Transcendental Meditation Improves Health!

AlkalizeForHealth

The information on this web site is provided for educational purposes only. Please see Disclaimer, Terms of Use, and Privacy Policy.

"The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease."
- Thomas Edison

Studies have shown a very high incidence of stress in the years shortly before the development of a cancer. - Dr. Robert J. Rowen

In a study of cancer support groups, women who received orthodox medical care alone lived an average of 19 months, those who in addition met once a week to talk about and express their feelings lived an average of 37 months...The experience of opening their hearts to others not only added years to their lives, but also life to their years. - Advances, 7(3), Summer 1991, pp. 10 -19

In one survey, 90 percent of the (cancer) caregivers reported "psychoemotional burdens". - (Mor et al., 1987) quoted in Moss, page 265.

"Preliminary data on Transcendental Meditation is about a 50 per cent reduction in health care utilization on patients who practice it for heart disease and other major diseases over five years," Dr. Robert K. Schneider

"Studies have shown that serotonin goes up and cortisol goes down. The level of cortisol seems to be related to hypertension, cardiovascular disease and probably even cancer. I think this is really relevant, because there are so many different kinds of
meditation being offered on the marketplace right now. This research gives evidence that they are not all alike." - Dr. Nancy Lonsdorf

Women with advanced breast cancer who have abnormal daytime levels of cortisol, a hormone released in response to stress, are significantly more likely to die sooner than patients with normal levels of the hormone.

Cortisol also encourages the storage of fat around your middle, helping to create a pot belly.

Natural killer cells detect and destroy cancer cells. People with less stress have more natural killer cells.

Stress causes the body to produce adrenaline which in turn raises blood sugar as part of the "fight or flight" response. The sugar is meant to provide energy for the muscles, but in our modern world stress rarely results in muscular exertion so the sugar remains in the blood. High blood sugar feeds cancer.

"The fact that the government is supporting research on
complementary and alternative medicine is good news for millions of Americans who are looking for a scientifically verified alternative to drug-related therapies." - Dr. Nancy Lonsdorf

In the United Kingdom, the course of instruction in Transcendental Meditation is paid for by the health care system when practice of TM is prescribed by a medical doctor.

Holland's largest health insurance company, Silver Cross, offers a 30% reduction in health insurance premiums to people who practice TM regularly.

How to create an invincible military.

Support the Department of Peace initiative.

Practice of Transcendental Meditation can transform social behavior. Everyone in prison should learn TM. Some judges have made practicing TM a condition of probation.

There is a "rehabilitation index" of measurable psycho- physiological parameters that improve with regular practice of TM. Attainment of a certain level of improvement in this index could be a prerequisite for parole. This would transform prisons from institutions of punishment to centers of rehabilitation.

Most crime is committed by repeat offenders. Teaching prisoners TM would quickly bring a dramatic reduction in crime.

One nation that taught all its prisoners TM was soon able to close most of its prisons. Effective rehabilitation offers genuine savings to beleaguered taxpayers.

Transcendental Meditation has been found to:
-provide a deeper level of rest than sleep
-optimize brain functioning
- increase IQ
-improve academic performance
-increase self-actualization
-decrease incidence of disease
-slow down the aging process
-reduce anxiety
-reduce drug and alcohol use
-improve interpersonal relationships
-reduce recidivism of criminals
-improve productivity at work
-improve the quality of life

Transcendental Meditation may be a key to improving the physical, mental and social health of the nation. Many hundreds of scientific studies verify the effectiveness of this technique.

New research studies the EEG of Cosmic Consciousness.

Transcendental Meditation is taught by over 30,000 TM teachers around the world. TM Centers are located in nearly every city on the planet. Look in your telephone "yellow pages" under "meditation". More than 5 million people have learned Transcendental Meditation.

There are several articles on TM in our Library.

Watch weekly press conference live on the Internet.

Global satellite and internet Maharishi Open University.

Three Internet Maharishi channels.

Maharishi School Iowa

"The best part of health is fine disposition."
- Emerson

Doctors are beginning to view illnesses not as enemies but as opportunities for patients to develop their own inner resources and concentrate on building up resistance to disease rather than looking unduly for organic culprits.
- Dr. Ian Schneideman

The highest reward for a man's toil is not what he gets for it but what he becomes by it.
- John Ruskin

Permanent Peace

Over 500 studies show the Transcendental Meditation (TM) program reverses stress-related illness, makes people healthier, and even reduces medical costs as much as 13% per year. Hospitalizations for cancer are 55% less for TM meditators. The improvement in health is most significant for older age groups. In terms of reduced health care costs, people with the worst health show the greatest benefit from learning TM. However, everyone benefits because the practice of TM prevents disease.

Impact of Transcendental Meditation on Hospital Admissions

Intestinal -49.0%
Nose, throat and lung -73.0%
Heart -87.3%
Genital and urinary -37.0%
Injuries -63.2%
Tumors (benign and malignant) -55.4%
Bone and muscle -67.6%
Ill-defined conditions -76.0%
All mental disorders -30.6%
Nervous system -87.2%
Metabolism -65.4%
Infectious diseases -30.4%
Other -91.2%
Congenital -50.6%
Blood -32.8%

Inpatient days for children (age 0-18) -50.2%
Inpatient days for young adults (age 19-39) -50.1%
Inpatient days for older adults (age 40+) -68.4%

Outpatient visits for children (age 0-18) -46.8%
Outpatient visits for young adults (age 19-39) -54.7%
Outpatient visits for older adults (age 40+) -73.7%

Reference:
Orme-Johnson, D. W. Medical care utilization and the Transcendental Meditation program. Psychosomatic Medicine 1987; 49(1): 493-507.

See also:
Orme-Johnson D. W., Herron R. E. Reduced Medical Care Utilization and Expenditures through an Innovative Approach. American Journal of Managed Care 1997; 3: 135-144.
Herron R, et al. The Impact of the Transcendental Meditation Program on Government Payments to Physicians in Quebec. American Journal of Health Promotion 1996; 10(3): 208-216.
Herron R, Hillis S. The Impact of the Transcendental Meditation Program on Government Payments to Physicians in Quebec: An Update. American Journal of Health Promotion 2000; 14(5): 284-291.

Chart showing decreased hospital admissions for TM meditators compared to other groups.

If you want to learn how to meditate, given the amount of time you will spend meditating (20 minutes twice a day for the rest of your life) doesn't it make sense to learn how to meditate properly so that your time is well used? Given the potential improvements to your physical health, mental functioning and family life, don't you want to be sure you are doing it correctly?

Transcendental Meditation cannot be taught from a book. The very first instruction is "Close the eyes." Now what are you going to do? Memorized instructions don't work. Meditation involves increasing silence in the mind. Sitting there thinking about what to do next just gets in the way. More than anything else, meditation is an experience. With your eyes closed a trained teacher can instruct you based on what you are experiencing at each step.

The Transcendental Meditation technique of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is a standardized procedure practiced for 15 to 20 minutes twice daily while sitting comfortably with eyes closed. Maharishi explains that "Transcendental Meditation is a simple, natural, effortless procedure whereby the mind easily and naturally arrives at the source of thought, the settled state of mind - Transcendental Consciousness - pure consciousness, self-referral consciousness, which is the source of all creative processes."

Transcendental Meditation also produces distinctive physiological and psychological effects that are useful in preventing disease and promoting health. The physiological effects include:

(1) reduced carotid atherosclerosis, a cause of strokes and heart attacks,
(2) lower baseline cortisol levels, a stress hormone,
(3) reduced blood pressure, in both normal people and hypertensive patients,
(4) decreased heart rate,
(5) reduced respiratory rate,
(6) global reduction in somatic arousal, which indicates a more relaxed and balanced style of functioning,
(7) reduction of neuroendocrine correlates of drug abuse, and
(8) reduction of chronic stress.

The psychological benefits of the TM program include greater happiness and fulfillment in life. The TM technique also strengthens health by decreasing health-damaging habits such as tobacco use, heavy alcohol usage, and drug abuse, which are behavioral correlates of chronic stress.

Comparing Meditations

And the Winner is .....

The meta-analysis published in the May/June 1998 issue of the prestigious American Journal of Health Promotion is particularly exciting because its scope is huge--an overview of a total of 597 studies involving an estimated 20,000 subjects and comparing the effects of more than thirty methods of relaxation. This study destroys the myth according to which all forms of meditation or relaxation yield similar results.

"I cannot tell enough how Transcendental Meditation supported and uplifted me. The calmness just took over and took care of me. It was a most important tool for my psychological well-being and from there to start recovering. I did not go through the distress and mental anguish that some other cancer patients went through." - J.L.

"When the body is tense or stressed out it cannot heal. With the regular practice of TM the body adopts a relaxed mode which makes it more receptive to the healing process. I am a 20-year cancer survivor. That's why I can recommend Transcendental Meditation with all my heart to others." - S.M.

"By simply changing your diet to a high intake of fruit, vegetables and grains, by reducing stress through the gentle art of meditation or prayer, or practicing your own faith (I use 'TM' or Transcendental Meditation and it's wonderful) and seeking out support, you can have a major effect on your general wellbeing, and often your prognosis". - Olivia Newton-John in Living Simply With Cancer.

Unhealthy lifestyles are a major contributor to skyrocketing medical costs. America spent approximately $1.2 trillion for medical care in 1999. This figure is estimated to double in less than ten years. Despite managed care and other attempts to control growth, the US spends more on medical services than all other countries. Yet, in spite of massive spending, we have among the worst health outcomes for an advanced nation.

According to a recent World Health Organization report, the US ranked 37th in health care quality worldwide. Among the 29 nations that belong to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the USA ranked 19th for female life expectancy at birth and ranked 22nd for male life expectancy. We also had the sixth highest infant mortality rate among the OECD nations. If we spend the most, why don't we also have the best health?

The answer is simple - we neglect prevention, especially in Medicare. More prevention is desirable because research shows that at least 50% of deaths and 70% of diseases are preventable. Most disease is self-inflicted - caused by an epidemic of unhealthy habits, including improper diet, chronically stressful lifestyles, inadequate exercise, smoking, and alcohol abuse.

These habits can be reversed in the general population and the elderly through the practice of the TM program.

Three Eras of Medicine

Era I is the medicine of the past 100 years. It is based on the idea that the body is a machine. The principal forms of treatment are surgery and drugs.

Era II medicine involves the understanding that the body and mind are intimately connected. Doctors and healers look to the mind to heal the body, and recognize the enormous healing potential inherent in the human mind and spirit. This insight has given rise to the new field of medicine called psychoneuroimmunology.

Era III medicine is based on the recognition that we are all connected to a universal mind, a collective unconscious, as Jung called it. Dossey calls it the non-local mind. The findings of quantum physics have suggested mathematically and in some cases experimentally, that this group mind, or non-local mind exists. The study of prayer and Randolph Byrd's cardiac patients further suggests that this non-local effect exists. The implications of Era III medicine are that ultimately healing may take place on a much grander scale than previously thought.

The evolution of each new era of medicine does not reject the truly valuable accomplishments of the former era.

- Larry Dossey, M.D., author of Space, Time and Medicine and Recovering the Soul.

Quoted in Beyond Antibiotics - 50 (or so) Ways to Boost Immunity and Avoid Antibiotics by Michael Schmidt et al, page 267.

ERA I medicine should be redefined to include traditional Ayurvedic medicine coming on from thousands of years in the past. Ayurvedic medicine offers many approaches to perfect health, which can be used to both treat disease and to prevent it from happening in the first place.

ERA II medicine clearly includes the practice of Transcendental Meditation. With TM resulting in hospitalizations reduced 87% for heart disease, 55% for cancer and more than 50% overall, it has been demonstrated that the mind can have a profound effect on physical health. Meditation is one of the many approaches to perfect health taught by Ayurvedic medicine.

Era III medicine may already be available. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi equates the consciousness within each living being with the "unified field" discovered by modern physics. If this is true, then the terms "expansion of consciousness" and "cosmic consciousness" have some very interesting ramifications. Here we see the re-integration of religion and science, man and nature, mind and matter. There is now extensive published scientific research demonstrating that Era III medicine could be provided by relatively small groups of experts practicing the TM-Sidhi program as their profession.

Some people practicing Transcendental Meditation (TM) have many years experience expanding their consciousness. The experience of expansion equates with measurably increased coherence in the functioning of the brain. Starting in 1976 the Maharishi began teaching his meditators an advanced program called the "TM-Sidhi Program". The word "Sidhi" means "perfection" in the Sanskrit language. The TM-Sidhi Program is designed to allow the individual to function from the finest level of awareness (i.e. the unified field). Maximum brain coherence is seen during this practice.

There is now an extensive body of scientific research documenting the use of this technology to transform society. Using measures such as traffic accidents, crime rates, hospital admissions, reported infectious disease, fires, unemployment rate, terrorist incidents and combat fatalities (in war zones), it has been demonstrated repeatedly that relatively small groups of individuals practicing the TM-Sidhi Program including the technique of "yogic flying" can measurably improve the functioning of the society around them.

In view of the 25 years of research documenting the TM-Sidhi Program, it is time for the world to take notice and use this new technology for its practical value. When implemented on the scale recommended by the Maharishi, the result will be an immediate and wonderful transformation of life on earth. President Bush wants $87 billion for rebuilding Iraq this year. The Maharishi needs $1 billion to create permanent world peace. Who is offering the better deal to US taxpayers? Which program has a better chance of success? If President Bush created an invincible military, American troops would be coming home very soon. The principles underlying the creation of an invincible military are supported by decades of scientific research. There is NO scientific research verifying the effectiveness of the United States' present course of action in Iraq or in the war on terror.

Read more about the TM-Sidhi Program here http://www.tm.org/sidhi/index.html. Practising Transcendental Meditation for a minimum of two months is a prerequisite for learning the TM-Sidhi Program.

Amazingly, less than 0.01% of Medicare expenditures are spent on primary prevention. The other 99% is for medical treatment, tests, etc. Almost all other developed nations spend more per capita on prevention than the United States. Numerous studies have verified that prevention improves health and decreases medical costs. For instance, cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death, disability, and contributor to high Medicare expenditures. Over 400,000 Medicare enrollees die of heart disease each year. However, recent studies have shown that preventive interventions, particularly the TM program, can cost-effectively lower cardiovascular disease risk in the elderly and save lives.

Paradoxically, Congressional attempts to "reform" Medicare have focused on the financing and delivery of more medical services, and not prevention. Medicare is a disease-care system. Current Medicare laws do not allow coverage of most prevention, including the TM technique. Although it is not widely publicized, this misguided policy greatly increases illness, and therefore increases Medicare costs. To remedy this oversight, Congress should cover the TM technique and other programs that scientific research has shown to be effective in preventing and curing disease and reducing medical costs.

"When we see a soul
Whose acts are regal, graceful
And pleasant as roses
We must thank God
That such things
Can be
And are."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

There are other benefits from prevention. By avoiding disease before it can happen, we are also avoiding the potentially dangerous side effects of modern medicine. For example, an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association states that over one million patients are injured in hospitals each year and approximately 180,000 die annually as a result of these injuries. Nearly 2 million people in the US get an infection in a hospital they didn't have when they entered. More than 80,000 of these patients die annually. A recent study found that the side-effects of medication properly prescribed and properly administered to hospitalized patients accounted for 2.2 million adverse drug reactions that resulted in 106,000 deaths annually, making these reactions the fourth leading cause of death in the United States.

Americans deserve the best. They need prevention, particularly the Transcendental Meditation program, and not more expensive high-tech treatment that is often ineffective and has hazardous side effects. Several scientific studies have shown that if we expand Medicare to cover the TM program we will also reduce medical costs. Therefore, based on the over 500 scientific studies verifying that the TM technique is safe, effective, and the optimal treatment for many stress-related disorders, we propose that national coverage decisions allow Medicare coverage of the Transcendental Meditation program.

Editor's note:

The annual budget of the government of the Province of Ontario, Canada projects the following expenditures in 2003-04:

Health Care $30.3 Billion 38%
Schools and Post-Secondary Education $14.8 Billion 19%
Public Debt Interest $10.3 Billion 13%
Other $24.2 Billion 30%
Total Expenditures $79.6 Billion 100%

If the people of Ontario learned TM, health care costs could decrease 50% or more in just a few years. Look what this would do to the provincial budget. An annual Health Care saving of $15 Billion would pay off the $142 billion provincial debt in less than 10 years. With lower Health Care costs and no Public Debt Interest the total savings would be $25 Billion annually, an expenditure reduction of nearly a third of the total provincial budget.

Ontario students pay costly tuition fees, Ontario cities and towns need more money for essential services, and the list goes on.

The average cost of heart surgery is $60,000. The average cost of treating a cancer patient is $100,000. The people of Ontario have a clear choice: spend huge amounts of money on health care, or do what is necessary to prevent disease and free up money for lower taxes, affordable education, and better cities.

Health care costs have become a huge and unnecessary burden on governments, corporations and individuals worldwide. Transcendental Meditation provides a simple, affordable and effective solution to this problem.

***

All in all, health care in the United States consumes about twice as many dollars per person as in Canada. Forty five million Americans have no health insurance. Yet the US spends over $5,000 per person, compared to about $2,500 per person in Ontario. American spending on healthcare in 2003 was $1.6 trillion dollars or 14% of the Gross National Product (GNP). This expenditure is growing at an annual rate well above inflation.

The U.S. federal government has two programs - Medicare and Medicaid - that are growing uncontrollably. In 1964 these programs cost virtually zero, in 1984 they cost 9% of the federal budget, in 2004 they will cost 19% of the federal budget ($640 billion). The Comptroller General of the General Accounting Office (GAO) suggests that there is a crisis in health care in the United States, and his projections of future federal deficits caused primarily by these two programs are astounding. For more information go to http://www.gao.gov/ and click on "From the Comptroller General" and then click on "Health Care System Crisis" to see the slide show.

In Ontario, about half of the provincial expenditure for health care is incurred by senior citizens. Seniors are about 13% of the provincial population. However, when the baby boom generation retires, the number of seniors will double. The situation is similar across Canada, the United States and Europe. The answer to this problem is prevention of disease and the promotion of health. This is what needs to be done:

1. Soil fertility is the foundation of public health. Rebuild farm soils to produce more nutritious food. Switch to organic farming across the entire country.

2. Nutrient dense diet. National food guidelines need to be revised to reflect a healthy diet, rather than the profits of special interest groups.

3. More physical exercise. Communities should ensure there are sufficient walking trails, bicycle lanes and paths, recreational facilities, etc. in every neighborhood.

4. Reduce the exposure of the population to the many thousands of toxic chemicals presently being released into the environment.

5. Transcendental Meditation to relieve stress and bring a dramatic reduction in health problems and about a 50% reduction overall healthcare costs. Governments should pay the course fee for the population to learn TM.

Example of Economic Impact of Health Care Costs

"At GM, health care costs, alone, exceed steel costs per vehicle. This has given Detroit tremendous incentive to outsource to cheaper suppliers and move assembly to Canada and Mexico, and to promote productivity vigorously. In combination with U.S. producers' lost market share, these forces have slashed UAW membership from 1.5 million in 1979 to 624,000 at the end of 2003." - Gary Shilling

The developed countries MUST be competitive in the global economy if they do not want to be dragged down by international competition. Improving the health of the population would significantly reduce the cost of employing them.

Hospital Patient Days are reduced approximately 90% for people over age 45 by
Maharishi Vedic Approach to Health (MVAH).

The Maharishi Vedic Approach to Health (MVAH) is "a comprehensive program of natural medicine that implements Ayur Veda according to the ancient texts. Developed by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in collaboration with leading physicians, MVAH is a prevention-oriented system designed to maintain optimal health by restoring balance in the physiology."

MVAH includes Transcendental Meditation, TM-Sidhi program, yoga asanas, Sun Salute exercise, pranayama (comfortable breathing exercise), Maharishi Amrit Kalash, analysis of body type, personalized dietary recommendations to nourish and balance the body, herbal supplements and seasonings, daily and seasonal routines, Ayurvedic procedures to cleanse and rejuvenate the body (Panchakarma), optimal environment, massage, aroma therapy, Gandharva music therapy, pulse diagnosis (Nadi Vigyan), and other health promotion techniques. Ayurvedic physicians can detect imbalances in the body and prescribe procedures to correct these imbalances long before ill health manifests. The goal of Maharishi Ayurveda is a state of perfect balance or perfect health.

Prominent Ayurvedic physicians who worked with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi to develop the Maharishi Vedic Approach to Health include Dr. V. M. Dwivedi (specialist in rasayanas and Professor Emeritus, Gujarat Ayurvedic University), Dr. Brihaspati Dev Triguna (President of the All-India Ayurvedic Congress and Director of the National Academy for Ayurveda), and Dr. Balraj Maharishi (perhaps the world's leading expert in "Dravyaguna" - the knowledge of the properties of plants).

Reference:
Orme-Johnson D. W., Herron R. E. Reduced Medical Care Utilization and Expenditures through an Innovative Approach. American Journal of Managed Care 1997; 3: 135-144.

***

Ayurvedic procedures to cleanse and rejuvenate the body are offered at the following spas:

www.lancasterhealth.com Maharishi Ayur-Veda Medical Center, Lancaster, Massachusetts Recognized as one of the 10 Best Health Spas in the World --Harpers & Queen

www.theraj.com The Raj, America's premier Maharishi Ayur-Veda Health Center, Fairfield, Iowa

***

To learn Transcendental Meditation, the TM-Sidhi program, yoga asanas, pranayama, etc., start by finding a TM center near where you live in the U.S., Canada, and worldwide. Go to www.tm.org.

Quality of TM Research

Unconventional research is subjected to particularly intense peer review prior to publication. Reasons for this include skepticism on the part of journal editors and reviewers, and the need for scientific journals to uphold their reputation. On the other hand, once novel research has passed rigorous peer review, journal editors are willing to publish it because the very purpose of these journals is to present new knowledge.

The scientific research on Transcendental Meditation has repeatedly broken new ground. Until the first studies on TM meditators, it was generally accepted that meditation techniques were ineffective, or their spiritual benefit was beyond scientific analysis, or only a few people with extraordinary abilities could do them. Research on ordinary people who learn TM consistently shows a transformation in how the body functions with repeatable and predictable changes in heart rate, breath rate and volume, brain wave patterns and many other variables. Many of these parameters are autonomic and not generally subject to voluntary control.

Psychologists traditionally accepted that a person's level of intelligence was inherited and not something that could be systematically developed. TM meditators were the first to show increased intelligence over time. The students at Maharishi Schools around the world and Maharishi University of Management in Iowa, U.S.A. enjoy a systematic program to develop their intelligence and other mental abilities by means of Transcendental Meditation, adequate sleep, physical exercise, dietary considerations, herbal formulations (Student Rasayana, Mind Plus), and other techniques. This program, plus intellectual study of the nature, range and development of intelligence is the foundation of the academic excellence that these institutions provide, as verified by nation-wide academic achievement tests. Such a program to develop intelligence should be the foundation of education in schools everywhere.

Scientific research on the "Maharishi Effect" shows reductions in crime and violence in society and increases in positive values when groups of people practice Transcendental Meditation and its advanced programs (including Yogic Flying). This research is particularly controversial and the peer review these studies have to pass prior to publication is incredible. However, detailed review of the data and the methods of statistical analysis, plus careful consideration and elimination of other possible explanations for the changes seen in society, has convinced both reviewers and journal editors to consider the research worthy of publication.

The TM Movement does not advertise in scientific journals. The journals are not subjected to financial pressures to publish TM research, unlike the questionable research constantly being churned out by pharmaceutical companies whose advertising helps finance the journals.

Most TM research is NOT double blind. There is a reason for this. In double blind studies neither the researchers nor the subjects know whether they are receiving the experimental treatment or the placebo. To do a double blind study on Transcendental Meditation means that some of the people who thought they were learning TM would, in fact, be taught incorrectly or taught something else. TM teachers would never permit this.

However, there are other ways to conduct excellent scientific research that do not involve double blind studies, and to hold TM and other alternatives to conventional medicine to this artificial standard is highly hypocritical. About 80% of what passes for modern medicine has never been verified by double blind studies.

Transcendental Meditation research generally uses the subjects as their own controls, monitoring a variety of physiological parameters before, during and after meditation. Various physiological and psychological parameters can be measured over months and years, to see if they change cumulatively as a result of twice daily meditations. Or, meditators as a group can be compared to non-meditating control groups with comparable features such as age, gender, education, income, etc. Research on the Maharishi Effect has taken the form of intervention studies, looking at a variety of societal parameters (crime rate, war fatalities, terrorist incidents, fires, hospital admissions, reported infectious diseases, unemployment rate, etc.) before, during and after the intervention. In some of these studies, the intervention has been repeated many times so that the pattern of change in social functioning becomes very clear and predictable.

Therefore, we conclude that the massive amount of research done on TM needs to be taken very seriously because it is both credible and offers a beautiful vision of possibilities: a world free of suffering and disease, poverty and unemployment, terrorism and war. This is the practical possibility that is before us today, if we will take the collective action necessary to make it a reality for everyone.

Meditation not opposed by RCs

Only if transcendental meditation were presented as a substitute for religion would the Roman Catholic Church oppose it, the calendar of St. Andrew's Cathedral states in a recent issue.

The statement answered a question about what stand the church takes on the practice of this type of meditation.

A course by Victoria's Transcendental Meditation Society is based on the methods of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

It is not a new idea, the calendar states; but just a new approach to the meditation practised in monasteries, seminaries and Catholic schools for centuries.

"To meditate means to think over, to reflect, usually for the purpose of undertaking some action," the calendar says.

Traditional religious meditation is a thinking over, it goes on, and reflecting on one's relationship with God and how this could lead to greater love of neighbor.

To commune with God who is within oneself is basically the purpose of religious meditation. Methods of relaxation and means of cutting off distractions that impede quiet are needed for this, says the calendar.

"Through the centuries, various methods have been tried and transcendental meditation is one means of doing this.

"This means could be used by unbelievers to understand themselves better and determine to live a better, more fruitful life.

"These means could also be very helpful for religious meditation, the answer concludes, before stating that only if it were presented as a substitute for religion would the church oppose it."

- Victoria Daily Colonist newspaper, Saturday September 6, 1975, page 20.

"This is that one technology which has the potential to raise the life of every individual and society to its full dignity, where problems and suffering are absent, and perfect health, happiness, success, and a rapid pace of progress are the natural features of life. With the application of this technology to every area of society, every aspect of human life will rise to perfection, and mankind will enjoy a permanent state of world peace and Heaven on Earth."
- Maharishi

Off to a Fast Start...Sunlight is the best Cosmetic and helps Prevent Cancer, too.

Continuing our non-dietary interventions, we will now discuss the value of sunlight. The main alkaline mineral in the body is calcium, and the body needs vitamin D in order to absorb and utilize calcium. The best source of vitamin D is exposure of the skin to sunlight. Not only is vitamin D produced by the skin FREE, but the body produces only the amount it needs so there is no fear of an overdose.

There is much talk of skin cancer and sunlight, but the fact is that sunlight is both healthful and necessary. People who get their vitamin D from sunshine have less cancer. Of course, everything in moderation. If you burn your skin repeatedly then you are asking for trouble. So stay out of the sun during the hottest hours of the day, avoid over exposure and sunburn, and get a nice tan. Tan is a natural sunblock. We recommend that all indoor lighting be full spectrum, so that even indoors you get vitamin D from the skin. So let's move on to our discussion of the importance of sunlight.

In 1904 there was very little cancer. Now there is an abundance of cancer. What has changed? Can this be reversed? If you have cancer or do not want to get cancer the information you and your family need is on this web site.
Note: there are two ways to navigate this site. You can follow the pages in their logical sequence, or you can access every page from "Contents".
For your assistance, there is a Google search box on each page that will allow you to search this web site or the entire Internet for more information.

Web AlkalizeForHealth.net