Effect Of Transcendental Meditation Research Articles

The effect of Transcendental Meditation on self-esteem, self-efficacy, and gratitude, for increasing empowerment of female youth in Uganda

This longitudinal study with female youth in the slums of Kampala, Uganda (n = 130), explored the impact of the Transcendental Meditation® (TM®) technique on self-esteem, the primary outcome measure, and self-efficacy, gratitude, hope, tiredness, and resilience as secondary outcomes. Quality-of-life behaviors were also assessed, including excessive alcohol use. After baseline testing participants learned TM over five consecutive days. Participants practiced TM at home for 20 min twice a day and attended two follow-up sessions. Post-testing occurred at five months. Significant improvements in self-esteem (p < .001), self-efficacy (p < .001), gratitude (p < .001), and tiredness (p = .05) were found. A decrease in excessive alcohol use was also observed (p = .02). At eight months a short answer questionnaire showed improved physical health, decreased stress and anxiety levels, and improved relationships in the family and community. Our findings have important implications for enhancing the well-being and empowerment of these vulnerable female youth.

Hypnotherapy or transcendental meditation versus progressive muscle relaxation exercises in the treatment of children with primary headaches: a multi-centre, pragmatic, randomised clinical study

Many children suffer from headaches. Since stress may trigger headaches, effective techniques to cope with stress are needed. We investigated the effectiveness of two mind-body techniques, transcendental meditation (TM) or hypnotherapy (HT), and compared them with progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) exercises (active control group). Children (9–18 years) suffering from primary headaches more than two times per month received either TM (N = 42), HT (N = 45) or PMR (N = 44) for 3 months. Primary outcomes were frequency of headaches and ≥ 50% reduction in headaches at 3 and 9 months. Secondary outcomes were adequate relief, pain coping, anxiety and depressive symptoms, somatisation and safety of treatment. Groups were comparable at baseline. Headache frequency was significantly reduced in all groups from 18.9 days per month to 12.5 and 10.5 at respectively 3 and 9 months (p < 0.001), with no significant differences between the groups. Clinically relevant headache reduction (≥ 50%) was observed in 41% and 47% of children at 3 and 9 months respectively, with no significant differences between the groups. No differences were observed in secondary outcome measures between the intervention groups. No adverse events were reported.Conclusion: All three techniques reduced primary headache in children and appeared to be safe.Trial registration: NTR 2955, 28 June 2011 (www.trialregister.nl)What is Known:• Stress may be an important trigger for both tension type headache and migraine in children.• Good data are lacking on the effect of transcendental meditation, hypnotherapy or progressive muscle relaxation as possible stress-reducing therapies in children with primary headaches.What is New:• Three non-pharmacological techniques, i.e., transcendental meditation, hypnotherapy and progressive muscle relaxation exercises, all result in a clinically significant reduction of headaches and use of pain medication.• No large differences between the three techniques were found, suggesting that children can choose either one of the three techniques based on personal preferences.

The effect of transcendental meditation on self-efficacy, perceived stress, and quality of life in mothers in Uganda

ABSTRACTVulnerable women living in poverty in Uganda, who are primarily single, illiterate mothers, face high levels of physical and psychological stress. Our study assessed the impact of the Transcendental Meditation® (TM®) technique on self-efficacy, perceived stress, and mental and physical quality of life of these women. This single-blind controlled study involved 81 women who were assigned to either practice of the Transcendental Meditation program (n = 42) or wait-list (delayed start) control group (n = 39). Participants learned the Transcendental Meditation program over five sessions, then practiced at home for 20 minutes twice a day, and attended twice monthly group meetings over a 3-month period. The primary outcome measure was self-efficacy using the General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES). Perceived stress using Cohen's Perceived Stress Scale, and physical and mental quality of life using subscales of the Medical Outcomes Survey (MOS, HIV version) were secondary outcome measures. Significant improvements were shown in self-efficacy (p < .001), perceived stress (p < .010), and mental and physical well-being (p < .010). Compliance with TM home practice was >88%. This is the first controlled study to demonstrate the effect of TM in the daily lives of mothers living in impoverished conditions. Further questionnaires were administered to participants at 8 months and at 36 months with questions about changes they may have experienced in their daily life since starting TM. “Yes,” “No” self-reported answers suggested that the women experienced improved health, improved relationships with others, and increased employment rates. These findings taken as a whole have important implications for developing self-efficacy, improving mental and physical quality of life, and reducing stress in the lives of these vulnerable women.

Effect of transcendental meditation on classroom management in Maharishi organisation with special reference to Maharishi Vidya Mandir Schools

In the 21st century, classroom management in the school set up has become a major challenge for teachers. It is so because of the increasing level of hyperactivity and restlessness in the children due to which achieving the teaching-learning objectives inside the classroom has become quite challenging. This paper tries to focus on the significance of Transcendental Meditation on human physiology in general and its impact on students’ psychology in particular, thereby making a greater impact on overall classroom management.

Effect of transcendental meditation on stress and blood pressure among patients with systemic hypertension

This study examined the effect of Transcendental Meditation on blood pressure and stress in subjects with Systemic hypertension. The study, which used a True-Experimental design, recruited a sample of 30 subjects from a general outpatient clinic. Fifteen subjects received Transcendental Meditation training. The meditation is taught in a selfadministered program, requiring one hour of training during the first three days, followed by the regular twice daily practice. Each 15-minutes session consists in sitting quietly with closed eyes while applying a specific mental procedure practiced at home daily. The 2, 4,6 weeks assessments were made on stress levels, BP levels systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure and Heart Rate. Transcendental Meditation training had an immediate effect, reducing pulse rate 4.02 beats/min, Stress level 0–6 score, systolic blood pressure 0–4 mm Hg, and diastolic blood pressure 0–3 mm Hg. After 2, 4, 6, weeks of Transcendental Meditation training, further decreases in pulse rate (0–6 beats/min), systolic blood pressure (2–9 mm Hg), and diastolic blood pressure (1-7mm Hg) occurred. Transcendental Meditation significantly lowered patients’ perception of stress (P <0.905), and it enhanced their perception of health and wellbeing. Transcendental Meditation is beneficial for patients with systemic hypertension, and nurses can use it to enhance their independent function as well as their quality of life.

English

For present study 75 volunteers between 20-40 years were selected (37 males and 38 females) Volunteers were trained for Transcendental meditation (TM.) After training period they practiced TM every day 20 minutes for 6 weeks. Anxiety score was measured by using clinical anxiety scale (C.A.S.) as given by R.P.Sainath et al [1] before and after the TM session in each volunteer. Comparison of anxiety score before and after the TM was done by statistical analysis. Anxiety score reduction was found significantly in females as compared to males who practiced TM. Key wordsTranscendental meditation, Anxiety score, clinical anxiety scale, statistical analysis International Journal of Medical and Clinical Research ISSN:0976-5530 & E-ISSN:0976-5549, Volume 3, Issue 4, 2012 Introduction Nowadays stress is an absolutely inevitable part of life. Stress causes hormonal changes, biochemical changes [2-4] various illnesses and psychosomatic diseases. [5, 6] Linkage between body and mind are now well appreciated and therefore one can use yogic practices in preventing and treating such stress related illnesses. Several studies have been done on effect of various yogic practices and meditation on anxiety score. [7-9] The present study examined the effects of TM on anxiety score Transcendental meditation (TM) is a common form of meditation that is easy to learn. Methods and materials Seventy five volunteers (37 males and 38 females) were selected. Following criteria were used for selecting the volunteers. 1. Age between 20 to 40 years 2. No history of heart attack, hypertension, diabetes, or any other chronic illness that required regular pharmacological treatment. 3. No history of major psychiatry disorders, current alcohol abuse/ dependency disorders. Each volunteer was explained the whole programme. Interested and co-operative volunteers were selected. Written consent was obtained from volunteers. The volunteers were asked to discontinue if they felt giddy. An approval of institutional medical ethics committee was obtained before commencing the study. Name, age, sex, height and weight of each volunteer were recorded. The anxiety score was measured in each volunteer and the readings were noted as controlled readings. 75 Volunteers were selected for present study 37 male volunteers and 38 female volunteers. Session was divided into: 1. Training session for 6 weeks 2. Practicing session for 6 weeks Session Training sessionIn this session volunteers were trained for Transcendental meditation (TM). This is a progressive relaxation technique. Technique was taught by giving individualized personal instructions. Technique of TM was taught as below [10-13] Meditator sits quietly in a comfortable position with his back erect, eyes closed, (lotus position) and takes slow and deep breaths. Citation: Mendhurwar S.S. and Gadkari J.V. (2012) Effect of Transcendental meditation (TM) on Anxiety score in healthy humans. International Journal of Medical and Clinical Research, ISSN:0976-5530 & E-ISSN:0976-5549, Volume 3, Issue 4, pp.-147-149. Copyright: Copyright©2012 Mendhurwar S.S. and Gadkari J.V. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Effect of transcendental meditation on breathing and respiratory control.

We studied the effect of transcendental meditation (TM) on breathing using 16 experienced meditators and 16 control subjects. In controls, there was no significant difference in minute ventilation (VE), respiratory pattern, or hypercapnic response, whether breathing with eyes open-awake (CA), or with eyes closed-relaxing (CR). In meditators, VE decreased significantly during quiet breathing from 14.0 +/- 0.7 1/min with eyes open-awake (MA) to 12.4 +/- 0.6 1/min during meditation (MM) (P less than 0.02). The change in VE during meditation was due to a decrease in tidal volume (VT) resulting from a shortened inspiratory time (TI). Meditation was associated with a decreased response to progressive hypercapnia from 3.7 +/- 0.4 to 2.5 +/- 0.21 X min-1 X Torr-1 during MA and MM trials, respectively (P less than 0.01). During meditation VT was smaller at a given alveolar PCO2 than during MA studies because of a decrease in mean inspiratory flow rate (VT/TI). These observations suggest that an alteration in wakefulness, more subtle than sleep or the unconscious state, can significantly affect the chemical and neural regulation of breathing.