This is an essay about meditation, neither exactly the Transcendental Meditation (TM) as copyrighted and marketed by the organisation founded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, nor the exact teachings of Deepak Chopra. Certainly, both have their value and they are similar enough.
Meditation is a great tool to become calmer and happier in mind and body. I practise it every day.
Let me start with some negative aspects, though.
I have done an initial workshop by a TM certified teacher. I did not do the very expensive day and a half workshop that is said by official TM personnel to be absolutely necessary to be able to do TM.
I started one of Deepak Chopra’s meditation challenges after a friend told me about it. I say started – on the 4th or 5th day the task was to invite at least 5 other people to the challenge and hand in their contact data, as far as I remember. Revolted by something that reminded me very much of the chain letters of my youth or a very aggressive marketing structure, I stopped the challenge. A book of Deepak Chopra I bought and read. Very good content. I liked it a lot. Much better than hearing him speak during the meditation.
For the teachers or the founders of certain ways of meditation it is their livelihood and it is the start of their movement, which needs financing. Pretty much like most self-employed people they do rather aggressive marketing. This is not for me. I practice meditation only for myself, alone, I do not want to make anybody a disciple of anyone and I do not want to be anybody’s disciple. Meditation as a tool to soothe the mind is extremely old and far beyond modern Gurus. It was practiced in the East for thousands of years before it reached the West. There are plenty of different ways to do it.
My way of meditation combines the influences of TM and the teachings of Deepak Chopra, that’s why I quote the two books below. Check them out yourself, also of course everything the TM society publishes and the webpage of Deepak Chopra. I just don’t believe one has to become a certified and paying student of a meditation school to be able to practice meditation.
I fully recommend to google TM and watch the 20 min video from the TM society. You learn there already that one does meditation twice a day, if possible, and that one sits comfortably still during this time and repeats a “mantra” silently over and over again. Mantra means a word that has no meaning for us and where the brain cannot attach a meaning to. A mantra helps to clear the mind from thinking. It is enough effort to repeat the word over and over again – and thinking stops. Magic begins.
Those who are interested can contact an official TM teacher and get a short intro in the method and afterwards can book the 1000€ plus workshop where one gets a personal mantra and a deeper explanation of the method. What I have read is that there are only so many mantras. One can google them in the internet. That’s how I got mine. I found the list somebody had mentioned in a chat, read the mantras (about 30 or 40) and choose the one that sounded right in that exact moment. I never regretted it. Works perfectly well. Officially the TM society says that every singly person gets a different one – if that is true or not is unimportant, to be honest. Any word without meaning will do the trick for the respective person. It is completely beyond interest if the next person has the same mantra as oneself.
That’s how to meditate:
sit down, not in bed, but shortly after getting up and if possible, a few hours before getting to sleep. It’s what John White recommends and he is correct.
Sit down comfortably, close your eyes and start repeating the mantra silently. Nothing else. Over and over again. Sometimes it’s hard to keep thoughts from coming up. If you think of something, you’ll notice it after a while. Gently nudge yourself and let the thought pass and repeat the mantra. Over and over again. A mala chain can help. I use it sometimes, but not always. In the best of cases the mind gets blank. Quite often I see beautiful colours that have nothing to do with any light in the room or outside.
Interestingly, good ideas pop up. That happens often. Without thinking of something, I have the solution. My mind must have worked on the problem quite a while and during the meditation the solutions is suddenly there.
After about 20 minutes my alarm clock rings and I get on with my daily tasks. There is no dizziness afterwards. If you meditate 15 minutes or 25 or even less or more is completely your decision.
In the mornings its easy to time the meditation in, in the evenings sometimes life takes over and I don’t do it. I then feel a little bit guilty, not because anybody would reproach me, but because I know it would have been better for me to do the meditation instead of reading or watching more TV.
It feels good. I feel calmer, better equipped to deal with life and its ups and downs. I meditate now for a few years and my environment has noticed that I got more relaxed. Meditation grounds a person. It improved my quality of life without any hard effort from my side.
There is not much more to my way of meditation. Sit down, close your eyes, repeat the mantra, let the mind go blank. The rest comes from alone.
What I know from Deepak Chopra’s book and teachings, he advocates for a life in abundance, the abundance of the soul. Life is not about winning, it is about being in peace with the surroundings, trustfulness towards yourself and inner freedom. I hope I don’t shorten it too much. It’s absolutely worthwhile to read one of his books. The first lessons of his meditation challenge where deep (before I dropped out). Lots of people like his meditation challenges. They are much more guided than TM. I don’t need it and prefer my silent meditation. But better try it out (the courses that are for free) before not trying meditation at all.
I would say the profit one has from starting to meditate does allow for some blunders on the way to find the right path. I tried apps and some other stuff and noted very fast each time that I don’t need it. For somebody else it might be just the right thing.
TM society made studies for the overall health improvement through meditation, especially when it comes to blood pressure. It didn’t help to get mine down, and I am also not sure if great groups of meditating people have an effect on society. Maybe. But I do know the effect meditation has on me and I would not like to miss it ever again.
It’s one of the few things that no one can ever take away from you. Even in the direst surroundings one can meditate, when all beauty has gone. Before one’s inner eye one can recreate a perfect moment of inner peace.
All rights to the books belong to:
John White: Everything you want to know about TM, including how to do it, 2004 (first published 1976), Paraview, Special Editions, New York. ISBN: 978-1-93104-485-1
Chopra, Deepak: Reinventing The Body, Resurrecing The Soul, 2009, Harmony Books, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc. New York. ISBN: 978-0307452337