Transcendental Meditation « Set our people free…

You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘Transcendental Meditation’ category.

TM can tame crime.
Trinidad & Tobago’s Newsday | Thursday, May 7 2009

The Editor: As a concerned citizen, my heart bleeds every time another crime occurs in TT. With all due respects to the various well meaning organisations which have rallied against crime, if we are ever to resolve this terrible ill of our society, I would like to suggest that we must look beyond dealing with crime in the reactive manner that we have grown accustomed to. Rather we must investigate what may be the root causes of crime — what are the factors that predispose an individual to criminal behaviour in the first place. And therein may lie the solution.

In the book, The Crime Vaccine by Jay B Marcus, the author indicates that deviant behaviour results from imbalances or stress (the physiological reaction) in the brain and the nervous system caused by outside influences or “stressors” such as lack of economic opportunities, overcrowding, poor housing, etc.

Whilst it is obvious, that not everyone who may be out of work or live in cramped conditions goes out and pulls a gun on somebody, serious offenders have been found to have high levels of the stress hormone cortisol and low levels of the neurotransmitter, serotonin. Marcus further notes that research consistently shows that a low level of serotonin is linked to aggressive violence.

The main point of his writing is that deviant behaviour is a result of an unbalanced or deviant neurophysiology.

If this is the conclusion, then, is there a scientifically proven and systematic means of promoting balance and integration in the brain and the nervous system—the opposite of what researchers have found to be associated with criminal behaviour? The answer is a resounding yes.

Research has shown that the regular practice of Transcendental Meditation (TM) creates significant physiological changes within the brain and the nervous system. The TM meditator experiences a markedly increased basal skin resistance, blood lactate levels decrease significantly, cortisol levels decreases, serotonin increases, and the EEG brain wave patterns become coherent, among other changes.

TM has been used with great success in the rehabilitation of prisoners at many correctional institutions in the USA, Senegal, and other countries worldwide.

If as a society we wish to create a situation whereby we can live without fear, it is not enough to simply rehabilitate prisoners, but we must seek to rehabilitate our society as a whole, as every individual’s stress contributes to a larger whole or a collective stress in the society. This type of atmosphere no doubt creates a volatile breeding ground for deviant thinking and behaviour.

More than 50 studies published in scientific journals, including the Journal of Conflict Resolution and the Journal of Mind and Behaviour have documented that a group of one percent practising the TM programme has a powerful effect on reducing the collective stress of society and as a result, significantly reducing criminal activity and violence. Further research has also shown that an even smaller number, just the square root of one percent practising an advanced aspect of the TM programme, called the TM-Sidhi programme is sufficient to create this phenomenon.

Fellow citizens and respected leaders, how many more lives must be lost before we seek to adopt this scientifically proven and simple solution for our society? How much more money must be thrown after methods that have thus far failed to curb the scourge of crime?

Shrimati Charan
Diego Martin

Proven scientific solution to crime.
Trinidad and Tobago Guardian | April 27, 2009

As a concerned citizen, my heart bleeds every time a crime occurs in T&T. With all due respects to the various well-meaning organisations which have rallied against crime, if we are ever to resolve this terrible ill of our society, I suggest we look beyond dealing with crime in the reactive manner that we have grown accustomed to.

Rather, we must investigate what may be the root causes of crime—the factors that predispose an individual to criminal behaviour in the first place. And therein may lie the solution. In the book The Crime Vaccine, Jay B Marcus indicates that deviant behaviour results from imbalances or stress (the physiological reaction) in the brain and the nervous system caused by outside influences or stressors, such as lack of economic opportunities, overcrowding, poor housing etc.

While it is obvious that not everyone who may be out of work or live in cramped conditions goes out and pulls a gun on somebody, serious offenders have been found to have high levels of the stress hormone cortisol and low levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin. Marcus further notes that research consistently shows that a low level of serotonin is linked to aggressive violence. The question then arises: does everyone who is stressed commit crimes? Marcus notes “that actually depends on how you define a ‘crime.’ If crime is only behaviour that the law makes punishable by incarceration or a fine, then everybody who has a stressed inner state doesn’t commit crimes.

However, if crime is more broadly defined to include violation of social order like “flying off the hand” at your kids or your wife, or drinking to excess, engaging in insulting behaviour, conspiring to get even with the boss, or infidelity, then it is likely that everyone with stress gets included.
The main point of his writing is that deviant behaviour is a result of an unbalanced or deviant neurophysiology. If this is the conclusion, then is there a scientifically proven and systematic means of promoting balance and integration in the brain and the nervous system—the opposite of what researchers have found to be associated with criminal behaviour? The answer is a resounding yes.

Research has shown that the regular practise of Transcendental Meditation (TM) creates significant physiological changes within the brain and the nervous system. The TM meditator experiences a markedly increased basal skin resistance, blood lactate levels decrease significantly, cortisol levels decrease, serotonin increases, and the EEG brain wave patterns become coherent, among other changes. TM has been used with great success in the rehabilitation of prisoners at many correctional institutions in the US, Senegal, and other countries worldwide.

If as a society we wish to create a situation whereby we can live without fear, it is not enough to simply rehabilitate prisoners, but we must seek to rehabilitate our society as a whole, as every individual’s stress contributes to a larger whole or a collective stress in the society. This type of atmosphere no doubt creates a volatile breeding ground for deviant thinking and behaviour. More than 50 studies published in scientific journals, including the Journal of Conflict Resolution and the Journal of Mind and Behavior, have documented that a group of one per cent practising the TM programme has a powerful effect on reducing the collective stress of society and as a result, significantly reducing criminal activity and violence.

Further research has also shown that an even smaller number, just the square root of one per cent practising an advanced aspect of the TM programme, called the TM-Sidhi programme, is sufficient to create this phenomenon. How many more lives must be lost before we seek to adopt this scientifically proven and simple solution for our society? How much more money must be throw after methods that have thus far failed to curb the scourge of crime? Anyone seeking further information on TM and the TM-Sidhi programme can call 325-5650 or e-mail invinciblett@gmail.com.

Reader’s comment:
I was a part a crime
Submitted by Toni on 27 April 2009 – 3:32pm.

I was a part a crime reducing project using group practice of the TM-Sidhi program in Washington, DC in 1993. It was exhilarating to see the changes we helped to create during that time. After the project finished, research was conducted and eventually published. The crime rate had lowered 23% during a very hot summer where it was expected to rise dramatically. A good page to look at for comprehensive information on this project and other research on what is called the Maharishi Effect is http://www.mum.edu/m_effect/

Dedication Of The Week

You Are Not Forgotten

Categories

SEE ALL EARLIER CASES LISTED AT "Chronology Of The Missing"

GONE MISSING

Photobucket GONE MISSING: a chronology [Work in progress] Please click on "Previous Entries" at the bottom of each page to move back in time]

Mothers Are Waiting…

Photobucket

Honouring The Fallen

Joel Nedd (26/10/10)

Haiti: Child Trafficking

Not For Profit Site

Trinidad and Tobago T&T Trinidadians Tobagonians Trinbagonians missing persons kidnap kidnappers kidnapped kidnapping kidnappings abduct abduction abducted abductees abductors abducting abductions disappeared disappearance disappearances ransom human trafficking trafficked trafficking in persons vanished lost pohřešované osoby, verdwenen disparus verschollene gayyab gum kehilangan scomparsi 전쟁실종자 prapuole poyi desaparecidos dispareceu Пропавшие без вести Trinitarios desaparecidos Trinitarias desaparecidas kayboldu kaybolanlar kayıp mất tíc
 Read story