stuff I’m not paid to endorse: transcendental meditation
I’ve tried just about every form of meditation. None of them really stuck. I used to get stupendously tense meditating, often reduced to tears…that’s how much they failed to “stick”. About two years ago I tried TM, sometimes called vedic meditation. I’ve said this before: when I get three reminders of something, I strike. That is, if three people mention the same thing to me, out of the blue, then I know I need to take note. And act. Which is what happened with TM.
Meditation: finding the space between sensations
When the third person mentioned TM teacher Tim Brown to me, I signed up. I was down the beach at 5am, having not slept at all, distraught and lost. I was going through a grey time in my life. A random guy called Tom who I recognised from yoga came up to me, gave me a hug and said, “You’re in a tough place”. We met for tea that night and Tom talked up TM and Tim.
I find meditation is generally presented to people in this way. Perhaps this post will be what touches you, it will be your third strike?
TM very literally Changed. My. Life. Tim promised it would. I was skeptical. But six weeks after I started, I landed the MasterChef gig. I meditated in the car outside before going in for my audition. The casting team said my certainty and poise got me the job.
There you go.
The TM deal in a few dot-points:
* TM works like this: you sit in a chair (no need for crossed legs) with your eyes shut for 20 minutes, twice a day. You repeat a mantra in your head that your teacher gives you over and over. You repeat it gently – you don’t “shout it”.
* If your mind wanders, you gently steer it back to the mantra. Always back to the mantra. That’s all you have to do. The mantra is designed to do the rest. It “drags” your consciousness down, down, down. The teacher chooses a mantra with a vibration that suits you.
* I meditate after exercise in the morning (my body is more open, which helps go deep), often down at the beach in the morning sun. At night I do it before I go out/have dinner. It’s great to shower first because when you meditate you produce an oil on your face which is REALLY good for your skin and has been shown to make you look younger….
* TM has been scientifically proven to be up to five times deeper than sleep. 20 minutes of meditation is equivalent to 3 to 4 hours sleep.
* I don’t fret about where I do it. I do it on planes, in my office, in my car. In fact, the more “inappropriate” the place, the better. The slight discomfort makes me focus more. I’ve written about this before, the idea of finding happiness “in spite of” mess or pain or chaos.
* When I was hosting MasterChef I used to meditate in the toilet cubicle (the only place I could get some peace) while my curlers set. On Mondays at Sunrise, I meditate in the wardrobe. No one seems to have a problem with this…I don’t think (!?).
* Catalyst on ABC ran a feature on TM last week: Transcendental Meditation: Hocus-pocus or healthy practice? Worth a watch.
TM has attracted controversy over the years. I’ve read/heard it all. The main criticism seems to be that it’s expensive.
* TM costs about $1000 – for a course over 3-4 nights. Once you’ve been “initiated” you can then attend weekly group meditations for free. I reckon this is great value. For Tim, like all TM teachers, teaching meditation is his career. He has a family to feed. He’s not a monk sitting in a cave living off donations. Yep, you can learn meditation for free by volunteers. But – and this is an odd concept – I think the act of handing over $$$ for the service makes people like me respect the service more, and apply myself more fully to it. Hey, it’s the world we live in!
This is what meditation feels like (for me):
* You know that sucking feeling when you stick a Mac powercord in the socket? That’s how it feels when you slip into the meditative state – like it all fits snugly, nothing is missing, things are firm and certain.
* Sometimes I feel my body expanding, like I’m the Michelin man. This is, apparently, my consciousness expanding beyond the experience of my body. Other times my head spins around on it’s own. Some people collapse forward on to their laps.
* Mostly, meditating is a jittery, thought-filled experience. BUT, the important thing is that when I come out of it after 20 minutes I’m 2938473 times calmer. This is what counts. Not what you do in meditation, but what happens after. Everything feels sweeter.
The three things I dig the most about TM:
* The soukshma/sookshma principle: while repeating the mantra, practice soukshma, which- as Tim teaches – roughly means innocent, faint and effortless. That is, come to the mantra innocently, faintly and effortlessly. This, for me, is the beauty of TM…it instills soukshma into your very being. So that out of meditation, the innocence, gentleness and effortlessness continues. It imbues. Infuses.Soukshma, soukshma, soukshma…!
* Thoughts are good: It doesn’t matter if your mind starts chattering. Thoughts are little bubbles of tension that surface as we sink deeper. Thoughts release tension. They are good. They also remind us to return to the mantra. Thought pops up; cue “return gently to the mantra”. This constant steering things gently back to the mantra is key. Because, when you return to real life out of meditation, it sets you up to gently steer things to calmness whenever your mind gets cluttery. It’s practice. It flexes a “steer to calm” muscle.
* It’s just stringent and organised enough: I’ve stuck with TM because I belong to a community that sticks to it. We meet every Monday night just to meditate and chat. I see TM’ers around town, meditating down at the beach and in parks. Feeling like I belong to a crew of meditators makes me do it twice a day. A bit like living in a society where brushing your teeth day and night is normal, expected. So you just do it.
* It makes me look younger. I know this is vain, which is not very balanced of me, but HTG (honest to God), part of the appeal of TM is it’s anti-aging properties. My skin has changed over the past two years. The muscles on my face have released, relaxed and opened up. HTG.
Tim Brown with a nice anecdote about meditation:
Meditation is not about withdrawing from life but learning how to access that space within oneself where we are able to enjoy the experience of life without being overwhelmed or consumed by it.
It’s a bit like when you go to the movies, get there late and get stuck in the front row. The screen is in your face and difficult to watch and the sound is way to loud. Far from having to leave the cinema all we need to do is get back a few rows.
Now we don’t want to go to the back of the cinema, that is no good as then the screen is too far away and the sound quality is poor – this is no more satisfying than being in the front row.
The ultimate place is in the middle of the cinema. That’s where the screen is at the right distance and the surround sound is the best. You can sit and be taken and engaged by the movie while still maintaining an awareness of yourself in the seat. This is what we call the “Goldilocks Phenomenon” – not to hot, not to cold, just right – or not to close to the experience to be consumed by it, not to far away so as to be disconnected from it, but just right in the sweet spot where the experience is engaging without being all consuming.
This is what we are looking to achieve through meditation. The rigors and dynamics of day to day living are drawing us further and further into the business of life which is causing us to become too enmeshed in it – as a result the experience becomes overwhelming and uncomfortable. This is the basis on which people find life stressful and all consuming, it is the basis for all suffering, discomfort and dis-ease.
This is exactly what meditation, or the “art of transcending” is all about – “moving beyond” ones current experience and gaining a greater perspective on the whole of one’s experience – this is what I call “conscious altitude” and it makes all the difference to being able to see things in context and brings greater stillness, clarity, creativity, energy, intelligence to the mind and prints out in the body as greater physical wellbeing.It’s not rocket science, and it’s been know for thousands of years how to trigger this response in the mind and body and the importance of doing so. The pressures of modern day living is causing people to reinvestigate meditation as an option – much to the benefit to themselves, those around them, their society, their country and their world – thank goodness!
Tim is based in Paddington, Sydney. You can contact him here.
Tim also lists other TM teachers in Australia, America, UK and NZ.
David Lynch on TM:
Are you a meditator? Tried TM? What’s your favourite, or “sweetest” observation about being in a meditative state?
I learnt TM when the Natural Law Party ( a political organisation) was offering free courses in the early nineties. The NLP was closely associated with TM. While TM is valuable in teaching meditation I do not think that people need to outlay a huge amount of money to learn how to meditate or to acquire a man tra There are a lot of a lot of types of meditation on offer nowadays including the traditional sitting quiet in a spot using a mantra or focussing on the breath and others that have you listening to a cd through headphones.
All of the benefits ascribed to meditation are accurate. More and more research is being done on how meditation can lead to changes in brain functioning and the benefits that ensue from that.
Check out Rick Hanson’s “Buddha’s Brain.”
Hi Sarah,
Great post! TM meditation is very close to my heart.
I learnt 2 years ago from one of Tim’s friends Gary Gorrow (garygorrow.com). Since that time I’ve been on two of Gary’s retreats which have been transformational. It’s something I feel very blessed to have in my life.
My sweetest observation about the meditative state is the peacefullness it brings to my mind and body. However, I think David Lynch is absolutely right when he says you just do it and watch things in your life get better. That has certainly been the case for me. I couldn’t count all the ways it has changed my life, it just has.
For anyone interested in learning (and this may sound strange) but loose your expectations about the meditation itself, what you might experience. It doesn’t really matter. What matters is that you do it consistently and that’s all – the other changes in your life will just happen without needing to try anymore.
Yah, love these posts, so inpsiring to know other people are getting so much out of this technique too
x
I’ve been practicing TM for 1 year now, and can’t praise it’s benefits enough. I tried other forms of meditation before TM, however no other techniques prove to be as effective. For me it just makes everything in life a lot easier, everything just seems to flow. I used to binge drink quite often, but after becoming a meditator I pretty much lost the desire for alcohol. I still enjoy the occasional drink, but will stop at 1 or 2.
I would have to say that for me, like Sarah, it has changed my life also. I’m in control of my life now, rather than being pushed and pulled due to social pressures.
I have to say that I balked at the $1000 price tag, but since doing it I think to myself why didn’t I do it sooner? In fact, since then I’ve gone on various meditation retreats, and further Vedic courses. Your initial TM course will be the start of a great journey!
Love the column Sarah, it really resonates with me.
JGD
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by WellBeing Magazine and Belinda-Jane, sarah wilson. sarah wilson said: stuff I’m not paid to endorse: how transcendental meditation changed my life, all cliches aside http://bit.ly/amT2S1 [...]
Meditation for me is very much like spirituality, it means something different to everyone and there doesn’t seem to be any right or wrong, choose what works best.
I struggled with meditation in early days, experimenting with different techniques. I have found a particular meditation technique that seems to work for me as the benefits over the past year have been unquantifiable.
The most valuable piece of advice I received when struggling with meditation was ‘let whatever happens happen, don’t resist, watch with curiosoty.’ When I started to let go and practise this meditation for me changed, I didn’t feel so agitated. I built up to meditating an hour a day over time, at first it was soooo difficult….my legs twitched and my mind would try to find ways to stop by lining up things I needed to do.
Over time my mind has slowed so that I can, more often than not, watch what I am thinking and thus why I feel the way I do. It has allowed me to deal with situations that used to baffle me. It hasn’t taken away the pain or suffering, quite often watching what’s going on in my head has caused me some pain and suffering, but it has allowed me to view the suffering differently. More often than not I view it as a learning curve where I learn more than just bopping long day to day. Winston Churchill once described life as ‘one damn thing after another.’ It doesn’t need to be like that, it’s an attitude and it requires work, change and awareness. I seem to go through stages in meditation and something is shaken in my awareness and it causes emotional upheaval, I try to let it pass as best I can at the time, but when it is over an imaginery bar is lifted each time and my threshold increases to those things that baffled me, the things that I thought were the cause of my pain & suffering drop away as I take responsibility for me.
Sarah…….I believe that we (as humans) have times in our lives when windows of opportunity open a little in our awareness, these occur during times of pain and suffering (while you were sitting on the beach), and they don’t usually stay open for long as we get over our pain in one way or another (usually dysfunctionally……..take substance abuse as an example) but if we open the window a little further and investigate amazing things happen. It seems scarey at the time but that’s just our mind creating the fear I believe. You’ve opened the window…..fantastic and good on you.
Meditation has absolutely changed my life. If anyone’s sitting on the edge, throw yourself off, be patient with yourself and please let whatever happens happen. Let the emotions happen, whether wanted or not. It will change your life to watch your mind with curiosity…..hmmmm.
You just have the knack for putting the right words together, “Mac power cord in the socket”. Got it! Love it! And I’m half over the line on the TM (but the cost? ouch!). Another great post. Thanks Sarah!
Hi Sarah,
I was reading this book ‘50 ways to find a lover’ by Lucy-Anne Holmes. The book is hilarious, Lucy is based in London. Her second book is out next month.
Anyway I tweeted one day saying how much I love this book.
And Lucy-Anne Holmes, out of nowhere tweeted me back saying thank you.
Anyway I followed her in tweeter. Then one time, she tweeted, asking which music is good for writing, to get inspiration?
And I tweeted her saying the tomato tik-tok sound, and I asked her to refer to my blog. And to check your website.
and she did. And she got to know how amazing you are.
And she must hv read this post
Because she Just tweeted thatbecause of you (and one other person) she’s going to try meditating.
Isn’t it amazing what Twitter (and your column) does?
X
This is a fantastic post and I am now keen to try TM.
I’ve been practising, um, ‘regular’, meditation for a few months and I’ve only reached the real meditative state twice, so I feel like it might be time to move on because sometimes it’s a little frustrating. Though, I know it’s natural for that to occur to some extent.
Meditation makes a world of difference to everything though. You certainly don’t need to reach some strange feeling or place to get the benefits. It’s just the most beautiful change to your lifestyle and I’m so glad you wrote about it for the world to see. I hope it inspires many readers…
Nat x
I wonder if different personality types can meditate more easily? I went to hypnotherapy about 14 years ago to help with my grinding teeth while i slept. I can now self-hypnotise that I would call meditating. I find it relaxing and i can usually go down very easily.
I also can put my recliner in a comfy position, put some really lovely music on and have 30-60 minutes of complete relaxation before the kids arrive home from school.
I also tend to completely relax at the end of yoga, i can start snoring very quickly.
I think maybe I am more of a relaxed kind of person? I know that I can use deep breathing when dealing with stressful situations, including child-birth, drug-free
Hey Merewyn, I started with self-hypnosis, too. For insomnia. It’s a VERY similiar technique. In fact little separates the two. There is nothing too “magical” about meditation. you just do it. It feels good. The end.
Hey Merewyn, I started with self-hypnosis, too. For insomnia. It’s a VERY similiar technique. In fact little separates the two. There is nothing too “magical” about meditation. you just do it. It feels good. The end.
Nat, I’ve included this as a post tomorrow, hope you’re ok with!
Oh good! Glad that one made sense to at least one other person!!
There is nothing that distinguishes TM from the traditional Buddhist meditation practices. You don’t need to pay thousands for a mantra–you can use anything you like. There is nothing special about TM that is worth paying the money for, unless, as you say, the act of spending money is more likely to make you focus. All you need for success in meditation is the dedication to set aside the time every day.
Crying shame that it costs so much.
I went on a quest to find a guided meditation that would help me and turned out having a fantastic session using one that had Theta brainwaves in the background. My whole body was tingling near the end. The most spiritual experience I’ve ever had outside of a church setting.
I never thought I would try meditation but, after reading this post, I am definitely going to have a go… Any recommendations for TM in Perth?
I agree Isobel, but I find the structured community of TM helps me. Also, the relationship with my teacher is slightly shifted because he lives a life like I do…he doesn’t live on a hill, or in a monastery. He gets modern life, if you know what i mean
[...] Sarah Wilson on Transcendental Meditation – this article inspired me to go down to the library and do some research on meditation. It [...]