TM Checking and Hypnosis, Part I
Posted by John M. Knapp, LMSW at 3/04/2007 10:33:00 PM
The longer I spend with the Checking Notes, the more I'm convinced
it's all in there.
--Anonymous TM Teacher
Year after year, the interest in the Movement is growing due to the
success of Checking.
--Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, TTC III Videotape
INTRODUCTION
In this series of articles, I compare Transcendental Meditation's
Checking procedure to trance induction or hypnotism. I also develop
the ramifications for TM practitioners of undergoing frequent trance
induction -- and being subject to the subsequent suggestions made by
the Checker.
"Checking" is a procedure conducted by a TM Teacher or Associate TM
Teacher on a TM meditator. When an individual is first "initiated"
into TM, the Teacher suggests that the new TM meditator undergo
Checking once a week for the first month of meditation and once a
month thereafter. The Teacher and the Checking Notes themselves state
that the purpose of checking is to ensure that meditators begin
meditation in the correct, "effortless" way. "The purpose of checking
is to give the experience of right meditation.... Whatever is the
complaint against meditation, whatever is the difficulty take the man
through the necessary steps for checking, and he will feel better."1
Any meditator who does not practice meditation regularly or
experiences various problems such as headaches or gross physical
movements, to name only two, is told that regular Checking will make
the meditation enjoyable again.
The Checking Notes, consisting of 30 points and pages of General
Points, are memorized by prospective TM initiators during Phase I of
the TM Teacher Training Course. Course participants (CPs) are tested
by course leaders for absolute, verbatim knowledge of this procedure,
its wording, and the precise time intervals as quoted in the Notes.
CPs must pass such a test three times without mistakes or even
hesitations. Completing Phase I, graduates are termed Associate TM
Teachers. To become full-fledged TM Teachers, they must again pass the
Checking test three times on Phase III.
Despite their importance, evidenced by the rigorous testing procedure,
according to the restrictions imposed by TTC course leaders, they may
only be "inscribed in consciousness" -- that is, memorized from
dictation -- in order to preserve the "purity of the teaching." The
dictated text is represented by course leaders as being a direct quote
from Maharishi Mahesh Yogi -- including idiosyncratic grammar and
phrasing -- and is said to be the only process by which his
Transcendental Meditation may be corrected successfully.
The group and individual checking procedures, as well as the steps of
initiation, are unique to TM, to my knowledge. Although many if not
most meditative traditions practice group meditation, no other that I
am aware of employs an "opening and closing the eyes" trance induction
to begin. (One correspondent suggested that there were similar
procedures used in Swami Sivananda's practice, but I have been unable
to confirm this. No such procedure is mentioned in his treatise, Japa
Yoga.)
Some naive TMers believe that these procedures are somehow derived
from Vedic literature. This is not the case. In fact, the Maharishi
did not introduce the Checking procedure until he had been teaching
meditation for over 13 years, according to my sources. TM Teacher
Janet Luise stated in communication with me on the Yahoo Group,
Fairfield Life:
"In August 1968 during the First Squaw Valley course, Maharishi gave
the first rough checking notes to everyone there (about 300 people I
think)[.] It was ["]Close the eyes, open the eyes["] etc but no pages of
memorized what to do if.....
I know he gave all the European teachers checking in Livinio Italy. I
THINK that was right before the 2nd Squaw Valley in 1969 but maybe
not....
I was on the 1st Mallorca course[,] Dec 1969- Jan 1970[.] [W]e DID
have lots of checking pages to learn[,] so I imagine the Estes Park
course directly before also go them.
Prior to this, the Maharishi trained what he called "Meditation
Guides," who were supposed to ensure right practice for TM meditators
through advice similar to the General Points. From 1956, when the
Maharishi began what would become the Transcendental Meditation
movement, until 1968 the Checking Notes simply did not exist.
According to one anonymous critic, the Checking Notes were not the
sole product of the Maharishi, but were created in conjunction with TM
initiators, although the Maharishi approved their final form. Some of
the General Points were proposed by TTC CPs while video cameras were
rolling. Viewing these tapes on TTC III gave me an insight into how
the Maharishi emended and added to the General Points. Simply, a
future initiator would propose a common sense procedure, such as how
to lift one's head without strain if it tilted forward, as in General
Point "P." The Maharishi would consider the addition, and then either
give or withhold his approval. Thus it appears that much of the
Checking procedure was not created by the Maharishi himself.
In fact, as I develop in future installments of this series, I believe
the heart of the Checking procedure -- as well as the group meditation
procedure -- may have been suggested by individuals not only familiar
with flowcharting, certainly not a skill the Maharishi would have
known from his background, but also familiar with traditional and
Ericksonian hypnosis.
NOTES
1. "The Checking Notes," Revised by Maharishi December 74, introduction.
OUTLINE OF COMING INSTALLMENTS
Why the TM Checking Notes Are Important
Overview of Checking Procedure
A Word about Secrecy
What is Trance Induction?
Symptoms of Trance Induction
Who Can Be Hypnotized
Comparing Checking to Formal Trance Induction
Comparing Checking to Naturalistic Trance Induction
Defining Embedded Commands or Post-Hypnotic Suggestions
Symptoms of Post-Hypnotic Suggestions
Suggestions Presented during the TM Checking Procedure
Implications of TM Checking as Trance Induction
Questions for Further Research -- and A Few Caveats