organization dedicated to introducing TM to people all over the world.
TM Versus Mindfulness Meditation
Transcendental Meditation Days to Learn Results in a Lifetime of Benefits
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by Jean Pate
arim Nahabet first learned Transcendental Meditation as an 8-year-old, when his parents took him to a TM introductory talk in Boston. “I remember an older gentleman talking about transcending, and something to do with the development of mind and body,” Nahabet says. “For me, that meant better grades and being a better athlete in school. I distinctly remember one word he used: enlightenment. I didn’t know what it was, but it sounded good.
So I agreed to learn.” Learning TM was easy, he says—more of automatic process than an acquired skill. He continued to practice, at first because he enjoyed TM, and later because he realized that it gave him the clarity to achieve his goals, like becoming an engineer and finding “Ms. Right.” He was an international engineering consultant, and now he and his wife, Eva, teach TM through the Pensacola TM Center, part of an international nonprofit
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With the growing popularity of meditation as a tool for mind-body-spirit wellness, it’s important to distinguish between TM and mindfulness meditation. In a blog post on Quora.com, longtime TM practitioner Jim Karpen explains that TM activates alpha (“relaxation”) brain waves while mindfulness meditation activates theta (“ready to process”) brain waves. “The goal of mindfulness meditation is to have one's thoughts be on the present moment, whereas with Transcendental Meditation, the process involves transcending [going beyond] thought itself and experiencing a state of ‘pure awareness,’ in which one is aware but without an object of thought,” he writes. Nahabet says TM has helped him develop pure awareness and refined perception, while mindfulness is a way to choose how to use his mind—like choosing to be present or aware of thoughts and feelings. “Practicing TM gives me more power to naturally be happy, creative and the best version of myself, consistently; mindfulness techniques are ways to use my mind,” he says. “TM supports all my activity in daily life. Because TM is the most powerful mental technique to give deep rest to the body and release deeprooted stress automatically, I am naturally more mindful. In TM, I really don’t do much—I don’t try to transcend. It happens automatically. That’s different from
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