Just over 60 years ago, there was almost no mention of meditation in Western popular culture except in the most off-beat paths and dusty corners. Now, everywhere you look, from magazines and talk shows to books and the internet, one blissed-out person after another is preaching about how they overcame the challenges of modern-day life by sitting on a mat and cushion.
It is a fact that our schedules are hectic and overfilled with things to do, unpaid bills, deadlines not being met and an inbox that only grows with more emails each day. However, all the hype and media coverage that meditation receives these days distorts what engaging in the practice is actually like. Yes, there are great benefits, but the picture being painted by current popular culture is far from accurate.
Here's another take that might be of some use.
Imagine that one day your curiosity got the best of you, and you decided to go to a rodeo. Having never been to one, you check out the scene, and lo and behold you discover that "you too can ride a bull."
With a bit of encouragement and instruction you decide to go for it, so you mount the bull, strap in and give the OK to go. Then the gate flies open, and the bull starts kicking, leaping and thrashing around. In the midst of this flurry of activity, you realize, "This is not fun at all," and before you can blink you are thrown off the bull and let out a big groan as your body hits the ground. That's pretty much what meditation is like -- in the beginning, at least.
Now, you might be saying, "What the heck are you talking about? This is so far from popular accounts, it cannot be true." Well, it is.
Like it or not, meditation is not what most people describe. I do not know what happened, but somehow, some way, it became taboo to openly admit that the practice, albeit highly effective in terms of improving your quality of life, is not inherently fun or easy. When you first sit, you will likely be shocked by the fact that you have no control over the swirl in your head; if you don't believe me, try stopping your thoughts. This is the bull, and dealing with it is the antithesis of what we are told to expect.
Human beings are sophisticated survival mechanisms that are equipped with the ability to feel, process and create. We are wonderful machines that do amazing things, yet all of it is intended to keep us alive and give us more of what we want, and less of what we don't want.
In spite of all the wonderfulness, our need to survive is the very thing that meditation is designed to interrupt; do not be fooled into believing otherwise. This dynamic sets up a confrontation between your desire for whatever you seek and the brain's need to ensure that you stay alive; hence the experience is like trying to ride a bull that does not want to be ridden. Sorting this out requires patience, time and a willingness to be extremely uncomfortable -- this is taming the bull. And it's not a peaceful, blissed-out process.
A few years back a friend of mine jumped wholeheartedly into meditation in hopes of taming his "bull." He was great, sitting a few days a week at longer and longer intervals. Then one day, out of the blue, he told me that he quit. His reason: "I was experiencing more and more anger." I suggested that it was not that meditation made him angry, but that meditation revealed just how angry he was.
My friend never returned to his mat and cushion, opting to ignore a major source of his struggles in life. In this case, the bull got the best of my friend. Had someone shared a more realistic and less culturally idealized perspective on meditation prior to his engaging, he might have been better equipped to stick with it.
However, in contrast to my friend, there are thousands of meditation success stories of those who did manage to overcome what they were told and make their own way. After all, the practice has existed for several thousand years and has greatly contributed to the development of some of the most incredible people that have ever walked this earth. Those who can stick with it and are successful in navigating the peaks and valleys that make meditation what it is reap the benefits.
If you really want to try taming that bull, here are some of those benefits.
In addition to lowering stress and increasing one's ability to deal with pressure, research has shown that Zen meditation causes gray matter to grow and protects the brain from some of the effects of aging. Another study examined the impact of the Buddhist "insight" meditation on the brain and learned that it caused an increase in thickness of the prefrontal cortex in the brain, the part that lies behind what we call our forehead and is associated with higher order function such as attention and making moral judgments. For all of you who are paid to solve complex problems that require focused attention over time, this is a good thing. These are just a few of the many benefits that come from meditation.
Whether you are a CEO of a Fortune 500 corporation, doctor, contractor, teacher, programmer, truck driver or stay-at-home mom, meditation will make a difference in your ability to handle life and whatever it throws at you.
So now that you know that meditation requires more than just good intentions and a surface-level interest, grab your mat and cushion and get ready for the ride of your life!
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Jeanne Ball: Dr. Oz: Make Meditation Your New Year's Resolution
Since I was never a regular, I found that with the passing of the years meditation of the stilling the mind variety actually got harder. I don't know why. But I also found I don't really need it. Now, when I find my mind racing, I know that it's working on a problem that needs solving. So I let it race and I watch. I also gently guide the thoughts and expand on the theme of any worthwhile ones, while discarding the more obviously useless ones. There are also emotions that may arise, as well as physical sensations etc. This can continue for hours, but in the end, I usually have a solution.
I think of this as another form of meditation, even though it can arouse feelings of anxiety, cause rapid breathing and heartbeat, and in short be the exact opposite of serene tranquility. I get the benefit of tranquility later, thanks to having found a solution to the problem.
TM, on the other hand, is a money-driven cult. I know because I was one of its victims.
I was very active in "the movement" from 1979 - 1993. I paid exorbitant amounts of my hard earned money learning "advanced techniques" and "flying sutras" purported by the movement's "experts" to give me the ability to levitate and become enlightened. I followed the prescribed practices as instructed to the letter for years and years. It got me a divorce, estrangement from friends and family, and disillusionment about all matters "spiritual". My story is common among former TM practitioners. It has taken me years to deprogram myself.
Years of TM practice, including so-called "siddhis" and advance techniques costing thousands of dollars, did nothing. Once I began true meditation practice, results began accruing and have continued to this day.
The "scientific research" the TM organization touts is not generally recognized outside of the movement by the mainstream scientific community as it is regarded as biased, of poor methodological quality and inconclusive.
"The movement" claims TM is the ONLY valid meditation technique, blames its practitioners when the results don't materialize and charges outrageous fees for its wares - all common traits of a cult.
Save your money and your relationships and learn one of the many other freely available meditation techniques that have been studied and verified by real scientists. I recommend insight meditation, mindfulness meditation and loving kindness meditation.
I was going to use the analogy of christians and the various churches or denominations, which a number say 'our view of the bible is the only way to salvation. TM says ONLY its way of meditation is correct.. THAT is wrong.. like you said and it creates a cult mentality.
peace
As for that "peer-reviewed research" -- that is a vague term that is not synonymous with "objective scientific studies." There aren't any. For more on the discredited "scientific" claims of the "TM" organization: http://www.behind-the-tm-facade.org/transcendental_meditation-tmresearch-problems.htm
Bottom line -- anyone can learn the technique of meditation. No one has to "train" you and then elaborately bestow some word on you for a mantra that you can't choose for yourself -- for a lotta bucks.
{{{ from patanjali yoga sutra : yogaś citta vṛtti nirodhaḥ
Yoga is the cessation of the thought waves of the mind }}}
Vritti means fluctuations or reverberations BUT nirodha does not mean cessation in the sense of trying to stop vritti ; it means transcending the mind [ manas ]
Nirodha is the process of transcending whose RESULT is the state of mind without thought { fluctuation of mindstuff }
technically the individual mind is not there in the state of maharishi's Transcendental Consciousness ; it is cosmic " mind "
absolute being whose nature is satchitananda
this might answer the comment " what is it you are transcending "
in the highest sense transcending means not just leaving behind but losing causes of problems [ healing stress]
in alengthier point one could use John Hagelin's delineation of VRITTI [ in context of this blog the bull is vritti but it is a positive bull not to be killed as in Spain ] Hagelin is the number one TM teacher , world leading quantum physicists { flipped SU(5) grand unification theory and E8XE8 HETEROTIC STRING THEORY( SUPERUNIFICATION ) ] and public policy expert { ISTPP }
VRIITI of ATMA is equivalent to " fluctuations of the quantum field in VACCUO "
a mighty bull indeed
Dustin Rudolph
www.PursueAHealthyYou.com
One does not need elaborate training, nor someone else to bestow some special word to be used as a mantra.
I sit and hum.
No specific sound, no mantra, just mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
My body is conformable sitting in semi-lotus position when I do it, but I imagine any way of sitting or lying down or walking or standing would also work.