Oprah Winfrey practicing TM
Oprah's Next Chapter
Oprah in a small town in Iowa practicing Transcendental Meditation
Oprah's next chapter debuts January 1st 2012 at 9/8c exclusively on Own
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Read about: • The Beatles Discover Meditation • George’s Transcendental Side • The Beatles’ Meditation Connection Lives On• Spiritual Town In A Material World
George Harrison and Maharishi
Martin Scorsese’s stunning documentary, “George Harrison: Living in the Material World,” aired on HBO Oct. 5-6. Among the locations selected for preview, Scorsese and Olivia Harrison chose a small Iowa town whose theatre audience was comprised of 500 meditators. Why?
The exclusive screening — held Sunday evening in Fairfield, Iowa — was a gift supporting the David Lynch Foundation’s initiatives to teach Transcendental Meditation to veterans, inner-city school kids, homeless people, prisoners, Native Americans and other at-risk populations.
“Although Harrison was a spiritual eclectic, ever exploring various disciplines and traditions, one element that remained consistent for him over the years was the meditation technique he learned from Maharishi — which he practiced throughout his life. “
Read the complete article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeanne-ball/george-harrison-meditation_b_991876.html
More than 3,000 Buddhist monks in 100 monasteries throughout Southeast Asia have learned the Transcendental Meditation technique, as a result of the work by a revered Japanese Buddhist monk, Reverend Koji Oshima, who is a longtime TM practitioner and certified TM teacher. According to Rev. Oshima, the Buddhist monks appreciate the
simplicity, effortlessness, and profound experience of transcendence, which is gained almost immediately after starting the TM practice. Rev. Oshima adds that transcendence provides the natural basis for the monk’s subsequent prayers and practices.
Eleven-year-old Lawrence Eyre loved tennis from the first moment he set foot on court. He learned to play in the public parks of Moline, Illinois, and in high school he became the Quad-Cities singles and doubles champion. At Yale University he varsity lettered his freshman year, and then put competitive tennis on the back burner to pursue singing. His decision was rewarded when he was selected for the Whiffenpoofs, the world-famous a cappella group that just celebrated its 100th anniversary.
Mr. Eyre taught tennis throughout his B.A. and M.A. programs at Yale University—and then never stopped. Now 63, he has taught tennis to 15,000 young people at camps, schools, YMCAs, and summer park programs throughout the country. Lawrence is a founding faculty member of Maharishi School in Fairfield, Iowa, and in addition to teaching World History, American Government, and Science of Creative Intelligence, he has taught and coached tennis since 1988.
In 2009, the United States Professional Tennis Association (USPTA), the oldest credentialing body for teaching professionals and coaches in the world, named Mr. Eyre “National High School Coach of the Year.”
Lawrence speaks enthusiastically about how the Transcendental Meditation program helped him earn national recognition as one of the nation’s top high school tennis coaches.
What do you like about teaching tennis?
I love sharing tennis with young people. I enjoy helping them extend themselves to develop new skills and remain enthusiastic in the process. Many students get scared or frustrated when learning new skills. They literally put their bodies on the line when taking tennis lessons, and if they feel failure, it’s immediate and concrete. It’s exhilarating to be able to help them get through the challenges and enrich their enjoyment of the game.
How does practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique help you as a tennis teacher?
It’s easy for a tennis teacher to get caught up in correcting symptoms instead of causes, such as not being able to serve or hit overheads smoothly. After I learned TM, my perception was clearer and I could see to the root of my students’ problems. I was more patient and able to find solutions, because everyone learns differently.
What motivated you to learn the TM technique?
Having worked incredibly hard at Yale, it was clear to me that success often came with the sacrifice of serenity. I saw it around me–Type A personality burnout and people bulling their way through life in college and in the professional world. I observed community and government leaders and saw the strain they were under in their professional and family lives. I wanted to stay balanced and still accomplish as much as possible. TM has definitely provided the means to stay peaceful amidst the hurly-burly of daily life.
All the members of the Maharishi School tennis team practice TM. How does meditation help their game?
High school students are generally not famous for composure, but our meditating players are able to remain composed during competitive play. Because they have stable physiologies, our players are even-keeled and much less volatile than most teenage athletes. Stable emotions make a huge difference in quality of play. Coaches are always trying to get players to perform at their peak. Peak experience is the basis of peak performance. TM helps our athletes play in the ‘zone’ because it helps them live there.
Do the Maharishi School tennis players have pre-game jitters?
Sure. With our team, it’s fair to say that butterflies in the stomach never disappear entirely, but with TM they fly in formation.
Fly in formation? What does that mean?
The adrenaline energy that’s an inevitable part of competition isn’t debilitating when the nervous system has less stress. Adrenaline is there, but in measured amounts that are not overwhelming, so players can remain focused and not lose balance.
In what specific ways does TM benefit the physiology of your players?
They have faster reaction times and quicker feet. After playing long points, our guys recover more quickly from exertion. Compared with their peers, our players also lose far less energy fretting and fuming over lost points or games. TM practice helps them remain unfazed by unforced errors and move on to the next point without getting upset or distracted. Seventy-five percent of a tennis match is time between points, so whoever recovers better and can return to a steady state is going to do better.
Has the Maharishi School team done well?
Our team has won 16 state championships in Iowa 1-A singles, doubles, and team tennis in our 24 seasons. We’ve reached the state team championship match 11 times, despite having the smallest school in the state with a tennis program. The national honor I received from the USPTA stems from the Maharishi School tennis teams’ continuing success.
How has coaching at Maharishi School been a rewarding experience for you?
This is my 25th season coaching tennis here, and I am always proud when other Iowa coaches comment on our team’s cordial sportsmanship. It’s not a matter of my repeatedly reminding our players to be good sports. Our guys have a direct perception of their opponents, not as enemies, but as challengers who help them improve. They know that whatever happens on court happens for growth. It’s not just about their side of the court–they see the bigger picture. That’s for real; it’s not merely philosophical.
Do you have any closing remarks about your years of playing and teaching tennis?
I’m grateful for the game of tennis, because it has served as an avenue for growth and fulfillment for me and for all my students over the years. To be honest, the kids who practice Transcendental Meditation stand out among the thousands of young tennis players I’ve taught–they’re clear, receptive to learning, and able to utilize what I teach more readily than players who don’t have this resource.
The kids at Maharishi School are not only fine tennis players, but because they are more rested and less stressed, they bring happiness and zest to all areas of their lives, whether it’s tennis or academics, artistic pursuits or relationships. It’s been a great pleasure to work with these integrated, healthy young people throughout the years.
Lawrence Eyre is the author of High School Coaching Academy, a 2011 DVD series distributed by ChampionshipProductions.com.
Lawrence Eyre, Iowa Hall of Pride Interview: http://youtu.be/s_zPsn504s8
November 14, 2011
At Lake Louise in Canada, Maharishi spoke about the inner nature of life and how Transcendental Meditation allows any individual to unfold the limitless energy, creativity, and power that lies latent within every human being.
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The mind naturally moves in the direction of greater happiness—bliss
The principle of Transcendental Meditation is simple. Being is bliss in its nature; it is infinite happiness. Mind is always moving in the direction of greater happiness. It is the experience of everyone: wherever the mind goes, it goes in the direction of greater happiness. And because the nature of inner Being is bliss, infinite happiness, therefore the mind during Transcendental Meditation takes that inward course in a most spontaneous manner.
In this meditation we do not concentrate or control the mind. We let the mind follow its natural instinct towards greater happiness. And it goes within and gains Bliss Consciousness in Being.
The technique is: we take a specific thought which suits us, which is called a mantra or suitable sound for us, which we receive from the trained teacher of Transcendental Meditation. And these teachers are found everywhere in the world. I have trained them properly. And they give a suitable word, and the man experiences the thought of that sound and starts minimizing that thought to experience the finer state of that thought, until the source of thought is fathomed and the conscious mind reaches the transcendental area of Being.
In Transcendental Meditation the mind experiences subtler states of thought and spontaneously reaches Bliss Consciousness
So from gross thought to the subtle state of thought to the subtlest state of thought: this is the path of Transcendental Meditation, until the conscious mind reaches Bliss Consciousness, or Transcendental Consciousness, or Pure Consciousness, or the state of Being.
Here in the state of Being the mind becomes soaked in energy, intelligence, and extreme happiness. With it, it comes out and experiences the world much better than before.
Through practice the conscious level of the mind deepens, and the full potential of the mind begins to be lived
The depth of the lake and the ripples, and the beautiful reflection of the glacier, reminds me of the story of inner life.
The mind is deep like a lake. The ripples on the surface represent the conscious mind, the activity of the mind on the surface. And the whole depth of the lake is silent. And that is the subconscious mind, which is not used by the wave. But if the wave could deepen and incorporate more silent levels of the water, the waves could become the waves of the ocean, the mighty waves.
This is what happens in Transcendental Meditation. The surface activity of the conscious mind deepens and incorporates within its fold the depth of the subconscious. And with practice, nothing remains subconscious. The whole subconscious becomes conscious, and a man starts using full potential of the mind.
—Maharishi, Lake Louise, Canada, June 1968
© Copyright 2011 Global Good News®
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November 2, 2011
by Bob Roth on October 31, 2011 From ttp://www.tm.org/blog
More than 3,000 Buddhist monks in 100 monasteries throughout Southeast Asia have learned the Transcendental Meditation technique, as a result of the work by a reveredJapanese Buddhist monk, Reverend Koji Oshima, who is a longtime TM practitioner and certified TM teacher.
According to Rev. Oshima, the Buddhist monks appreciate the simplicity, effortlessness, and profound experience of transcendence, which is gained almost immediately after starting the TM practice. Rev. Oshima adds that transcendence provides the natural basis for the monk’s subsequent prayers and practices.
During Maharishi’s many tours of Asian countries, he often visited monasteries and spoke personally to many Buddhist leaders. One prominent monk in Sri Lanka, who is now the leader, or “Shan Kara,” of one the three streams of Buddhism in Sri Lanka, has been instrumental in encouraging monks throughout the country to take TM instruction from Reverend Oshima.
Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka beginning their day with the practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique
Young students practicing the TM technique as part of their daily routine at a Buddhist monastery in Thailand
Reverend Oshima said the younger monks are especially inspired by Maharishi’s integration of modern and ancient knowledge. “They were particularly interested in the Unified Field chart, illustrating how the Unified Field of Natural Law, as described by modern quantum physics, is experienced directly during TM practice as the field of transcendental consciousness, the field of Absolute Being.”
Reverend Oshima has been awarded an honorary doctoral degree by Maharishi University for the significant contributions he has made to society by promoting the experience ofNirvana—the spiritual foundation for the achievement of the goals of Buddhism. Through Reverend Oshima’s travels and teaching of the Transcendental Meditation technique he has helped enliven the knowledge and direct experience of Absolute Being in the lives of thousands of Buddhist monks—an influence that helps heighten the peace, happiness and sustainable progress of these monasteries and the world around them.
Reverend Koji Oshima (center) with students who have learned the Transcendental Meditation technique at a monastery in Thailand
October 28, 2011
The Irish Times Innovation section (October 2011) has an interesting article on Yossi Vardi, an Israeli Venture Capitalist. At one point Mr Vardi describes the reasons for the success of Israel Inc….
“What I’d like to suggest is that it’s not about technology, government support, the military, education. All these things are needed, but it’s about culture and spirit.Like every other social phenomena around the world. You take another city which is excelling in another sphere, be it art or whatever, it is about these two things. These are the driving force. In Israel there is an entrepreneurial spirit. This started with high-tech, but it was there when people emigrated to Israel from nowhere, an uncharted land. The whole thing was a start-up. They came from nowhere to try to create something new against all the odds.”
He references the kibbutzim and the creation of the state – “It is one long start-up.” People are willing to take risks and are constantly thriving for excellence. “They want to out-perform and achieve. They are not afraid of failure and are not satisfied. You can’t buy this with government grants. Grants can help ease the way, but they cannot create the spark.”
Mr Vardi is making an often overlooked point…Creativity and dynamism in individual and collective consciousness is the basis of an entrepreneurial society…Without these, well meaning government policies and structures will not bear fruit.
There is evidence that regular practise of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s Transcendental Meditation directly stimulates alertness, creativity and dynamism. Many people who practise the technique report this development in big and small ways.
Click on this video to hear David Lynch discuss how TM stimulated his creativity.
David Lynch on Consciousness, Creativity and the Brain
Also have a look at the post below by Gary Kaplan, neurologist, who analyses how transcending and moments of great creativity have a similar pattern of brain activity.
October 21, 2011
“I first heard of T.M. being used for medical reasons from a patient who had several secondaries. Amongst other things he used, including certain food avoidance’s, special diets and the like, was T.M. I was interested as, several years after he was diagnosed, he developed no new lesions (and is still alive today, 12 years later).
I looked into T.M, and saw how relaxed it left people, how it lowered blood pressure, and left people with an overall feeling of calmness and wellness. Their thoughts were clearer, they slept better and seemed to adjust to life’s ups and downs better.
Daily I meet people who I feel could benefit from T.M. I see them suffering in large and small ways from worries and annoyances that they have allowed under their skins, and I often see these manifesting as physical symptoms. I know in many cases these minor illnesses need to be alleviated before they become larger more significant illnesses. And again I see many cases of mild depression, anxiety or simple neurosis, which could be settled quickly by practising T.M.
As a GP, my problem is two fold. I can reassure people quickly and well about the benign nature of their complaints, but I know in a short while they will be back with other complaints as they see it, or as I see it, the neurosis and the anxiety has chosen a different way to manifest itself.
The problem I have is convincing them their problem is in the mind, and is manifesting itself as a physical illness, and that something constructive and long lasting can be done for it, not alone allowing them to get on with their lives, but making the rest of their lives more relaxed and contented.
Everything about the body performs better when it is relaxed, whether it is the heart lowering its pulse and blood pressure, the lungs lowering their respiratory rate, the gut digesting food, or the muscles performing activities. Like exercise, the brain benefits from practice at certain activities. The more we practise relaxation, the more we benefit and the easier it is to access this relaxed state more often, so often it becomes a habit and a way of life. However, I feel that T.M. does more than powerfully relax the body. It appears to bring about changes in the brain, but as yet I cannot offer a decent scientific explanation for this. As the science of neuroplasticity evolves, I would expect to find answers.
I have seen people’s elevated blood pressures settle when they practice T.M. regularly, only to go up again when they stop. I have seen patients with vague abdominal complaints, attributed to what we call irritable bowel syndrome, settle after they take up T.M.
I have also seen what we call the regular attenders, patients who attend frequently, attend much less, and one even changed career to allow himself to become happier and more content, and he attributes this entirely to the practice of T.M. I have one housewife who re-started after a period of absence. She came to me complaining of evening tiredness, fit for nothing after her evening meal apart from sitting down in front of the TV and vegetating until it was time to fall into bed at 10.30. After restarting her T.M, she was back in charge of her life and was, somewhat strangely, cleaning her house until 10.30 at night, drinking a cup of tea, watching a little TV, and falling asleep readily.
People ask if I do T.M. I say it’s a bit like a stockbroker who comes across a fund which is doing really well, is stable, and has a long history of doing well, and paying dividends to those who are part of it. Would that stockbroker then buy shares in that fund?
Or of a solicitor who comes across a certain technique of cross examining witnesses that allows him to win his cases? Would he use that technique regularly? Of course.
Personally I don’t feel I would get through my day at work without it as well as I do (although opinions from others might vary!) and I do feel it has helped me significantly in avoiding the stresses and strains of day to day life.
By the way, I have not been trained in T.M. for free, nor have I received any money for providing this. No conflict of interest here!”
Alan Moran
By Dr. Norman Rosenthal
Published October 08, 2011 | FoxNews.com
Lately there has been a storm of publicity – and deservedly so – about post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in veterans of our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The public has become better educated about this potentially disabling disorder and its symptoms, such as hypervigilance, an exaggerated tendency to startle, flashbacks, nightmares and emotional numbness, to name just a few.
Mental health professionals have emphasized the need to diagnose and treat PTSD wherever it arises. In this piece, I would like to draw attention to yet another group suffering from PTSD – child victims of prostitution who, against all odds, are trying to go straight and choose a different path in life.
I recently visited a home for such children in the Los Angeles suburbs, part of an organization aptly named “Children of the Night,” which has been operating since 1979 under the guidance of its founder and director, Dr. Lois Lee.
The organization is the most comprehensive social services agency in the country for rescuing America’s children from prostitution – a term Lee prefers to “trafficking,” which she considers too sanitized and not shocking enough for a problem that ought to be shocking but too often hides in plain sight of ordinary citizens.
The story of the young prostitute usually starts with early sexual abuse by a trusted care-giver, creating a trauma that continues to fester in the developing mind and brain of the young person, often resulting in emotional and behavioral difficulties.
The young person runs away – or drifts away – from home and, vulnerable to entrusting his or her safety to untrustworthy adults, goes on to be re-abused by those who pretend to offer love and shelter.
It is an ugly story that inclines us to avert our eyes, change the channel or click on a different web link. I ask you to resist this natural aversion because these are our children and they can be helped with proper understanding and care. – Lee estimates that her organization has assisted over 10,000 young people since its inception.
In Lee’s opinion, all these children suffer from PTSD. They are seething with rage, which they either direct outwards – screaming, lashing out, throwing things – or inwards by cutting themselves.
Stressed out in body and mind, many complain of abdominal pains so severe that they need to be taken to the emergency room. They suffer nightmares and sleep disorders that wake them up at all hours. Sometimes their distress during sleep is so bad that paramedics need to wake them and help settle them down.
Consider one of these young people, “Annie,” an 18-year-old graduate of the Children of the Night. When she first came to the program, Annie experienced many symptoms of PTSD.
Like the other girls, she would panic when she saw a black limo driving down the street with its lights off, which reminding her of the pimps in her former life. Triggered by all sorts of fears and memories, Annie would scream and throw things. An apparently innocent TV show might remind her of evenings when she and her pimp would watch that same show together in earlier times. One flashback would lead to another until her system was boiling over with intolerable panic and rage.
All the children in the program receive psychotherapy, but Annie did not find it particularly useful. One thing that has made a big difference for her is Transcendental Meditation (TM), a technique that Lee has incorporated into her program in the last few years, with excellent results.
According to Annie, TM has reduced the impact of her flashbacks, has made her less angry, and less likely to her take out her distress on others. As she puts it, “TM helps me calm down and center myself throughout the day, and focus on my schoolwork and tasks. It has also helped me trace back my emotions to when I was really young. I realize that I couldn’t cry or tell people they had hurt my feelings. I chose anger instead of hurt.”
The beneficial effects of TM on the PTSD symptoms of the Children of the Night have also been documented for traumatized veterans of combat, and are consistent with the known effects of TM in settling down fight-or-flight responses, which are exaggerated in people with PTSD.
Of Dr. Lee and Children of the Night, Annie says, “The program has done everything for me. If not for the program, I would have died on the streets.”
Annie’s words are all the more poignant as there are so many other children who have not had the good fortune to stumble across Lee and her program. Keep your eye out for them and spare a thought for how we as a society can prevent the horrible problem of child prostitution and take care of those who have already fallen prey to it.
Norman E. Rosenthal, M.D. is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Georgetown University Medical School and author of “Transcendence: Healing and Transformation Through Transcendental Meditation” (Tarcher-Penguin, 2011).
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/10/08/transcending-different-type-ptsd-helping-children-night/#ixzz1aFj9m
October 10, 2011
Liam Toland, writing in the Irish Times, October 10th writes about how Wales beat Ireland…He ends the piece by making a point about how ‘level-headed’ the Welsh team were on the day….Time and again, commentators, managers and sportspeople emphasise the need for this quality or how some great sportsperson/athelete exemplifies it..
Here is what Liam Toland wrote: “There was no comeback from Ireland but we can’t lose sight of what Wales brought to the party. They were physically immense and surprisinglylevel-headed and cool. They played very high-skilled patterns and offloads which will make next weekend intriguing. They deserve to be there and sadly Ireland don’t.”
This video of the Trinity College (USA) women’s squash team, who practise Transcendental Meditation, describes how it contributed to keeping them level headed during games:
http://youtu.be/HH1ptTsYs2Q
October 10, 2011
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