After much thought, I think I would still recommend something other than TM for PTSD relief. TM was always marketed as the be all and end all of meditations and it is not, so with so many alternatives out there that do not carry the blemishes of Marshy, TMO and known unpleasant effects (unstressing) I prefer to see them doing something else.
Also from a personal point of view, although some here say they always did TM for the extra rest, or that it made them feel better TM from 1955 to the late 70's, early 80's was always marketed as a way to achieve fullness of life - by gaining enlightenment. I no longer believe that anyone will ever gain enlightenment through practicing TM, there has never been anyone who has that I have ever heard of - those who claim to have been seem to either create their own self aggrandizing cults or become real basket cases. Those who report strong experiences of what came to, in TM speak, be called CC, GC or UC seem to have fallen out of those states after a time. Some teachers like Adyashanti and Eckhart Tolle say that no one will ever become enlightened through ANY kind of meditation since what we consider as the state of enlightenment is our natural state of being, so if the original reason to do TM is not going to happen, why run around shouting TM is good from the rooftops? ________________________________ From: authfriend <authfri...@yahoo.com> To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, January 12, 2013 1:34 PM Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: To Steve, About PTSD --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Michael Jackson wrote: > Unstressing as I understand it is the release of stress from > the physiology and mind/emotions in an amount or to such a > degree that the release is uncomfortable and/or results in > unpleasant and sometimes inappropriate manifestation of > mental/emotional states and behavior that is detrimental to > the individual. That's how the term "unstressing" is commonly used, but in my understanding, technically it refers to what happens during TM practice automatically. Thoughts that arise in meditation are said to be release of stress, even if they're pleasant. > People with PTSD are already in the midst of such non-TM > unstressing with flashbacks, intrusive thoughts and nightmares, > they don’t need a technique that creates more unstressing. I agree. Let me ask you a hypothetical question, though. If TM were to be taught to PTSD sufferers by an independent group of folks trained as TM teachers but no longer loyal to the TMO, just as a mental technique without all the frills, and they had special training in how to minimize uncomfortable unstressing (reducing meditation time, etc.--down to zero, if necessary)--*and* using whatever other techniques had been shown to be helpful--would you be as adamantly opposed?
