So, do we call them pretzel heads now?
--- 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. >
