University of Virginia Library

BRAINWAVES

Still, some 150,000
Americans, according to Mr.
Wardwell, currently indulge in
the daily routine code-named
TM (transcendental meditation
largon), about sixty per cent of
whom are students, generally
more receptive to
mind-expanding projects.
Actually, he pointed out, that
proportion is down from
around eighty per cent a
couple of years ago.

"TM has been shrouded in
the garb of mysticism for many
years, I think. It's something
which you might say time has
taken its toll on. It has
generally in the past been
associated with more cloistered
people, such as monks. By
subjecting itself to scientific
investigation, it has become
much more susceptible to
different types of people."

And "subjected"–if not
"submerged"–is an apt term.
Among the other fun-facts I
now know-and-occasionally-tell:

(1) Metabolic rate, as
measured by oxygen
consumption, decreases by
approximately sixteen per cent
during TM;

(2) The number of breaths
per minute is often cut in half
in the process; and,

(3) Cardiac output may vary
by as much as thirty per cent...
downward.

Your chances of
transcending worldly existence
itself in such a state?

Actually, brainwave study
indicates significant
improvement in both reaction
time and perceptiveness during
this state of "restful alertness."
Indeed, transcendental
meditation is now widely
considered a fourth major state
of consciousness (in addition
to wakefulness, sleep, and
dreaming).