Last week's concert in NYC which reunited Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney has once again brought attention to Transcendental Meditation. It's quite historic for the two surviving Beatles to perform together, and the concert brings back images of the Foursome's days in India so many decades ago.
The purpose of the event - organized by David Lynch's Foundation and the TM Foundation - for the US Committee for Stress Free Schools - aims to give the gift of meditation to as many children as possible.
As someone who learned TM when I was 9 years old, and spent most of my youth in the TM Movement, I have been reading about the event and the goals of the Foundation with interest. It fascinates me that the legacy of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who faced adulation and controversy in his life, continues to attract such highly influential people from around the world. Of course, my father was one of Maharishi's inner circle, and I spent hundreds of hours in his presence, so understand the spell binding nature of what it was like to be around him.
It comforts me that the legacy of Maharishi will continue to be realized through the wonderful tool that is meditation. Personally, I am not comfortable with a movement around meditation. Rather, I think the practice of meditation itself, whether TM, Primordial Sound Meditation, breathing, yoga, or mindfulness, is the most important.
For me as a child, meditation gave me a sense of who I really was. The experiential silence of meditation f gave me a sense of security, because I had the tool to silence my thoughts and process all the busyness of my life (particularly in my teen age years) in a way where I felt I was in control.
It helped me feel connected to something bigger, but also physically made me feel more rested, clear and energetic. With advanced techniques, I felt a sense of power that, again, could only come from experientially knowing myself and my capabilities.
I was always irregular in my meditation practice - sometimes meditating twice a day, other times going for months without doing it. I always appreciate that my parents gave me the tool of meditation, but then let me practice it when and if I wanted. Because they meditated, and it made them happier and more relaxed in their own lives, I meditated more regularly.
My daughters both learned meditation from my father when they were about 4 years old. They love the idea that they know how to meditate, even if they dont do it all the time. And now, when we need a Time Out, we actually take a Time In. Meditation helps them relax and focus, but also gives them a connection to a sense of spirit that I could never explain to them.
So, I applaud the resurgence of the conversation around meditation and children. I hope it will be embraced as a tool to help humanity, and not an effort propagated by a movement. Hopefully, an openness about the variety of tools that can help our children (and ourselves) will be the model moving forward.
Here are some other Intent articles you may find interesting about Meditation:
When is the Right Time to Teach Children Meditation? Deepak Chopra
Benefits of Meditation, Dr. David Simon
A Yoga Demo for Warmer Days, Rebecca Pacheco
Awakening our Children, Mick Quinn
20 Meditation Tips for Beginners, Ray Baskerville
Meditation: Connect with Your Inner Expert, Roger Gabriel
Should I Practice Meditation or Kaballah? Deepak Chopra
A Lifetime of Happiness & Focus Enhancer: Vipassana Meditation, Aaron Ross
Meditation Works Wonders on College Students, Elevated Existence
Treasures of our Past: Inner Child Meditation, Daily Om
Yoga at Ground Zero, Louisiana, David Romanelli
Mallika Chopra blogs regularly at Intent.com
Add to Del.icio.us
Add to Technorati
Add to Digg
Add to Newsvine
Add to Facebook
Add to StumbleUpon
Subscribe
This sounds absolutely amazing! I am so sorry I missed it.
If the consciously 'enlightened'
health-boosting & stress-busting claims touted about
the (famously tax-evading & 'giggling')
Maharishi's TM methods are supposedly valid,
then why does DAVID LYNCH
blatantly CHAIN-SMOKE
CIGARETTES like an ADDICT during interviews
in recent years -- when he claims
that he's been consistently & blissfully doing T.M.
for over three decades ???
Please explain --
Why does TM-proselytizer David Lynch
smoke two packs of cigarettes a day (documented)
-- if the purported "stress-free" panacea
of "transcendental meditation"
is so incredibly healthful & calming ?
(it's also exhorbitant
& fraudulent at a cost
of $ 2,500 dollars to get
a (generic) so-called "secret" mantra
which is assigned solely based on
a student's age -- in accordance with a chart
(during a "Puja" religious-ritual worship & chanting ceremony).
- - - - -
note: Of course, there are secular Meditation,
Mindfulness, breathing exercises (such as "Chi Kung"),
and Stress-reduction programs & techniques,
which are well-researched, medically-recommended,
very effective, & definitely more affordable !
* These non-sectarian methods are
also beneficially appropriate for PUBLIC SCHOOL settings
--- without getting involved with
a religious-political organization,
such as TM (that has a
fascist & sexist framework,
a history of cult-type conduct
and a pattern of deception).
*healthy resource* =
view numerous research studies
re: holistic
Mindfulness Meditation & Stress-Reduction,
via this (NIH) National Institutes of Health
website --- note: can use KEYWORDS
(via PubMed) such as MINDFULNESS MEDITATION , etc.
=> http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez
_____
Is this TM "Puja" ceremony chanting appropriate for PUBLIC SCHOOLS ??? -- especially when there is deliberate deception & obfuscation by the TM missionaries when communicating with school staff, students & parents -- Here is a brief excerpt (translated from Sanskrit) of chanting that occurs during the standard TM "Puja" initiation ceremony (along with an altar, a painting of a Guru, incense, candles & offerings) -- in which students each receive a "secret" (& supposedly unique & "meaningless") mantra. However, in fact, each TM student's mantra is actually derived from the name of one of several Hindu deities; these generic mantras are routinely assigned based solely on the student's age in accordance with a chart ---
"To LORD NARAYANA, to lotus-born BRAHMA the Creator, to VASHISHTHA to SHAKTI and his son, PARASHAR, To VYASA, to SHUKADEVA, to the great GAUDAPADA,... to SHANKARACHARYA, the redeemer, hailed as KRISHNA... I bow down again and again..."
source: http://www.trancenet.net/secrets/puja/alternate.shtml
http://www.trancenet.net/secrets/puja/tradt.shtml
_____
Please be aware & informed:
The modus operandi of the TM missionaries is to deliberately MISINFORM school STUDENTS, PARENTS, & staff about the 'Transcendental Meditation' organization & procedures. The TM movement has used various front-organizations and program-labels over the years. One of their current evangelical guises is the innocuous-sounding "QUIET TIME" in schools. The "Quiet Time" program permission slips (given to students along with their lunch forms, etc. at the beginning of the school year) only mention the slogan "Quiet Time" -- however these permission slips DO NOT PROVIDE ANY ACCURATE DESCRIPTION WHATSOEVER of TM procedures, "Puja" worship-initiation ceremony, nor any mention of the "Transcendental Meditation" organization or background info. about TM agendas ("World Plan", "yogic flyers", "crowned Rajas", etc.) --- http://www.cultnews.com/?p=2155
Here is a direct quote from an article published in the JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION (JAMA):
"Ex-members say that the TM movement trains them in the kinds of deception noted here. "I was taught to lie and to get around the petty rules of the 'unenlightened' in order to get favorable reports into the media, " said one. "We were taught how to exploit the reporters' gullibility and fascination with the exotic, especially that [which] comes from the East. We thought we weren't doing anything wrong because we were told it was often necessary to deceive the unenlightened to advance our guru's plan to save the world." -- see reference article
re: "T.M.'s Deceptions" -- http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm2.html
_____
INDEPENDENT (UK) article
(" TM " sloganeering !
at New World Order rally,
involving Raja Emanuel & David Lynch) =>
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/david-lynchs-german-guru-angers-students-with-goebbels-rallying-cry-758742.html
*** Also, view
VIDEO of this
" TM " fiasco event
(in Germany, Nov/2007) =>
http://nosedef.blogspot.com/2009/04/david-lynch-forces-my-video-of-him.html
_______________
Post a Comment
By submitting these comments, I agree to the beliefnet.com terms of service, rules of conduct and privacy policy (the "agreements"). I understand and agree that any content I post is licensed to beliefnet.com and may be used by beliefnet.com in accordance with the agreements.