What I’ve Learned From Several Years Of Daily Transcendental Meditation
The Hows and Whys of Bringing TM Into Your Life
I was nearly run off the road, and it was my fault. I flipped the guy the finger. I looked at him across the lanes of highway traffic, looked him right in the eye, and mouthed the words my finger was already saying. And it nearly got me killed.
Something had to change. I had to find a way to avoid my anger controlling my behavior and my life.
I was deep into writing the first draft of my book, A Skeleton Key To Twin Peaks. As part of my research, I read David Lynch’s book Catching The Big Fish, about creativity and Transcendental Meditation. Lynch has famously credited TM with saving his life and his career and as being the foundation from which his incredible creativity springs, and that sounded pretty great to me.
So I got on the TM.org website and requested to meet with my local instructor. That same week, I met Cary at a local library session open to anyone interested in learning about TM.
Cary is a kind soul who was so authentic in his enthusiasm for the value adopting TM could bring to my life and creativity. Practicing TM twice daily over these past five years has only strengthened my resolve for the compounding value of this mental technology in my life.
I felt this just from speaking with Cary once, and these past five years have only strengthened my resolve for the compounding value of this daily practice in my life.
As background, I have practiced Mindfulness Meditation on and off since the last century, but my results were inconsistent. After all, I still ended up screaming at strangers in traffic. So, if a new technique worked for me, the measure of effectiveness would be me not screaming at strangers in traffic, flipping them off, and getting into a 10-mile car chase between two needlessly angry men.
That initial investment to learn TM paid off better than I imagined.
Fast forward several years, and not only am I not screaming at strangers, my wife and children require me to meditate. The difference is so dramatic.
Kurt Vonnegut once said, “Nothing pisses them off,” when asked about his wife and daughter’s behavior after learning TM. “They are like bass drums with light bulbs inside.”
I can confirm that I still get angry. But now, I have a small space to let that emotion filter through and dissipate before (usually) it becomes behavior I need to apologize about to friends and strangers.
Given the state of the world, with its unprecedented level of stress and trauma, I want to share the notes and thoughts I’ve taken about TM over these past several years with you in hopes that if it can help, let it be done.
This information comes from many introductory lessons I’ve participated in, Bob Roth’s talks, conversations with Cary, my TM Instructor and friend.
Many of my notes were captured as questions. I questioned everything about TM as I was learning it; this is encouraged. After all, these are our minds, relationships, and behaviors that we take full ownership of and responsibility over. Because, when it comes to our mental health, nothing matters more than being scrutinous about the root causes of how we behave towards one another, and so we must proceed with care and caution.
We must be fully present, which is the entire goal of Meditation, regardless of the technique chosen to practice.
What follows is my best attempt to convey what the experience has been like learning the Transcendental Meditation technique and consistently practicing it every day.
If TM isn’t for you, I wish you the best on your journey!
Be well and do well.
What TM IS
TM is a silent technique practiced 20 minutes a day, twice a day, sitting in a chair with your eyes closed. Anyone can practice TM almost anywhere (not underwater, please).
TM is a very SIMPLE technique, not because it’s simplistic or a beginner’s Meditation, but because there is an elegant simplicity to the practice.
It’s NATURAL. There’s no manipulation, no suggestion. Every human being can practice TM as well as every other human being. The TM technique is easy to learn and enjoyable to practice.
It’s EFFORTLESS, in contrast to other meditation techniques, which demand the mind be clear of thoughts.
What TM IS NOT
TM is NOT:
A PHILOSOPHY. There is no TM philosophy of Life, and no change in lifestyle is required. You don’t alter your diet or how you live your life other than practicing this simple technique twice a day.
SOMETHING TO BELIEVE IN. It's an important point because sometimes people think, “Oh when I learn to meditate, I have to believe in it for it work.” You can be 100% skeptical, and TM works just as well; you’ll get all the benefits without believing a thing. Just like brushing your teeth every day prevents tooth decay, practicing TM every day prevents mind decay. There is no belief required whatsoever.
The Ocean Analogy
You’re on a small boat in the middle of the ocean, and suddenly, you get these 50-foot waves. And you think, “Oh my God, the whole ocean is in upheaval!”
Not really, because if you take a cross-section of the ocean, you’ll see that very active 40-foot section of waves at the top, but the ocean is a mile deep and below that crazy active surface is a stillness that never changes.
The nature of the ocean is to be active on the surface but silent and still at its depths.
This image of the ocean is a perfect metaphor for the human mind, an organ that is very active at its surface. All the thoughts we think, the feelings we feel, and the fear and joy surrounding that surface movement, that’s “Top Of Mind.”
This state of constant distraction and anxiety is the "GOTTA GOTTA GOTTA GOTTA" Mind. I gotta do that, make a list, call them, fix that, worry about this, plan for that. A significant amount of anxiety is produced because too many humans simultaneously operate on this surface level of mentality and behavior.1
How can we allow the mind to naturally descend to the level of stillness at its depth?
Let’s assume we can practice a technique that allows our mind to descend into stillness twice daily. What are the benefits of this?
What are the benefits as we move away from solely existing at the superficial level of our minds?
How do we safely and consistently allow our boat to sink and return to the surface daily?
Is TM a mental technology that, when applied daily in an effortless manner, will bring enormous benefits from that descent? Is this true?
We each have to find this out for ourselves. We can’t take someone else’s word for it because that inner emotional landscape is private for each of us.
If my meditation technique works for me and doesn’t work for you, then my method is not very helpful outside my own experience.
Is TM a universal practice that works for everyone and anyone?
If so, what are the benefits we’d expect from such a universal practice?
The Expected Benefits of TM
Let’s make a list of the benefits that we would expect from bringing Meditation as a practice into our lives.
Inner calm
Inner Peace
Inner clarity
Inner focus
Inner inspiration
Inner happiness
Feel better, more healthy. Energy!
Natural
Etc.
The operative word in this list is “Inner.” But where is this Inner? How do we get to Inner?
What Happens During TM?
Deep within each of us is a mind that is already calm, settled, and wide awake.
But many of us are stuck at the surface of our minds, and we can’t find a consistent, easy way to that clear and peaceful mind that is our birthright.
Transcendental Meditation is a simple, natural, effortless technique that allows the active, thinking mind to settle down, experience quieter levels of thought, and eventually, experience what can only be referred to as “The Source Of Thought.”
Some scientists call this the Unified Field of Consciousness, but all these descriptions are metaphors referring to the ending of thought, as far as the mind can reach, the edge, and no further. Symbols aren’t necessary after that point.
TM is a vehicle that can take our mental focus right to the edge and then dump us off that edge. What happens after that is the living experience of transcending.
There are no words to describe this accurately, so let us leave it in silence beyond the edge where it belongs.
When this experience of transcending takes place consistently, not every time, but sometimes, what happens to a mind that is constantly refreshed, rebooted, and redrafted on the regular?
In my own experience, I don’t transcend every time, but there are incredible benefits from my mind descending every day to whatever depth it can reach in the minutes I meditate.
Descending every day was enough to start shedding the traumas and stresses I’ve collected over the years.
First, I became aware of how other people were feeling around me.
Then, I started apologizing faster when I realized sooner that my behavior hurt them.
Then, I started considering my behaviors before they became insults. That was when I understood what true power is in this life.
Having true power in life means commanding one’s emotions and directing one’s behavior accordingly.
With TM, I tapped into a source of creativity, joy, and kindness that has so far contributed to years of finding pleasure in work and in the company of good friends and family.
How Do We Know That TM Works?
We know TM works because of the science.
Over the past several decades, scientists across domains of study have collectively understood that the human mind and body are the same organism. At the deepest levels of observation, the human mind and body are inseparable as an object of study.
So, if it’s true that during TM, your mind is just comfortably, calmly, and effortlessly settling down and then ultimately experiencing the source of thought, it must show up in the body as a profound series of reactions and metrics that we can observe, analyze, and understand over time.
Scientifically studying the effects of TM on thousands of human beings over decades of research has yielded results confirming that TM works consistently and effectively for nearly every practitioner of the technique.
Hundreds of studies have documented TM's powerful and positive effects on large populations since the technique was brought from India to the world in the 1950s. Results show that, during TM, the body gains a state of relaxation greater than the deepest part of deep sleep.
With proper daily meditation, our inner and outer lives become synchronized in a single motion, rocking back and forth like a Mother feeding her small baby in the still of a quiet night.
This deep rest allows anxiety, fear, tension, and anger to dissolve like sugar in warm water.
When our body-mind gets to a state of deep rest, we begin to repair both functions, healing ourselves at a fundamental level that dramatically affects how we feel physically inside our bodies and emotionally inside our hearts.
So what we culturally consider as two separate movements, the inner and the outer experiences of our life, is one movement.
With proper daily meditation, our hearts and minds naturally begin moving toward what is light, good, and kind. Our calm minds tend towards a natural state of peace, where human beings live in harmony with each other and the world around us all.
TM’s Effects On Stress & Pleasure Hormones
Cortisol is a hormone created by the adrenal gland, which sits on top of the kidneys. And when we’re anxious, the body secretes Cortisol. As anxiety grows, more Cortisol is produced, which creates a vicious cycle that has led us to a global human pandemic of stress (recently exacerbated by the viral pandemic, which so many of us didn't live through).
But it doesn’t have to be this way with the Cortisol downward spiral because daily TM is a release valve, simple, natural, and effortless.
Deep rest dramatically affects how we feel emotionally.
Serotonin is called the Happy Hormone, and Prolactin is a hormone associated with the feeling of well-being. These hormones significantly increase in the bodies of TM daily practitioners compared to those just getting deep sleep, which is a rarity.
Unfortunately, as a result, very few of us reach the levels of deep relaxation necessary for a healthy life and quality of our being. We need consistent help here. We need a tool. We need TM.
Additionally, with the regular twice-daily practice of TM, there is a significant reduction in high blood pressure, cholesterol, and in the risks of heart attacks and strokes, along with reductions in the severity of all kinds of mental disorders across the spectrum, like Bipolar Disorder.
This risk reduction happens because we see a series of alpha brain waves pulse from the back of the brain to the front. Alpha brain waves are responsible for what is called Restful Alertness, and that’s precisely the state of mind that practicing TM produces, a state of Restful Alertness.
Encouraging this biological function may just save my life one day. I feel like TM has already saved my life several times over from all the stress and anger I was finally able to let go.
TM’s Effect On The Brain
Every experience impacts our brain.
The Amygdala is the brain's Fear Center, and the Frontal Cortex is the executive function.
The Frontal Cortex governs decision-making, planning, judgment, problem-solving, sense of self, and ethical reasoning.
These two brain components compose our existence's analytical and intuitive functions. Everything of value produced by the brain depends on a proper functional connection between these brain areas.
During TM practice, these brain components have a greater working connection.
Stress disrupts the global functioning of these brain parts, preventing them from working synchronously in the waking moment.
Potent stress causes the Frontal Cortex to shut down and pass operations to the Amygdala (called Lizard Brain). This is the genesis of bad decisions and bad behavior.
During TM, the connections between all brain areas are strengthened and aligned into a cohesive biological motion, where neurons fire together with coordinated purpose and intent.
The neuroplasticity process describes how the connections between different brain areas last into daily life beyond the twice-daily TM meditation sessions.
You bring that calm from the depths of your ocean back to the surface you share with others, and the calm, cold, clean water settles the waves that once threatened to throw you overboard in your own vessel.
So these simple, natural, and effortless TM daily meditations are like your mind going to a clean well every day to get a drink of cool fresh mineral water.
The TM technique is a mental technology that flushes out negativity, anxiety, and all the stress we gather every minute that we aren't meditating.
Companies should subsidize employees and partners learning the TM technique. School children should be taught the TM technique in early studies.2
The effects on the brain check all the boxes on our list:
Inner Calm increases.
Focus increases.
Judgment increases.
Ethical reasoning is more sensitive, and we start to make better decisions with foundations in shared values of justice and trust.
Students' test scores go up while anxiety and self-perception problems decrease and often go away entirely.
Employees create more value from joy with less effort and drama.
Bringing TM into your daily life is a force multiplier, especially when you combine this habit with other healthier habits of exercising regularly and eating better, which are behaviors you will define best for yourself.
Again, TM has no philosophy about these things, but when I’ve met long-time meditators, they seem like naturally healthy and happy people, and I don’t think it’s magic. It’s the science of the TM practice applied to the well-being of each individual.
So, just like brushing our teeth every day has prevented a massive amount of tooth and gum diseases, practicing TM each day has positive implications for the entire organism of our body and mind, which extends to our local communities, our regions, our countries, and finally, our species behavior on this planet.
How To Learn The TM Technique
So how does TM work? How do we get from the excited, active thinking surface of the mind to the calm and still mind that exists inside every one of us right now?
We DON’T have to MUSCLE our mind. We DON’T have to BELIEVE in TM. We DON’T have to clear our minds of all thoughts.
Instead, we’re accessing a part of our mind that is already calm, there and waiting to be felt.
It’s a beautiful experience. It’s a blissful experience. It’s a satisfying experience.
On The Inner & Outer Strokes Of Our Lives
The mind naturally tends to be drawn towards the more satisfying experience; it’s how we’re hardwired, and TM leans into this.
In Transcendental Meditation, we learn to give our attention to the inward movement of our minds instead of just the outward movement. Focusing on the outward experience alone means we miss half of our lives. How sad to learn this and still do nothing about it.
We can take action every day by learning to go so deep inside ourselves that the separation between inner and outer finally dissolves, allowing us to let go as often as we are blessed to do.
As the mind settles down, so does the body, releasing stress in different forms. Over time, this consistent release of stress rejuvenates the body and powers the mind into a positive feedback loop, which is the opposite of the Cortisol downward spiral.
On Mantra
We use a mantra to allow the mind to settle down naturally and effortlessly in TM. A MANTRA IS A WORD SOUND THAT HAS NO MEANING and is repeated silently during TM.
If the mantra had meaning, we’d get stuck on the surface as an intellectual exercise, shuffling our thoughts around, which is what so much of the religious experience has become in our modern world.
Experiencing transcendence means we must go beyond words, thoughts, and emotions. Our words must become transparent to transcendence; they must not root us to the ground if our goal is to fly.
While having no meaning, the mantra is also a sound known to be positive and life-supporting. It’s a good sound that allows the mind to settle down. These mantras have been used for thousands of years for this exact purpose, to enable the mind to very simply, naturally, and effortlessly settle down into a calm state.
On The TM Instructor
A certified TM Instructor will teach you the TM technique one-to-one.
I understand the hesitation this might cause, but the context around learning the technique is so important here. The TM Instructor will bring you a lifetime of context; they should be a friendly resource in your social network to sharpen your Meditation with practice over time.
You will have many questions. The TM Instructor may not have all the answers, but they are willing to listen to the question with you. They will meditate with you and help you reveal the answers to yourself. A good TM Instructor is like an angel on your shoulder.
You may even consider becoming a TM Instructor, so you can feel what it’s like to see other humans turn on their lovelights.
TM is not a mass meditation; one can't effectively learn it from a book or an online video.
So instead, the technique is instructed face to face over four consecutive days (Saturday - Tuesday) for about 90 minutes each, about six hours of instructional investment plus the daily meditations, which will continue when the initial instruction ends. Most of this occurs through the TM app today, except for the first day when you are presented with your sound mantra and taught how to use it properly.
Where Did TM Come From?
TM is not a religion but was established as a universal human practice thousands of years ago.
For a millennium, TM has been passed down in this one-to-one, teacher-to-student relationship, always in an oral tradition.
The most recent great meditation teacher was Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who taught thousands of teachers to teach over ten million TM Meditators over the past six decades.
Each meditator learned the TM technique from a teacher who worked with them and chose their mantras during those four consecutive days' brief orientation and instruction period.
You will not need to think about or involve yourself with Maharishi, David Lynch, or anyone else to benefit from your practice of Transcendental Meditation.
This point was vital for me as I am not interested in being part of any church or religious worship movement. That is NOT what TM is in my life, and it never will be.
How Is TM Different From Other Forms of Meditation?
For this, we go back to science to help us understand the different impacts of the other Meditation methods. There are three significant meditation types, each having value, each performing a separate function in the practitioner.
Focused Attention Meditation involves controlling your mind by clearing it of thoughts and concentrating on your breathing. This is like trying to forcefully stop the waves from moving.
Open Monitoring is emotionally disengaging and being aware of your environment, mind, and thoughts without judgment or action. This technique is like sitting in a boat, observing the rise and fall of the waves. One tries to float on the surface of their mind without intention, only monitoring what is happening.
Automatic Self-Transcending Transcendental Meditation does not involve concentration and is not an observational tool.
TM is a simple but precise technique that allows the active, thinking mind to experience deeper and quieter levels of thought and to transcend the opinion of experience by touching unbounded consciousness in the living moment.
Why TM Works For Everyone
Human Beings are wired for calm and peace. It’s pre-engineered in our minds that they gravitate toward stillness and rest.
TM is a technique that allows us to let nature take its course within our minds. The benefits we’ve discussed flow from this simple, natural, and effortless experience. TM grants meditators calm, silent minds that are always refreshing the experience of being alive.
Since learning the TM technique:
I have created, communicated, and enforced boundaries to protect myself from toxic people.
I have repaired relationships with friends and family members.
I am kinder to strangers I meet.
I remain consistently inspired to create.
I choose to eat healthier (mostly).
I choose to exercise my mind and body in a way that makes me feel better without strain.
Practicing Transcendental Meditation daily has been a blessing for me in this time of great sorrow, anxiety, and rage. I hope it can be one for you as well.
TM Resources
Learn more and schedule a conversation with a TM instructor at www.tm.org.
Strength In Stillness: The Power of Transcendental Meditation by Bob Roth (2018 NY Times bestseller)
One unbounded ocean of consciousness: Simple answers to the big questions in life by Tony Nader (2021, Aguilar)
Transcendence: Healing and Transformation through Transcendental Meditation by Norman Rosenthal (2011 NY Times bestseller)
Science of Being and Art of Living by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (In print since its 1963 publication)
Super Mind: How to Boost Performance and Live a Richer and Happier Life Through Transcendental Meditation by Norman Rosenthal
The Supreme Awakening: Experiences of Enlightenment Throughout Time — And How You Can Cultivate Them by Craig Pearson
Philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti would often call out that every religious institution, every book written, and every political system of government was all produced by this “Top Of Mind” limited human mentality. As a species, we have been very limited and handicapped in our collective response to the truth of the living moment. I’ll write more about this subject under the topic of Relationship.
“Quiet Time” should be dedicated twice daily in schools for TM or silent prayer or doing homework without talking. The David Lynch Foundation already provides this resource in both critical areas of our lives.
Great article, very useful technique