Certainly the cost of mindfulness techniques as made them very popular. However, the US military isn't concerned about cost alone, but cost vs benefits, and they are actively evaluating several different meditation techniques for use in the US military, including mindfulness and TM.
The preliminary results on TM and PTSD have already started to be published. The intent, at least with the TM studies that I am aware of, is to track meditators throughout their military careers, so we will, over the next 2-3 decades, get a nice longitudinal view of TM's effects in a military setting. Likewise, I would assume, for mindfulness techniques. L --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj <vajradhatu@...> wrote: > > > On Apr 26, 2012, at 3:15 AM, turquoiseb <no_re...@yahoogroups.com> wrote: > > > To be a successful program for the military or for > > the general public, either mindfulness or TM would > > IMO have to divorce itself from its religious roots > > and stick to being Just A Technique. I do not believe > > that the TM organization is capable of allowing this > > to happen. Their innate desire to prosyletize, to > > declare their technique "the best," and to upsell > > to all comers to get them as involved as possible > > in the cult and its belief systems will likely cause > > them to shoot themselves in the foot. > > My primary concern with TM would be with side effects for one and two, it's > inflexibility in terms of a technique: one technique fits all. There has to > be some variability in any widespread technique because we're simply not > uniform widgets coming off an assembly line. > > > > > Mindfulness, not so much. It can be -- and has been, > > in many cases -- divorced from its "spiritual" back- > > ground and presented as just a simple technique. TM > > never can be, if for no other reason because the TMO > > will never allow it to be taught without the puja, > > and without several days of indoctrination into the > > dogma that underlies it. > > The Dalai Lama, along with neuroscientists, physicians and meditation experts > have created a completely non-sectarian meditation form which should be > acceptable to just about anyone. > > > > > Thus mindfulness will "win out" in the marketplace, > > no matter who "scores better" on scientific tests. > > It's already very widespread in the US. You'd be hard-pressed to find a > hospital here that doesn't teach it. >
