Transcendental Meditation technique

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The Transcendental Meditation technique (abbreviated as TM) is the technique associated with the practice of Transcendental Meditation developed by the Indian spiritual figure Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The practice involves the use of a private mantra, and is practised for 20 minutes twice per day while sitting comfortably with one's eyes closed.[1][2] TM instruction encourages students not to be alarmed by random thoughts which may arise, but to easily return to the mantra when one becomes aware of this.[3]

Advocates of TM claim that the technique promotes a state of relaxed awareness, stress-relief, creativity, and efficiency, as well as physiological benefits such as reducing the risk of

TM-Sidhi program
.

The methodological quality of scientific research on the therapeutic benefits of meditation in general is poor, because of the varying theoretical approaches and frequent

Cochrane review of four trials found that it was impossible to draw any conclusions about whether TM is effective in preventing cardiovascular disease, as the scientific literature on TM was limited and at "serious risk of bias".[8] However, a 2015 systematic review and meta-analysis of 12 studies found that TM may effectively reduce blood pressure compared to control groups.[9]

Practice

The technique is recommended for 20 minutes twice per day.[10] According to the Maharishi, "bubbles of thought are produced in a stream one after the other", and the Transcendental Meditation technique consists of experiencing a "proper thought" in its more subtle states "until its subtlest state is experienced and transcended".[11][12]: pp 46–52  Because it is mantra based, the technique "ostensibly meets the working definition of a concentration practice"; however, the TM organisation says that "focused attention" is not prescribed, and that the "aim is a unified and open attentional stance".[13] Other authors describe the technique as an easy, natural technique or process,[14][15]: 340–341 [16] and a "wakeful hypometabolic physiologic state".[17] Practice of the technique includes a process called "unstressing" which combines "effortless relaxation with spontaneous imagery and emotion". TM teachers caution their students not to be alarmed by random thoughts and to "attend" to the mantra.[3] Scottish chess grandmaster Jonathan Rowson has said that his TM practice gives "a feeling of serenity, energy and balance", but does not provide "any powerful insight into your own mind". Laura Tenant, a reporter for The Independent, said that her TM experience includes going "to a place which was neither wakefulness, sleeping or dreaming", and becoming "detached from my physical self".[18] Worldwide, four to six million people over the decade 2003 to 2013 have been reported to be practitioners.[19]

Mantra

The TM technique consists of silently repeating a mantra with "gentle effortlessness" while sitting comfortably with eyes closed and without assuming any special yoga position.[15][20] The mantra is said to be a vehicle that allows the individual's attention to travel naturally to a less active, quieter style of mental functioning.[21]: pp 16–20 [22][23] TM meditators are instructed to keep their mantra secret[15] to ensure maximum results, to avoid confusion in the mind of the meditators,[11] and as a "protection against inaccurate teaching".[24][25]

Selection

The Maharishi is reported to have standardised and "mechanized" the mantra selection process by using a specific set of mantras and making the selection process "foolproof".

George D. Chryssides writes that according to the Maharishi, "using just any mantra can be dangerous"; the mantras for "householders" and for recluses differ. According to Chryssides, many mantras – such as "Om" – commonly found in books are mantras for recluses and "can cause a person to withdraw from life".[31][32][33]

Former TM teacher and author Lola Williamson reports that she told her TM students that their mantra was chosen for them based on their personal interview,[34] while sociologist Roy Wallis and religious scholar J. Gordon Melton write that the mantras are assigned by age and gender.[35][36][37][38][39][40] In 1984, 16 mantras[35][41][42] were published in Omni magazine based on information from "disaffected TM teachers".[43][44] According to Chryssides, TM teachers say that the promised results are dependent on a trained Transcendental Meditation teacher choosing the mantra for their student.[31]

Meaning and sound value

In his 1963 book The Science of Being and Art of Living, the Maharishi writes that words create waves of vibrations, and the quality of vibration of a mantra should correspond to the vibrational quality of the individual. Likewise, religious studies scholar

euphonics" of mantras are important.[26] Sociologist Stephen J. Hunt and others say that the mantra used in the Transcendental Meditation technique "has no meaning", but that "the sound itself" is sacred.[23][42] In Kerala, India, in 1955, the Maharishi spoke of mantras in terms of personal deities, and according to religious studies scholar Cynthia Ann Humes, similar references can be found in his later works.[45]: p 63 [46]

According to authors Peter Russell and

Maharishi University of Management writes in a 2009 article published in the International Journal of Psychophysiology that "unlike most mantra meditations, any possible meaning of the mantra is not part of Transcendental Meditation practice".[54]

Courses

The Transcendental Meditation technique is taught in a standardised seven-step course over six days by a certified TM teacher.[55]: 148–149 [15][47]: p 134 [56][57][58] Except for a requirement to refrain from using non-prescription drugs for 15 days before learning TM,[11][59] all who want to learn are taught provided they can pay the course fee which as of 2023, ranges from $420 for students to $980 for members of households with incomes of $200,000 or more.[60] The technique is taught via private and group instruction by a TM teacher trained to instruct students and provide follow up.[21] Instruction is given on separate days, beginning with a one-hour "introductory lecture" intended to prepare the student for subsequent steps.[15] The lecture discusses mind potential, social relationships, health, and "promoting inner and outer peace". The second step is a 45-minute "preparatory lecture", whose topic is the theory of the practice, its origins and its relationship to other types of meditation.[15][57][61] This is followed by the third step: a private, ten-minute, personal interview, allowing the TM teacher to get acquainted with the student and answer questions.[21][57][62]

According to the TM web site, the personal instruction session takes 1–2 hours,[61] and students are required to bring a clean handkerchief, some flowers and fruit, and their course fee.[35] The initiation begins with a short puja ceremony performed by the teacher. The stated purpose of the ceremony is to show honour and gratitude to the lineage of TM "masters",[35][63] or "Holy Tradition"[64] that is listed in the Maharishi's translation and commentary of the Bhagavad-Gita.[65] It is regarded as putting students in the right frame of mind to receive the mantra.[34] The ceremony is conducted in a private room with a "little" white altar containing incense, camphor, rice, flowers and a picture of Maharishi's teacher, Guru Dev.[34][66] The initiate observes passively as the teacher recites a text in Sanskrit.[64] After the ceremony, the "meditators" are "invited to bow", receive their mantra and begin to meditate.[30][34][66][67]

On the day after the personal instruction session, the student begins a series of three 90-to-120-minute "teaching sessions", held on three consecutive days, called "three days of checking".[55][21] Their stated purpose is to "verify the correctness of the practice" and to receive further instruction.[61] The first day's checking meeting takes place in a group on the day following personal instruction, and gives information about correct practice based on each student's own experience.[57] The second day of checking uses the same group format, and gives more details of the mechanics of the practice and potential results of the practice, based on student experiences.[57] The third day of checking focuses on subjective growth and the potential development of higher stages of human consciousness, and outlines the follow-up programs available as part of the course.[68][55][69][70] New meditators later return for private follow-up sessions to confirm that they are practising the technique properly, a process called "personal checking".[11] The preferred schedule for follow-up classes is 30 minutes, once per week for one month, and once per month thereafter. The purpose of the follow-up, or "checking sessions", is to verify the practice, give an opportunity for one-on-one contact with a TM teacher, and to address any problems or questions.[21][62] Course graduates may access a lifetime follow-up program which includes consultations, "refresher courses", advanced lectures and group meditations.[71][72] Advanced courses include weekend Residence Courses and the TM-Sidhi program.

According to the TM organisation, TM course fees cover "initial training and the lifetime follow-up" program, while helping to "build and maintain TM centers" and schools in India and around the world.

501(c)(3) non-profit, educational organisation.[21]: p 9 [61] The fees may "vary from country to country", depending on the cost of living,[21]
: pp 9, 216  and have changed periodically during the 50-year period that the course has been taught.

The Maharishi has drawn criticism from yogis and "stricter Hindus" who have accused him of selling "commercial mantras".[74] At the same time, the Maharishi's "promises of better health, stress relief and spiritual enlightenment" have drawn "devotees from all over the world", despite the fees.[75][76][77] According to The Complete Idiot's Guide to World Religions, by Brandon Toropov and Father Luke Buckles, insistence on fees for TM instruction has caused critics to question the Maharishi's motives; however, "the movement is not, to all appearances, an exploitive one".[78]

TM-Sidhi program

The TM-Sidhi program is a form of meditation introduced by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1975. It is based on, and described as a natural extension of the Transcendental Meditation technique.[79][80] The goal of the TM-Sidhi program is to accelerate personal growth and improve mind–body coordination[81] by training the mind to think from what the Maharishi has described as a fourth major state of consciousness[82] called Transcendental Consciousness.[83]

Yogic Flying, a mental-physical exercise of hopping while cross-legged,[84][85] is a central aspect of the TM-Sidhi program. With the introduction of the TM-Sidhi program in 1976, it was postulated that a group of people practising the TM-Sidhi program twice a day, together in one place, would increase "life-supporting trends" in the surroundings, with the threshold for the group size being the square root of 1% of the area's population. This was called the "Extended Maharishi Effect", referring to the "Maharishi effect" with a threshold of 1% of the population.[86][87] These effects have been examined in 14 published studies, including a gathering of over 4,000 people in Washington DC in the summer of 1993.[86][88] While empirical studies have been published in peer-reviewed academic journals[89] this research remains controversial and has been characterised as pseudoscience by sceptics James Randi, Carl Sagan, and others.[90][91]

Teachers

The Maharishi began training TM teachers in the early 1960s,

The first teacher training course was held in India with 30 participants in 1967 and 200 participants in 1970.[101] A four-month teacher training course was also held in the United States that year. The first part was four weeks long and was offered in both Poland, Maine and Humboldt, California with the final three months being held in Estes Park, Colorado. About 300 people completed the training.[102] In 1973, the TM teacher training course consisted of three months in-residence.[103] A 2007 TM web page and 2009 book, report that the TM teacher training course in more modern times consists of six months in-residence,[14] and includes courses in Maharishi Vedic Science, extended meditation practice and becoming the "custodian" for an "ancient Vedic tradition". Additionally, TM teachers are trained to speak on the Transcendental Meditation program, teach it to others, provide "personal checking" of their students' meditation, create lectures on related topics, organise and lead advanced TM courses and programs.[104] The Maharishi trained his teachers to "make logical presentations in language suitable to their audiences", and teachers lead their students through a sequence of predetermined steps.[102]

A 2007 research study reported that details of the training and knowledge imparted to teachers are kept private.

Vaishistha, to Shakti, to Shankaracharya the emancipator, hailed as Krishna, to the Lord I bow down and down again. At whose door the whole galaxy of gods pray for perfection day and night".[106]

Research

Scientists have been conducting research on meditation, including TM, since the late 1960s and hundreds of studies have been published.[21]: 14 [107][108] Transcendental Meditation has become one of the most widely researched meditation techniques.[109][110] TM research has played a role in the history of mind–body medicine[111][112] and encouraged neuroscience research focusing on the effects of meditation.[113]

Early studies examined the physiological parameters of meditation. Subsequent research included clinical applications, cognitive effects, mental health, medical costs, and rehabilitation. Beginning in the 1990s, research focused on cardiovascular disease.[114] Research reviews of the effects of the Transcendental Meditation technique have yielded results ranging from inconclusive[115][116][117][118] to clinically significant.[119][120][121][122][123] More research is needed to determine the therapeutic effects of meditation practices and sources vary regarding their assessment of the quality of research. Some cite design limitations and a lack of methodological rigour,[62][116][124] while others assert that the quality is improving and that when suitable assessment criteria are applied, scientific evidence supports the therapeutic value of meditation.[125][126][127] Reviewers Canter and Ernst assert that some studies have the potential for bias due to the connection of researchers to the TM organisation[128][129] while TM researchers point to their collaboration with independent researchers and universities as signs of objectivity.[130]

Institutional programs

In schools and universities

Maharishi Centre for Educational Excellence, Bhopal, India

Transcendental Meditation in education (also known as Consciousness-Based Education) is the application of the Transcendental Meditation technique in an educational setting or institution. These educational programs and institutions have been founded in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, India, Africa and Japan. The Transcendental Meditation technique became popular with students in the 1960s and by the early 1970s centers for the Students International Meditation Society were established at a thousand campuses

First Amendment.[132][133] This "dismantled" the TM program's use of government funding in US public schools[45]: pp 63–66  but "did not constitute a negative evaluation of the program itself".[134] Since 1979, schools that incorporate the Transcendental Meditation technique using private, non-governmental funding have been reported in the United States, South America, Southeast Asia, Northern Ireland, South Africa and Israel.[135][136][137]

A number of educational institutions have been founded by

Maharishi European Research University (Netherlands), Maharishi Institute of Management (India), Maharishi University of Management and Technology (India), Maharishi Institute (South Africa)[145][146] and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Vedic University (India). According to an article in Newsweek, "critics believe that TM is a repackaged form of Eastern religious philosophy" and opposed its use in public schools[147][148] while a member of the Pacific Justice Institute says practising Transcendental Meditation in public schools with private funding is constitutional.[149]

Corporate programs

Transcendental Meditation has been utilised in corporations, both in the United States and in India, under the auspices of the

Eveready, Maruti, Godrej Group and Marico.[151] The Sunday Times Herald reports that there are more than 100 Japanese companies where TM was introduced at induction.[152]

Social programs

The TM technique has been incorporated in US social programs for criminals, the homeless and war veterans. In 1979, it was offered to inmates at

Deuel Vocational Institute. According to a TM representative, meditation has been included at "over 25 prisons and correctional institutions" in the United States.[153]

In

Medellin, Colombia.[155]

In 1996, several judges of the 22nd Judicial Circuit of

St Louis, Missouri, began ordering convicted felons to attend a TM course as one of their conditions for parole.[156] The program was administered by the non-profit Enlightened Sentencing Project and received endorsements from federal judge Henry Autrey and other members of the Missouri district, federal, and supreme courts.[157]

In 2010, the

Doe Fund of New York City began offering the TM technique to its residents, and homeless men were given instruction in the TM technique through an organisation called Ready, Willing and Able.[158][159][160] In 2010, the Superintendent of Prisons announced that the TM technique was being offered to inmates at the Dominica State Prison.[161] In 2011, the technique was taught to about 65 individuals at the Children of the Night shelter for teen prostitutes in Los Angeles.[162][163] Psychiatry professor Norman E. Rosenthal says that TM is compatible with "most drug treatment approaches" and could be incorporated into an overall treatment program.[21]
: p 171 

Military

TM was first employed by the military in 1985, when the US Armed Forces conducted "a small pilot study" on Vietnam veterans.

post traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) as part of two research studies conducted at the University of Colorado and Georgetown University in 2010.[165][166] In 2012, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced that it was "studying the use of transcendental meditation to help returning veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars"[167] and the Department of Defense funded a $2.4 million grant to Maharishi University of Management Research Institute and the San Diego Veterans Administration Medical Center to further investigate the potential effect of the TM technique on PTSD.[164] Other initiatives to teach the TM technique to war veterans at risk for PTSD, were underway as of 2010.[168][169] The technique has been taught to students at Norwich University, a private military academy, as "part of a long-term study" on meditation and military performance.[170][171]

Characterizations And Criticism

Characterizations of the TM technique vary amongst scholars, clergy, practitioners and governments. According to the Maharishi his technique requires no preparation, is simple to do, and can be learned by anyone.[12] The technique is described as effortless[172][unreliable source?] and without contemplation or concentration[47]: pp 40–42  Author Peter Russell says trying to control the mind is like trying to go to sleep at night, it won't work.[47] He says instead, the TM technique utilises the tendency of the mind to move towards greater satisfaction.[23][53][54][173] According to TM advocates, the technique is "purely a mechanical, physiological process", the "two-minute ceremony" invokes no deities, the mantras are "sounds without meaning" and the technique "pre-dates Hinduism by 5,000 years".[149] Anthony Campbell, author of the book Seven States of Consciousness, writes that TM requires no "special circumstances or preparations" and does "not depend upon belief".[174][175] A 2011 article in Details characterises the TM technique as a "Hindu meditation practice ["stripped"] of its religious baggage" offered "as a systematic, stress-reducing, creativity-building technique".[176] Martin Gardner, a mathematician, has referred to TM as "the Hindu cult".[177] According to author R.S. Bajpai, the Maharishi "secularized the TM [sic] by purging it of all the religious rites and rituals and spiritual mysticism".[178]

By religious leaders

Some religious leaders and clergy find TM to be compatible with their religious teachings and beliefs, while others do not.

Raphael Levine, the emeritus rabbi of Temple De Hirsh Sinai;[190] Placide Gaboury, a Jesuit priest who teaches at the University of Sudbury;[191]: pp 182–185  Kevin Joyce, a Catholic priest;[192] and Keith Wollard, a United Church minister.[193]

By laypersons

Lay celebrities who have practised the technique include David Lynch, who was raised a Presbyterian, and Clint Eastwood who says he found "there were no religious aspects",[26][194] comedian Andy Kaufman, political commentator and Roman Catholic Andrew Sullivan,[195][196] Jerry Seinfeld, who has been practising the technique for 40 years,[197] and Pulitzer Prize winning music critic Tim Page.[198] Once asked if TM could substitute for religion, musician George Harrison replied that "It's not a substitute for religion. It is a religion."[199] According to John Lennon, "You can make it with meditation if you're a Christian, a Mohammedan or a Jew. You just add meditation to whatever religion you've got."[200]

By scholars

The technique has been variously described by sociologists and religious scholars as religious and non-religious.[201] Its adherents says it is a non-religious, "scientific strategy", yet it appears to have "spiritual elements" such as the puja ceremony performed during the TM instruction.[23] Religious studies scholar Eugene V. Gallagher writes that, "practitioners describe TM as a science rather than a religious discipline", but its "principles were clearly derived from Hindu practice".[202]

In the book Cults and New Religious Movements, author Roy Wallis characterises TM as a "world affirming new religion" that "lacks most of the features traditionally associated with religion".[203] Liebler and Moss write that "unlike some forms of meditation, the TM technique does not require adherence to any belief system".[204] Religious studies scholars Michael Phelan, James R. Lewis and Tamar Gablinger say that TM participants "may meditate for relaxation, but otherwise have no contact with TM", and that TM "attracts a large number of people with low levels of commitment around a much smaller group of highly committed followers."[22]

Anthony F.C. Wallace ... whose goal is to create a better culture."[22] Charles H. Lippy writes that earlier spiritual interest in the technique faded in the 1970s, and "it became a practical technique ... that anyone could employ without abandoning their religious identification."[206]

On the other hand, Bainbridge finds TM to be a "... highly simplified form of Hinduism, adapted for Westerners who did not possess the cultural background to accept the full panoply of Hindu beliefs, symbols, and practices",[35][207] and describes the TM puja ceremony as "... in essence, a religious initiation ceremony".[35] Metropolitan Maximos of Pittsburgh of the Greek Orthodox Church describes TM as "a new version of Hindu Yoga" based on "pagan pseudo-worship and deification of a common mortal, Guru Dev".[208]

In the book Cults and new religions, Cowan and Bromley write that TM is presented to the public as a meditation practice that has been validated by science, but is not a religious practice nor is it affiliated with a religious tradition. They say that "although there are some dedicated followers of TM who devote most or all of their time to furthering the practice of Transcendental Meditation in late modern society, the vast majority of those who practice do so on their own, often as part of what has been loosely described as the New Age Movement."[209] They say that most scholars view TM as having elements of both therapy and religion, but that it "has no designated scripture, no set of doctrinal requirements, no ongoing worship activity, and no discernible community of believers." They also say that Maharishi did not claim to have special divine revelation or supernatural personal qualities.[210][211]

Transcendence: Healing and Transformation Through Transcendental Meditation, wrote that "Maharishi extracted the TM technique from its religious context and distilled it to its essence, which he believed could be of value to people of all creeds."[21]
: p 4 

Government

In 1968, the Maharishi conducted a one-hour meeting with

West Point military academy. The TM technique was also taught at five U.S. federal prisons, and three in Germany and Canada. During this period, ten U.S. senators and more than 100 Congressional staff members learned the technique.[26] In 1972, the Maharishi met with the Governor of Illinois (Daniel Walker) and received a standing ovation when he addressed the Illinois state legislature before they passed a resolution characterising Maharishi's Science of Creative Intelligence as useful for Illinois public schools.[214][215] In 1974, TM was cited in two Congressional records regarding the SCI course being offered at 30 American universities and the technique being "in use" in some American prisons, mental institutions and drug rehabilitation centers.[191]

In 1975, the Maharishi met with

post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and commenced research on the technique (and two other meditation systems) in 2012.[227][228] According to Patrick Gresham Williams, "the government will pay" for any U.S. veteran to learn TM if it is prescribed by a Veterans Administration medical doctor.[229]

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  82. . Yogic Flying is a phenomena [sic] created by a specific thought projected from Transcendental Consciousness, the Unified Field of Natural Law, the field of all possibilities. This is the simplest state of human consciousness, self-referral consciousness, which is easily accessible to anyone through Transcendental Meditation, and is enlivened through the TM Sidhi Programme, which leads to Yogic Flying.
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  108. . Transcendental Meditation (TM), a concentrative technique ... has been the most extensively studied meditation technique.
  109. . Transcendental meditation (TM) is the most evaluated meditation technique in use today.
  110. . This chapter explores three contrapuntal and distinct moments in this process, the historical emergence of three variants employing the basic 'Eastward journeys' template in mind-body medicine: the medicalization of meditation, especially transcendental meditation, in the 1970s....
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    S2CID 30878081
    . The small number of studies included in this review do not permit any conclusions to be drawn on the effectiveness of meditation therapy for anxiety disorders. Transcendental meditation is comparable with other kinds of relaxation therapies in reducing anxiety
  116. . There is at present insufficient good-quality evidence to conclude whether or not TM has a cumulative positive effect on blood pressure.
  117. . The claim that TM has a specific and cumulative effect on cognitive function is not supported by the evidence from randomized controlled trials.
  118. ^ John Vogel, Rebecca Costello, and Mitchell Krucoff, Chapter 47 in Braunwald's Heart Disease: A Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine, Peter Libbie, et al., eds, Saunders Elsevier, 2007, p. 1157. Quotation: "TM has been shown not only to improve blood pressure but also the insulin resistance components of the metabolic syndrome and cardiac autonomic nervous system tone."
  119. ^ Italo Biaggioni, ed. (November 2011). Primer on the Autonomic Nervous System. Geoffrey Burnstock, Phillip A. Low, Julian F.R. Paton (3rd ed.). Academic Press. pp. 297–298. A meta-analysis of these studies indicates that TM significantly decreased low and high risk participants' systolic and diastolic blood pressures. . . . In addition, psychological distress and coping abilities were significantly improved compared to control TM groups in both low and high risk groups.
  120. PMID 22582738
    . Comparatively strong effects for TM (compared to the two other approaches) were found in reducing negative emotions, trait anxiety, and neuroticism, and being helpful in learning and memory and in self-realization (see also Table 3). This finding is consistent with prior meta-analyses that found superior effects of TM in trait anxiety and measures of self-realization.
  121. .
  122. . A 2008 meta-analysis of nine studies found a 4.7 mmHg systolic blood pressure and 3.2 mmHg diastolic blood pressure decrease in those who practiced TM compared to control groups that included health education. These decreases were judged to be clinically significant.
  123. PMID 20556767. As a result of the limited number of included studies, the small sample sizes and the high risk of bias{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )
  124. . . . . notwithstanding the not so positive conclusion of Ospina et al., the claim of therapeutic benefits of meditation is backed up by growing empirical evidence.
  125. . (referring to studies included in their review) "The general quality of these RCTs were acceptable as per CLEAR-NPT: sixteen (40%) studies had a quality score of 0.8 or better, indicating a good quality in research design (p. 5) . . . . the majority of existing reviews have applied evaluation criteria based on pharmaceutical RCT's that tended to underestimate the actual quality of these studies, since many of the traditional criteria for quality assessment may not apply to the study of meditative therapies (p. 3) . . . . the overall quality of meditation studies have increased continuously in the past 10 years. Our analysis of study quality over time indicates that studies published prior to 2000 had a relatively lower quality score (CLEAR=.66), studies published in 2000-2005 had a slightly higher score (CLEAR=.69), whereas studies published after 2006 has a mean quality score of .75 (p. 13)
  126. . It is now clear that meditation, either alone or in combination with other therapies, can be beneficial for both normal and multiple clinical populations. (Cites Anderson, Liu, & Kryscio, 2008, among others.)
  127. . All the randomized clinical trials of TM for the control of blood pressure published to date have important methodological weaknesses and are potentially biased by the affiliation of authors to the TM organization.
  128. . All 4 positive trials recruited subjects from among people favourably predisposed towards TM, and used passive control procedures ... The association observed between positive outcome, subject selection procedure and control procedure suggests that the large positive effects reported in 4 trials result from an expectation effect. The claim that TM has a specific and cumulative effect on cognitive function is not supported by the evidence from randomized controlled trials.
  129. (PDF) from the original on 2013-05-09. The six RCTs were co-authored by 10 independent collaborators from Harvard University and the University of Maryland [7], West Oakland Health Center, University of Arkansas, and the Haight-Ashbury Free Clinic [8,12], University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics [9], and the Georgia Institute for Prevention of Human Disease and the Medical College of Georgia [10,11]. Blood pressure data were collected blind by personnel at independent institutions. The collaborators did not have any particular commitment to TM or the TM organization and none would gain financially from the research results. The studies were funded by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health [7], the National Institutes of Health, including the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute [8–12], the Retirement Research Foundation [8], and the American Heart Association [10,11]. Grant proposals from these agencies are subject to stringent peer review under highly competitive conditions, and only those proposals with the best research designs conducted under the most objective conditions are funded.
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