What is Transcendental Meditation

[Bhusunda]

Posted by Carmody (here)
I have a personal dislike for any attempts to integrate the egoic mind function into meditation, which any mantras will automatically do. to me, this is a direct defeating of the purpose.

Maybe that is just me.

When I did it, I just simply shut the entire mind/ego OFF, right down to the deepest murmurings of the brain stem, and blocked the door OPEN.

Of course..that may be difficult to do, in the 'right-off the get-go' sense of beginning.

But I find it counter productive to integrate mind into meditations.

I always found the mind way the most easy of them all, just because it is on the sound level, inner sound. I never regarded this as thinking actually. You give your mind something to put his attention on, a mantra which is nothing than a sound, and by letting this sound sink inside you, not putting any kind of pressure at all on it!, just watching!, you gradually sink down and experience finer and finer states of thoughts and awareness. The Mantra is like a boat. You end up watching yourself meditating, watching all the other thoughts you have and you recognize them as what they are, an automatic process and nothing to really identify with. At the goal, you can step out and enjoy the silence, or best of all, get out again and act to incorporate it in your daily life.
At least that is my experience to this day.
I tried also Zazen and Vipassana but always found them to be more on the surface. I have high respect to Vipassana though, it taught me to pay more attention to my body and stay in the present.

Addendum:
Mind in itself is not egoic, its always there. The problem arises when you identify with it. And of course, if you are so inclined, you can turn any meditation into an ego-power trip.

[MariaDine]

The official Maharishi Channel on YouTube. (text taken from his site)

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is widely regarded as the foremost scientist in the field of consciousness, and considered to be one of the greatest teachers in the world. Maharishi has completely restored the thousands of years-old scattered Vedic Literature for the total significance of its theory and practice, and has organized it in the form of a complete science of consciousness.

During the past 50 years, more than six million people, from every profession, age, educational background, and religion have learned how to meditate with the Transcendental Meditation technique and are rising to enlightenment through their twice-daily practice.

Maharishi has been interviewed countless times over the years with each lecture bringing a new angle of understanding to his Vedic Science and its application to daily life. Maharishi is one of the most videotaped personalities in history.

There are more than 30,000 hours of video and audio tape recordings of lectures made by Maharishi over the past 50 years. We will be adding new videos as regularly as possible.

All the graphic and written material, video and youtube displays on this site are copyrighted and proprietary material licensed to the Maharishi Channel and are not to be duplicated, reproduced, or otherwise displayed.


https://youtube.com/user/maharish...?blend=24&ob=5

Namasté

[fosselovelight]

Thank you for this thread MariaDine. I really needed to read this today !

Posted by MariaDine (here)
What is the Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique? It is a simple, natural, effortless
procedure practiced 20 minutes twice each day while sitting comfortably with the eyes closed.
It’s not a religion, philosophy, or lifestyle. It’s the most widely practiced, most researched,and most effective method of self-development.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Dm5h1Z88lWQ

What happens when you meditate?

The Transcendental Meditation technique allows your mind to settle inward beyond thought to experience the source of thought — pure awareness, also known as transcendental consciousness, or the unified field.

This is the most silent and peaceful level of consciousness — your innermost Self. In this state of restful alertness, your brain functions with significantly greater coherence and your body gains deep rest.

How many people practice the TM technique?
More than five million people worldwide have learned this simple, natural technique — people of all ages, cultures, and religions — making it one of the most popular of all meditation techniques.

How much scientific research has been done on the TM technique?

The TM technique is the most widely researched of all meditation techniques. Over 600 research studies have been conducted at more than 250 universities and research centers (including Harvard, UCLA, and Stanford). These studies have been published in more than 100 journals.

Where did the TM technique come from?

The Transcendental Meditation technique is based on the ancient Vedic tradition of enlightenment in India.

This knowledge has been handed down by Vedic masters from generation to generation for thousands of years.

About 50 years ago, Maharishi — the representative in our age of the Vedic tradition — introduced Transcendental Meditation to the world, restoring the knowledge and experience of higher states of consciousness at this critical time for humanity.

When we teach the Transcendental Meditation technique today, we maintain the same procedures used by teachers thousands of years ago for maximum effectiveness.

How is the TM technique different from other meditation techniques?
There are many forms of meditation, with many goals. Other practices most often involve some concentration or control of the mind and others involve contemplation—thinking about something.

These practices keep the mind engaged in some way, for example, by focusing on an object or on something like your breath. Others keep us aware of thoughts, or images. These practices keep the mind active in some way on the surface thinking level.

TM allows the mind to simply, naturally and effortlessly transcend thinking and to experience a deep state of restfully alert consciousness. The holistic benefits that have been found to result from the practice of the TM technique are the automatic result of this unique

MORE ON THE SITE
http://www.tm.org/