Practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique during
midlife transition helps women dissolve fatigue and emotional stress that may
trigger menopausal symptoms. At the same time, it enriches our inner life,
bringing greater contentment, energy and clarity to help anchor us during this
time of change.
Natural relief
Menopause’s unwanted symptoms, such as hot flashes, sleep
disturbance, and fatigue, are often treated with therapies such as hormone
replacement. Yet, with increased risks of breast cancer, heart disease, stroke
and blood clots associated with hormone replacement therapy, many women are
seeking natural remedies to smooth the transition.
Research has shown that the TM practice has lasting
effects that greatly benefit women in their middle years:
Finding our selves
Often the most challenging aspect of menopause is finding
new purpose in life. As many women near the end of child-rearing years or reach
a pinnacle in their career, they may feel lost or disconnected. TM practice
allows us to dive deep within and connect to our inner self, experiencing a
well-spring of creativity, happiness and energy.
A spiritual time in life
Women in midlife who practice the TM technique report
experiencing increased emotional strength, happiness, and self-sufficiency.
Twice-daily TM practice renews enthusiasm for life while allowing them to enjoy
inner peace and enriched personal relationships. They “live in the now,”
experiencing increased control over their lives rather than feeling that the
days and years are simply passing by. These benefits can belong to any woman
who learns this easy technique.
Since stress is a trigger for common menopausal symptoms
such as hot flashes and sleep problems, helping the body handle stress better
is likely to help. The Transcendental Meditation program has been shown to
reduce anxiety twice as effectively as other relaxation and meditation
techniques and is highly effective at reducing stress, a major contributor to
menopausal symptoms. Practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique for
twenty minutes twice a day has been shown to lower cortisol (a stress hormone),
reduce stress, improve sleep and lift mood. Curbing excess cortisol production
might also support the body’s production of helpful reproductive hormones such
as progesterone, according to some researchers.
In addition, research has shown that the Transcendental
Meditation technique reduces heart attack risk in postmenopausal women, as well
as reducing metabolic syndrome, a precursor to diabetes. The Transcendental
Meditation technique has helped alleviate mood swings and menopausal symptoms
in midlife, as well as helping smooth the transition through this time that can
be challenging in many ways.
How is TM
different from other meditation techniques?
As weightlifting, tennis, and ballroom dancing strengthen
specific muscles and produce different overall effects in the body, so do
focusing on a candlelight, repeating mantras or trying to dispassionately
observe one’s mental content result in different outcomes.
Other forms of meditation require a far greater
commitment and can be more difficult to adopt. They teach either extreme concentration
(an intense focus on one particular thing, and only that thing) or
contemplation (thinking as hard as you can about the present, which is often
referred to as mindfulness), but what makes TM so user-friendly is that you
don’t have to do either.
According to research, the practice of Transcendental
Meditation is unique in many a sense.
For one, TM seems to turn on the whole brain and make it
function as a holistic unit. This is a common feature of those people who
report peak-performances in business, art or sports.
Another peculiar feature of the TM technique is that
there is no difference between brainwaves of experts and beginners — one
masters it quickly. In fact, the positive effects of practice are usually
apparent already from the very first TM session.
What Happens When
You Meditate?
Transcendental Meditation allows the active thinking mind
to settle inward to experience a naturally calm, peaceful level of awareness.
During TM, the body enjoys a profoundly rejuvenating rest, while the brain
functions with significantly greater coherence.
Practicing TM
TM, is 20 minutes, twice a day, of profound rest and
relaxation, according to its fans. Meditators use a mantra to guide their minds
to a place of stillness that exists within all of us—we're just too stressed
and stretched too thin to know it's there. If the goings-on of our buzzing,
frazzled minds are like the waves on top of the ocean, the inner quiet is like
the silence at the ocean's depths, says Bob Roth, executive director of the
David Lynch Foundation, which brings TM to at-risk populations like domestic
abuse survivors, inmates, and inner-city students.
However, unlike some other meditation techniques, TM
needs to be learned from a certified Transcendental Meditation teacher. To
practice Transcendental Meditation, a person must be initiated by a teacher.
This involves sessions of formal instruction, followed by a ceremony in which
the applicant makes monetary and other offerings and receives his mantra, which
is selected by the teacher on the basis of the meditator’s temperament and
occupation. There are three subsequent “checking” sessions in which the person
meditates under the teacher’s observation.
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