John Hagelin PhD is a quantum physicist and president of the Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa, and honorary chair of its board of trustees. The university was established in 1973 by the TM movement’s founder, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, with the aim to deliver a “consciousness-based education”. Dr Hagelin, is also a certified TM Teacher in the USA.
There are always a great many questions to do with the science behind the method of Transcendental Meditation. John Hagelin is a face at the forefront explaining in detail why TM is effective on a technical level.
In this video published by Transcendental Meditation, Dr Hagelin gives his scientific perspective on the practice of TM. He dives straight in by explaining the nature of reality, as this will help us to understand the mind and what consciousness really is.
“Modern science over the last 50 years has revealed that our physical universe is structured in layers of creation. This inward exploration is explored in four different parts, from outside in. Classical Mechanics is the study of the world of macroscopic objects that we can see. Quantum Mechanics is the discovery of the atom. Deeper than the atom is the atomic nucleus and sub nuclear particles, called Quantum Field Theory. Finally, the recent discovery of Unified Field Theories.”
Dr Hagelin illustrates that at the fourth and deepest layer, Unified Field Theories or super string theories reveal the fundamental unity of life, “They show that at the basis of our diverse universe is a single universal field of intelligence – the fountainhead of all the laws of nature, and the source of all order displayed throughout the universe.”
But how does this relate to meditation?
“The human mind, human consciousness is structured in layers parallel to the structure of the universe… which means there are surface levels of mind – active, thinking, choppy, chaotic mind. But deep within there are quieter and quieter levels of mind – more silent, more powerful levels of the thinking process.”
“Meditation, properly understood and practised is a technique to take outwardly directed attention through the senses, powerfully within, to experience and explore deeper levels of mind.”
This inward flow of the mind culminates in the experience of complete silence, the experience of the Unified Field at the basis of the mind and matter.
Dr Hagelin interprets this state, called the Hypometabolic Physiological State;“This meditative state, achieved through TM, transcending, is a fourth state of human consciousness, identified by modern physiological science. It is not waking, dreaming or sleeping, it’s a state of deep rest, deeper than sleep! Deep rest is the most powerful antidote to stress and anxiety.”
“The deeper rest of Transcendental Meditation is much more affective at dissolving stress and anxiety than conventional relaxation, other forms of meditation, or sleep.”
The Benefits And Studies For Disease
Dr Hagelin goes on to express the health benefits of doing TM. “Stress causes or complicates most disease, including heart disease. If you look at the risk factors for heart disease, the number one is high blood pressure. The deep rest in Transcendental Meditation lowers blood pressure more effectively than most hypertensive drugs, and again much more effectively than other forms of relaxation, or meditation.”
Doctors in the USA have now added Transcendental Meditation to their list of recommendations to patients suffering from high blood pressure. They also point out that no other meditation, relaxation or alternative therapy has been shown to be effective against high blood pressure. This result is unique to TM.
In a random controlled assignment study funded by the National Institute of Health lasting nine years, people who were at elevated risk of heart disease were monitored in comparison to a controlled group of people.
The highly at risk people experienced a two thirds drop in the number of heart attacks, stroke and death in comparison to the controlled. John explains further, “That two thirds drop was more significant than the effects of medicine, diet, or of exercise.”
“Even though both groups were taking their medicines, doing exercise and altering their diet, the real difference between the two groups that led the drop was TM.”
Dr Hagelin comments that after this nine year study, “80% of the people who had learned TM were still doing it. How many people do you think were doing their diet and exercise routines? Almost none. The difference is TM is fun to do! Exercise, debatable, and diet, no way.”
The news of the study was reported in many countries around the world and the research is getting stronger by the day.
A headline in the Telegraph suggested “Meditation ‘cuts risk of heart disease by half”
There was a remarkable medical study that supervised people with all different types of disease including tumours, bone and muscle, skin, intestinal, nervous system, mental disorders and many others, doing Transcendental Meditation 20 minutes twice a day. You can see from this chart that every single disease was improved by the use of TM. Except, Dr Hagelin says comically “I would argue childbirth is not actually a disease.”
Over the course of a lifetime, stress and fatigue will exert wear and tear on the body, people start to look aged, their stamina and sharpness starts to degrade. This is due to the wear and tear caused by stress. On this point, Dr Hagelin notes that, “The profound, rejuvenating rest of TM and the dissolving of stress through that technique results in a slowing of the ageing process.”
“People who have been meditating regularly, twice a day for five years or more tend to have a body and physiological age of 12 to 15 years younger than their chronological counterparts.”
You can watch the full video below.
