Latest scientific research and applications of Transcendental Meditation
HERE ARE three remarkable scientific studies, published or in press this year - see below.
But first, a link to the very latest, just-received study (published June 2, 2011) showing that United States war veterans halved their symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder after practising Transcendental Meditation for eight weeks. So think what it could do for you ..
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-06/muom-vsa053111.php
Now read on:
The first of the three remarkable scientific studies, in press for the journal Consciousness and Cognition, shows that Transcendental Meditation - "automatic self-transcending" - is fundamentally different, both in principle and effects, from other techniques - categorised as either "focused attention" or "open monitoring".
The second, published in Cognitive Processing, shows that during Transcendental Meditation, the brain spontaneously adopts a coherent, whole-brain style of functioning consistent with the "pure consciousness" or "transcendental consciousness" described by Maharishi. (See also the pages "What Happens During TM?" and "Aren't All Meditations the Same?")
The third, presented here as a press release from this Centre, shows a 47 per cent lower rate of stroke, heart attack and death in heart disease patients practising Transcendental Meditation. Note the comment from Dr Rosenthal.
The first study:
Consciousness and Cognition, August 2010.
Authors: Fred Travis, Center for the Brain, Consciousness and Cognition, Maharishi Uiversity of Management, and Jonathan Shear, Department of Philosophy, Virginia Commonwealth University.
Abstract: This paper proposes a third meditation-category - automatic self-transcending - to extend the dichotomy of focused attention and open monitoring proposed by Lutz. Automatic self-transcending includes techniques designed to transcend their own activity. This contrasts with focused attention, which keeps attention focused on an object; and open monitoring, which keeps attention involved in the monitoring process. Each category was assigned EEG bands, based on reported brain patterns during mental tasks, and meditations were categorised based on their reported EEG. Focused attention, characterised by beta/gamma activity, included meditations from Tibetan Buddhist, Buddhist, and Chinese traditions. Open monitoring, characterised by theta activity, included meditations from Buddhist, Chinese, and Vedic traditions. Automatic self-transcending, characterised by alpha1 activity, included meditations from Vedic and Chinese traditions. Between categories, the included meditations differed in focus, subject-object relation, and procedures. These findings shed light on the common mistake of averaging meditations together to determine mechanism or clinical effects.
[Derbyshire TM editorial note: The study included Qigong, together with Transcendental Meditation, in the automatic self-transcending category, on the basis of a case study of a single Qigong meditator with 45 years experience who was found to produce alpha1 brainwave activity.]
The second study:
Transcendental Meditation activates default mode network, the brain's natural ground state
Credit: Cognitive Processing, Volume 11 (2010), Issue 1
A new EEG study conducted on college students at American University found they could more highly activate the default mode network, a suggested natural "ground state" of the brain, during their practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique. This three-month randomized control study is published in a special issue of "Cognitive Processing" dedicated to the Neuroscience of Meditation and Consciousness, Volume 11, Number 1, February, 2010.
Specifically, the study found the TM technique:
- Produces a unique state of "restful alertness," as seen in the markedly higher alpha power in the frontal cortex and lower beta and gamma waves in the same frontal areas during TM practice.
- Creates greater alpha coherence between the left and right hemispheres of the brain suggesting the brain is working as a whole.
- Enhances an individual's sense of "self" by activating what neuroscientists call the "default mode network" in the brain. (This is considered the natural ground state of the brain, glimpsed by neuroscientists during eyes-closed rest but more fully activated during Transcendental Meditation practice.)
"The finding of significant brain wave differences between students practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique and those simply resting with their eyes closed is especially convincing because subjects were randomly assigned to conditions, and testing was conducted by a researcher unaware of the experimental condition to which the subject had been assigned," said David Haaga, Ph.D., coauthor and professor of psychology at American University.
"Research has already shown that simply closing one's eyes and relaxing increases the default mode. A significant additional finding of this new study is that activity in the default mode increases during TM compared to simple eyes-closed rest," said Fred Travis, Ph.D., lead author and director of the Center for Brain, Consciousness, and Cognition at Maharishi University of Management. "Different meditation techniques entail various degrees of cognitive control. Thus, activation patterns of the default mode network could give insight into the nature of meditation practices."
Previous published research, funded by the NIH, shows TM practice decreases high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, cholesterol, stroke, and heart failure.
Summary provided by Maharishi University of Management.
The third study:
Press Release: National Heart Day, 26th February 2010
How people at risk of heart disease in Derbyshire
can halve their chances of heart attack or stroke
Keep your heart healthy
with Transcendental Meditation
Derbyshire initiative inspired by
remarkable results of American research
The Derbyshire Transcendental Meditation Centre has chosen National Heart Day to launch a county-wide initiative to publicise the unique benefits of Transcendental Meditation (TM) in combating heart disease and strokes.
This is the first National Heart Day since the presentation in November of remarkable research results by the Medical College of Wisconsin, USA, showing that heart disease patients who learn Transcendental Meditation have 47 per cent lower rates of heart attack, stroke and death.
The research, a nine-year randomised controlled trial with 201 participants, was sponsored by a $3.8m grant from the Heart, Lung and Blood Institutes of the US National Institutes of Health.
Dr Norman Rosenthal, for 20 years a senior researcher at the US National Institutes of Mental Health, best known for his description of seasonal affective disorder (SAD), or winter depression, said after the announcement of the research findings at the annual conference of the American Heart Association in Orlando:
“If this kind of result was observed for a new prescription drug, it would be a billion-dollar industry to make it available to everyone immediately”.
John Windsor, chairman of Derbyshire TM, said: “This is one of the most striking of over 600 published research studies on Transcendental Meditation. It has been scientifically established for years that TM reduces the risk factors that contribute to heart disease. But this is the first research showing that it actually saves lives.
“Heart and circulatory disease is the UK’s biggest killer. We shall be presenting Transcendental Meditation to doctors and the public as the best and most cost-effective way of avoiding it. This is an opportunity for Derbyshire to lead the way towards better health.
“TM is taught by personal instruction and is practised for just 20 minutes morning and evening. It is simple, effortless, easily learned, and is the only completely natural meditation – which is why it is effective from the first instruction. It is a joy to experience.”
The Medical College’s research, in collaboration with the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention at Maharishi University of Management, Fairfield, Iowa, studied 201 African Americans (an ethnic group particularly at risk from heart disease), average age 59, with narrowing of arteries in their hearts.
They were randomly assigned to the stress-eliminating practice of Transcendental Meditation or to a control group that received health education classes in traditional risk factors such as mental stress. Both groups continued standard medication and medical care.
Transcendental Meditation comes from the Vedic tradition of India and was brought to the West by the Indian teacher Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1957. About six million people have learned Transcendental Meditation worldwide. Its best-known advocates include David Lynch, the film maker, and Sir Paul McCartney, who, with the Beatles, studied with Maharishi in India in the sixties.
For more information on Transcendental Meditation in Derbyshire, go to www.tmderby.org or telephone (01629-823987)
For editorial use:
CONTACT & LINKS:
John Windsor can be contacted on (01629-823987)
Wisconsin 47 per cent research: http://www.mcw.edu/Releases/2009Releases/TranscendentalMeditation.htm
Derbyshire Transcendental Meditation website contains more info. on the TM technique:
The American Heart Association study was followed by another in the American Journal of Hypertension (December 2009), <http://www.nature.com/ajh/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/ajh2009184a.html> demonstrating that general blood pressure was significantly reduced in people at risk of hypertension after just three months of regular TM practice, complementing previous research published in the American Journal of Cardiology and American Journal of Hypertension showing that Transcendental Meditation reduced blood pressure significantly in individuals with systemic hypertension. More ..
Further Relevant research on Transcendental Meditation:
Lower Blood Pressure
Alexander C.N., et al. Transcendental Meditation, mindfulness, and longevity: An experimental study with the elderly. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 57:950-964, 1989.
Alexander C.N., et al. Trial of stress reduction for hypertension in older African Americans (part II): sex and risk subgroup analysis. Hypertension 28:228-237, 1996.
Anderson J.W., et al. Blood pressure response to Transcendental Meditation: a meta-analysis. American Journal of Hypertension 21 (3): 310-6, 2008.
Barnes V.A., et al. Impact of Transcendental Meditation on ambulatory blood pressure in African-American adolescents. American Journal of Hypertension 17: 366-369, 2004.
Barnes V. A., et al. Stress, stress reduction, and hypertension in African Americans. Journal of the National Medical Association, 89, 464-476, 1997.
Barnes V. A., et al. (1999). Acute effects of Transcendental Meditation on hemodynamic functioning in middle-aged adults. Psychosomatic Medicine, 61, 88, 525-531.
Rainforth M.V., et al. Stress reduction programs in patients with elevated blood pressure: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Current Hypertension Reports 9:520–528, 2007. Full article <http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=2268875&blobtype=pdf>
Schneider R.H., et al. A randomized controlled trial of stress reduction in the treatment of hypertension in African Americans during one year. American Journal of Hypertension 18(1): 88-98, 2005. Full article <http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=2224896&blobtype=pdf>
Schneider R.H., et al. Long-term effects of stress reduction on mortality in persons ≥ 55 years of age with systemic hypertension. American Journal of Cardiology 95:1060-1064, 2005. Full Article <http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=1482831&blobtype=pdf>
Schneider R.H., et al. A randomized controlled trial of stress reduction for hypertension in older African Americans. Hypertension 26: 820-827, 1995.
Reduced Atherosclerosis/Stroke
Castillo-Richmond A., et al. Effects of the Transcendental Meditation Program on carotid atherosclerosis in hypertensive African Americans, Stroke 31: 568-573, 2000. Full article <http://stroke.ahajournals.org/cgi/reprint/31/3/568.pdf%20>
Decreased Cholesterol
Cooper M. J., et al. Transcendental Meditation in the management of hypercholesterolemia. Journal of Human Stress 5(4): 24–27, 1979.
Cooper M. J. and Aygen M. M. Effect of Transcendental Meditation on serum cholesterol and blood pressure. Harefuah, Journal of the Israel Medical Association 95(1): 1-2, 1978.
Reduced Congestive Heart Failure
Jayadevappa R., et al. Effectiveness of Transcendental Meditation on functional capacity and quality of life of African Americans with congestive heart failure: a randomized control study. Ethnicity and Disease 17: 72-77, 2007. Full Article <http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=2048830&blobtype=pdf>
Decreased Free Radicals
Schneider R.H., et al. Lower lipid peroxide levels and practitioners of the Transcendental Meditation program. Psychosomatic Medicine 60: 38-41, 1998.
Van Wijk E.P.A., et al. Anatomical characterization of human ultraweak photon emission in practitioners of Transcendental Meditation and control subjects. Journal of Alternative & Complementary Medicine 12:31-38, 1998.
Van Wijk E.P.A., et al. Differential Effects of Relaxation Techniques on Ultraweak Photon Emission. Journal of Alternative & Complementary Medicine 14:241-250, 2008.
Reduced Metabolic Syndrome/Pre-Diabetes
Paul-Labrador M., et al. Effects of randomized controlled trial of Transcendental Meditation on components of the metabolic syndrome in subjects with coronary heart disease. Archives of Internal Medicine 166:1218-1224, 2006. Full article <http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/reprint/166/11/1218.pdf>
Review Papers on Cardiovascular Disease and Risk Factors
Alexander C.N., et al. Effects of Transcendental Meditation compared to other methods of relaxation and meditation in reducing risk factors, morbidity and mortality. Homeostasis 35:243-264, 1994.
Barnes V.A., and Orme-Johnson D. W. Clinical and Pre-clinical Applications of the Transcendental Meditation Program® in the Prevention and Treatment of Essential Hypertension and Cardiovascular Disease in Youth and Adults: A Research Review. Current Hypertension Reviews 2:207-218, 2006.
Schneider R.H., et al. Cardiovascular disease prevention and health promotion with the Transcendental Meditation program and Maharishi Consciousness-Based Health Care. Ethnicity and Disease 16 (3 Suppl 4):S4-15-26, 2006. Full article <http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=2267926&blobtype=pdf>
Walton K.G., et al. Review of controlled clinical research on the Transcendental Meditation program and cardiovascular disease: Risk factors, morbidity, and mortality. Cardiology in Review 12(5): 262-266, 2004. Full article <http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=2211376&blobtype=pdf>
Walton K.G., et al. Psychosocial stress and cardiovascular disease, Part 2: Effectiveness of the Transcendental Meditation program in treatment and prevention. Behavioral Medicine 28: 106-123, 2002.
