Transcendental Meditation
Transcendental Meditation (TM) was developed by the Indian leader Maharishi
Mahesh Yogi in an effort to make the ancient practice of meditation more attainable
to Westerners. TM is a sound-focused form of meditation and is simple and easy to
learn. To prevent distracting thoughts, a person is given a mantra (a word or sound)
to repeat silently over and over again while sitting in a comfortable position. When
thoughts other than the mantra come to mind, the person is to notice them, and
then gently return the focus to the mantra. It is expected that people will practice
TM for 20 minutes, once or twice a day. The trademarked Transcendental Meditation
is a commercial enterprise that is a fairly expensive undertaking. Classes are typi-
cally found in Ayurveda schools and healthcare centers. Local centers may be found
on the Internet at http://www.tm.org.Buddhist Meditation
The essence of Buddhist meditation is training the mind in compassion and in wis-
dom. The goal is to develop compassion for all living things. Meditation begins with
a time of contemplation, which typically includes the following points:
■ Just as I wish to be free from suffering and experience only happiness, so do
all other beings.
■ I am no different from any other being; we are all equal.
■ My happiness and suffering are insignificant when compared with the happi-
ness and suffering of all other living beings.The next step in the meditation process is meditating on any determinations that
might have been made during contemplation. Your meditative practice concludes by
dedicating your life and purpose to the welfare of all living beings. It is believed that
many of the daily problems people experience will disappear, because most of them
arise from regarding yourself as more important than others.Mindfulness
Mindfulness, an ancient Buddhist practice, is both a philosophy as well as a medita-
tion practice. Its primary principle is “being in the moment.” Most people go
through daily routines with little awareness or attention.
People read while they eat, exercise while watching TV, or cook while talking to their
children, and the nuances of these experiences are lost. This situation might be
called living mindlessly by ignoring present moments. Mindfulness is the opposite of
living on “automatic pilot.” It is the art of conscious living through focusing full
attention on the activity at hand. While it may be simple to practice mindfulness,
it is not necessarily easy. Habitual unawareness is persistent and mindfulness206 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TOALTERNATIVE MEDICINE