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Of course this is the response
people would expect from me. So here it is. Specious.
No logic, coherent linear theme,
but rather the article jumps around from one point to another, and does what I
call,"If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit."
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2005 2:35 PM
Subject: [FairfieldLife] Article in
England - Movement leaving
(Glasgow) Herald, Monday 18th May 2005
Think about
what we're missing out on�
Britain's role in the Iraq war means we'll
no longer be able to enjoy
the excellent benefits of transcendental
meditation.
By Beth Pearson
TYPICAL. Just when the secret to
enjoying a long, healthy life is
revealed, it is withdrawn in Britain
because Tony Blair went to war in
Iraq. The founder of transcendental
meditation (TM), Maharishi Mahesh
Yogi, called a press conference to
announce that he doesn't wish to
give "longevity to the dragon" just days
after the publication of
long-term research that showed the practice of TM
over five years or
more can cut death rates by almost a quarter.
The
TM community is still reeling, albeit rather calmly, from the
news. David
Fawcett works at the Maharishi Foundation in Lancashire.
"It's very
unusual," he says. "It's not happened in the 50 or so years
it's been in
the UK. It's a very surprising announcement, but I think
it was prompted by
the re-election of Blair. He doesn't want a
destroyer of the world to enjoy
longevity.
"Before he has said that where a country is an aggressor it
needs more
meditators to soften it, but now he says we have been nourishing
that
destructive quality. He said that now we're withdrawing from
Britain,
we would expect more negativity to occur, not wishing there would
be
more negativity. It'll be interesting to see if we do have
more
problems from now on."
Those working in TM widely expect the
withdrawal of teaching to be a
temporary one. However, British teachers are
reported to be traveling
to former eastern bloc countries to help begin a
TM movement there. In
the meantime, Brits can contemplate what they'll be
missing out on.
The study published in the American Journal of
Cardiology showed the
results of a trial that followed 202 men and women
with an average age
of 71 and mildly elevated blood pressure. Subjects were
randomly
assigned to a TM programme, behavioral therapy (including
mindfulness
and progressive muscle relaxation) or health education and
tracked by
researchers; some for up to 18 years.
Compared with
control groups, the TM group showed a 23% reduction in
the rate of death
from all causes, a 30% reduction in the rate of
death from cardiovascular
disease and a 49% reduction in the rate of
death from cancer.
This
isn't the first research to quantify TM's life-promoting
benefits. More
than a decade ago, the International journal of
Neuro-Science published a
study that claimed people who begin TM in
their 50s and continued it for
five years had a biological age of 12
years less than their non TM
peers.
Dr Robert Schneider is the director of the Institute for
Natural
Medicine and Prevention at the Maharishi University of
Management
(MUM) in Iowa. "What we knew from the 600 previous scientific
studies
was the practice of TM creates a unique state of restful
alertness,
just from 15 to 20 minutes twice a day," he says. "We knew
it
increased orderliness in brain function, decreased the stress
hormone,
reduced blood pressure, smoking, alcohol abuse and other risk
factors
for heart disease and we knew it reduced the natural correlates
of
biology of ageing, but we didn't have strong data on its effects
on
longevity or mortality.
"The missing link was filled in by this
new study. It's restorative:
sometimes you can affect one system and not
another, but for longevity
you need all the systems working
better."
While the biological benefits of TM are often explained with
reference
to its stress-reducing action, Schneider thinks this is
too
simplistic. "Reduction of stress is there, but when you look
more
carefully there are changes in brain functioning," he says. "It
seems
that basic restoration of the body's inner order and self
repair
mechanisms is a more fundamental explanation. on the basis
of
experiencing this deep rest every day. Future research will
certainly
look at mechanisms of these effects for more physiological
explanations "
Although TM is widely associated with spiritual
practices, it has
always been intended as a scientific way to bring about
physiological,
psychological and sociological benefits (the latter being
why
Maharishi could not make a distinction between practice of TM
in
Britain and Blair's going to war).
After giving TM up John Lennon
described it as "a waste of time", but
the worldwide estimate for
practicing meditators is four million and
each person who learns TM must be
taught.
"You can't learn from a book", says David. "The person learns
during a
four-day course. It's a very natural, simple technique and must
be
taught individually. A mantra is used but there's a subtlety to it
�
it's not just saying it over and over again. It's a way of
allowing
the mind to settle down. It's a bit like learning to fall off a
log �
you just let go.
"As it settles down, it settles into pure
awareness or pure
consciousness. This has a nourishing effect and that's
how it helps to
dissolve stress in the nervous system"
TM is now
attracting funding from major research institutes in the US
and research on
it is being published in top medical journals. The
latest investigation was
a collaborative effort by Harvard, University
of Iowa, Medical College
Georgia and West Oakland Health Centre, as
well as MUM. As interest and
credibility from the medical
establishment grows, Schneider hopes this will
begin to disseminate
and increase awareness of TM.
"What I would
like to see, based on research and the couple of hundred
other studies, is
people learning anf practicing the TM technique as a
preventive modality,"
he says. "I believe the UK is an ageing
population like the US, with the
baby boomers reaching their senior
years now. I'd like to see TM being used
for prevention of chronic
diseases, like cardiovascular disease, which is
the number one cause
of death in the UK and US and the
world".
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