Brain Development through TM

[sin]

Research indicates unprecedented brain development through TM

Brain research has discovered that Transcendental Meditation develops the brain formerly not thought to be possible. With regular practice of TM brain function improves from the low level of orderliness, integration and coherence found in most people to increasing degrees of orderliness, integration and coherence.

The two diagrams below are the result of computer analysis of the electrical brain activity, so called "brain waves" or Electroencephalogram (EEG). The more of white "waves" the more coherence.



During the EEG session of the beginner (actually the first day of TM) the subject first sat with closed eyes and then started TM. Coherence appeared only during TM and only in the alpha frequency (10 hz), see the left diagram. In the advanced meditator, coherence was even found while eyes were open and it increased when the eyes were closed and even more during meditation. It continued after meditation. Also coherence appeared in all major EEG frequencies, see the diagram at the right side [1].

Longitudinal studies have confirmed that EEG-coherence increases over time during TM as well as in activity. For example Fred Travis at MUM monitored the EEG-coherence during a standard computer task. He made measurements every month during one year after the students learnt TM. He found that the EEG-coherence level during activity increased steadily throughout the year in students practicing TM.


EEG coherence reflects the coordination of brain activity. EEG-coherence correlates with creativity, IQ, and mental health (low level of neuroticism) [2]. In ordinary brains little and sporadic EEG-coherence is seen.

Comment
Growth of integrated brain functioning

While significant EEG coherence appears only during TM in those who just learnt TM, it appears to an increasing extent outside TM already after a few weeks or months of practice. Longitudinal reserach indicates a cumulative development of coherence also in activity. Ultimately it is stabilized in activity along with other signs of the presence of transcendental consciousness [3]. This is the case even during sleep [4].

This indicates that the repeated experience of coherent functioning during TM so as to say "trains" the brain to work more and more coherently all the time. The spread of coherence to different EEG frequencies indicates a multifaceted development of the brain. This is because different EEG-frequencies correspond to various aspects of brain function. The increase of coherence in the frontal brain is especially pronounced the more advanced the meditator becomes [3]. The frontal brain is associated a.o. with creativity, empathy and high ethical standards. Other research has confirmed the growth of these qualities in TM-practitioners.

These findings confirm the age-old Vedic statement that regular experience of transcendental consciousness develops the ability of the brain to uphold this state of consciousness throughout day and night. Ever present transcendental consciousness is the key hallmark of "enlightenment" or higher states of consciousness according to the Vedic tradition which is the origin of the TM-technique.

Objective confirmation of enlightenment

Additional evidence objectively confirming a unique style of brain functioning in enlightened people was recently reported by Travis et al [7]. They found that TM practitioners fulfilling the criteria of enlightenment (including awareness through all stages of sleep) responded in a unique way in choice situations. While the brains of non-enlightened subjects were more or less excited all the time, the enlightened subjects had a low level of excitation until the very moment only when it was appropriate to make a decision. Thereafter it rapidly returned to a low level of excitation.

This matched the subjective experience of persistent immovable inner calmness, even while engaged in dynamic outer activity. This is another hallmark of enlightenment as described in the age old Vedic scriptures. For a layman summary of this report, go to "Pioneering Study Quantifies Brain Wave Patterns During Higher Human Functioning"

Brain research has thus revealed a profound transformation of the functioning of the brain towards increasing degrees of orderliness, integration, stability and flexibility. It has confirmed that enlightenment is an objectively verifiable state.
Enlightenment need not be a rare condition

Since long it has been believed that enlightenment is a rare condition that only can be achieved with great difficulty by very few of those who aspire for it. However, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of the TM-movement, has been maintaining that this belief is unjustified. He has stated that the rarity of enlightenment was the consequence of inefficient meditation techniques because of loss of understanding of vedic knowledge. He has explained that his Transcendental Meditation technique represents a restoration of this ancient knowledge. With this technique, which efficiently provides the experience of transcendental consciousness, enlightenment can become a common condition according to Maharishi. His opinion is now supported by the objective neurophysiological demonstration of increasing development of enlightenment in TM-practitioners including an increasing number achieving this state permanently.
Development in all ages

The development of improved quality of brain functioning has also been demonstrated in the growth of intelligence after the early teens when it normally stops [5]. Improved intelligence was even demonstrated in very old people with the average age of 81 years. Usually the intelligence declines in advanced age [6].

These findings are revolutionary. Brain scientists have so far believed that brain development stops in the teens. The research presented here indicates that in fact the brain can develop in all ages through regular experience of transcendental consciousness. The findings are also revolutionary in the sense that such a profound neurophysiological transformation from a low level to a high level of coherence and integration has not been known to be possible.
Unique coherence development

High coherence accross the brain has not been documented for other techniques nor development of increasing brainwave coherence outside the practice. These effects are due to the unique state of transcendental consiousness which differs importantly from what occurs in deep relaxation and meditations where there is some kind of active mental activity (imagery, mantra repitition, concentration on some object etc).

The state of transcendental consciousness can only be achieved when there is a total absence of any form of active mental activity, as it is a state of complete equilibrium. Any kind of mentation or even the slightest concentration brings the consciousness immediately out of this state.
Conclusion

Brain research has demonstrated a profound transformation towards increasing orderliness, coordination, integration, flexibility and stability of the nervous system through the regular practice of TM.

The causative factor is the state of Transcendental or Pure Consicousness, which is a unique fourth state of consciousness characterized by a high level of EEG coherence.

The development culminates in enlightenment, characterized by stable high level of coherence irrespective of activity.

As TM differs in important ways from other techniques, there is no scientific basis for assuming that the results are valid for other methods.


For more, see the Brain Research Institute.


Resources:
References

[1]

* Levine, P. Proceedings of the San Diego Biomedical Symposium sid 15 pp, 1976;

*

Orme-Johnson, DW. Electroenceph Clin Neurophysiol 43:581-582, 1977,
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Dillbeck MC, Bronson EC, International Journal of Neuroscience 14:147-151, 1981;
*

Nidich R et al, Scientific Research on the Transcendental Meditation Program, Collected Papers vol 4, Vlodrop, Holland, MVU Press, 1989, 2273-2277;
*

Travis, F. T. Eyes open and TM EEG patterns after one and eight years of TM practice. Psychophysiology 28(3a): S58, (Abstract), 1991;
*

Travis, F. Autonomic and EEG patterns distinguish transcending from other experiences during Transcendental Meditation practice. International journal of psychophysiology 42(1), 1-9, 2001;
*

Travis, F., & Pearson, C. Pure consciousness: distinct phenomenological and physiological correlates of "consciousness itself". The International journal of neuroscience, 100(1-4), 2000;

[2]

* Orme-Johnson DW, and Haynes CT. EEG phase coherence, pure consciousness, creativity, and TM-Sidhi experiences. International Journal of Neuroscience 13: 211-217, 1981.

* Dillbeck MC, Orme-Johnson DW, Wallace RK. Frontal EEG coherence, H-reflex recovery, concept learning, and the TM-Sidhi program. International Journal of Neuroscience 15: 151-157, 1981. See "Optimization of brain functioning", at www.mum.edu/tm_research/tm_charts/2MentA.html.

[3] Travis FT, Tecce J, Arenander A, Wallace RK, "Frontal Cortical Measures that Characterize the Integration of Transcendental and Waking States". Biological Psychology 61: 293-­319, 2002. Abstract.

[4] Mason L.I. et al "Electrophysiological correlates of consciousness during sleep in long-term practitioners of Transcendental Meditation" Sleep, 20:102-10, 1997.

[5]

* a) Tjoa, A. Some evidence that the Transcendental Meditation program increases intelligence and reduces neuroticism as measured by psychological tests. G.I.T.P., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1972 i Scientific Research on the Transcendental Meditation Program, Collected Papers vol 1, paper 54. Livingston Manor NY, MERU Press, 1977.

*

b) Tjoa A, Gedrag: Tijdshrijft voor Psychologie 3:167-182, 1975.
*

c) Cranson, R. W. et al Transcendental Meditation and improved performance on intelligencerelated measures: A longitudinal study. Personality and Individual Differences 12(10): 1105-1116, 1991
*

d) Throll, D. A., and Throll, L. A. The effect of a three-month residence course upon the personalities of experienced meditators. Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand, 1977, i Scientific research on Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program: Collected papers, vol. 2, paper 150. Vlodrop, the Netherlands: MVU Press 1989.
*

e) Jedrczak, A. The TM-Sidhi program and age-related psychological variables. Department of Psychology, MERU Research Institute, Mentmore, Buckinghamshire, England, 1982. Scientific research on Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program: Collected papers, vol. 3, paper 258. Vlodrop, the Netherlands: MVU Press 1989.
*

f) Aron, A.; Orme-Johnson, D. W.; and Brubaker, P. The Transcendental Meditation program in the college curriculum: A 4-year longitudinal study of effects on cognitive and affective functioning. College Student Journal 15(2): 140-146, 1981.
*

h) Dillbeck, M. C.; Assimakis, P. D.; Raimondi, D.; Orme-Johnson, D. W.; And Rowe, R. Longitudinal effects of the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program on cognitive ability and cognitive style. Perceptual and Motor Skills 62: 731-738, 1986.
*

i) Cranson, R. Increased general intelligence through the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program. Abstract of a paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association, New Orleans, August 1989. Scientific research on Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program: Collected papers, vol. 4, paper 390. Vlodrop, the Netherlands: MVU Press 1989.
*

j) Jedrczak, A.; Beresford, M.; And Clements, G. The TM-Sidhi program, pure consciousness, creativity and intelligence. The Journal of Creative Behavior 19(4): 270-275, 1985.
*

k) Jedrczak, A.; Toomey, M.; And Clements, G. The TM-Sidhi programme, age, and brief test of perceptual-motor speed and nonverbal intelligence. Journal of Clinical Psychology 42: 161-164, 1986.
*

l) Cranson, R. W. et al. Transcendental Meditation and improved performance on intelligence-related measures: A longitudinal study. Personality and Individual Differences 12(10): 1105-1116, 1991.
*

m) So Kam-Tim. Testing and Improving Intelligence and Creativity in the Chinese Culture with Maharishi's Vedic Psychology: Toward a Holistic Universal Assessment. Doctoral Dissertation, Department of Psychology, Maharishi International University, 1995. Scientific research on Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program: Collected papers, vol. 4, paper 465. Vlodrop, the Netherlands: MVU Press 1989.

[6] Alexander CN, Langer RI, Newman HM et al ”Enhancing longevity, the Transcendental Meditation Program, Mindfulness and Longevity”. Proceedings from Sixth Annual Conference of the National Council on the Aging April 1986.

[7] Travis, F., Tecce, J.J., & Guttman, J. Cortical plasticity, contingent negative variation, and transcendent experiences during practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique. Biological psychology, 55(1), 41-55, 2000;

[dzepxich]

Great article! TM is a great thing for anyone to practice, one will see definite improvement in mental capabilities within weeks of using the techniques. It's amazing how much time & energy people waste in a crisis situation.

[sin]

There was also another article I will post, relative to monitoring specific areas of the brain during trance states, and psychodrama. I'll be sure to post that as well.

[sin]

"The Biology of Belief
By JEFFREY KLUGER Thursday, Feb. 12, 2009
Biology of Faith Illustration


Most folks probably couldn't locate their parietal lobe with a map and a compass. For the record, it's at the top of your head — aft of the frontal lobe, fore of the occipital lobe, north of the temporal lobe. What makes the parietal lobe special is not where it lives but what it does — particularly concerning matters of faith.

If you've ever prayed so hard that you've lost all sense of a larger world outside yourself, that's your parietal lobe at work. If you've ever meditated so deeply that you'd swear the very boundaries of your body had dissolved, that's your parietal too. There are other regions responsible for making your brain the spiritual amusement park it can be: your thalamus plays a role, as do your frontal lobes. But it's your parietal lobe — a central mass of tissue that processes sensory input — that may have the most transporting effect. (Read "Top 10 Medical Breakthroughs"here.)

Needy creatures that we are, we put the brain's spiritual centers to use all the time. We pray for peace; we meditate for serenity; we chant for wealth. We travel to Lourdes in search of a miracle; we go to Mecca to show our devotion; we eat hallucinogenic mushrooms to attain transcendent vision and gather in church basements to achieve its sober opposite. But there is nothing we pray — or chant or meditate — for more than health.

Health, by definition, is the sine qua non of everything else. If you're dead, serenity is academic. So we convince ourselves that while our medicine is strong and our doctors are wise, our prayers may heal us too.

Here's what's surprising: a growing body of scientific evidence suggests that faith may indeed bring us health. People who attend religious services do have a lower risk of dying in any one year than people who don't attend. People who believe in a loving God fare better after a diagnosis of illness than people who believe in a punitive God. No less a killer than AIDS will back off at least a bit when it's hit with a double-barreled blast of belief. "Even accounting for medications," says Dr. Gail Ironson, a professor of psychiatry and psychology at the University of Miami who studies HIV and religious belief, "spirituality predicts for better disease control." (Read "Finding God on YouTube.")

It's hard not to be impressed by findings like that, but a skeptic will say there's nothing remarkable — much less spiritual — about them. You live longer if you go to church because you're there for the cholesterol-screening drive and the visiting-nurse service. Your viral load goes down when you include spirituality in your fight against HIV because your levels of cortisol — a stress hormone — go down first. "Science doesn't deal in supernatural explanations," says Richard Sloan, professor of behavioral medicine at Columbia University Medical Center and author of Blind Faith: The Unholy Alliance of Religion and Medicine. "Religion and science address different concerns."

That's undeniably true — up to a point. But it's also true that our brains and bodies contain an awful lot of spiritual wiring. Even if there's a scientific explanation for every strand of it, that doesn't mean we can't put it to powerful use. And if one of those uses can make us well, shouldn't we take advantage of it? "A large body of science shows a positive impact of religion on health," says Dr. Andrew Newberg, a professor of radiology, psychology and religious studies at the University of Pennsylvania and co-founder of Penn's Center for Spirituality and the Mind. "The way the brain works is so compatible with religion and spirituality that we're going to be enmeshed in both for a long time."

It's All in Your Head
"enmeshed in the brain" is as good a way as any to describe Newberg's work of the past 15 years. The author of four books, including the soon-to-be-released How God Changes Your Brain, he has looked more closely than most at how our spiritual data-processing center works, conducting various types of brain scans on more than 100 people, all of them in different kinds of worshipful or contemplative states. Over time, Newberg and his team have come to recognize just which parts of the brain light up during just which experiences.

When people engage in prayer, it's the frontal lobes that take the lead, since they govern focus and concentration. During very deep prayer, the parietal lobe powers down, which is what allows us to experience that sense of having loosed our earthly moorings. The frontal lobes go quieter when worshippers are involved in the singular activity of speaking in tongues — which jibes nicely with the speakers' subjective experience that they are not in control of what they're saying. "

[sin]

youtube video

[dzepxich]

Excellent vid & post above it. I think it is a good thing for occultists to study the mechanics & the bio chemistry (physiological psychology) of the brain.

I worked a double major for my Masters in college, Cultural Anthropology & Psychology. The two fields of study compliment each other tremendously.

Paying to take the courses is, of course, not necessary. Get a reading list and go to the local library, or do extensive research on the 'net.

[sin]

Apr 25, 2009 12:00:17 GMT -6 dzepxich said:

Excellent vid & post above it. I think it is a good thing for occultists to study the mechanics & the bio chemistry (physiological psychology) of the brain.

I worked a double major for my Masters in college, Cultural Anthropology & Psychology. The two fields of study compliment each other tremendously.

Paying to take the courses is, of course, not necessary. Get a reading list and go to the local library, or do extensive research on the 'net.

I agree, self-education is key in personal development. I find the subjects extremely fascinating. In my own mind, everything leads back to the brain. How we experience life, why we experience it the way we do, and what we envision for ourselves.

The brain is amazing.

Self-hypnosis is achieved through self-applied delusions. Convincing yourself "X" is real. This can be boogeymen, gods, smurfs, or dragons - depending on personal preference. It plays a major role in the Ecstasia class I'm taking (transcendental dance). This subject ties in nicely, and I thought it would be worthy for this forum.

[dzepxich]

I agree, the subject is totally worthy of this forum.

There are many ways of entering altered states of consciousness. Shamanic techniques tend to use sound and motion (through audio driving or kinesthetic driving). It is only in recent times that the physical mechanisms for this phenomena have been understood, though clearly, understanding the mechanism is not necessary for it to have an effect. Visual driving is also very effective, but has really come into its own with modern technology. Flickering flames are a bit more random and hard to control than a precise drum beat.

I had an idea many years ago of creating a computer program which would use auditory/visual driving to induce an ASC in the user & then lead them on a "guided trip" to specific, discrete states of consciousness. I've never taken a programming class though, so it is out of my area of expertise.

Have you read any of Dr. Charles Tart? His research prompted the movie "Altered States". Dr. Tart was the first (modern) to propose the idea that there is no "single" state of consciousness, that one naturally moves through many "states of consciousness" throughout a day. Of course, many of his ideas are present in some very old writings.

[sin]

Apr 27, 2009 10:11:37 GMT -6 dzepxich said:

I agree, the subject is totally worthy of this forum.

There are many ways of entering altered states of consciousness. Shamanic techniques tend to use sound and motion (through audio driving or kinesthetic driving). It is only in recent times that the physical mechanisms for this phenomena have been understood, though clearly, understanding the mechanism is not necessary for it to have an effect. Visual driving is also very effective, but has really come into its own with modern technology. Flickering flames are a bit more random and hard to control than a precise drum beat.

I had an idea many years ago of creating a computer program which would use auditory/visual driving to induce an ASC in the user & then lead them on a "guided trip" to specific, discrete states of consciousness. I've never taken a programming class though, so it is out of my area of expertise.

Have you read any of Dr. Charles Tart? His research prompted the movie "Altered States". Dr. Tart was the first (modern) to propose the idea that there is no "single" state of consciousness, that one naturally moves through many "states of consciousness" throughout a day. Of course, many of his ideas are present in some very old writings.

Tart? No I haven't. I'm rather behind in my enormous reading list I've accumulated in the last 6 months. So many books, so little time.

I've participated in a 'Shamanic Journeying' workshop a few times. It involved the burning of sage continuously for aroma, the drumming, fire and other visual aids. The object was to have a 'vision' guided by this technique. I can't say I had a vision, but it was very relaxing and with practice I can see that you could achieve decent. A valid practice, most def.

I think it's finding your way there. For me, it's dance. I've been dabbling for years, and this new class I'm taking offers insight into achieving it on demand. It's something that is going to take time. I'm not even certain I can self-hypnotize but I'm willing to give it a shot.