Meditation, properly understood and properly practiced, is a systematic means to turn the attention powerfully within,
to experience and explore deeper levels of mind, quieter levels of human awareness, until
the mind is completely settled in the simplest state of human awareness. Through Transcendental
Meditation one can slip into a "zone," if you like, in which you are thoroughly alert,
profoundly relaxed, very joyful in spirits, but unfocused on anything in particular. It's
not a thing that you're happy about, and yet you're joyful. It's not a thing that you're
thinking about specifically, and yet you're alert. You're not asleep but you're profoundly
relaxed. It's a really curious state that is a thing in itself. One thing about Transcendental
Meditation, and you hear this from many people who've tried a bunch of different techniques
to get to this state, is it's one of the simplest, most practical and effortless ways of accessing
the transcendent. In this meditative state the body gains a deep state of rest, deeper
than sleep, and deep-seeded stress is dissolved, providing an affective prevention and treatment
for stress-related illness, removing the deleterious effects of stress on health and brain functioning.
It's a systematic technique to develop the full potential of mind and body.