Transcendence - Healing and Transformation Through Transcendental Mediation - By Norman E Rosenthal

If you have not heard of Transcendental Meditation (TM) you have been living in dark ages.  Although I had heard of TM, it was just in a casual manner.  This book opened my eyes to the potential of TM in improving your life and how it can heal you.

At present I reading this book and will be updating this post with my notes as I read.

1. TM is more popular than we can imagine.  This meditation technique was taught by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and it is one of the most popular meditation techniques.

2. TM gained world wide attention when Beatles and the Beach Boys learnt it from Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in the late sixties and early seventies.  This technique is practiced by millions of people worldwide and Maharishi himself as taught more than 40000 people himself.

3. Normal Rosenthal is clinical professor of psychiatry at Georgetown Medical school and has practice TM for decades.  He has also seen the benefits of TM in his patients and also studied hundreds of people who practice TM.  This book details the benefits of TM and the transformation it brings in people who practice TM.

Healing

Stress - Animals and Humans have been exposed to stress in form of some threat for millions of years.  However we are more adapted to short term stress.  However the stress we face now a days lasts long time and we are not used to face long term stress.  TM helps in dealing with long term stress.

During stress several hormones are released which help us in dealing with the problem.  However when these hormones are released for a long time it can also kill us.  One of the most common health problems caused be stress hormones is Coronary Heart Disease (CHD).

Blood Pressure - TM helps in keeping the stress and the stress hormones in check.  One of the examples mentioned is of 19 year old Nich whose blood pressure levels were elevated and doctors wanted to prescribe him drugs for the problem.  He was persuaded to practice TM twice a day and within weeks his blood pressure levels were back to normal range. Moreover his SAT score improved over 300 points and he learnt how to cope with stressful events in a better manner.

Nick was part of group of 100 students who had elevated blood pressure.  The study proved that TM was effective in reducing blood pressure.

Many controlled studies have proved that TM is effective is reducing both systolic and diastolic pressure effectively.

Apart from blood pressure reduction another research also noticed that thickness of inner lining of carotid artery decreased in the group who practiced TM over six to nine months.  This means that the risk of stroke reduced.  Carotid artery is on your back and feeds the heart and the neck.  If the blood flow is smooth and the linings are clean that means chances are stroke are less.

Metabolic Syndrome - A 16 week study involving people who had suffered from heart disease and were asked to practice TM twice a day showed that they improved on two counts of the metabolic syndrome - increased insulin sensitivity and lowering of blood pressure.

So what explains the healings?

There are many reasons - meditators are able to deal with stressful and painful conditions in a better manner.  They return to normal state faster than non meditators.  Which means that less stress hormones are released which keeps the blood pressure normal. They are also able to tolerate pain both emotional and physical in a better manner.

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59 Seconds: Think a Little, Change a Lot - By Richard Wiseman

Be warned - this book is going to prove many of your preconceived notions and assumptions wrong.  We all have so many beliefs about various subjects including productivity, happiness or how to bring up our children in the best possible manner possible.  When you read this book many of your assumptions will turn out to be wrong.  And all this is based on scientific research.

Key Points

"Yale Goal Study" is a myth.  It never happened.

Happiness - 

Happier you are, more successful you are likely to be.  Usually we think it to be in reverse order.  Happiness improves your confidence, immunity and ability to resolve conflict. It means you will have better relationship, better health and fulfilling career.

Most people think money will make them happier.  It does.  However the effect are not long lasting.  If you win a lottery you will be happy but with time you will get adjusted to the fact you won the money.

Those is Forbes 100 Wealthiest list are only slightly happier than average american.

Once basic necessities of life are met more money does not increase the happiness proportionately.

For example buying a new car or house can make us happier for the moment, but then we get used to them in some time and the increased happiness is not longer there.

So how to have long term happiness?

Diary -

Write about your thinking and deep thoughts in a diary.  This will help you to offload some of your trauma or negative thought and make you happier.  Take 10 to 15 mins each day and write on of the following.

Attitude of Gratitude - Having a sense of gratitude increases the happiness many folds.  Write about 5 things you are happy about in your diary.  You can write about simple things you are thankful about.  For example being able to witness the beautiful sunrise or sunset, having a healthy body or having a tasty dinner.  This increases your happiness dramatically.

Describe the best future self.  Spend each day imagining and writing about the ideal future you think about.  This improves the happiness.

Affectionate Writing - Write a short letter to the person who is important in your life and and write to them how important to you and how much you care about them.

Persuasion - 

How can we persuade others including our children to do some activity.  Usually we think rewarding them is a good way.  But research shows that offering them reward can have the opposite effect.  It can make them think that they are being made to work on that activity which means they do not like that activity.

Recent studies show that small rewards are better at motivating people.  The rewards should be a surprise and encouraging comments work better. Rewarding with more money makes the people think that they must not be liking the work hence they are being paid more.

Creativity - 

Common belief is that group creativity is better than individual creativity.  Similarly we also beleive that more can be achieved when a group works on a task as compared to same number of people acting alone.  However research show that it is not necessary true.  Individuals work harder that average effort of each individual in a group.

Attraction - 

Relationships - 

Stress - 

Decision Making - 

Parenting - 

Richard Wiseman is a wise man indeed and his tips are easy to read, understand and practical.  I would suggest this book for people who 

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