Though blog etiquette might not demand it, I think it best to start with a brief introduction to the blogger.  I did my undergraduate work at Cornell University in the early 1970s, and this is where I first discovered my interest in the nervous system, after attending a lecture by the famous neuroanatomist Walle Nauta from M.I.T.  It was also at Cornell where I was first introduced to the Transcendental Meditation technique, and got a glimpse of the research of Dr. Robert Keith Wallace. His pioneering research showed just how distinctly and profoundly the physiology changes when a person experiences transcending.  I remember how different I felt during my first meditation, and how friends in my dorm noticed within a few days that something was different, and better, about me.

In 1976, I had my first glimpse of a meditating community at Maharishi International University in Iowa at a summer educators’ workshop, and then it was on to graduate school at Washington University in St. Louis, where I received my PhD in neural science in 1980.  After receiving my MD and going through an internship, I went to Yale New Haven Hospital for a neurology residency, and then took a position at the medical school at the State University of New York at Stony Brook as an assistant professor of Neurology.  In 1992, I moved to North Shore University Hospital as the Director of Clinical Neurophysiology, and currently I see patients with neurologic problems at ProHealth, a large multi-specialty practice here on Long Island.

All along the way I’ve been avidly following the research on the TM technique and health, and I’d like to use this blog to highlight some of the latest studies.  I used to think there were a couple of good reasons to meditate, namely promotion of physical and mental health.  Now I realize there are as many reasons to meditate as there are meditators.  It will be fun to explore a few with you!