Keep Your Heart Healthy with Transcendental Meditation

National Heart Day: 26th February 2010

Heart disease patients in Britain can halve their chances of heart attack or stroke without changing their medication, diet or lifestyle

Free Introductory Talks
26th February 2010
Contact your local Transcendental Meditation Centre or call 01695 51213

The BBC, the Daily Mail and other media worldwide reported in November 2009 how Transcendental Meditation reduced heart attack, stroke and mortality rates by 47% in patients with coronary heart disease according to a 9 year study presented at the American Heart Association annual conference in November 2009.

"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."

This statement from Dr Norman Rosenthal, a senior researcher at the US National Institutes of Mental Health for 20 years, followed the announcement of the above rigorously study, which was funded by the US National Institutes of Health.

Around Britain, to mark National Heart Day, heart disease patients – and others – can find out how the Transcendental Meditation technique can benefit their health in lectures to be given by Teachers of Transcendental Meditation.

“TM is a simple, natural technique that absolutely anybody can easily learn and keep up, and, as this research and many other scientific studies demonstrate, it benefits not just mind but body too," says Tony Miles, who has been a teacher of Transcendental Meditation for over 35 years.

“The subjects in this study were 200 African-Americans with heart disease, who practised Transcendental Meditation for 20 minutes twice a day for a 9 year period, making no other dietary or lifestyle changes. They were compared with similar, randomly assigned patients who didn't practise meditation.

“The results have been considerable. Our national organisation in the UK has had a big response. I was contacted by a hospital consultant who told me that statins, which are widely prescribed for those at risk of heart disease, have been shown to reduce heart attacks and strokes by just 30%, which compares to 47% with TM. His whole family are going to learn Transcendental Meditation!”

The American Heart Association study was followed by another in the American Journal of Hypertension (December 2009), demonstrating that general blood pressure was reduced in people at risk of hypertension after just 3 months of regular TM practice, complementing previous research published in the American Journal of Cardiology and American Journal of Hypertension showing that Transcendental Meditation practice reduced blood pressure considerably in individuals with systemic hypertension.

“We really want to make this more widely available,” Tony Miles says, “and hope it will be made available on the NHS: it would be a side-effect-free treatment!” Tony says. “In the meantime we have a sliding scale of fees now and various concessions, so learning TM is affordable for all.

“As well as these talks on the 26th February, we have regular introductory talks at Transcendental Meditation centres around the country.”

Dr Roger Chalmers, General practitioner with a longstanding interest in medical applications of Transcendental Meditation, and co-editor of Scientific Research on Maharishi’s Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi Programme: Collected Papers (volumes 2-4), says: “Research shows that Transcendental Meditation simultaneously reduces many important risk factors ... high blood pressure, improved lipid profile, smoking, alcohol consumption and drug abuse, physical and mental stress, and adverse psychological traits such as anxiety, depression, and hostility. It also enhances protective factors including improved occupational health and job satisfaction; more harmonious relationships; and positive psychological health and well-being.”

Available for interview:

Case study: Ranjit, 71, lived in Brighton many years, now lives in Oxford. A retired civil servant, Ranjit had a heart attack in 1979 followed by frequent angina. He learnt TM after his GP recommended it, his angina slowly subsided, he came off all medication and has not had angina for 30 years -- or a heart attack.

Further information on Transcendental Meditation in the UK.

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.

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