WINTER 2009/10

A Newsletter for those interested in TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION by

Roger Gurr           020 8224 7676 - www.TmLondonSouth.org –

THANKS FOR ALL THE CONTRIBUTIONS

 

Heart Disease Patients who Practiced TM had a 47% Reduction in Deaths, Heart Attacks and Strokes.

A new study by the University of Wisconsin shows clinical heart disease patients who practise Transcendental Meditation have reduced death, heart attacks and strokes. For the full storey see; http://www.mcw.edu/Releases/2009Releases/TranscendentalMeditation.htm

US researchers said, at a meeting of the American Heart Association, they had randomly assigned 201 *African Americans heart diseased patients to meditate or to make lifestyle changes. Their average age was 59 and they all had a narrowing of the arteries.

After nine years, the Transcendental Meditation group had a 47% reduction in deaths, heart attacks and strokes.

The research was carried out in conjunction with the Maharishi University in Iowa.

It was funded by a £2.3m ($3.8m) grant from the National Institute of Health and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

The meditation group were asked to practise TM for 20 minutes twice a day.

The lifestyle change group received education classes in traditional risk factors, including dietary modification and exercise.

Orlando, Fla., Nov.16, 2009

*considered high risk of heart disease

TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION HELPS STUDENTS

Also widely reported, e.g. THE LOSS ANGELES TIMES http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/booster_shots/2009/11/transcendental-meditation-heart-disease.html this study showed that Transcendental Meditation helps Students. Published in the December issue of the American Journal of Hypertension, http://www.nature.com/ajh/journal/v22/n12/full/ajh2009204a.html said researchers found that TM was an effective tool to reduce blood pressure, anxiety, depression and anger among college students already at risk for high blood pressure.

Scientists at American University in Washington, D.C., and Maharishi University randomly assigned 298 students to either learn TM techniques or remain on a waiting list for the class. After three months, the students practicing TM had reductions of 6.3 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) in systolic blood pressure and 4.0 mm Hg in diastolic. The reductions translate to a 52% lower risk of developing hypertension in later years. The students also showed improvements in psychological distress and coping.

BBC - CARDIFF SCHOOLS COULD INTRODUCE T M.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/south_east/8261766.stm

One unnamed Cardiff secondary school is to give TM a trial on a voluntary basis.

Freda Salway, Cardiff council's executive member for education, said anything to lessen the load was a welcome addition to the curriculum.

Several schools in England are already in the process of introducing TM to staff and pupils, with funding from a foundation set up by film director David Lynch. One unnamed secondary school is to give it a trial on a voluntary basis.

But experiments in US schools have found that it can have a dramatic effect on reducing violence and bullying in the classroom, as well as improving concentration and self-esteem."

"... it's something which comes naturally to some people - elite athletes like Usani Bolt seem to slip into the zone without ever having been taught.

"But most people need a little bit of help to harness the mental powers we all have inside."

If the pilot study is a success, it could be offered throughout Cardiff.

 

AYURVEDA (Science of Life)

Maharishi, knowing a healthy body facilitates a healthy mind and vice versa, introduced the thousands of years old Ayurveda to the west in the 1980s. He commissioned three of the most widely recognised top Ayurvedic Doctors to train qualified western doctors and technicians. Clinics/ centres have been established in many western countries.

In the UK, the Maharishi clinic is in Skelmersdale, Lancashire 01695 51008 or see - www.Maharishi.co.uk. The Maharishi Ayur Vedic doctors are Dr Donn Brennan MB, BCh, BAO, MRCGP, MSCI    Dr Geoffrey Mead MRCS, LRCP, MSCI and Dr Greg Watras MB ChB. They all have been trained in pulse diagnosis.

The doctors visit London and other parts of the country from time to time.  They may be contacted through the clinic above or through the web site.

Two other Ayurvedic centres are available. In Ewell, the centre is run by Ratna Cordukes MSc Ayu Med, MAPA, BCMA who studied Ayurveda with Dr. Don Brennan at Middlesex University. Her contact is 020 8 786 9375, www.forbalance.com

In London is recently recommended Jayshree Patel at the Kursal Ayur Veda Centre 38 Store Street, WC1 E7DB 020 7580 5193.

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EQUATING THE MIND & BODY

 

Transcendental Meditation was introduced to England Fifty Years ago when Maharishi arrived on the 13^th December 1959. By the beginning of the millennium, TM had been taught to six million people around the world, in almost every country.

That is nearly one person for every one thousand people on this planet earth.

REGULARITY - FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR OWN HAPPINESS......

 “Regularity in meditation is of the utmost importance. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

Give meditation the utmost priority.

Always come back to regularity.

All benefits come with regularity”.

“Be regular in your meditation and do not postpone to a later date raising your consciousness.” Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Always come back to regularity when the routine is broken, e.g. Holidays and after Xmas. After Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

“All obstacles to progress can be overcome by keep coming back to regularity” Patanjali circa 100AD

Do be regular in Meditation, for the sake of your own happiness. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

One can help others better when one is happier and at one’s best!

Regularity is like building up savings in the bank. No strain on the pocket when there is a need to spend. Just draw on the bank.

DID YOU KNOW

Malcolm Muggeridge interviewed Maharishi on the BBC in 1970. Malcolm was good at disagreeing with the people he interviewed.  So it was inevitable that the interview with Maharishi would be lively. However, they both agreed that; “it was not possible to slow the fast pace of modern life, but that it was possible to supplement it with inner silence”.

A hundred British doctors called for TM to be actively promoted by the government within the National Health Service. 17^th September 1998

Research on TM has shown that regular practice can lead to reduced use of alcohol, cigarettes and non prescribed drugs. A meta analysis of 19 studies on TM found that TM was significantly more successful than other treatments at reducing alcoholism, smoking and non prescribed drugs. Abstinence ranged from 51% to 89% over an 18 – 24 month period. TM produced a substantial highly significant reductions compared with other treatments. Alcohol treatment Quarterly 1994, 11.  Ed Note: I have taught many  who had been recommended to learn TM to help break an addiction. 66% said it was successful. TM has the very real ability to give the practitioner an inner fulfilment. Lack of inner fulfilment and stress are reasons for addictions.  One group of AA had apparently recommended TM for the twelve step. This was the reason Bud Leiber, Vice President of General Motors, persuaded G.M. to pay for employees who wished to learn TM. Working on a production line may not be fulfilling for every one. I was invited to help exhausted TM teachers in Detroit in 2000.

A revolutionary solar aircraft, designed to fly continuously without fuel, even at night, has just been unveiled. See http://www.solarimpulse.com/

Steven and David Gill cultivate and process onions. Employing over 400 people, they have taken the lead to convert the juice from waste onion tops into energy. This unique power plant can produce 600kilowatts (enough for 460 homes).  PhD student, Joel Chaney from Nottingham University, has come up with an idea for making fuel from banana waste after being appalled at amount of banana waste left to rot.  The energy produced can save women in Rwanda up to 4 hours a day collecting fire wood.

FRUIT & VEGGIE IS GOOD. A higher risk of depression results from eating a diet high in processed foods according to a five years survey of 3500 civil servants. Analysing their diets found less depression with less processed food, compared to diets high in fruit, veggie, and fish, according to research at London University and published in the British Journal of Psychiatry  BBC 2/11/09

TM has been shown to reduce pain. Functional magnetic resonance imaging of the brain’s response to thermally induced pain applied outside the meditation period found that long-term practitioners of the Transcendental Meditation technique showed 40-50% fewer voxels responding to pain in the thalamus and total brain than in healthy matched controls. After the controls learned the TM and practiced it for 5 months, their response decreased by 40-50% in the thalamus, prefrontal cortex, total brain, and marginally in the anterior cingulate cortex. The results suggest that the Transcendental Meditation technique longitudinally reduces the affective/motivational dimension of the brain's response to pain. (C) 2006 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc. Neuro report: 21 august 2006 - volume 17 - issue 12 - pp 1359-1363 doi: 10.1097/01.wnr.0000233094.67289.a8 cognitive neuroscience and Neuropsychology www.neuroreport.com

A pointer to changes in the way we might live. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Kn_HmiQwhc

NATURE SOLVED THE PROBLEM FIRST. A new free online database called AskNature.org will bring nature’s best design ideas to design tables around the world. The new project, created by the Biomimicry Institute and sponsored by Autodesk, was announced on Nov. 21 at the Greenbuild 2008 conference in Boston.  http://www.asknature.org/ is a free, public-domain online library of nature’s best design ideas, organized by function and explained with illustrations and in language relevant to designers. Architects, designers and innovators can use this resource to study life’s approaches to sustainable design—for example, how butterflies create pigment-free color, or how plants split water to release hydrogen. “The core idea is that there is no need to reinvent the wheel. After 3.8 billion years of evolution, nature has already found the solutions to the sustainability challenges humans face,” said Janine Benyus, founder of the non-profit Biomimicry Institute. Much of what man is discovering / inventing today Nature is found to have invented it first.

Water has some amazing properties according to scientists.  (50% or more, of the human physiology, 95% of the brain consists of water). a fascinating 85 min. video about water http://cdn-static.viddler.com/flash/simple_publisher.swf?key=df43693d  Maharishi Mahesh Yogi; “memory is structured in consciousness, a field of infinite energy and intelligence...” And “everything is basically the unified field”.

AFTER MAHARISHI MAHESH YOGI;-

Aspirants to meditation should note that the infusion of the Transcendent into the nature of the mind is important for rejuvenation of the personality, stability of mind, clearer thinking and greater energy. It is important to note that this infusion of the nature of the Transcendent into the mind is a delicate process. The infusion is on that very fine level of the Transcendent, i.e. the very basis of the existence of the individual. It is never on the thinking level of the mind. Out of meditation, aspirants should therefore be warned, not to expect to feel the Transcendent on the thinking level of the mind. And, out of meditation, it is certainly not holding on to a thought as to how to be. (Like trying to maintain awareness or maintain mindfulness.) As the practice is continued, the Transcendent becomes more and more infused and eventually becomes so infused, so deep and unshakeable that it is lived all the time through waking, dreaming and deep sleep. Then one has achieved eternal freedom.

A formula for family life is giving.  Wife gives to husband. Husband gives to wife. The husband should not unload his problems on the wife. Leave at work. Wife should not unload her problems on the husband. Leave in the kitchen (at work). Each should meditate before they meet. Giving to each other should be a great joy.

See Maharishi on U Tube and hear him talk http://www.youtube.com/user/maharishichannel

Meditation gives that stability to the mind which will be unshaken through the entire thick and thin of life... Things go on, but your steadiness of mind is maintained. ... Do be regular in mediation. Keep coming back to regularity.

To go to a field of greater happiness is the natural tendency of the mind. Transcendental Meditation sets the mind on the path to the Absolute Being – the Transcendent, whose nature is real bliss and great happiness.  The way to it is increasingly attractive as it advances in the direction of bliss. The mind finds increasing charm at each step. So it is led to experience the Transcendent.

This practice is pleasant for every mind. Whatever the state of evolution of the aspirant, (they) will find a way to transcend the subtlest state of thinking and easily arrive at the bliss of the Transcendent. The practice is therefore simple and automatic.

To transcend is easy, but to integrate the Transcendence with the relative aspect of life takes time and regularity.

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WILLIAM BLAKE (Who seems to have been in a good state of consciousness).

If the doors of perception were cleansed, every thing would appear to man as it is: infinite.

To see a world in a grain of sand,

And a heaven in a wild flower,

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,

And eternity in an hour.

 First published by Rossetti in Gilchrist's Life of William Blake (1863), it was composed between 1800 - 1803 - Auguries of Innocence

For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro' narrow chinks of his cavern”.   The marriage of Heaven and Hell

"This life's dim windows of the soul

Distorts the heavens from pole to pole

And leads you to believe a lie

When you see with, not through, the eye."

The Everlasting Gospel

 

AFTER GURU DEV – Maharishi’s Master