TM is not the TM mantra, rather the results and anxiety > relieving aspects of TM is from a combination of expectation of > anxiety relief (coached belief) along with a routine of sitting > quietly twice a day. Further research supports this conclusion.
I inclined to believe that any sort of sitting quietly if you get proficient at it can give you a useful meditative state with regard to alleviating anxiety. I don't discount that positive expectation factor, but it seems to me that some type of altered state is reached with a TM mantra that is not all expectation induced. (I don't know if I could defend this belief so your point is very interesting) I guess I would have to read more about it. I get such an expansive buzz from meditation that I would be surprised if it was all due to expectation. Of course I have been wrong about all sorts of meditation beliefs so I'm really not too sure. It feels like such an altered state subjectively but I guess it could be a very pleasant form of smoke and mirrors. I am still betting on the endorphin dump model. That is the best explanation to how high meditation gets me. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > On May 30, 2008, at 3:46 PM, curtisdeltablues wrote: > > > I guess I'm not buying the distinction from TM belief that are > > basically taken at face value from your teacher and what other > > spiritually minded people pick up from their authority figures. The > > so called experiential evidence is more spin put on vague internal > > experiences. > > > > Just my take on re-examining what beliefs support the practice of TM. > > The fact that many of them are optional isn't an out. They are > > commonly believed and are taught as doctrine from authority. > > > Other scientists actually would seem to support your insights Curtis. > Here's what scientists who did a major review of TM research is the > 80's, the peak of the TM craze had to say: > > "the majority of these [TM] studies have never been published in peer- > reviewed scientific journals. Furthermore a number of these reports > utilize design and statistical methodologies that are inappropriate > for distinguishing effects due to TM itself from those due to > voluntary self-selection of persons who learn TM, or from the non- > specific effects of the technique such as systematic timeouts, general > relaxation, and positive expectancy, etc." > > If you actually believe you'll get positive results, this is actually > what you will see, not the results of technique itself. That's also > why it's helpful to have really good controls. In one series of > independent TM studies (Smith 1976, 1978) they used controls which > actually mimicked, quite closely, TM. Thus they were able to conclude > that given a good mimicry of TM shows that the central therapeutic > component of TM is not the TM mantra, rather the results and anxiety > relieving aspects of TM is from a combination of expectation of > anxiety relief (coached belief) along with a routine of sitting > quietly twice a day. Further research supports this conclusion. >
