Transcendental Meditation®
Please carefully read through this page before your preparatory meeting with your TM teacher. You'll find out how to best prepare for your personal instruction, what to bring, and what to expect on each day of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) course.
On the first day, you'll meet one-on-one with your certified teacher for personalized instruction in the TM technique. To have the best learning experience, we recommend:
If possible, try to get a good night's sleep before the first day of your TM course so you arrive rested and fresh.
Please allow about 2 hours for your first session so you won't feel rushed, though it may take less time.
Food, alcohol, and caffeine all have the effect of increasing activity in the mind and body, which is the opposite effect of TM practice. By following these guidelines, you will set yourself up for success on your first day.
These recommendations are most essential for your first day of instruction, but we encourage you to keep them for the duration of your four day course. You only learn once, so make the most of it!
At the beginning of your one-on-one session, your Transcendental Meditation teacher will perform a short ceremony of gratitude honoring the lineage of teachers who preserved the knowledge on which the TM technique is based. This helps to ensure that every student is receiving the complete authentic course of knowledge, with the same care given by all teachers throughout the ages.
The ceremony is performed in Sanskrit, and includes a picture of Guru Dev, the modern representative of this long line of teachers. Guru Dev was the teacher of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who introduced the TM technique to the world, trained thousands of teachers in the West, and founded the non-profit organization that teaches this around the globe.
The ceremony is not religious and you will not be asked to participate – you will just observe as your teacher performs it. However, in keeping with long-standing tradition, we ask that you provide a few items for your teacher to use:
2 or 3 sweet, whole fruits e.g. apples, bananas, pears. Please don't bring sour fruits (e.g. no lemons, limes, or grapefruits), chopped fruits, or berries.
Half a dozen fresh flowers with stems. These should be cut, not potted.
1 new, plain white cloth handkerchief or cloth napkin (You can usually find these online, or at dollar and department stores.)
* Bring these unless your TM teacher has specified otherwise.
If you are taking the traditional TM course, you and any other fellow course participants will meet in a small group for the following three days. In these sessions, you will meditate together with your TM teacher, discuss your experiences and questions, and gain a deeper understanding of the practice.
If you are taking the app-based TM course, you will go through the interactive course material on the TM app, which takes about an hour and a half each day. Following each day's lesson on the app, you will meet virtually with your TM teacher for a brief check-in and group meditation.
Each day, whether your course is traditional or app-based, you will meditate on your own at home. This cycle of experiencing and understanding helps to ingrain what correct practice is and feels like.
Your course fee covers an extensive follow-up program and we encourage you to take advantage of it.
In particular, we strongly recommend you participate in at least one group follow-up session, about 10 days after your personal instruction. Your experience during TM practice will naturally mature over time (and you might be surprised what you can forget or mis-remember in a week). This session will provide a forum for understanding new experiences, and go a long way towards making sure your practice is easy, effective, and on the right track to provide you with a lifetime of benefits.
Our follow-up program also includes unlimited access to group and private tune-up sessions, group meditations, “refresher” courses, and online resources–available throughout the US, at any TM Center and with any certified TM teacher. You’ll learn more about these on your TM course.
Lastly, please read this quick recap of what the TM technique is and is not. Learning this unique practice often involves unlearning preconceptions and habits picked up from other types of meditation. This info will lay the groundwork for you to learn and understand the TM technique.
The Transcendental Meditation technique is a simple, natural and effortless mental technique, that you do for 20 minutes twice a day, morning and evening, while sitting comfortably.
TM practice doesn’t involve concentration, contemplation or trying to clear your mind of thoughts. You don’t have to sit perfectly still or in any specific position, and you don’t have to “believe in it” for it to work. That's because it automatically and effortlessly allows your active thinking mind to settle down to a state of deep inner calm.
Picture your mind like an ocean. On the surface of the ocean you have constant waves, constant activity. That’s like the surface of your mind. You’re always thinking, always taking in sensory input, processing, and making decisions.
But if you picture a cross-section of the ocean, below the surface there are levels of the ocean that are much more quiet, calm, and peaceful. Similarly, there are deeper levels of your mind that are quieter, calmer, and more peaceful. These deeper levels are always there, but people for the most part have lost the ability to access them with any consistency. The TM technique is a means to do just that. On your course, you learn how to turn the attention within, and then without any exertion or control or forcing, your mind spontaneously settles down.
It’s human nature to seek happiness and fulfillment, which is why your attention is naturally drawn to the things you like. For example, when you pick up a menu, your favorite food immediately catches your eye. Or say you’re reading a really boring book and suddenly your favorite song starts playing in another room… your attention automatically and effortlessly shifts to the music. This applies to the TM technique in that those deeper, quieter levels of the mind that we talked about are really, really enjoyable. So once you set the right conditions, your attention will naturally, effortlessly move inward. If this sounds a bit abstract right now, you’ll experience it for yourself soon.
There are two main aspects needed to practice TM technique: a mantra, and the method of using it properly. Your mantra, which will be selected specifically for you by your TM teacher, will be a nourishing sound whose effects are known to be positive and beneficial for mind and body.
The word “mantra” is often used to refer to positive affirmations, e.g., “I am calm” or “happiness.” The TM mantras, on the other hand, are not associated with any meaning. This is important because words (i.e., sounds with meaning) keep your mind active and engaged on the surface, whereas the purpose of the mantra during TM practice is to act as a vehicle for your mind to settle inward towards its most peaceful, calm level.