Can meditation relate to spirituality? Which meditation can help you reach the spiritual realm?
Yes, mediation also relates to spirituality. Meditation techniques can help you reach your goal by calming you down and opening your brain’s horizons. Transcendental meditation is one such technique that enables you to achieve the spiritual realm.
TM has become very famous among people. Many celebrities practice transcendental meditation twice daily, and their entire career depends on it. There are many benefits of transcendental meditation, such as they help in enhancing your creativity and productivity.
Let’s clear your doubts by understanding transcendental meditation’s primary meaning.
What is transcendental meditation?
Transcendental means a spiritual space.
Transcendental meditation was first introduced by Swami Bhramananda Saraswati, a Hindu monk, in the United States, along with his disciple Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. This meditation is believed to help you reach a spiritual realm that will calm all your senses and stimulate your brain.
Transcendental meditation is a meditation based on mantras, a silently used sound. You slightly repeat the mantra in such a meditation until you achieve your inner peace. The Mantra is generally in the Sanskrit language. ‘Om’ is one of the most popular mantras in the world. Om is believed to be “everything and nothing.” Meditating with this mantra will create the vibrations required to generate power within oneself.
Transcendental meditation is sitting in one position with eyes closed and deep breaths chanting the mantra silently or loudly, according to your choice.
How to practice transcendental meditation?
One needs to go to an instructor to practice and learn transcendental meditation to experience all the transcendental meditation health benefits. Other meditation techniques might not require a trainer, but transcendental meditation is a 7 step course that needs to be understood.
A teacher helps practice transcendental meditation by giving general information about the meditation technique. This is a 60-minute introductory lecture.
There’s a subsequent 45 minutes lecture giving specific information. After that, there’s a 10 to 15-minute interview for people who want to practice transcendental meditation. Once the interview is done, you’ll receive 1 to 2 hours of personal instructions.
Then comes the picking of mantras. To pick a mantra, you need to keep in mind that:-
1. A mantra should be a meaningless sound.
2. The mantra should be something other than your focus point in your mediation. Instead, the mantra helps you focus by keeping your mind away from distracting thoughts.
3. The vibration of the mantra should have resonance to it so that it meets the vibrations of the mind.
Once you are done picking up a mantra, the next step is to sit comfortably upright. Take deep breaths and close your eyes. And start repeating the mantra.
You can practice this twice a day for 20 minutes. During meditation, your thoughts wander away; try fixating them again towards your mantra. After you are done, open your eyes, relax, and wiggle your legs. You are ready for your day.
Your transcendental meditation instructor will keep a check for the next three days to track your progress, explain the meditation technique in detail, and correct mistakes. The instructor will keep meeting you for the next few months to ensure you practice proper meditation techniques.
The instructor will also help you know all the benefits of transcendental meditation. Let’s discuss some of them.
What are the benefits of transcendental meditation?
1. Reduces Stress
There are many transcendental meditation health benefits, as it is said to be effective in reducing stress levels, proven in nearly 40 studies since 1977.
How?
This meditation reduces the cortisol hormones in the brain, which helps slow heart and breath rates. The brain becomes more calm and alert.
A research study by V. A. Barnes, F. A Treiber, and H. Davis proved how practicing transcendental meditation helps regulate blood pressure levels. After two months of practicing this meditation, blood pressure rates were significantly reduced among all the participants. Low blood pressure rates help in regulating stress hormones and keep us calm.
2. Increases Productivity
Another tm meditation benefits is increased productivity. When our minds relax, we can control our thoughts, and our brains can efficiently function more effectively. The more we stop unwanted negative thoughts from coming, the better understanding we develop.
Transcendental meditation helps us control our mind and fixate it in one place, regulating our thought processes. When you give all your attention to one particular thing you are doing, you’ll be more productive and get the job done efficiently.
Since transcendental meditation reduces stress, it clears our minds. Stimulates our brain to function better hence increasing productivity.
This meditation increases work efficiency by enhancing leadership qualities, job satisfaction, personal relationships, stability of mind, and mental and physical health.
3. Reduces symptoms of ADHD (Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder)
Research by Sarina J. Grosswald (2013) on “Is ADHD a Stress-Related Disorder? Why Meditation Can Help, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Children and Adolescents”, has proved that regular practice of transcendental meditation can reduce the symptoms of Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
According to the Center For Disease Control And Prevention (CDC), ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder, generally diagnosed in children, which lasts in adulthood. People diagnosed with ADHD may face trouble paying attention, be unable to control compulsive behavior, or be highly active.
Practicing transcendental meditation reduces symptoms of ADHD significantly within six months. Transcendental meditation health benefits include helping increase attention span, regulating behavior, improving emotional regulation, enhancing memory, and reducing stress and anxiety.
4. Healthy relationships
Another tm meditation benefits it helps cultivate better and stronger relationships. It is normal for you to get tired and not have the energy to indulge or give effort to friends and family. But sometimes, it becomes a root cause of unsuccessful relationships.
Transcendental meditation reduces the stress and tension of your day and relaxes your mind. It helps in developing a more tolerant personality. It also helps in broadening awareness and increasing happiness. You can also regulate your emotions better if you consistently practice transcendental meditation. This will help you develop and enjoy more profound relationships and healthy mental health.
5. Reduce Alcohol Consumption Or Alcohol Use Disorder
According to the research, adding transcendental meditation to the treatment program for Alcohol Use Disorder was helpful. Participants who practiced TM showed signs of high satisfaction. Those who practiced TM were less likely to return to their drinking habits after discharge. TM helped them reduce stress and anxiety, which prevented them from relapsing.
Tm meditation benefits also include increased hormones like dopamine, serotonin, and gabaminobutyric acid ( GABA), which keeps us happy and satisfied, thus reducing anxiety and stress, which will decrease the urge to consume drugs and alcohol.
6. Increase Problem-Solving Abilities
Meditation is known to develop problem-solving abilities. When we practice transcendental meditation, we let our minds stay calm. With all the stress and unwanted thoughts, you might be unable to look through the problem and develop a complaining attitude.
Transcendental meditation affects our brain and pauses all those unwanted thoughts and emotions in our minds, opening a clear path to achieving our goal. It enables you to develop an attitude of finding solutions to problems that are bothering you.
This ultimately helps you live stress-free and happily.
7. Improved self-esteem
Transcendental meditation might help us gain self-confidence by cutting off all negative self-talk. The benefits of transcendental meditation include improved self-esteem by making you feel complete and satisfied with all your achievements.
Self-esteem is what you believe in yourself. Negative self-esteem may affect your mental health adversely. Transcendental meditation will help you stay happy with yourself.
8. Improved emotional regulation
Practicing transcendental meditation improves emotional regulation by controlling sudden outbursts of emotions.
Tm meditation benefits also include a better understanding of your emotions and developing an open mind to decide how to act upon your feelings. It helps in directing the expression of emotions more positively.
Improved emotional regulation keeps mental health better. Reduces stress and anxiety, and other mental health issues.
9. Increased spiritual connection
To reap the Tm meditation benefits choosing the right mantra is essential. Transcendental meditation is chanting Sanskrit words or mantras to calm our senses. It helps in developing a connection between the vibration of mantras. You need to pick the mantra of your choice and slowly keep chanting it.
Practicing transcendental meditation helps increase self-compassion.
10. Reduce stress eating
It is common for some of us to end up stress eating whenever we have stressed. Stress eating is a way of unconscious diversion of anger, stress, or frustration. Sometimes there’s a chance that this eating habit starts becoming unhealthy.
Stress eating may lead to increased weight and other health issues. Tm meditation benefits our mental health, regulates our emotions, and helps us develop healthy eating habits.
Conclusion:
Transcendental meditation is one of the best forms of meditation that cleanses your body, mind, and soul. Just with the help of a certified instructor, you can quickly excel in this type of meditation and get all the benefits of transcendental meditation. If you don’t feel like taking the help of an instructor, you can also practice it on your own. Many YouTube channels can help you understand transcendental meditation and provide detailed steps. But it is advised that you should take the help of a professional because it will help you get all the desired results soon.
All the benefits of transcendental meditation have made it popular among people across the world. Choosing the right mantra and practicing it daily has helped people change their life. TM meditation doesn’t require any kind of complex meditation poses; instead, you have to sit and close your eyes comfortably.
All this comes with practice. Keep going if you want to experience tm meditation benefits. Meditation is a slow process; you just need to develop patience and give it a go. Trusting and believing the process is an essential treat.
Many different types of meditation techniques can help you similarly to transcendental meditation. Click here to learn.
To learn more about mental health, subscribe to Your Mental Health Pal.