Research on the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi Programs

3 papers found

• 2017· Consciousness and Cognition· Empirical
  Travis, Frederick; Parim, Niyazi; Shrivastava, Amrita (2017). Higher theta and alpha1 coherence when listening to Vedic recitation compared to coherence during Transcendental Meditation practice. Consciousness and Cognition, 49, 157–162.

  Within-person comparison of subjective experiences and EEG in 37 subjects listening to live Vedic recitation and practicing TM.

  • During the Practice—Electroencephalographic: Vedic recitation produced higher theta2 and alpha1 coherence in frontal, parietal and frontal-parietal measurements than TM in this comparison.
  • During the Practice—Electroencephalographic: Participants described recitation as a deeper, more inward experience; the study measured immediate experience and EEG, not clinical benefit.
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• 2017· Brain and Cognition· Empirical
  Travis, Frederick; Parim, Niyazi (2017). Default mode network activation and Transcendental Meditation practice: Focused Attention or Automatic Self-transcending?. Brain and Cognition, 111, 86–94.

  EEG source analysis and subjective reports from 87 practitioners with one month to five years of TM experience, comparing TM, eyes-closed rest and a task.

  • During the Practice—Electroencephalographic: Rest and TM showed theta/alpha activation in default-mode-network regions, while the task activated central-executive-network regions.
  • During the Practice—Electroencephalographic: Reported transcending did not increase with years of practice; the authors argue against classifying TM as focused-attention meditation.
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• 2017· Cognitive Processing· Empirical
  Faber, Pascal L.; Travis, Frederick; Milz, Patricia; Parim, Niyazi (2017). EEG Microstates During Different Phases of Transcendental Meditation Practice. Cognitive Processing, 18(3), 307–314.

  Within-person EEG comparison of 20 TM practitioners during transcending, undirected mentation during TM, and task-free eyes-closed rest. Examines microstate duration, coverage, and occurrence; it does not test clinical outcomes.

  • During the Practice—Electroencephalographic: Transcending and resting showed lower Class A and higher Class D microstate coverage and occurrence than undirected mentation.
  • During the Practice—Electroencephalographic: Transcending showed lower Class C coverage and occurrence than undirected mentation.
  • During the Practice—Electroencephalographic: Transcending did not significantly differ from task-free resting in the measured microstate parameters; Class B parameters did not differ across conditions.
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