Scientific research has shown that
most beneficial meditation technique is Transcendental Meditation (TM). The striking reduction of stress and anxiety caused by TM are 3 times greater than
effect caused by most meditation and relaxation techniques. Transcendental Meditation has been taught by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi since 1958. The first articles about
beneficial effects of TM were published around 1970 on important magazines and scientific journals such as - Science (167, 1970),
- American Journal of Physiology (221, 1971) and
- Scientific American (226, 1972).
The basic research was conducted by two medical doctors from Harvard University, Herbert Benson and Robert Wallace. This research was made on dozens of American people who used to practice this technique regularly. These people were of any race, sex, age, job, and with different personal political or religious belief.
Later, a lot of research was made about this technique by several doctors and scientists, who wrote several articles on important scientific journals such as
- International Journal of Neuroscience,
- Psychosomatic Medicine,
- Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology,
- Journal of Clinical Psychiatry,
- Journal of Clinical Psychology,
and many more.
Dr. Benson never practiced this technique himself (Dr. Wallace did). Dr. Benson created his own relaxation technique, that is described in his book The relaxation response (HarperCollins, 1975, 2000), a best-seller that sold 5 millions of copies since 1975. Dr. Benson claims that his technique achieves
same results as Maharishi's TM. However,
actual results achieved by TM are 3 times greater than those achieved by
relaxation response technique, as shown by further research (Journal of Clinical Psychology, 45, 1989; and Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 6, 1991).