Learning Transcendental Meditation is often
more expensive than learning other forms of
meditation. Why?

Kulreet Chaudhary

Dr. Kulreet Chaudhary, M.D., Medical Director of Wellspring Neurology at Scripps Memorial Hospital in San Diego, California.

“It’s great that meditation has become mainstream and so many people want to embrace it—and even teach it. However, the Transcendental Meditation technique is not the same kind of meditation that you learn down at the Y or at your yoga class. Those practices can be helpful, but they’re different from the TM technique in many ways.

“The Transcendental Meditation technique is taught by teachers whose training is as rigorous, committed and specialized as the training I underwent to become a licensed physician. These teachers offer a tested and proven gift of preventive health care—an authentic technology for developing consciousness. I’d say their service to society is at least as valuable as that of doctors or other highly trained professionals.

“The TM technique is not just a practice of sitting around watching your breath or contemplating your navel. It’s a technique for transcending—going beyond thought to tap your inner reserves of creativity, intelligence and well-being, directly enlivening your body’s innate healing mechanisms. It’s easy to learn but requires a qualified teacher.”

Sarina Grosswald

Sarina Grosswald, Ed.D.: Cognitive learning specialist and president of SJ Grosswald and Associates, a consulting firm in medical education in Arlington, Virginia. She has held positions at the American Medical Women’s Association, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.

“Offering courses in the Transcendental Meditation technique does incur educational expenses, as do courses provided by any educational institution. The course fee is a practical necessity.

“The question is: Do you need a qualified teacher and a systematic curriculum of instruction over time to gain sufficient experience and understanding of the TM technique, so that you can practice it properly and enjoy the real benefits?

“In my experience the answer is most definitely yes. Hundreds of thousands of people who have learned the TM technique in this way would agree with this assessment.

“Instruction in the Transcendental Meditation technique guarantees that each student learns from a certified teacher through a personalized course of instruction and learns to meditate correctly.

“The organization that teaches the TM technique is non-profit. If there were a cheaper way of properly instructing people, they would be all for it. But when you want to provide a quality educational experience, there are always expenses.”

Sarina Grosswald

Steven Rector, M.D., has practiced emergency medicine for 18 years and has served as Medical Director of the Atlanta Center for Chronic Disorders.

“You can’t put a price on the TM technique. How much is it worth to avert a stroke? How much for more energy and stamina and a better relationship with your spouse or children?

“The course fee is not a reflection of the value of the practice, it’s the price necessary to maintain the local and worldwide teaching organization. Although the TM organization is non-profit, it pays the same overhead that businesses must pay—rent, salaries, accounting, utilities. Because there’s an established, well-run organization, the lifetime follow-up can be offered at no further charge, and you can go to a TM teaching center in almost any major city and have your meditation checked or receive further guidance from the teachers. The organization trains instructors in every country and maintains systematic teaching procedures so that the TM technique’s effectiveness is ensured, especially for future generations.

“In wealthier countries, like the United States, part of the course fee supports programs in developing nations. For example, over 10,000 school children in impoverished conditions around Johannesburg, South Africa recently learned the TM technique, only because TM course fees from the US funded the project. When the devastating earthquake hit Armenia, funds and teachers from Europe and America were sent, and people received TM instruction in the back of trucks because there were so few standing buildings.

“To further expand the availability of TM for children, a number of charitable foundations, including the David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace (www.DavidLynchFoundation.org), have come forward to provide scholarship funds for TM instruction. With their support, over the past two years alone more than 61,000 at-risk students have learned the TM technique.”

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