mind
Reduced Stress
Reduced anxiety
Access to pure consciousness and inner state of silence
An in-depth Q&A with Certified Teacher and Director of the St. Augustine TM program, Regine de Toledo.
Q: What is Transcendental Meditation?
A: Transcendental Meditation is a simple, easy, effortless mental technique that we practice sitting comfortably for 20 minutes twice a day - once in the morning once and in the afternoon or evening. In this process, the mind and body settle down to a unique state of restful alertness. At the end of the 20 minutes, people feel relaxed, refreshed, more focused, and ready to go back into activity.
Q: How long have you been practicing?
A: I’ve been practicing Transcendental Meditation for almost 50 years, and I’ve been a certified teacher since 1973.
Q: What is the process?
A: During the process of Transcendental Meditation, we go from the more active level of the mind to the less active level of the mind in a spontaneous and innocent way. We use the natural tendency of the mind to move in a direction of more and more - greater charm, greater happiness. The mind wants to wander, that’s why it’s hard to do a lot of techniques where control of the mind is used. There are lots of great, wonderful techniques. They all have their different practice, different brain-style functioning, and different results. In TM, the mind innocently settles down to the inner state of silence that we all have within us. We use a mantra that is provided by our certified teacher in the instruction process. In TM, the mantra does not have meaning because then we would be kept on the surface level, thinking about the meaning. It only has a sound aspect, but it’s not any sound, and it has only positive, life-supporting qualities. The mantra facilitates the transcending process.
At the same time, the body settles down to a level of rest that’s actually twice as deep as the deepest part of sleep. Over a whole eight hours of sleep, the body’s metabolism slows down about eight percent, and during a 15 to 20-minute period of TM, the metabolism slows down about 16-20 percent. TM doesn’t replace sleep, but it eliminates fatigue and stress, especially those deeper accumulated stresses. However stress comes into our system, whether it’s from an overload of external circumstances beyond our control (like what we’re all experiencing with this global pandemic), or from an emotional reaction, it changes our physiology. If we don’t have a way to eliminate stress, it builds up. We naturally release that when we allow the body to rest and rejuvenate itself. So, we’re just setting up these two times twice a day to allow the body to do what it naturally wants to, which is to repair itself and keep itself functioning in optimum condition.
Q: What are the benefits of Transcendental Meditation?
A: What almost everybody notices immediately after they practice TM, is they usually feel refreshed, relaxed, and calm, but they also feel energetic. One person recently said ‘it’s not like having a coffee kind of energy, this is a calm kind of energy.’ Because the mind has expanded and has become more coherent or orderly during the process, then we think more clearly. One common benefit is we have an increased ability to focus on details and see the larger big picture at the same time. We are more efficient and accomplish more easily.
The U.S. military has been interested in the benefit of resiliency. Recently they have been really interested in the relief from PTSD symptoms. There was a three-year study of 200 veterans, funded by the Department of Defense and completed in San Diego in 2016. The results were published in 2018 in the Lancet Psychiatry journal, which is one of the most highly respected medical journals. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(18)30384- 5/fulltext. What they found was that TM was more effective than exposure therapy, the standard treatment for PTSD.
It seems that TM works on the autonomic level, which means that it’s not a psychological process nor do you have to believe in it. The changes take place on a deeper level. It is known that with PTSD the amygdala, the fear center of the mind, stays stuck on in a state of chronic hyper-excitation. During the process of TM, the amygdala gets calmed and the fight or flight response shuts off.
The health benefits cover a wide range of common, chronic, stress-related conditions that really plague our society. They’re costly to us as individuals and costly to our society. There have been over 146 studies done on the benefits in reducing anxiety. The amount of time that it takes for people to see a reduction in anxiety varies from individual to individual, but almost everyone notices some changes right from the start.
There have been some studies on the benefits of TM for cardiovascular disease, which is one of the biggest health challenges in our society. Several studies show TM helps normalize blood pressure. The American Heart Association endorsed TM in 2013 as the only mental technique that worked as effectively as medication. There was a nine-year longitudinal study conducted at the Medical College of Wisconsin with about 200 participants who had narrowing of the arteries in their hearts. They were randomized either to TM or a control group that did health education, diet, and exercise. The results showed that the group randomized to TM had a 47 percent drop in stroke, heart attack, or death. For the group that practiced TM every day twice a day, it was a 72 percent drop. This trial was funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health.
Chronic stress is probably the biggest epidemic in our society. Here we have a natural technique to reduce stress without medication or without any side effects. It has wide ramifications for us as individuals and for our society. How do we keep people healthy and keep health care costs down? This is a low-cost solution that anybody can participate in.
Parents report they have more patience with their kids, others find they have more tolerance for co-workers. Many find that when they have less stress they’re just happier. When we regularly access this wellspring of happiness within, it naturally infuses into our daily activity. If we have individuals in a society that is happier, they can be more productive members of society and they can be nicer and kinder to everyone else around them. We naturally radiate who we are and what we are. So, if we have individuals of society radiating inner peace, it then translates to outer peace.
Q: How do you teach the process?
A: Transcendental Meditation is taught in a several step process. We start with an introductory orientation meeting. We conduct those mostly online and occasionally at our TM Center with safe, precautionary measures. In this introductory meeting, we discuss the benefits and everything that people need to know before taking the course of instruction. The course is four consecutive days (or evenings), about an hour and a half each class. We now have two ways for people to learn TM. It’s the same course but in two different formats. Everybody comes the first day to meet privately with the instructor. Then, the options are either to come to the Center for three more daily classes or take the three classes online through a very comprehensive phone app, using a current android or iPhone.
TM is taught through a non-profit educational, international organization. The course fee includes the four-day course and a whole lifetime of followup support. Our current course fees are based on total household annual gross income, so we try to accommodate everybody. A chart of the course fees is available on our website.
Q: This technique of moving through consciousness reminds me of the process of hypnosis. Is Transcendental Meditation comparable to hypnosis or really any other types of meditation?
A: It’s different from hypnosis. In hypnosis, you experience a lack of awareness. In TM you have awareness the whole time. You experience different levels of the mind, but you’re still aware. TM is also different from the other mental techniques currently available - concentration, open- monitoring, or contemplation.
Q: When you practice the process, can you feel yourself transcending into pure consciousness? Can you feel yourself coming back out of pure consciousness later in the day?
A: Sometimes it is a clear experience, sometimes not. We can tell we are in a meditative state. It is different from just sitting and relaxing. Clear experience of pure consciousness is often felt like a gap – our thoughts fall off and we are left in our own inner awareness. With regular practice, eventually, pure consciousness is experienced during the day, outside of meditation. This helps us to maintain clarity and inner calm while engaged in dynamic activity.
Q: Thank you! I think you’ve answered all of my questions, is there anything I missed or any additional comments you’d like to add?
A: Sometimes we think that there are all these things that are good for us but we wonder – is it one more thing that I have to fit into my busy life? Am I going to be able to keep it up? People find TM gives them more time because they think more clearly and get stuff done faster, and it’s enjoyable and they look forward to it. It is easy to learn, easy to practice. There are so many good reasons to do it, and no good reason not to!
More information is available at: https://www.tm.org/transcendental-meditation-st-augustine.