Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Meditation instead of medication

Did you know that there is a growing body of research goin on by the scientific community that shows the effect of regular meditation on the body and mind? More and more people are able to reduce their dependence on medication and also reduce levels of stress and anxiety.

To read more about what the medical community is saying about meditation visit
http://www.doctorsontm.org/.
Though these people make specific reference to TM -- transcendental meditation -- similar results are found in other types of meditations too.

Malabika


www.VisionWholistic.net
Creating the ability to see Wholeness

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I learned TM along with my whole family 37 years ago. It's the best thing we have ever done in our lives.

It is important to note that the 600 scientific studies on meditation all refer to the TM technique. Many meditation techniques refer to TM research and benefits when they are actually promoting something else.

This is highly misleading as few if any of these techniques are simple, natural, effective, scientifically tested or reliable. The Transcendental Meditation technique is all of the above and has been taught in the U.S. for more than 50 years.

In a recently published study comparing meditation techniques, Dr. David Orme-Johnson concludes the following:

“. . . it is highly misleading to imply that all meditation techniques have the same medical benefits. I reviewed 10 meta-analyses of 475 studies on approximately 20,000 subjects and found overwhelming evidence that different meditation and relaxation techniques do not produce the same effects(1) . The Transcendental Meditation program showed superior results in reducing stress, improving mental health, decreasing hypertension, reducing anxiety, and decreasing consumption of cigarettes, alcohol, and drugs. The concept of a common “relaxation response” turns out to be a myth.”

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a Vedic scholar and teacher and the founder of the Transcendental Meditation technique, was considered to be the worlds greatest authority in the field of Consciousness. Maharishi strongly advocated that meditation should be natural and effortless and that methods of concentration, contemplation, mindfulness and mood making are not effective, and can even be harmful. These methods keep the mind engaged on the surface level of thinking and inhibit the natural goal of meditation, which is to go beyond, or transcend the conscious, thinking level of the mind.

Why not go for the most effective form of meditation? Why recommend methods that have not been thoroughly researched. Some of these techniques can actually increase stress and tension due to the effort, concentration and mind control involved in the practice.
The TM movement is totally non-profit. In fact, as Ralph Nader once pointed out in a major consumer magazine, it’s one of the only truly non-profit organizations in the U.S. TM’s current price of $2000 is a bargain! It comes with a lifetime follow-up program and it works for everyone of any age or culture or religion.

Plus financial help is available:
1. Scholarships for Students
David Lynch’s foundation helps students who can’t afford the fee.
David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education.
Post Office Box 93158
Hollywood, California 90093
Tel/Fax: 323-874-2467
info@davidlynchfoundation.org

2. Low Interest Loans
Citi-Bank offers very low interest loans with up to 15 years time to repay. You apply online and take the course at any TM center. Open to adults or students of any age.
Details here: http://www.mum.edu/tmcourse/

3. Employee Benefit
Many companies are paying for half or more of the TM fee for employees. Here’s a partial list for the U.S.—
US Post Office, IBM, Motorola, General Motors, Ford Motor Co., Toyota, Tower Companies, US Veterans Admin., AirTel, Bank of America, ESPN-Star Sports, Eveready Industries, GE Capital, Hero Honda, Hewlett Packard, Siemens, and Xerox.

RWP said...

The bottom line on meditation is that TM is far and away the most effective. Check it out the videos at- www.TM.org

After more than 50 years, the facts are clear—all meditation is not the same. The reason the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have been funding TM and Maharishi AyurVeda research for over 25 years is that the techniques have proven themselves to be far more effective than anything else.

Since the 1970's, when research on Transcendental Meditation began to appear, many other meditation and stress-management techniques have been invented but scientific analysis has separated the wheat from the chaff.

1. In the first major meta-analysis, nearly two decades of stress-related studies were compared statistically, with the results printed in the Journal of Clinical Psychology (Eppley et al 1989). These studies tested the effectiveness of every well-known meditation and relaxation technique, including Transcendental Meditation, other types of meditation, the much-researched progressive muscle relaxation technique, Benson's relaxation response, and many others. In the results of all the tests together, the Transcendental Meditation technique reduced anxiety more than twice as much as any other technique (p<0.005). When Dr. Eppley restricted his analysis to only the best studies, Transcendental Meditation reduced anxiety more than four times as well as all the other techniques.

2. A meta-analysis of various other techniques, such as Benson's 'relaxation-response' technique, bio-feedback, non-TM meditations, and progressive muscle relaxation, the effects on hypertension were found to be no greater than that of placebo techniques (Eisenberg et al 1993).

3. A meta-analysis summary of 597 studies in relaxation research published in the May/June 1998 issue of the American Journal of Health Promotion found the Transcendental Meditation program far more effective than Progressive Relaxation, Mindfulness Meditation, the Benson Technique, Biofeedback, Zen Meditation, Self-Hypnosis and all other forms of meditation and relaxation programs. Areas covered included anxiety reduction, blood pressure reduction, physiological relaxation, self- actualization, improved psychological outcomes, and decreased use of cigarettes, alcohol, and drugs.

4. The most recent published meta-analysis, published in the December issue of Current Hypertension Reports, suggests that the Transcendental Meditation technique is more effective at producing reductions in high blood pressure than other forms of relaxation, meditation, biofeedback, or stress management. It reviewed 107 published studies in peer-reviewed journals.

It is better to spend a little more money and learn a proven, time tested, scientifically validated program from a trained professional, than it is to save a few dollars and learn something unnatural, ineffective, and of questionable safety.

Anonymous said...

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this info from you.