In two experiments, we investigated physiological correlates of transcendental consciousness during Transcendental Meditation sessions. In the first, experimenter-initiated bells, based on observed physiological patterns, marked three phases during a Transcendental Meditation session in 16 individuals. Interrater reliability between participant and experimenter classification of experiences at...
Cardiovascular responses to stress reactivity has been proposed as a risk factor for hypertension. In this study, we evaluated the effects of stress reduction on both laboratory cardiovascular reactivity and ambulatory blood pressure in real life on 39 normotensive male subjects who were pretested for ambulatory blood pressure and cardiovascular reactivity to stress using a battery of...
Serum dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S) levels were measured in 270 men and 153 women who were experienced practitioners of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) and TM-Sidhi programs, mental techniques practiced twice daily, sitting quietly with the eyes closed. These were compared according to sex and 5-year age grouping to 799 male and 453 female nonmeditators. The mean DHEA-S levels in...
While for centuries a wakeful and tranquil state or experience variously called "samadhi," "pure awareness," or "enlightenment" had been said to be a normal experience and the goal of meditation in Vedic, Buddhist, and Taoist traditions, there was little known about this behavior until recently, when the practice of "transcendental meditation" (TM) became available for study in Western...
Several studies suggest that behavioral techniques such as meditation and relaxation may be associated with reduced end organ adrenergic receptor sensitivity. Thus far the evidence supporting this hypothesis has been indirect. We present preliminary findings showing reduced beta-adrenergic receptor sensitivity in a group of subjects practicing Transcendental Meditation. The meditation group (N...
The paired H reflex, considered to be the electrically evoked counterpart of the monosynaptic stretch reflex, provides a measure of motoneuron excitability under a variety of experimental and clinical conditions. It also offers a potentially useful tool in examining the neurophysiologic basis of alterations in reflex response in different states of awareness. This study investigated the...
EEG coherence was measured between pairs of three different subjects during a one-hour period practice of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) program. Coherence between subjects was evaluated for two sequential fifteen minute periods. On six experimental days, these periods preceded and then coincided with a fifteen minute period during which 2500 students participated in the TM-Sidhi program at...
To evaluate the effects of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) and TM-Sidhi program on the aging process, a standardized test of biological aging, utilizing auditory threshold, near point vision, and systolic blood pressure, was given to a cross-sectional group (N = 84) with a mean age of 53 years. There were 11 controls, 33 short-term TM and TM-Sidhi participants, and 40 long-term participants....