This post harkens back to the excellent post by Barry Wright a few weeks ago when he hypothesized what a school-age kid would do upon the introduction of TM into his or her school...and Barry went through the exercise of what he or she would find on the internet and the questions that would arise.
Anyone have the link to that post? --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj <vajradh...@...> wrote: > > The Jerusalem Post covers TM and it's putsch into schools: > > http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?apage=1&cid=1239710826837&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull > > LINK > Trance 101 > > Apr. 30, 2009 > Mel Bezalel , THE JERUSALEM POST > "It's a little bit like when milk is boiling over, you can take a drop > of cold water and dip it in, and it all settles down. When stress > begins to build up, it erupts into violence." > > Perhaps it isn't surprising that when international director and raja > ("administrator") of Transcendental Meditation in Israel, Kingsley > Brooks, talks about the practice in which he's been involved for 35 > years, he speaks using elusive terms and near-constant metaphor. After > all, the specifics of the practice are only revealed to those who > train in it - which requires three preliminary steps and four sessions > spread over four consecutive days, taught only by qualified > Transcendental Meditation teachers. > > (...) > > Many critics of TM take issue with the movement's supposedly "non- > religious" standpoint, taking issue specifically with the allusions to > Hindu gods that appear in the TM puja - initiation ceremony. Hindu > gods such as Shakti, Krishna and Vishnu are all mentioned in the > private ceremony, in Sanskrit, and some say their personal mantras > include them, too. Bob Roth, spokesperson for the international TM > movement and national director of expansion, states that the Hindu > connection is purely "cultural" however: "The culture goes back > thousands of years, and it's nonsense to say that mantras are names of > gods - 100 percent absolute nonsense. It just creates fear and there > is no basis to it whatsoever." > > One TM critic is Mitch Kapor, who founded Lotus Software and the > Electronic Frontier Foundation, the international non-profit advocacy > organization. Kapor was involved with TM for seven years until 1976 > and trained as a TM teacher. "TM is heavily promoted as a > scientifically-validated, secular method of stress reduction," says > Kapor, "whereas in fact the TM technique is inextricably bound up in a > religious Hindu tradition, as is obvious to anyone who considers the > mandatory TM initiation ceremony and the supposedly secret mantras. > Proponents of TM twist themselves into pretzels to deny or explain > away these inconvenient facts, but the real reason they do such things > is as part of a drive to recruit as many people as possible into the > TM movement." Kapor has strong objections to the program being taught > in schools, despite initially experiencing some relaxation benefits > from TM himself. Kapor believes that the twice-daily sessions being > introduced in schools are designed to recruit members to the movement, > who will then become much more involved. > > THOSE WHO do immerse themselves in the movement often go on to become > TM teachers and many practice an advanced technique known as > "rounding" - intensive meditation that can last for several hours at a > time. It is with rounding that more issues reportedly surface with > regard to physical and mental side-effects, though the movement > officially states there are none, pointing again to its store of 600 > studies. > > Past practitioners of TM have publicly spoken out about the alleged > side-effects, including American social worker John Knapp, who joined > the TM movement in 1972. Although Knapp speaks with 23 years of his > own experience in TM, his role as a social worker specializing in > recovery from toxic groups, abusive churches and cults and his website > about the alleged problems of TM, mean that he is in frequent contact > with those suffering with problems related to their experience with > the technique. After signing up for TM to boost his grades at the age > of 18, Knapp recalls that he had "a cultic relationship with the > organization." Soon, Knapp became more involved with TM and began > practicing rounding. "I was spending so much time and money on TM that > other very important areas of my life were being completely > neglected," he says. "During the time I was most involved, for about > 20 years I only saw my family a handful of times." Although he is > clear to state that it wasn't a directive from the organization, he > says it was "a non-stated judgment." > > Knapp says he suffered several side-effects from his intensive > meditation practice, such as head-shaking (which he occasionally still > experiences), disassociation or "spacing out," problems with his > memory and a movement where his head would rapidly flip left and he'd > feel an energy surge in his spine. On visiting the doctor, it was > suggested that he'd developed a kind of Tourette 's syndrome. Knapp > says that past TM practitioners contacting him have also reported > involuntary twitching, grimacing, shouting and other tick-like behavior. > > Mentioning difficulties with the meditation was difficult in the > movement, explains Knapp, because "to bring up any, what they called > 'negativity,' meant that you were likely to be ostracized from the > group. If you had any problems with the meditation, and people did, it > was the kind of thing you did behind closed doors." > > In Knapp's experience, many of the problems experienced by meditators > were explained away by teachers with a concept known as 'stressing,' > 'stress release' or 'body purification,' where the body experiences > temporary ticks as part of the body's healing process. > > (...) > > PART OF the problem with determining the legitimate benefits and > problems of TM is the conflicts within the scientific community. As > with many areas of research, some of the studies offer contradictions. > Although the movement quotes the "600 studies" in its favor, some have > been criticized for bias and a lack of scientific evidence. For > example, a research paper published in June 2007 by the University of > Alberta Evidence-based Practice Center for the US Department of Health > and Human Services, stated about meditation research (TM included): > "We found the methodological quality of meditation research to be > poor, with significant threats to validity in every major category of > quality measured, regardless of study design." > > Therefore, either Roth's statement regarding the lack of scientific > evidence for TM side-effects is not straightforward, or he is simply > uninformed. Such studies do exist, such as Stanford University's Leon > Otis's 1984 study which revealed that although 52-64 percent of the > subjects who practiced TM in the study did not list a single adverse > effect, "adverse effects do occur in a sizeable percentage of those > who take up the practice," and "the number and severity of complaints > were positively related to duration of meditation. Of considerable > interest," states the research, "is the finding that the specific > adverse effects reported were remarkably consistent between groups and > formed a pattern of people who had become anxious, confused, > frustrated, depressed and/or withdrawn since starting TM." > > There are additional studies that follow similar veins; however, it > seems that for every study published, a counter study is produced to > dispute the scientific claims. It is important to highlight that much > of the criticism launched at TM is, on the whole, focused on the more > intensive practicing of the technique. >
