Transcendental Meditation News UK
Curb Your Enthusiasm star and executive producer Jeff Garlin is best known as Larry David’s roly-poly manager and sidekick in the award-winning TV sitcom, but in London this month, where he is starring in a run of stand-up comedy shows, Garlin surprised UK comedy fans and media with a lighter, healthier look.
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CNN, The Washington Post and other American media reported on gala events in New York City and other Washington, DC, earlier this month which drew celebrities, scientists, doctors, and huge crowds to promote the use of Transcendental Meditation (TM) as an antidote to the epidemic of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that is afflicting large numbers of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans.
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New research shows that professional classical musicians’ brains are highly developed in a way that makes them more alert, eager to learn, open-minded, calm, and playful. The same traits have previously been found among world-class athletes, top-level managers, and individuals who practise Transcendental Meditation.
These traits are collectively referred to as “high mind brain development”, which appears to influence greater effectiveness in any domain. Those with high mind brain development were also found to have more peak experiences than average.
The new study was conducted by Fred Travis, Maharishi University of Management in the US, Harald Harung, Oslo University College in Norway, and Yvonne Lagrosen, University West in Sweden, and is published in the journal, Consciousness and Cognition (Summer 2011). The professional musicians were compared to amateur musicians.
The researchers identified three key characteristics in the electrical brain activity patterns of individuals with high mind brain development. Activity in the frontal lobes, which are used for higher brain functions, such as planning and logical thinking, was well coordinated. There was a predominance of alpha-frequency brain wave activity, which is associated with the brain putting details together and working coherently; and researchers found that individuals with high mind brain development used their brain resources economically, i.e., they were relaxed, but at the same time alert and ready for action.
Further research found that those with high mind brain development scored higher in moral reasoning, and reported an increased incidence of “being in the zone”. These peak experiences are described as an intense feeling of happiness and harmony and of transcending limitations; and can be experienced as a higher level of consciousness.
Brain physiology of spiritual experiences strongly resembles that of high-performance sport and music making
Author, Fred Travis, emphasises that everything we do changes our brain. Transcendental Meditation and practising music are activities people should devote themselves to if they wish to change their mind in the right direction … but how you think also plays a role.
“If you are a very envious, angry, mean person, and that’s the way you think about people, that’s what’s going to be strengthened in your brain. But if you are very expanded and open and supportive of others, there will be different connections.”
Read more at Science Direct{ 0 comments }
guardian.co.uk: comment is free
Wednesday 18 May 2011
A Daily Dose of Meditation Is a Route to Spiritual Joy and Mental Health.
The psychiatrist Dr Norman Rosenthal, best known for describing seasonal affective disorder (SAD), believes meditation is an essential daily habit. Addressing a seminar on Meditation and Mental Health in London this month – organised by Meditatio, the outreach programme of the World Community for Christian Meditation – Rosenthal said he wouldn’t leave the house without it.
" Looking after Our Minds Should Be As Natural As Brushing Our Teeth."
Rosenthal recommends Transcendental Meditation (TM) to patients. Peer-reviewed research on the physical and psychological benefits of TM – from reduced anxiety to increased creativity – is impressive… [For example] Our responses become less reactive. For prisoners and city school kids, “a couple more minutes to respond” can mean not hitting out.
Read more at guardian.co.uk
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Based on an article in Positive News - a hard-facts environmental publication, looking at stories of increasing harmony and environmental awareness in the world.
Issue 67, Spring 2011
All his life, Einstein searched for proof of one underlying field of creation – a “unified field,” more basic and many hundreds of thousands of times more powerful than the nuclear level. Today, scientists around the globe are beginning to believe that such a field indeed exists; and there’s growing evidence that a simple technique, Transcendental Meditation, may access this field and harness its power to create peace in the world.
What’s more, some military authorities are quietly taking the idea seriously, and have begun applying it for themselves.
Transcendental Meditation might seem a long way from quantum physics. Yet over the past 40 years, physicists have noticed that at quantum levels, the distinction between consciousness and matter seems curiously blurred. Indeed, the architect of quantum theory, Max Planck, declared: “I regard matter as derivative from consciousness.”
Wars cost money and lives. Even in the first few days, following the UK’s intervention in Libya, there have been loss of lives – including civilian casualties – and the Government estimates the cost to the defence budget will be £3 million per day for the air campaign.
If the role of the military could be changed to that of a peace keeping force that would be able to avert danger before it arises, there would no longer be the need for costly military action. Paradigm shift though it may be, two countries have already adopted the creation of “prevention wings” in their military, teaching their troops the technique of Transcendental Meditation to calm both domestic and international tensions and render their nation free from enemies.
In the early 1990s President Chissano of Mozambique was keen to end a devastating 16 year civil war. Having found the practice of Transcendental Meditation useful in his own life, he then introduced it to his close family, his cabinet of ministers, his government and then his military. “The result,” he claims, “has been political peace”.
Also in the 1990′s, in Ecuador, Lieutenant General Jose Marti Villamil de la Cadena, Vice-Minister of Defence, instigated “The Coherence Project” in which three thousand officers, cadets and troops were taught Transcendental Meditation, which, he says, prevented the escalation of a conflict, which had broken out with neighbouring Peru.
The principle behind this effect? During Transcendental Meditation one experiences inner peace at the most refined level of awareness, where it radiates to others through the field of collective consciousness – like waves spreading out on a pond. As few as 1% of a population practising Transcendental Meditation, evidence suggests, produces measurable improvements for society. Now 23 studies have found significant drops in crime, terrorist attacks and war-related deaths when large groups practised Transcendental Meditation and its advanced techniques.
In response to research on this “field effect” of consciousness, Raymond Russ PhD, Professor of Psychology at the University of Maine, and editor of The Journal of Mind and Behaviour, said the hypothesis raised eyebrows among reviewers, but the statistical work was sound. “This evidence indicates that we now have a new technology to create peace in the world,” he concludes.
“Wars begin in the minds of men,” declares the United Nations charter. Einstein would surely have been delighted to know that, in the not-too distant future, through a technology of his sought-after unified field, that is also where they may end.
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Dr Rosenthal addressed a seminar of medical health professionals in Regents Park, London, today, and presented evidence that use of Transcendental Meditation is highly effective in treating bipolar disorder and combat related post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as more common difficulties, such as anxiety, anger management, depression and addiction.
Dr Rosenthal, who pioneered the use of light therapy in the treatment of SAD during his 20-year career as Senior Researcher at the National Institute of Mental Health in the USA, described how he had personally discovered the value of Transcendental Meditation quite late in life, and how he’d seen it transform his patients lives.
He also emphasised that regular practice of Transcendental Meditation can benefit anybody, not just those with problems and can help even successful people to actualise their greatest potential and richer lives.
In his new book, Transcendence: Healing and Transformation Through Transcendental Meditation (Penguin, 2011), Dr Rosenthal explores all these themes more deeply, and includes interviews with celebrities such as Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Martin Scorsese, Russell Brand, all of whom have practiced Transcendental Meditation.
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The dynamism, love and immense enthusiasm, that radiates from Father Gabriel Mejia makes one realise how he has been so successful in helping the abandoned street children in Colombia. Over the last 25 years his Centres (Fundacion Hogares Claret) have helped tens of thousands of children find a way to live healthy, happy and purposeful lives.
From small beginnings the project has grown and there are now 52 Centres in Colombia and throughout Latin America, which serve more than 3,500 children at any given time. Some of the homeless children are as young as 6 years old and many have resorted to sniffing glue, to escape the torments of their existence.
Initially the children are offered shelter and a good meal at the Centres, and are free to come and go as they please. Father Gabriel has learnt that the desire for change from their old environment, where they may be addicted to drugs, must come from the children themselves – and it may take time for them to break free from their dependencies.
As part of the rehabilitation process the children learn Transcendental Meditation. Father Gabriel learnt the technique himself in the late 1980’s and subsequently became a teacher of Transcendental Meditation. As soon as he learnt Transcendental Meditation he knew that this simple but very profound technique would be able to release the traumatic stress these children had experienced, and allow them to go on to live more balanced and fulfilled lives. As he says “When a child closes their eyes and begins to meditate they open themselves to a field of all possibilities … The world opens for the child and then the child discovers their essential nature which is love.”
Today many of the staff helping to run Father Gabriel’s Foundation were street children themselves. Some of the shelters provide a longer term environment where children can live as families with older mentors and receive an education. In recent years, as the power of the drug cartels have waned in Colombia, it has been easier to provide more shelters. Father Gabrielle’s centre of operations in Medellin is now the former home of the infamous, now deceased, drug baron, Pablo Escabar.
Recently, some funding for Father Gabriel’s projects has been donated by the David Lynch Foundation (set up by the famous film director). The Foundation’s video production team – directed by Stuart Tanner, an award winning documentarian who formerly worked with the BBC – travelled through the streets of Medellin in Colombia to film a documentary about this incredible story. In the short video clip top right you can experience the unbounded love and support that Father Gabriel gives to the children and in turn feel the great affection that the children have for him.
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The study published in the journal Education was conducted with 189 high school students, aged 12 to 14, who were below proficiency level in English and Maths.
Those taking part in the Transcendental Meditation programme meditated for 15 minutes at the start and end of the school day, while the non-meditating students in the trial spent the ‘Quiet Time’ sitting quietly or reading.
The meditating students showed significant increases in maths and English scores over a one-year period. Forty-one percent showed a gain of at least one performance level in maths compared to just fifteen percent of the non-meditating students in the trial.
Change in academic achievement at the school in California were evaluated using results from standard end-of-year school tests.
Staff at the school also reported the Transcendental Meditation programme to be a valuable addition to the school. They reported the students to be calmer, happier, and less hyperactive, with an increased ability to focus on schoolwork. They also reported effects on the general school environment, including fewer fights, less abusive language, and an overall more relaxed and calm atmosphere.
“The results of the study provide support to a recent trend in education focusing on student mind/body development for academic achievement,” said Dr. Ronald Zigler, study co-author and associate professor at Penn State, Abington. “We need more programs of this kind implemented into our nation’s public schools, with further evaluation efforts.”
Schools in the UK with Transcendental Meditation programmes in the classroom include the Maharishi School in Lancashire.
Education, Volume 131; Number 3; ISSN 0013I1172 Spring 2011
Read the full article at physorg.com
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Award winning film star, Ben Foster, has been wowing his audiences, with his sensitive and versatile performances, since he was 16 years old. His recent roles have been as diverse as playing a cowboy in “3:10 to Yuma”, an astronaut in “Pandorum” and an Iraqi war veteran in “The Messenger“. Choosing to play such differing roles should ensure that he is unlikely to be typecast!
Like a growing number of celebrities he practises Transcendental Meditation. No matter how early in the morning the film shoot starts, Ben is always up in time to fit in a session of meditation beforehand, as he finds it enhances his creativity and boosts his energy levels. Ben learnt Transcendental Meditation as a schoolboy and has always valued the technique.
Ben finds the film making process fascinating and says: “It’s so abstract what we do, because it’s about feeling and that’s so elusive. In a very basic way reading the script, you know 100 times, it slowly starts to reveal itself. You start seeing patterns and levels that weren’t apparent and that maybe the writer didn’t intend, and you’re connecting in your own way and it [the film] starts unfolding.” Look out for Ben’s latest film “The Mechanic” (released January 2011). As ever he gives a great performance and adds a quirky intensity to the role. May you continue to bring great strength and depth of understanding to your future roles, Ben.
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