PAPER 122 A STUDY OF THE ABILITY OF INDIVIDUALS TRAINED IN TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION TO ACIDEVE AND MAINTAIN LEVELS OF PHYSIOLOGICAL RELAXATION

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1 SULTAN PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFICIENCY AND STABILITY: PHYSIOLOGICAL RELAXATION -PAPER 122 PAPER 122 A STUDY OF THE ABILITY OF INDIVIDUALS TRAINED IN TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION TO ACIDEVE AND MAINTAIN LEVELS OF PHYSIOLOGICAL RELAXATION STEVEN E. SULTAN School of Human Behavior, United States International University, San Diego, California, U.S.A. Research completed July Subjects practising the Transcendental Meditation technique gained a much deeper level of relaxation than a control group during ordinary rest and were also better able to maintain this relaxation during activity.-editors The following is an abbreviated version of the author's original master's thesis presented to the Graduate Faculty of the School of Human Behavior, United States International University, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology. Fifteen college-age subjects trained in the Transcendental Meditation technique were found to achieve a significantly deeper level of relaxation than fifteen matched control subjects during the relaxation condition, as measured by the electromyographic ( EMG) activity of the frontalis muscle ( p <.05). It was further found that the subjects trained in Transcendental Meditation were able to maintain the achieved level of relaxation in a task condition better than the untrained control subjects, as measured by a significantly greater ability to maintain frontalis muscle relaxation when going from the relaxation condition to the task condition (p <.OJ). INTRODUCTION One of the most interesting and potentially useful areas of study in the field of human behavior deals with the effects of meditation on the physiological aspects of nervous system relaxation. This study is primarily concerned with the generalization of the physiological relaxation response learned through Transcendental Meditation to other stimulus situations. Certain common disorders such as hypertension, ulcers, asthma, arthritis, and some sexual dysfunctions have been theorized to be potentially instigated, inflamed, and/ or maintained by severe or prolonged nervous system arousal (4). This theory seems reasonable in light of the fact that the disorders mentioned above occur in bodily systems that are regulated by the nervous system. It appears that subjection of the nervous system to recurrent, prolonged, or severe stress and anxiety can affect theregulatory functions of the autonomic nervous system adversely (4). The nervous system integrates the behavior of the organism and regulates directly all other systems of the body. The nervous system is responsible for mediating stimulation from the senses to the bodily structures that will respond to the stimulation. At the same time, the brain serves as the main coordinating structure for all nervous system activity. The brain and the nervous system have several roles in behavior that is elicited in emotional and stressful situations. The conscious or awareness states of anxiety stimulation, e.g. "feeling" tense, angry, peaceful, relaxed, depend directly on inter- 855

2 SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ON THE TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION AND TM-SIDHI PROGRAMME, VOL. 2 pretation by the brain. The explicit responses to stimuli are mediated and controlled by the nervous system. Most important, however, is that internal, physiological changes such as cardiac activity, blood vessel diameter, secretions in the gastrointestinal tract, muscle tension, and glandular secretions are regulated by the nervous system, particularly the autonomic nervous system. Intense or prolonged nervous system stimulation causes radical changes in these functions and the brain interprets the situation as stressful or tense. In such situations the nervous system is mediating internal responses to restore an equilibrium in the body. As an individual matures, he learns many overt responses that are appropriate for many stimulus situations. Just as learning occurs on an overt, behavioral level, the studies mentioned above as well as others have demonstrated that various internal systems and mechanisms can be conditioned to respond to a stimulus situation in a consistent manner. If learning does occur on an internal level with respect to reaction to stimuli, it is reasonable that the practice of physiological relaxation through achieving psychological states such as meditation can produce long-term and consistent relaxation responses in the subject. The work of Pavlov (6) in conditioning dogs to salivate to an auditory stimulus is the earliest example of controlled autonomic nervous system learning. The response was found to generalize to any number of stimulus situations that Pavlov presented. People also learn to respond to stimuli in the same manner. Each person's nervous system responds in a particular manner to a stressful situation. This same response can be generalized to any number of situations the person labels stressful. The same seems to be true for responses associated with relaxation. The practice of meditation has the effect of producing physiological relaxation and mental alertness at the same time. Currently, most therapy for prolonged or intense anxiety states has attempted to control and relax the nervous system activity with various drugs. The problem here is that the drugs used may have side effects and drug taking becomes a predominant response to tension. Also the drugs work directly on the nervous system and do nothing to alter the psychological responses to stressful situations that produce or are occurring along with the physiological reaction to stress. If the person is taken off the drugs his blood pressure goes back up or his ulcer becomes inflamed again and he has no more control over his bodily reactions than before. Drugs essentially treat only the symptoms. Techniques such as Transcendental Meditation claim to be able to train the person to control some physiological activity in the body by learning to produce and control certain psychological states at will. The intent of this study is to experimentally investigate the ability of subjects trained in Transcendental Meditation to achieve physiological relaxation and maintain a relaxed state, as compared to an untrained control group. The questions to be asked in this study are: 1. Does training in Transcendental Meditation facilitate the occurrence of deeper physiological relaxation responses in individuals than that level of relaxation achieved by untrained individuals in equal time periods? 2. Does training in Transcendental Meditation allow greater maintenance of physiological relaxation responses, outside the meditation situation, than the level of relaxation maintained by untrained individuals after equal opportunities for relaxation? HYPOTHESES The following hypotheses are made with reference to two groups of subjects: experienced meditators (S-experimental) and a control group (S-control), with no systematic relaxation training of any kind: H1: S-experimental will achieve deeper physiological relaxation than S-control in the relaxation situation as measured by manifest tension in the musculature. H2: The level of relaxation achieved by the experienced meditators during the relaxation session will be less influenced by the nature of the task situation than the level of relaxation achieved by the control subjects. The above hypotheses are based on several theoretical considerations. The assumption is made that some brain and nervous system responses can to some degree be brought under conscious control by the individual. This idea is based on the theory of autonomic nervous system learning ( 4). This theory states that nervous system responses to stimulation 856

3 SULTAN PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFICIENCY AND STABILITY: PHYSIOLOGICAL RELAXATION -PAPER 122 are conditionable. The brain serves the function of labeling stimulus situations as stressful, peaceful, painful, and the nervous system responds with behavior appropriate to the situation and designed to maintain internal equilibrium. Consequently, all stimulus situations having the same label elicit essentially the same nervous system responses. It should be noted that stimulus situations can elicit a particular constellation of nervous system responses as well as just a particular response. A constellation of responses can be called a ''reflex'' (7). A reflex of such a nature that was mediated by the nervous system was identified early in this century by the physiologist Walter B. Cannon; it is called the ''fight or flight'' reaction. A situation eliciting such a reaction causes the aroused sympathetic nervous system to mobilize a set of physiological responses marked by increases in blood pressure, heart rate, blood tlow to muscles, and oxygen consumption. The termination or inhibition of this reflex responding occurs through activation of the parasympathetic nervous system. Both are active responses by the central nervous system to the perceived nature of the incoming stimulation. One reflex response produces generalized physiological excitation, the other produces generalized physio-. logical de-excitation or relaxation. It has been theorized that psychosomatic disorders result from prolonged activation of the sympathetic nervous system as a result of intense or prolonged stressful stimulation. According to such theories, the stimulus eliciting the nervous system response may be, and is often, psychological in nature. It is possible that the consciousness or psychological stimulation produced through TM practice elicits nervous system responding on a level similar to activation of the parasympathetic nervous system. This response would produce feelings of quiescence and relaxation such as those experienced in meditation. If this theory is true, the practice of Transcendental Meditation presents considerable possibilities for treatment of such disorders as hypertension, ulcers, and other psychosomatic disturbances. As well as possible treatment, Transcen-. dental Meditation may provide an interesting preventive technique. Continual practice at eliciting parasympathetic responding could condition dominant responding in this division of the autonomic nervous system. According to the theory presented by Gelhorn (2), continual elicitation of either the sympathetic or parasympathetic divisions of the autonomic nervous system could make one division a more dominant mode of autonomic responding than the other division. Transcendental Meditation as a nervous system conditioning technique could have the effect of raising the threshold of sympathetic responding such that the individual would be more resistant to its activation. The person might, therefore, be less susceptible to stimulation that plays a role in the development of psychosomatic and other stress related nervous system disorders. The ability of an individual to be able to generalize relaxation responses, once they are learned, could have great value for the individual in trying to control undesirable states such as anxiety and stress. If a person can effectively control his physiological responses to anxiety situations, he will be better able to deal with the psychological components to stressful situations with a relaxed physiology. Effective use of such techniques in therapy could be valuable, particularly because of the primary active role of the client in the treatment procedures. Because of this factor, good results would be perceived by the client as self-achieved and may have significant long-term effects. This study should provide data demonstrating the generalization effect of responses occurring during meditation to novel stimulus situations. PROCEDURE AND METHODS The research approach used in this study was the quasi-experimental approach. Campbell and Stanley ( 1) state that there are many naturalistic settings in which the researcher can introduce something like experimental design into his scheduling of data collection procedures. In other words, the researcher can control the "when" and "to whom" of measurement. At the same time, control over the scheduling of experimental stimuli is not completely possible (e.g. the "when" and "to whom" of exposure and the ability to randomize exposures). In the present study it was possible to control the "when" of exposure to the experimental stimuli, but not the "to whom'' of exposure. This was due to the fact that the group of experienced meditators has been preselected before entering the present study. 857

4 SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ON THE TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION AND TM-SIDHI PROGRAMME, VOL. 2 At the same time, the experienced meditators represent a naturally selected intact group. All subjects in the meditation group have undergone similar training in Transcendental Meditation and have been practicing for approximately the same length of time. Quasi-experimental designs are applicable to situations in which the selection of members of groups is not controlled for, the groups are intact, or in a naturalistic setting ( 1). RESEARCH DESIGN-The design selected for this study was a randomized block design with repeated measures (3) taking the following form: GROUP CONDITION Xo c Ox Ox E Ox Ox E represents the experimental group with equivalent number of subjects as the control group. C represents the control group. 0 1 Ox represents repeated observations in each condition. This type of design allows experimental control to be achieved by entering all subjects into all conditions. In this study there were only two treatment conditions, Xo and Xt, which represent the relaxation and task conditions respectively. This type of design allows for the analysis of the main effects of group performance in the treatment conditions. The evaluation of these effects are directly related to the research hypotheses in this study. It was hypothesized that the meditators will show a greater degree of relaxation than the control group because of their past training. It was also hypothesized that the task condition will facilitate greater tension than the relaxation condition because of the nature of this condition. HYPOTHESES-The following two null hypotheses were tested: Hot. There will be no significant difference at the.05 level between the two subject samples in their ability to achieve muscle relaxation in the relaxation condition. Ho2. There will be no significant difference at the. 05 level in the ability of the two subject populations to maintain the level of muscle relaxation achieved during relaxation while in the task condition. SUBJECTS-The experimental group consisted of 15 individuals selected from an invited sample of people who had received systematic training from certified instructors in the practice of Transcendental Meditation. The subjects had completed instruction and had been practicing meditation for at least one year. Research in the area suggests that the responses under examination in this study achieve greater prominence as experience increases (7). It was therefore decided that if generalization of the relaxation responses occurred after one year's experience it could be assumed it would also occur in more experienced subjects. This group should be representative of practicing meditators as a population because of the instructor certification requirement. All instructors are personally ertified by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi who is the founder of the Transcendental Meditation program. The control group was selected from an invited sample of 15 individuals matched with the experimental group on as many variables as deemed relevant by the current research. These controls had no past systematic training in meditation, hypnosis, or biofeedback training. Therefore only the generalization effects of one technique were observed. Table 1 describes the basic breakdown of potentially relevant demographic variables within each group. The groups were matched as closely as possible on these variables as demonstrated by the table. All members of the control group were undergraduate and graduate students. Most trained meditators that made up the experimental group were not students but had attended college and had a similar educational level to the control group. Both sample subjects were selected from the San Diego County area population. GROUP Control Experimental TABLE 1 DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLES MALES 9 8 FEMALES 6 7 MEAN AGE INSTRUMENTATION-The apparatus used for measurement of relaxation responses consisted of a 858

5 SULTAN PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFICIENCY AND STABILITY: PHYSIOLOGICAL RELAXATION -PAPER 122 portable electromyograph (BFf 401), and a Time Period Integrator (BFf 215). Both equipment components were developed by the Biofeedback Technology Corp., Garden Grove, California. All components are compatible and designed by the manufacturers to be operated in conjunction with each other. The EMG is connected to the time-period integrator. The integrator reads out a percentage value over a preset period of time regulated by the experimenter. With respect to flexations of the frontalis muscle as measured by the EMG, the percentage value refers to the amount of time over the preset time period in which flexations or activity "twitches" in the muscles are occurring. The less percentage of time activity is occurring, the more relaxed are the muscles. The time-period integrator (T.P.I.) is equipped with an amplitude threshold control switch. This switch allows selection of a baseline amplitude that the percentage readings can be related to. The amplitude of muscle activity is measured in microvolts. DATA COLLECTION AND RECORDING-Each subject in the control and experimental groups experienced both the relaxation and task conditions. Each condition was approximately minutes in length. During the data recording in each condition, the subject wore a headband with two electrodes attached to it. The electrodes were placed on the frontalis muscles located above the eyebrows on either side of the center of the forehead, and an ear clip was used as an electrical ground. The manufacturers suggest that these are the preferred contact areas for measuring muscle activity using this method of detection. The first minutes were the relaxation condition. During this condition subjects in both groups were led into the experimental setting and asked to sit in the cushioned chair provided in the setting. Subjects were given a brief explanation of what the instruments measured and how they would be connected to the equipment. At no time, however, were subjects told what was expected of them in terms of their performance during this condition, e.g. that they will become more relaxed. Subjects were connected to the equipment and asked to close their eyes and allow themselves to relax in any manner they chose. They were then told that the experimenter would ask them to open their eyes again in about minutes. Based on subjective reports, the control subjects attempted to achieve relaxation by trying to fall asleep and the meditation subjects attempted to relax by meditating. During this condition the percentage of time over 60 second intervals that the subject exceeded the 20 I.A. V baseline was recorded every other minute for 20 minutes producing ten separate readings for each subject during this condition. After the last reading was taken subjects were asked to open their eyes but to stay seated. The task condition commenced between 2 and 3 minutes after subjects were asked to open their eyes in the relaxation condition. Subjects in both groups remained connected to the equipment throughout both conditions and the short interval in between. During the second minute period (the task condition) subjects responded to a 150-item, true-false biographical inventory while connected to the EMG machine. The inventory consisted of 50 items indicative of manifest anxiety, selected from the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale, and 100 filler items in the same format. The inventory is not used in this study for its predictive value. Although the content of many of the items produce a certain amount of anxiety when the subject is responding to them, the primary value of the inventory is that it puts the subject in a test taking situation. Such a situation is not normally a stimulus cue for relaxation responses and should produce nervous system activation that would serve to lower the level of relaxation achieved in the relaxation condition. Readings were taken over 60-second intervals with 30-second no-reading intervals in between. Since the average time to completion was minutes, these intervals were necessary to achieve ten separate readings for each subject in this condition. DATA ANALYSIS-In order to test the hypotheses in this study, a two-way analysis of variance for mixed effects models utilizing repeated measures as described by Hays (3) was performed on the data. This procedure allows the testing of two or more hypotheses about the data at the same time. In this study, the effects of systematic training versus no training on performance in two experimental conditions were analyzed simultaneously. 859

6 SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ON THE TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION AND TM-SIDHI PROGRAMME, VOL. 2 TABLE 2. MEAN PERCENTAGE OF TIME EXCEEDING 20tJ.V BASELINE FOR BOTH GROUPS IN LAST HALF OF RELAXATION AND TASK CONDITIONS CONTROL GROUP Mean Relaxation Task EXPERIMENTAL GROUP Mean Relaxation Task RESULTS Table 2 presents the mean percentage of time exceeding the 20 f..l V baseline for the two groups in the last ten minutes of both conditions. This study is primarily interested in the ultimate depth of relaxation achieved by the two groups in the relaxation condition and the depth of relaxation maintained by the groups in the task condition. It was found that regardless of the amount of change in the first half of the conditions, the subjects stabilized in the last half and there was little change from minute to minute in this part of each condition. Also, it was assumed that the subjects would be most relaxed in the last half of the relaxation condition and have the hardest time maintaining relaxation by the last half of the task condition. Consequently the analysis of the variance was performed on the mean values presented in table 2. The findings presented in this table demonstrate a significant main effect, ( p <.01), for both group and condition and a significant interaction effect, ( p <.01). Table 4 represents a t-test of the difference between group means in the relaxation condition. The results of this test demonstrate a significant difference in the level of relaxation achieved by the control and experimental groups in this condition ( p <.05). GROUP Control Experimental TABLE 4 t- TEST OF DIFFERENCE FOR GROUP MEANS IN RELAXATION CONDITION MEAN S.D t-value 2.36* Table 3 presents the analysis of the variance for the main effects of group and condition and the resultant probability levels for achieving these same results purely by chance factors. Also, the table includes the analysis of variance for interaction effects of group and condition and the resultant probability level for achieving this result by chance factors alone. TABLE 3 ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE FOR MAIN EFFECTS OF GROUP (g) AND CONDITION (c) p<.ol * SOURCE ss df MS F Between subjects 58, Group 18,406 18, Error b 39, ,410 Within subjects 54, Condition 32,936 32, Interaction (g x c) 210, , Error w 21, p <.01 <.01 <.01 CONTROL GROUP TM GROUP Two-Way Analysis of Variance, Main Effect for Groups. FIG. 1. MEAN PERCENTAGE OF TIME EXCEEDING 20f.1V BASELINE FOR THE CONTROL AND EXPERIMENTAL GROUPS. 860

7 SULTAN PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFICIENCY AND STABILITY: PHYSIOLOGICAL RELAXATION -PAPER 122 The findings may be summarized as follows: 1. The finding of significant group differences in table 3 and the findings of table 4 indicate that the subjects trained in TM achieved an overall deeper level of relaxation than the untrained control group as measured by a significantly lower level of frontalis muscle tension (p <.01, fig. 1). 2. The finding of significant condition differences in table 3 confirms the methodological assumption that the relaxation and task conditions would differ in their effect on subject attempts to achieve and maintain frontalis muscle relaxation (p <.01, fig. 2). CONTROL 120 :J LIJ 110 Ill < a:l 100 p<.oi" > :::1. 0 N LIJ 70 X LIJ LIJ 0 < LIJ Q., 10 TM RELAXATION TASK RELAXATION TASK Two-Way Analysis of Variance, Main Effect for Conditions. FIG. 2. MEAN PERCENTAGE OF TIME EXCEEDING 20J.lV BASELINE FOR BOTH GROUPS IN THE RELAXATION AND TASK CONDITIONS. 3. The finding of interaction effects between group and condition in table 3 demonstrates that the subjects trained in TM were able to maintain the achieved level of relaxation in the task condition better than the untrained control subjects as measured by a significantly greater ability to maintain frontalis muscle relaxation when going from the relaxation condition to the task condition (p <. 01, fig. 3). These findings allow the rejection of the null hypothesis of no difference between groups in the ultimate level of relaxation achieved (Hot). These findings also allow rejection of the null hypothesis of no differences between groups in their ability to maintain a relaxed state while in the task condition (Ho2). 110 Ill < a:l > ::1. 0 N 0 z s LIJ RELAXATION CONTROL TM p<.ol* Two-Way Analysis of Variance, Interaction Effect. CONTROL TASK AG. 3. MEAN PERCENTAGE OF TIME EXCEEDING 20J.lV BASELINE FOR BOTH GROUPS IN THE RELAXATION AND TASK CONDITIONS. DISCUSSION The theoretical basis upon which this study is founded suggests that such physiological benefits of Transcendental Meditation as those examined in this study are the result of a conditioning process occurring in the nervous system. The concept of nervous system learning, as discussed earlier, proposes that the nervous syste-m is capable of responding to stimulation perceived through the senses, processed, and labeled by the brain in a consistent and conditionable manner. The influence of stimulation on the nervous system may produce a limited nervous system response such that only pulse rate or respiration may be affected. The nervous system, however, may respond in a more generalized manner with more nervous system controlled functions involved, such as the "fight or flight" reflex response. Research in the area of Transcendental Meditation suggests that such a reflex response representing generalized calmness or relaxation occurs in the nervous system in response to the meditational process. This study attempts to support the theory of nervous system learning by examining how readily and consistently relaxation is achieved and maintained by subjects trained in the technique of Transcendental Meditation, as compared to a group of subjects with no training in any technique for consciously inducing physiological relaxation. The re- TM 861

8 SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ON THE TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION AND TM-SIDHI PROGRAMME, VOL. 2 sponse of frontalis muscle relaxation was selected for observation because of its generalizability to the level of relaxation in the musculature throughout the body. The experimental findings in this condition, for the untrained group and the group trained in TM, confirm the hypothesis that TM subjects achieve a significantly deeper level of relaxation than the untrained subjects. This finding was depicted in fig. 1. It should also be noted that table 2 demonstrates that not only the ultimate depth was greater for meditators, but throughout this condition the meditators have a consistently lower level of frontalis muscle tension. It was hypothesized in this study that a significant difference in ultimate depth of relaxation achieved in a relaxation condition would indicate the operation of a conditioned nervous system response of muscle relaxation, with such a response being conditioned by the meditational process employed in the Transcendental Meditation technique. This hypothesis was based on the assumption that practice of a technique of physiological relaxation such as TM would facilitate both the occurrence of physiological relaxation responses and the degree of intensity of such responses. The findings seem to support this assumption. The subjects trained in TM demonstrate an ability to achieve relaxation of the frontalis muscles relatively quickly and maintain this relaxation throughout the condition as compared to the untrained control group. Therefore, it would appear that the practice of TM facilitates the elicitation of nervous system relaxation responses at a faster rate as well as producing deeper levels of relaxation than that achieved by whatever method the control group subjects used. The second research hypothesis in this study predicted that subjects trained in TM would be more successful at maintaining the relaxed state in the task condition than the untrained control group. This hypothesis was confirmed by the analysis of variance demonstrating a significantly greater increase in frontalis muscle tension for the control group than the experimental group when going from the relaxation to the task condition (p<.ol, table 3). Figure 3 depicts this greater increase from condition to condition in frontalis muscle tension for the control group. The purpose of this condition was to create a situation that was not conducive to relaxation. This was done in order to test the ability of trained and untrained subjects to maintain physiological relaxation in a situation presenting stimulus cues for cognitive and emotional arousal. The subjects trained in TM demonstrated a significantly superior ability to resist the influence of the physical and cognitive cues for arousal in this condition than the untrained subjects. The meditators remained relatively unaffected by this situation while the untrained subjects experienced the situation as arousing in terms of significantly increased frontalis muscle tension. This suggests greater strength of the nervous system relaxation responses occurring in trained meditators than in untrained subjects. The meditators demonstrated a greater resistance to the arousal cues presented in this condition than the untrained subjects. The most reasonable explanation for these findings seems to be that the practice of Transcendental Meditation strengthens nervous system relaxation responses and decreases susceptibility of the individual to anxiety eliciting stimulus situations. The findings for the relaxation and task conditions suggest that it may be more difficult for people to maintain a relaxed state than to initially achieve one. It is easier to be relaxed when one has his eyes closed and is not bothered with interfering stimuli than to be relaxed in a situation that is not associated with the usual cues for relaxation, such as closing eyes, reclining in a chair, and ceasing physical movements. The technique of Transcendental Meditation, however, allows physiological relaxation to occur at the same time the person is still psychologically aware. In the relaxation condition untrained subjects attempted to achieve physiological relaxation through a process appearing to be similar to going to sleep. The meditators, however, never attempted to achieve sleep. Instead, the physiological relaxation process was brought on by the meditative process which requires psychological wakefulness. Untrained subjects seem to relax physiologically by trying to "tum off" cognitive and psychological processes. Meditators on the other hand employ these processes as a tool to induce or facilitate physiological relaxation. Consequently, meditators may be learning new stimulus response chains in the nervous system that do not require the cessation of 862

9 SULTAN PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFICIENCY AND STABILITY: PHYSIOLOGICAL RELAXATION -PAPER 122 conscious thoughts and emotional feelings to be physiologically relaxed. Although it is well known that thought processes do continue in sleep in the form of dreams, these thoughts are not very accessible to the individual when he wakes up. After meditation, however, there appears to be no difficulty in recalling the thoughts experienced during meditation. Also there is no distortion of thought that often occurs in dreams.maharishi Mahesh Yogi (5) has described the state of meditation as one of restful alertness. CONCLUSION Based on the results of this study, it can be concluded that subjects trained in Transcendental Meditation achieve deeper levels of frontalis muscle relaxation than untrained subjects in a limited period of time, as measured by the EMG. It may be further concluded that the level of relaxation achieved by untrained subjects is more readily disrupted than that achieved by subjects trained in Transcendental Meditation. It appears that the level of relaxation achieved by meditators and its greater resistance to disruption is due to a direct effect of TM practice on the nervous system. This effect is most likely due to a conditioning process on the nervous system resulting in decreased sympathetic nervous system responsiveness to stimulus cues for arousal. Whether the process involves inhibition of sympathetic nervous system arousal, disinhibition of parasympathetic nervous system arousal or some other conditionable nervous system activity can not be determined from this study alone. Therefore, it is hoped that future research in this area will deal more directly with this question. The identification of an exact and consistent process occurring as a result of TM practice would greatly enhance the acceptance of Transcendental Meditation as a potentially powerful tool in such areas as psychotherapy. Lachman ( 4) proposed that psychosomatic disorders such as hypertension, asthma, ulcers and colitis are often provoked and maintained by prolonged or intense activation of nervous system arousal, particularly sympathetic nervous system arousal. In other words, when some individuals become highly tense or are tense for long periods of time, the resulting overactivity of the nervous system causes sustained hyperactivity in circulatory, gastrointestinal, and respiratory organ systems among others. This overactivity can, of course, result in organ system disruptions, malfunctions, and even total inability of the particular system to carry out its function. With most people, sympathetic nervous system arousal is an adaptive response in dealing with fearful and stressful stimulation. Normally, the response is terminated when the parasympathetic nervous system is activated. This response protects the nervous system from over working. This function involves the release of chemical substances that counteract the effect of chemical substances originally released by the sympathetic nervous system as a response to arousal stimulation. In the case of individuals suffering from psychosomatic disorders, it appears that either the sympathetic nervous system activates too readily with too great an intensity or is not adequately inhibited or terminated by the parasympathetic nervous system. The effect of Transcendental Meditation on the nervous system may involve either one or both of these responses. However, regardless of where the most direct effect is, the result of meditation practice seems to be in the form of lessened susceptibility to arousal stimulation. Consequently training in Transcendental Meditation may prove to be a highly productive technique for helping clients lessen their susceptability to aversive arousal stimulation and to limit the level of arousal when it does occur. Although this paper dealt with some of the physiological aspects of TM, the process involved in the training and practice of TM focuses much more on the effect of meditation on the whole individual. The Transcendental Meditation technique should not be looked at as just a technique for selfrelaxation. Rather, the relaxation phenomena appear to be only a part of the total experience of Transcendental Meditation on the meditator. It is the consciousness and thought processes involved in the practice of Transcendental Meditation that are probably most responsible for controlling the physiological changes that were examined in this study. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to acknowledge my thesis committee, Dr. F. Toby Weiss, chairman and Dr. Frank Schmidt, committee member, for their willingness 863

10 SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ON THE TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION AND TM-SIDHI PROGRAMME, VOL. 2 to support this project and 'contribute to it their knowledge and experience which was always helpful and constructive. Also, I would like to acknowledge the openness, sincerity, and generous assistance of the students and teachers of the San Diego Chapter of the International Meditation Society and their founder, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. REFERENCES 1. CAMPBELL, D. T., and STANLEY, J. C Experimental and quasi-experimental designs for research. New York: Houghton Mifflin and Company. 2. GELHORN, E Autonomic imbalance and the hypothalamus. Minneapolis, Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press. 3. HAYS, W. L Statistics for the social sciences. Second Edition. New York: Holt, Rinehart, Winston. 4. LACHMAN, S. J Psychosomatic disorders: A behavioristic interpretation. New York: Wiley and Sons. S. MAHARISHI MAHESH YOGI The Science of Being and Art of Living. Los Angeles: International SRM Publications. 6. PAVLOV, I. P Lectures on conditioned reflexes, vol. 1. New York: International Publishers. 7. WALLACE, R. K., et al The Physiology of Meditation. Scientific American 226: (Also in Scientific research on the Transcendental Meditation program: Collected papers, vol. 1, ed. D. W. Orme Johnson and J. T. Farrow, pp Rheinweiler, W. Germany: MERU Press.) 864