CHANT YOUR WAY TO GOOD HEALTH

The entire decade of the 60s was synonymous with one phrase – hippie. The hippie culture took the world by storm. Orange clad men and women, with unkempt hair; and long chains. Smoking, drinking, living and loving. What a time it was!!! Peace was all around, and with the peace came new ways of wanting to keep the peace in. Chants of ‘HARE KRISHNA HARE RAM’ made rounds of the world.

The Beatles were amongst the pioneers to this world-wide movement. They embraced the ‘transcendental meditation’ movement, when they made a trip to the famous Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1967.

Transcendental Meditation (TM) -

Transcendental Meditation, which got popularized as TM, was spread by the teachings of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi who began what came to be seen as a world-wide movement. He and his teachings began gaining popularity in the year 1957.

The technique was inclusive of chanting a mantra. According to Maharishi, if a person devoted 30 minutes of TM in the morning and another 30 in the evening, 1% of the world would create peace for the next 1,000 years. Devotees were allowed to choose a mantra that suited their sensibilities; and they were to repeatedly chant it in the hope of achieving inner calm. Unlike what other yogis had advocated for years, this one didn’t take decades to learn. It could be learned in a span of a few days, if the individual was really dedicated.

Health Benefits -

A number of researchers began studying the whole idea of TM to check if it had some real health benefits. They’d noticed that very few cases of depression had been seen back in the 60s; and they were wondering if this had any kind of connection with the transcendental meditation movement.

What they found out was simple and full of hope – The transcendental Meditation program might be helpful in improving mental and physical health. This could be achieved without the use of any drugs, which makes it extremely beneficial. There are no chances of side-effects of any sorts.

The Study at Charles Drew University, Los Angeles -

It looked at around 100 people who were aged 55 or above, and were at a significant risk of some sort of cardiovascular disease or the other. Half of them were given dietary and exercise advice; while the other half resorted to TM. Those who practiced TM were seen to have almost a 48% reduction in their levels of depression in comparison to the first half that stuck to diet and exercise.

According to another research conducted in the U.S.; heart attacks, deaths and strokes fell by a good 47% amongst those practicing TM. The experts who worked on this research indicated that the results were synonymous with the fact that the patients’ blood pressure levels were lowered and it helped keep their blood vessels open.

We Say -

Go for it. If it has the health benefits for you, well and good. If it doesn’t, you’re left with peace of mind. Not bad either-ways, eh?