Transcendental Meditation

Transcendental Meditation (TM) is a form of mantra meditation popularised from the 1950s by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and later by celebrity practitioners. It's taught through paid courses by certified teachers.

The technique

• Sit comfortably with eyes closed, usually for about 20 minutes, twice a day.
• Silently and effortlessly repeat a mantra, a short meaningless sound.
• Don't concentrate or force it. When you notice you've drifted into other thoughts, gently return to the mantra.

The mantras

The TM organisation says each student's mantra is chosen personally by the teacher. Court documents and former teachers have suggested the mantras are actually assigned from a short list, mainly by age (and sometimes sex), depending on which teacher-training course the teacher took. See Transcendental Meditation Mantras.

TM-Sidhi programme

An advanced course in which, after a regular 20-minute session, practitioners silently repeat a series of short phrases (sutras), each twice with a pause of about 15 seconds in between.

Criticism

• The cost of courses, for a technique critics say can be learned freely.
• In the US, a 1977 federal court ruling (Malnak v. Yogi) found TM's teaching in public schools to be religious in nature.
• Some former members report negative effects, though research on TM is mixed and much of it is funded by the movement.

See also

• Meditation (a free breath-focused method)
• Transcendental Meditation Mantras
• Waking Up: Spirituality for Atheists

Written for this wiki, expanding a short note on TM.