Here are some questions I often get asked about TM …
They may help to give you a better understanding of what it is, (and also what it isn’t).
You might like to have a look at the introductory video. which will hopefully explain things in more depth.
Alternatively, please make contact with me and I will try to answer your questions.
Nearly all our waking lives our attention is focused outwards into activity, dealing with all the responsibilities that life throws at us. When we practise TM the attention is allowed to settle down inwards, a bit like turning the volume down on a radio. Thinking becomes quieter and as it does so, because the mind and body affect each other, the body gets deep rest too.
You may have heard about quite dramatic benefits (such as sleeping better) being achieved even after a day or two of learning TM. This can happen, but generally the benefits are steady and cumulative. Often after a week or so people notice that they seem to have ‘more space and time’. Sometimes people notice what doesn’t happen rather than what does, and they may say: ‘Before I learned TM I would not have been able to deal with that situation in such a relaxed way’.
Many people have tried to learn to meditate on their own and ended up disappointed. Perhaps this stems from something that is drummed into us from an early age: that if at first you don’t succeed you have to try harder. ‘No pain, no gain’!
But as far as meditation goes, the more effort you put in, the more you are keeping the mind busy and lively. TM is simple, but it does need to be taught properly, by a qualified teacher.
Absolutely not. You are learning a technique, a skill that you can practise at home.
That’s great because it may seem a little unbelievable that something so simple can have such wide-reaching benefit. TM is a technique, and it doesn’t require you to believe it will work. Please feel free to make contact and I will do my best to answer your questions.
This is quite an interesting question. Perhaps we can understand that there are three levels of life: physical, mental and spiritual. In this context ‘spiritual’ simply means that it relates to the deep experience of one’s Self (inner nature), where the mind is silent. To this extent it is a spiritual practice, but there is no belief system associated with TM, or any unusual practices. It’s very simple.
Actually on a deep level the answer to this is yes. Yoga means ‘union’, making the connection between (or unifying) the busy active mind with the deep silence within, and you can perhaps think of TM as the mental aspect of yoga. However it is not necessary to do any postures in order to benefit from TM.