What Is Transcendental Meditation?

The last few years have been extraordinarily stressful for all of us, there can certainly be no denying that! Living in a state of constant change since the pandemic hit has, of course, been very overwhelming - so it would be no surprise at all if you have been feeling stressed and anxious because of everything. 

There’s nothing worse than feeling stressed out and powerless, but overthinking has never helped anyone. Trust me, I’ve been there. People say it’s the art of creating problems that don’t exist… Of course, it’s important to acknowledge how you’re feeling at any given moment, but you don’t want to let your feelings consume you if you can help it.

I have come to understand that it is all about building resilience and giving yourself the tools you need to ensure that you have an avenue of escape when everything does start to feel as though it’s piling up on top of you.

You might well find the answers you’ve been looking for in transcendental meditation, a practice founded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and which has been found to be an easy and natural stress remedy.

In fact, a new two-year EU-funded project called FRIENDS has found that, when the Quiet Time with Transcendental Meditation (TM) programme was used in an educational setting, it was successful at reducing burnout, stress and anxiety among teachers.

Heybridge Co-operative Academy took part in the study, with headteacher Phil Davis quoted by Independent Education Today as saying: “When I was first approached about TM, I was reasonably sceptical about it, because I didn’t have a great understanding of the impact it would make and now I can see the benefit both personally and with our students. My family will tell you that I’m much calmer in the way that I deal with things.”

Feeling stressed is incredibly common and it’s important to remember that you’re never alone in how you’re feeling.