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4 Reasons to Start Practicing Transcendental Meditation

The reasons and benefits of transcendental meditation.

By Bryan DijkhuizenPublished 2 years ago 4 min read
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Daniel Mingook Kim on Unsplash

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There are many benefits to practicing transcendental meditation.

It is a simple and effective style of meditation found in research to be quite good at reducing anxiety and helping individuals manage stress, lowering blood pressure, and providing other benefits.

Those who practice transcendental meditation may notice a reduction in tension and anxiety within minutes of beginning their practice.

Transcendental meditation can result in even more favorable benefits, such as increased resilience to stress, less general anxiety, and even better life satisfaction.

How to start practicing Transcendental Meditation

A single mantra is focused on and silently repeated throughout the meditation, in contrast to mindfulness-based meditations, which are concerned with clearing the mind of thoughts and gently bringing the attention back to the present moment when you detect that your mind has wandered.

This mantra might be different for each individual. Individuals who successfully finish training programs are typically issued mantras based on their particular traits and are expected to fit them.

To get started with this form of mediation, it is recommended to take a minute of 15 or 20 to relax and focus per day.

To do this, you must first find a comfortable posture, breathe through your diaphragm in a relaxed manner, and practice your capacity to notice the thoughts that arise in your mind without being involved with them.

Then it is the art of focussing on one word or mantra, but it can also be something like this.

That is the fundamental procedure, which is pretty straightforward. When busy, practicing stress management strategies might be complex, so basic and accessible stress management tactics can benefit.

But why is this form of meditation so valuable and helpful to live a healthier life?

1. The Physical Benefits of TM

For the physical aspect of TM, I'm going to refer to a research paper published back in 2017 and written by Soo Liang Ooi, Melisa Giovino, and Sok Cheon Pak.

In this research, the authors conclude that TM is beneficial in lowering blood pressure. This was discovered in a group of people around 55 and had heart and blood diseases.

After the trials of TM, Their rate of mortality related to elevated blood pressure decreased by 30%.

2. Mental Health Benefits (Stress and Anxiety relief)

Transcendental Meditation's most significant benefit may likely be its ability to help people overcome stress.

After all, as scientists are discovering from various perspectives, stress is the underlying cause of nearly all other mind-body diseases and dysfunctions!

Whether undertaken with students, with those who have post-traumatic stress disorder, or with employees, the research results have proven beyond any reasonable question that TM promotes deep relaxation for the body and the mind.

We no longer overreact under challenging situations since our bodies and mind have learned to cope with them.

3. Addiction-Related Benefits

If you have been addicted to something or know people who are, you know it's difficult to stop doing that thing-for example, smoking and alcohol addiction.

Since TM covers the mental aspect, it makes sense that the effect appears to be cumulative with smokers - the more significant the amount of stress reduction accomplished through meditation, the greater the amount of time spent free of nicotine.

Besides helping get rid of smoking addiction, TM helps treat alcoholism, among other ways, by enhancing the practitioner's overall quality of life.

Analyses of scientific studies on various therapies have revealed that TM's effectiveness in lowering alcohol intake is 1.5 to 8 times greater than the effectiveness of other programs.

4. Relational Benefits

Healthy relationships are built on the foundation of giving. Freely giving to one another results in the most gratifying relationships for both parties involved.

However, one can only offer from one's resources - or one's being. It is possible to replenish, heal, and nurture one's inner self via the practice of transcendental meditation, which allows us to give more to others.

Stress, worry, despair, illness, or simply being exhausted impairs our ability to be naturally kind and enjoyable to be around.

If two people are merely concerned with receiving and meeting their own needs in a relationship, then no one gives, and no one gets, and the partnership can be a source of dissatisfaction for both people involved.

A person's mind readily transcends busy or disturbed levels of thinking to fathom the peaceful depths of consciousness, where they encounter their true, inner self - a silent wellspring of love, happiness, and creativity.

At the same time, the body experiences profound rest that is deeper than ordinary relaxation, allowing knots of accumulated stress to be released that are impeding our ability to love.

And being in a happy and healthy relationship makes you a happy person, after all.

Originally Published on Medium

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Bryan Dijkhuizen

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