Psychosocial stress is a nontraditional risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality that may respond to behavioral or psychosocial interventions. To date, studies applying such interventions have reported a wide range of success rates in treatment or prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD). The authors focus on a natural medicine approach that research indicates reduces both psych...

The Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique decreases the distress associated with the experience of acute experimental pain. Fifteen advanced mediators and 15 controls were administered the cold pressor test before and after a 20 minute period of meditation (TM group) or relaxation (control group). Verbal reports of the intensity of pain sensation and pain distress were obtained at intervals ...

This article is the first of two comparing findings of studies of advanced practitioners of Tibetan Buddhist meditation in remote regions of the Himalayas, with established results on long-term practitioners of the Transcendental Meditation programs. Many parallel levels of improvement were found, in sensory acuity, perceptual style and cognitive function, indicating stabilization of aspects of...

The authors review evidence regarding the biological processes that may link religiosity/spirituality to health. A growing body of observational evidence supports the hypothesis that links religiosity/spirituality to physiological processes. Although much of the earliest evidence came from cross-sectional studies with questionable generalizability and potential confounding, more recent research...

Teacher burnout affects job performance and mental physical health. This study evaluated the effects of a meditation-based wellness program on burnout, resilience, psychological distress, fatigue. Seventy-eight participants, randomly assigned to Transcendental Meditation (n = 39) or wait-list control group 39), were administered Maslach Burnout Inventory, Resilience Scale, Perceived Stress Nati...

BACKGROUND Coronary artery disease is an important cause of death and disability among older women. Modification in lipid profile lowers the risk of coronary artery disease. It is claimed that yoga and transcendental meditation have a cholesterol lowering effect. This study was designed to assess the effect of raja yoga meditation of Brahmakumaris which is very simple to practice, on serum lipi...

In a study on participants in an advanced Age of Enlightenment Governor Training Course at MERU, unusually sensitive hearing thresholds were found ( 11.7 dB more sensitive than norms averaged over the frequency range 250Hz to 8000Hz). Thresholds decreased by a further 3. 0 dB after 15 minutes of performing the sidhi designed to produce unusually acute hearing. These results are discussed in rel...

To the Editor: Meditation is a widely adopted stress-relieving mental exercise associated with altered cognition and behavior. Recently, there has been debate [1,2] over the influence of meditation, and transcendental meditation (TM) in particular, on epilepsy. This debate was seemingly triggered by a view suggesting a potential epileptogenic influence of meditation [3], implying that long-term...