Probably this description is going to be the most unscientific and biased possible explanation, but it is just my experience.
I started meditating in 1982, my life was pretty much a disaster no future ahead, but I don’t want to focus on that. The point is that I decided to go through the initiation process, that I learned many years later that the short ceremony, taking flowers, fruits and listen to a “pusha” which is like a poem that the instructor recites, was not intended to me but to the teacher. It is a reminder that he is a just a channel administering the knowledge, he doesn’t own that knowledge hence he cannot modify it. He needs to observe the protocol and nothing will be changed; reason why it doesn’t matter where you learn the TM technique everywhere is the same.
The process was pretty simple and I started meditating in no time, it is an individual one and yes you can go to the TM center or go to retreat, usually on a weekend, but that is another story and certainly not a requirement.
At the beginning you just fell very relaxed after meditating for 20 minutes, and as you keep on practicing you go to deeper and deeper levels of interiorization, which is amazing, but don’t give it for granted because the experience is necessarily supported by the physiology. But what does it means, well if you are under stress, not sleeping well, sick, in general whatever affects your physiology your experience is affected, meditation still works but your starting point is way lower, so even though you feel better and relaxed after meditating you no longer reach that beautiful deep experience.
Bottom line, once you know how to meditate you have a new big asset for life, you can use it in whichever way you want, is better than a Valium and is natural. Before an exam, if you are panicking on a plane, etc.
OK one thing that I didn’t mention, you can mediate anywhere, in a bus, in a plane, wherever you can sit down and relax is a good place to meditate.
Ok so how does it works then, well there are many scientific studies that validates the experience in any possible field, but the abundance of research papers make it hard to understand the basic principle some times. Let me clarify that understanding is of absolutely not need in regards to the experience, is jut for those like me that need to feed your brain with all sorts of data.
There is a correlation between the mind and the body, if we panic our entire body experience goes into panic mode, it is not a mental experience so to say, the mind can start the process but it propagates throughout the body, same as with joy, etc.
When we meditate the mind goes into deep relax mode, that is the magic of the word you are given during initiation, and the big effect of this word is to easily put the mind to rest and relax, and since there is a big correlation between this mental state and the body, the body goes into a relaxed mode as well. This relax is so deep that big chunks of stress deposited in our body are released, because this new state can no longer contain big knots of stress. Just like the dew in the morning, as the air cools can no longer contain that much water and it is simply expelled.
Bottom line we feel better fiscally and psychologically and no shrink is required.
OK I will leave it here, but there are many many chapters that I can write, the most advanced experiences, the scientific understanding of the technique the metaphysical dimension, the value of the experience of the natural law, the understanding of the natural law and the unfolding of a new reality, no Hollywood special effects though.
Mario
