“Hi there. I have wanted to learn TM meditation for literally years and have felt rather frustrated and confused at the cost and then came across a leaflet of yours –what a wonderful discovery. Thank you!”

Penny ~ Edinburgh

“Hi…..I’m interested in taking TM courses ….i am currently living in Toronto and was wondering if your courses are offered here or if u can refer me to someone in eastern Canada….I already talked to the official TM centre here but find them hugely overpriced….please let me know if u can help me….in the case if your courses are only in the UK please provide me with course dates and locations starting in feb 2014.”

Another in our continuing series of TM testimonials :
I attended my TM course around three years ago (actually this could have been four, a lot has changed since then!). Some years before this I had become interested in meditation whilst at high school; I was lucky enough to have an adventurous religious studies teacher who did a kind of secular guided meditation with her classes, and this was a lovely experience, but I wanted to take it further. After leaving school I researched on the internet around other types of meditation and felt that TM would be ideal for me, because I could easily fit it in with the rest of my time. I visited the official TM organisation website but during that period, to my disappointment, I found that no new TM courses in the UK were being taught. There didn’t seem to be any explanation on why this had happened on the website, but I learned from news websites that they had withdrawn the course because Maharishi had decreed the UK a ‘scorpion nation.’ Later, when the ban was lifted, I found that the fees were unaffordable, so I put my plans to learn on the backburner.

Several years later, after leaving university and getting a job, I found I was experiencing depression. I’m not sure of the underlying reason as to why I had become depressed but I went and visited my doctor, who diagnosed that I had a moderate case of depression. I was provided with SSRI medication but shortly became concerned about the side effects. I began looking around on the internet for alternative ideas and TM sprung up once again. I was intrigued to read some well-researched studies on the benefits of TM on alleviating depression and improving general well being. I took these studies to my doctor. I was pessimistic about the response i’d get from her but to my surprise she had read about TM and of its effects on depression, she thought it would be worth trying. So I went back on the internet and that’s when I came across Twenty Minutes Meditation (Independent TM teacher) and booked myself in..

The course was easy to understand and the technique and background was broken down over three days. Initially I didn’t ‘feel’ anything, but I returned home and it became a part of my routine. After several weeks I began to feel a general sense of wellness. After some months I noticed my depression had gradually lifted. My mood continued to improve and today I have a broad sense of wellness across my life. It is difficult to describe with words – language is a limited tool in dealing with the beauty of TM. The main thing I would say is to follow the teaching and just to let things unfold. The biggest surprise for me was that many people over the years have commented on my unstressed nature. Initially this began with family and, later, work colleagues. I work in an environment which can be testing, it’s the local authority social services line, for which i’m a customer services officer. This involves taking calls and answering enquiries from concerned members of the public, elderly and vulnerable people, police and medical professionals. The content of the calls can be stressful so TM is absolutely invaluable. In the rest of my life, several strangers, including a joiner who was doing work at my house, my dentist and an independent financial adviser, have all commented on my stress free nature. All of which was pretty unexpected.
Craig, Preston

My Personal Experience of TM. HEALTHY SCEPTICISM

There were the Beatles, on the telly with (what to me) seemed a rather
strange but interesting man with long hair & a beard. It was 1968 and I was
13. The strange man in question was Maharishi Mahesh Yogi the founder of
Transcendental Meditation, little did I realise the major impact this man
would have on my future. The Beatles had taken up T.M and were off to India
to train as teachers of the technique. Like thousands of others over the
next few years, I finally decided to give it a go in 1971, encouraged by a
friend who thought it was wonderful. Skeptical I was, yet aware that there
is more to this world then what we percieve on the surface. Fortunately
skepticism is no bad thing for prospective T.M’ers, because it is a
technique and doesn’t rely on belief.
I must say I didn’t notice anything at first, aged 16 patience was
definately not one of my virtues.. However over the next couple of months
the benefits almost crept up on me, nothing mindblowing, but significant, a
greater ease within myself, more confidence, greater clarity of mind and
perhaps most importantly, the ability too seriously relax on a daily basis.
But as many people will tell you there is more to it then that. As I have
discovered over the years, T.M is a wonderfully simple and uncomplicated
procedure to allow the mind & body to regain a state of balance through a
really profound state of deep relaxation. Yes, it is enjoyable to do and
quickly becomes something that you look forward to doing. It isn’t just
easy, it is completely effortless. Consequently anybody can do it. There
is no effort, no trying, no concentration, no attempt to empty the mind of
thoughts. In other words, you don’t have too work at it, the beauty of
Transcendental Meditation is that rather then trying to force the mind, you
are allowing it to settle. As so many people have said, it’s a nice place to
go… You know that whatever may come up that day, at some stage you will be
able to sit and meditate and come back to that quietest level of yourself,
but ultimately meditation is a preparation for activity, an overall quality
of life enhancer. Something that has it’s origins in ancient India, today
offers huge benefits in a modern stressed world.
Encouraged by my experience and curious too find out more I went out to
Switzerland to work with the T.M organisation for a couple of weeks in the
summer of 1974. Two weeks turned into two and a half years during which I
trained and qualified as a T.M teacher. Being able to mix with thousands of
people from all over the world, of different backgounds & age groups was a
very enriching experience, not to mention attending daily lectures by
Maharishi, boy was I inspired! By now I was a T.M evangelist and really
thought it was the answer to all the world’s problems. Naiveity of youth?
Well nearly 30 years later I still meditate and certainly wouldn’t be
without it. Unfortunately the T.M organisation has become ever more
fanatical and bizarre in promoting itself, convinced that it is right.
Eventually in 1995 I decided to make the break, having taught T.M and worked
with the organisation all over the UK and abroad (including 15 months in
India) . The final straw had come with the huge increase in the course fee
for learning T.M, in 1993 it was raised from £180 to £490 and then £1280!!!
So much for peace and love. Although still high, over the past 3 years the
TM org have twice reduced their fees, free market ah, it’s enough to make
you believe in competition.
I’m no saint, but do enjoy teaching Transcendental Meditation and seeing the
results in peoples lives. In the UK, myself, Colin
Beckley & a growing band of TM teachers continue to teach T.M at affordable fee’s,
independently of the TH organisation. Many thousands of people have taken up T.M
with us, often travelling from distant parts of the UK & abroad and increasingly we
are running T.M courses in business, education authorities & government
agencies.
Yes what started out as a slightly hippyish, quasi/spiritual meditation is
increasingly practiced by ordinary, everyday people who just want something
that actually works, without any “bull”!

Chris Greathead (teaching TM for 42 years)

Welcome to our first TM Independent blog where we hope to have something significant to say!

After over 40 years of teaching TM (the last 24 independently) it still amazes me at how difficult it is to actually describe TM.  The worst thing about Transcendental Meditation is undoubtedly its name,  it makes people want to run a mile.  The best thing about TM is that it actually works & anybody can do it.

Most people hear the word “meditation” and immediately  think : “concentration, empty the mind”  =  difficult!  This isn’t helped by the fact that most media coverage on meditation (including TM) usually includes a photo of a young woman sitting in a yogic posture in some idyllic place.

In fact TM genuinely is the simplest thing anybody can or ever will do & really is effortless, not involving any concentration or emptying of the mind.  Thinking, the nature of the mind to have thoughts, is an entirely natural part of the experience of Transcendental Meditation and in reality thousands of people in the UK do their meditation daily on the bus, train, tube on their way to and from work.

On every single TM course we teach, whether as in this year so far, in Newcastle, Edinburgh, Manchester, Ringwood (Hants) New Forest or York, people say the same thing when they are about to learn : “I’ve got a very busy mind”.

This is followed at the end of the first learning session by : “I can’t believe how easy it is”

Comments like the one below sum it up :

“I’ve studied meditation for years and found it to be beneficial to my overall health and mental well-being. Whilst using lots of different techniques I’ve found TM is the simplest and easiest to pick up and integrate into our busy lives.”

Russell,   IT developer,   Oxford,