# Transcendental Meditation?



## soundsgood (Nov 7, 2005)

Does anyone here practice transcendental meditation? All I know is that it’s expensive - around $2500 for four days instruction (of only 2hrs a day) and it has approx. 6million practitioners worldwide. According to many websites it has all kinds of benefits like reduced stress/anxiety, improved concentration, increased happiness etc. now that’s cool but first off $2500 is a lot of money and secondly I can’t think what it could offer that normal meditation can’t. I am curious about it b/c I have read a lot of studies which indicate significant benefits from regular practice of tm. Does anyone know much else about tm? I’m in the process of deciding whether or not to seriously consider investing the money …


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## likewater (Aug 3, 2006)

tm sounds like a lot of hooey to me. I don't question the benefits of meditation but the advantages that tm advertises seem like gimicks. I'd say stick to good old fashioned free meditation, zazen or otherwise, and put the 2500 in the bank.


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## emeraldoceans (Sep 13, 2006)

likewater said:


> tm sounds like a lot of hooey to me. I don't question the benefits of meditation but the advantages that tm advertises seem like gimicks. I'd say stick to good old fashioned free meditation, zazen or otherwise, and put the 2500 in the bank.


 :agree and plus all of the benefits that you mentioned it supposedly has, i get all of that out of just "normal" meditation. You know the old saying........... if it sounds too good to be true, then it usually is.


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## redkit (Mar 14, 2006)

I had an experience with transcendental meditation.
In my country it was cheap at that time.(1987) After few days of regular TM application, I felt that I was the happiest person on the world. No anxiety, no depression, only happiness.
However, after two years of regular TM application, I experience the negative effects of TM. My anxiety got worse and I got depressed.
If you begin to apply TM, the first three or six mounths may be the happiest time of your life but positive effects of TM may not continue in the long run. TM can give a heroin-like effect at the beginning
However, some people have the positive effects of TM in their whole life.
I dont meditate now. I trust my meds. Meds are my best friends and they are effective in the long run.
But you can give a try to TM. If it is expensive in the USA, come to Turkey. It costs about 600 or 700 dollars in Turkey.


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## mayblue (Oct 1, 2005)

How can meditation cost money? What are you paying for? I've always heard TM spoken of as if it were some kind of cult.


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## soundsgood (Nov 7, 2005)

i agree, tm does seem to have a cult-like feel to it in some regards. all i'm interested in is whether or not the technique specific to tm can help me enjoy my life more (also help me deal constructively with my own issues which manifest themselves as social anixety). in learing tm there is a particular method which apparantly varies from person to person so you need a qualified instructor. you receive a 'personal mantra' (of which i've heard is simply based on your age and that there are only 16 different mantra's in all of tm). i am very curious as to what the 'tm movement' thinks is worth me paying a few thousand dollars. i have an appointment with a long time tm practioner and instructor 12:30 today, so i am hoping to get some insight.


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## soundsgood (Nov 7, 2005)

redkit - that's some interesting stuff man. why do you think tm stopped being effective for you? was there a correlation between tm becomming depressive and any other issues going on in your life?


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## soundsgood (Nov 7, 2005)

turns out it's $3500 to learn tm in new zealand. ouch! it was an interesting hour anyway, the guy i talked to has taught tm for over 25 yrs all around the world. to be frank there was no real justification for the price. he said that a part of the $3500 goes to him (obviously) and that the rest goes to the tm movement. apparantly they put a lot of funding into universities and tm courses in underdeveloped countries. the guy who i talked to runs 'care new zealand', which is a no cost, government funded, rehabilitation centre. i have had him as my councellor for the last 2months and also worked with him in a group setting too. hmm. i'm off to the library tonight to do some more research. ... has anyone else had any tm experiences? or know anything about it?


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## redkit (Mar 14, 2006)

I learned TM in 1987. It was very cheap at that time in Turkey. However, short run effects of TM were so good that it worths 3500 $.
My experience is not extraordinary, most people have similar experiences. In the short run it seems to be a miracle, but in the long run, no positive effects, only negative effects.


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## joethelion (Mar 4, 2005)

I learnt TM in 1994 and it was relatively cheap.

However, they claim TM is different from and better than other types of meditation and you have to be taught personally. It's not. It's just normal mantra meditation.

You'd be better off learning from a book. "Wherever You Go There You Are" by Jon Kabat-Zinn is a good one.

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