What Does TM Feel Like?

As an independent teacher of Transcendental Meditation in Hove and Brighton, I teach a fascinating course.  Learning TM requires a course of four instruction sessions over a weekend.  The TM course contains a lot of very interesting information but what is the meditation experience like?  What does Transcendental Meditation feel like?

TM is unique and the mechanics of this meditation are specific.  Transcendental Meditation refines the thinking process and expands awareness at the same time.  This process is spontaneous.  You learn a simple mental procedure which is practiced silently and you follow that.  Our attention, which is usually directed outwards is now directed inwards and we effortlessly experience finer states of thought.  Put in a different way, we experience the mind settling down; we begin to have awareness of our own thinking process at finer, quieter levels.  As the session proceeds, so this awareness becomes more settled and refined.  Awareness is a key word here: we maintain awareness during meditation.

The experience of Transcendental Meditation can also be described as restful alertness.  At the same time as the mind becoming more settled, we maintain alertness.  Feeling very relaxed yet completely awake can be a satisfying experience, which is one of the reasons why people who learn TM find it easy to stick to a routine of meditating daily.  Another reason is the simplicity of TM.  The practice of the technique doesn’t demand any effort.  It’s a situation where we’re being rather than doing.  It’s a great way to spend twenty minutes!