This is by definition "Transcendental Meditation." Contrary to popular belief, this is not a reference to any transcendental experience during the meditation itself. In the truer context, "transcendental" refers to the fact that you are transcending the various brainwave frequency levels (see chart) from that of waking and actively working body and mind, Beta, to that of Delta (sleep and meditation).

What this meditation does in a relatively short period of time is to entrain your mind to transcend the intervening brainwave levels and take you directly from Beta/Alpha to deep Delta. This meditation can in fact take you deeper than the deepest sleep. Indeed, it can take you so deep that you're not even self-aware - dreamless, visionless, completely without senses, pure consciousness. This is the state where your mind is tapped into All Mind, or All Consciousness. It's deeply restful and energizes both the body and the brain to often astonishing levels.

It slows and even reverses the aging process, balances bodily systems (making it difficult for disease to live in the body), produces hormones, including human growth hormone, and brings ever-increasing coherence between the body and the mind.

If you set out in your life to practice just one meditation, this would be the one.

Even if it feels as though nothing is happening to you, it's still working its magic. Don't have expectations of any kind - just do the meditation twice a day for up to a half hour. After a month or two, you can go as long as an hour. If you get a headache, shorten the meditation's duration. After about a week or sooner, you should be reaching the deeper states (and don't be surprised if you come around and you were so out of it you were drooling on your shirt!).

THE MEDITATION

The meditation utilizes a mantra (a repeated phrase, word or sound, either in the mind or vocally), which you make in your mind and then you listen to it. You know how to make a sound with your mind - it can be any sound, and then you listen to it. It creates a feedback loop so that you're both producing the sound and listening to it. As your mind doesn't want to do two things at once, this is sequential. Produce the sound and listen to it, and in so doing transcend the other brainwave activity levels.

At least once a day, and if possible twice a day, unplug the telephones or turn the ringers off, turn off the TV, turn off the stereo (you don't even want any kind of relaxing music in the background). Lock the kids out of the house, muzzle the dog and then, only then, find a quiet place. Sit down in a comfortable chair with your back as straight as is comfortable and your feet flat on the floor and more or less side by side. Fold your hands in your lap and relax your shoulders and your chest.

Close your eyes and begin breathing slowly and deeply through your nose. Place the tip of your tongue against the roof of your mouth right behind your teeth. Begin the mantra in your mind. A very good one is "I AM." If you don't use this one, another good one is your first name. What you want to avoid are mantras that would suggest concepts, or imagery or thoughts of any kind. The sound has to be almost meaningless, the more without meaning the better. And you don't want it to be phrases that you know the meanings of. Keep it to two or three total syllables.

If your mind begins to wander from the mantra, as happens when thoughts interject, gently (repeat gently) return it to the mantra. Don't force it and don't get frustrated. Just gently return to the mantra. This is effortless concentration. You don't have to force your mind to do anything. You really just let it do its thing. The mind wandering away into thoughts and so forth is a part of the process where you are clearing from your entire system stresses that lodge themselves into the body-mind and manifest as thoughts of any kind, no matter how abstract. The stress through the thought still requires expression, and so you let it have its expression by not being forceful, but the minute you become aware that you're no longer producing the mantra, gently return your mind to it.

That is really all there is to it. You might find as you go along that your mind is producing neither the mantra or thoughts, which is the state of profound silence, centeredness and power that rejuvenates every aspect of your system of being. You'll drift in and out of the deeper mind-states, which is both normal and natural. The more you practice, the longer you'll remain in the deep states. And as stated above, if you find that deepest of the deep places you won't even be self-aware for a short period of time. You'll naturally emerge from the meditation in time that is appropriate for you, but if you happen to open your eyes during it and you've only meditated for 7 minutes, close them and continue the meditation to at least twenty to thirty minutes.