I’m not planning to do a daily entry. At most, I will probably update this blog weekly but, at this point, I have a backlog of ideas to sort out. I thought it would be good to have a brief discussion of what happens during the initial stages of Transcendental Meditation (which I will refer to as TM henceforth).
You start by internally repeating a mantra which is given to you by your instructor. In my case, it was a word in Sanskrit. The word itself has no meaning to someone who doesn’t speak Sanskrit so there are no thought images associated with it. TM instructors say that these sounds have been specifically chosen to create the desired effect. The sound has a calming effect on the mind which, in turn relaxes the body. The body being more relaxed, in turn calms down the mind even more. So this iterative process continues until you are in a deep state of relaxation.
My experiential evidence of the meditative state of consciousness is that during meditation, I have a sense of peace and timelessness. There have been times when I thought I had been in meditation for only a few minutes but after coming out, more than an hour had passed. At times, I don’t experience thoughts yet I am fully aware. What TM instructors say is that during this phase, your mind has “transcended” into the field that is the source of all thought and it is a field of pure creativity. So, I became very curious about this field. Does it exist inside the human mind or is it a dimension that is shared among all humans or, indeed all of conscious existence?
The problem with exploring this within the TM movement is that after the initial training, it becomes more of a religious exercise where students are encouraged to read the Bhagavad Gita and other Hindu spiritual texts. At the time, I was not interested in that.
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Akosua! I am so glad you are doing this! Do you think TM is a good way to start meditating? Or, are there simple instructions somewhere that you think are particularly good?
ReplyDeleteHi Margery! TM is just one type of meditation and the only one that I have ever tried. I think it's a good way to start but rather expensive these days and, in my opinion the movement is way too focused on money. Still, that's not a refelction on the technique itself. I'm really glad I learned it when I did. Here's a link if you are looking for more info: http://www.tm.org/
ReplyDeleteThis post was created by Cher. She asked me to post it for her:
ReplyDeleteI have never tried TM however, I have many friends who have and all have expressed their TM experiences as the beginning of a rewarding introspective journey into those areas of life experience that are hard to explain or find answers to using our linear thinking and conventional measures of observation. I have meditated for many years and have found it helpful in calming my mind as well as healing my body of various ailments. My meditaion experiences have helped me to deepen my relationship to myself and to the Creator. But in the beginning it was all about taking each day's meditation hour as a step by step approach to look at my life experience from a different and less cognitive perspective. So, I appreciate what you have to say, for in the arena of inner exploration we are all children of wonder. The inner questing never ends but the experience of meditation is forever enriching.