hi my name is Bob Roth and I've been a teacher of Transcendental Meditation for
over 40 years I want to start right off with a very simple working definition of
Transcendental Meditation number one TM is a very simple technique
it's simple not because it's simplistic or a
beginner's meditation but because there's an elegant simplicity to the
practice very profound elegant simplicity to the practice number two
its natural there's no manipulation there's no suggestion every human being
can practice Transcendental Meditation as well as every other human being very
simple to learn and very enjoyable to practice number three it's effortless
effortless in contrast to many other meditation techniques which involve
concentration or control of the mind trying to clear the mind of thoughts
this is completely effortless as we'll see in a few moments it's practiced 20
minutes twice a day sitting comfortably in a chair with your eyes closed it can
be done you know on a train it can be done on an airplane it can be done in a
car if someone else is driving but it can be just done sits just done sitting
comfortably it's a silent technique with your eyes closed and this is what it's
not it's not a philosophy I have no philosophy for you when you learn
Transcendental Meditation no one's going to give you a TM philosophy of life
there's no philosophy whatsoever it doesn't involve any change in lifestyle
you don't change your diet or anything and the third thing is there's nothing
to believe in I want to emphasize that because sometimes people think oh and I
learned to meditate I have to believe in it for it to prefer to work you can be a
hundred percent skeptical and the technique works just as well the
benefits are just as profound as if you went into this thing thinking oh I
believe in meditation that's it's going to work there's no belief whatsoever so
to understand what Transcendental Meditation is and to understand how it
compares to other forms of meditation or self-development I like to use the
metaphor or the analogy of an ocean you're on a small boat you're in the
middle of the ocean out in the middle of the ocean and all of a sudden you get
these swells these huge 40 60 foot high waves
and you think oh my god the whole ocean is in upheaval well not really
because if you do a cross-section of the ocean you see these little 40-foot high
waves and the ocean is like in reality a mile deep and the ocean is active on the
surface but at the depth of the ocean it is naturally silent
that's the nature of the ocean active on the surface silent at its depth
and the analogy is our mind the surface of our mind is the active thinking mind
all the things that we're thinking about all during the day it's like the waves
on the surface of the ocean and I like to call it the gotta gotta gotta gotta
gotta gotta gotta mind I got to do this and I got to do that I got to call him I
got to call her and I got to make a list and I got to find the list and I got to
make a new list and I got to get going and I got to slow down and I got to get
to sleep and I got to wake up I'm sure everybody's had a gotta gotta got in
mind at some point and there's a natural inclination a natural desire to have
some some inner calm some inner clarity some inner focus some inner inspiration
some inner peace some inner happiness natural and the operative word there is
inner and the question is where is that inner and how do we get there
every human being deep within all of us is a level of the mind that is already
calm already settled already wide awake the ancient meditation texts use very
big words they say it's a source of our unbounded creativity unbounded
intelligence happiness focus clarity it's there it was there if it's there it
was there yesterday it's there right now it'll be there
tomorrow we've just lost access to it we're stuck up here we're stuck up on
the surface gotta gotta got a level and Transcendental Meditation is a simple
natural effortless technique that allows the active thinking mind to just all of
it to just settle down and experience quieter levels of thought and quieter
levels of thought and then experience what has been called the source of
thought or the unified field of consciousness or transcendent level of
the mind pure consciousness now here's a question how do we know during
Transcendental Meditation that that's actually happening how do we know
something substantive is taking place that we're not just imagining this and
we know from science and why do we know from science because we know from
science mind and body are not just interconnected in many regards mind and
body are basically one and if it's true that during Transcendental Meditation
your mind is just effortlessly comfortably settling down quite
experienced quieter and quieter levels of the mind and that experiencing that
source of thought it must show up in a very profound and dramatic way during
the meditation and it must show up in the body basically what the research
shows is the during Transcendental Meditation your body gains a state of
rest and relaxation and what that deep rest does it allows the buildup of
stress fatigue tension anxiety to be dissolved when we get a state of deep
rest there's a hormone probably some of you have heard of called cortisol
cortisol is secreted by the adrenal glands which sit on the kidneys when
we're anxious so when we're anxious the body
accretes cortisol and then we secrete cortisol we feel more anxious that
becomes as vicious cycle that we feel more anxious more cortisol more anxious
more cortisol we get a good night's sleep cortisol levels drop a bit that's
why we wake up feeling fresher in the morning
research shows that 20 minutes of Transcendental Meditation cortisol
levels drop 30% it's a significant reduction in this anxiety hormone
serotonin levels a neurotransmitter which are so called a happiness
neurotransmitter there's an increase in in serotonin there's an increase in
another hormone called prolactin which is present when there's a feeling of
well-being other research shows the results of this the benefits of this is
a significant reduction in high blood pressure in cholesterol reduction in
risk of heart heart attack stroke atherosclerosis a reduction in all sorts
of range of disorders like bipolar disorder trade anxiety in the last 40
years there have been over 340 scientific studies published in
independent peer-reviewed journals including the American Medical
Association's journal archives of internal medicine the American Heart
Association's journal stroke and hypertension wide range of some of the
most respected journals in the world have published research on
Transcendental Meditation the National Institutes of Health have provided 26
million dollars to study the effects of Transcendental Meditation
on stress and heart health the Department of Defense just provided 2.4
million dollar grant to study the effects of Transcendental Meditation on
post-traumatic stress on soldiers who have come back from war-torn areas I
think one of the really interesting areas of research is the effects of
transcendental meditation on the brain this is interesting because every
experience we have impacts the brain in some way and so research on
Transcendental Meditation shows very clearly the effect that it has on
different parts of the brain including the amygdala which is at the centre of
the brain and that's your fear center the frontal lobes which is the executive
functioning and on both hemp both hemispheres of the brain
which is the so called analytical and intuitive Hema specs of the brain and
what they find is what the research shows is that during Transcendental
Meditation there's a strengthening of the connections between the frontal lobe
and the back of the brain this is important because the frontal lobes
govern decision-making planning judgment problem-solving sense of self ethical
reasoning everything good about the brain depends upon the connections
between the front of the brain and the back of the brain between all aspects of
the brain and stress rips apart you could say as if takes the brain the
frontal lobes offline that's why does a stress person make good judge have good
judgment does a stress person solve problems plan well no because the
frontal lobe goes offline during Transcendental Meditation those
connections are strengthened during Transcendental Meditation the
connections between the left and right hemispheres of the brain are
strengthened all parts of the brain connect together during TM and because
of something called neuroplasticity those connections that we have in
meditation last in daily life and that's why people report that they think more
clearly that they make better decisions they solve problems better why students
find that their grades go up and their test scores go up it's not magic it's
now the brain is optimized the whole brain is functioning in a coherent
integrated way in fact there's a spreading of coherent alpha brainwaves
from the back of the brain to the front of the brain and alpha brainwaves are
indicative of a state of restful alertness and that's what Transcendental
Meditation produces a state of restful alertness
now the big question is how do you get there how do you go from the active
thinking gotta gotta got a level of the mind to these quieter and quieter and
quieter levels to that source of thought and how do you get there
effortlessly it's there right now we don't have to muscle it we don't have to
believe in it we don't have to clear our mind of thoughts that's trying to stop
the waves on the surface we're accessing the level of our mind that's already
calm it's a wonderful experience it's a blissful experience it's a
satisfying experience and how do we get there the key thing I just said is it's
a satisfying experience
you're the dinner party and you're stuck in a corner somewhere and you're in a
really boring conversation and just a few feet away you can overhear a really
interesting conversation where's your attention go you're trying to pay
attention but you keep being drawn to that more fascinating conversation
the natural tendency of the human mind to be drawn towards some field something
more satisfying absolutely spontaneously more satisfying inside is a field of
great satisfaction source of thought creates a very charming field in
Transcendental Meditation we learn how to give the attention of the mind in
inward direction instead of outward through our senses toward that nice
music that interesting conversation that you know is it hard to watch a great
movie no your attention is drawn to it so but that all goes out through the
senses now like that cross-section of the ocean we learn how to give the
attention of the mind in inward direction and automatically the
attention is drawn settled quieter and quieter and quieter levels because
quieter levels of the mind are increasingly more satisfying more
satisfying it's like you teach a child how to dive you say honey just stand
like this stand here now get those initial conditions bend over like that
the rest is automatic gravity nature takes over in the same way with
Transcendental Meditation we learn how to give the attention of the mind in
inward direction and automatically the attention is drawn inward and as the
mind settles down we notice our body gaining a profound state of rest and
relaxation that rest and relaxation releases stress dissolve stress
rejuvenates the body and then we're ready to go for the next six eight ten
hours of our day
so for the attention of the mind to settle down effortlessly in
Transcendental Meditation we use a mantra a mantra is a word or a sound
that's used silently this number one that has no meaning if it had a meaning
then we're stuck on the surface what does that mean what does it mean the
intellect kicks in it's also a word or a sound you silently that is positive it's
known to be positive life supporting it's a good sound for the mind to settle
down it's a sound a mantra has been used for thousands and thousands of thousands
of years for just this purpose Transcendental Meditation is always
taught one-to-one by a trained certified teacher of TM I need to emphasize that
this isn't never it Transcendental Meditation is not a mass meditation it's
not something you learn out of a book not something you get from a tape the
technique is taught over four consecutive days of about an hour to an
hour and a half a day over four consecutive days and the first day
always one-to-one with a trained teacher of Transcendental Meditation certified
teacher and at that time what you learn from your teachers you're given the
sound the proper mantra a proper vehicle for you to settle down and you're taught
how to use it properly both things are absolutely essential
this meditation dates back thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of
years it predates all the isms it's not a religion it's not a philosophy it's a
universal human being practice and from that to that tradition of transcendental
meditation called a Vedic tradition of teachers it has been passed on from
teacher to student teacher to student teacher to student always in an oral
tradition over thousands of years and the most recent great meditation teacher
was Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and Maharishi proceeded to teach and oversee the
teaching of thousands and thousands of teachers of Transcendental Meditation
who know how to select the proper mantra the proper sound for an individual and
how to teach them to use it properly without both you basically are stuck
with both then we know how to effortlessly settle down and experience
quieter levels of thought completely rejuvenate mind and body for much
healthier more satisfying life
how does this differ from other forms of meditation and for this we look back to
scientific research because as I said research shows that every experience
changes the brain and basically we know from science that there are three
different major types of meditation the first type of meditation is called
focused attention and focused attention is something like zazen meditation or
Vipassana meditation any meditation that involves some concentration or control
of the mind trying to clear your mind of thought trying to concentrate on your
breath it's like trying to stop the waves from moving it's trying to stop
the wave on the surface so it's a focus it's a concentration the second type of
meditation is called open monitoring and that's a mindfulness form of meditation
and that's really how to emotionally disengage and just observe and be
present and mindful of your environment or mindful of your thoughts and that
would just be like observing the rise and fall of the waves on the surface of
your mind Transcendental Meditation does not involve any concentration and it's
not just an observational tool it's an actual technique called automatic
self-transcending which allows the active thinking mind to experience
quieter and quieter levels of thought and then transcend thought and
experience the self experience our own unbounded nature
I'm a very skeptical person by nature and when I heard about Transcendental
Meditation when I attended an introductory lecture 45 years ago at the
end of the talk I asked the teacher how much of this do I have to believe in for
it to work because I don't want have to believe in anything and the teacher told
me that I could be a hundred percent skeptical and the technique would work
just fine now she didn't have a cellphone but she did have a pen and she
said you don't have to believe in gravity as a matter of fact you can
think Newton's laws of gravity is a complete joke but if you drop in this
case a cell phone the phone falls in the same way we don't have to believe in
anything to practice Transcendental Meditation and to gain the benefits and
that's because we are hardwired for the experience it is a mechanism it's who we
are Transcendental Meditation is just a
simple natural effortless technique to give access to that calm silent level of
the mind that is always there but is overshadowed because of the constant
noise noise crazy crazy crazy of the day so there's no change in lifestyle
there's nothing to believe in there's no philosophy it's just a simple
natural effortless technique that once learned you carry with you for the rest
of your life
you