Transcendental Meditation
Silent mantra repetition, about 20 minutes twice a day, taught in a paid course
A mantra-based technique taught one to one by certified teachers over a paid course of a few sessions. You sit with eyes closed for about 20 minutes, twice a day, and silently repeat a sound you were given; when the mind wanders you come back to it, without effort or concentration. Practitioners describe the mantra fading as the mind settles, and the point is the state that follows rather than the repetition itself. The organization behind it publishes research on blood pressure and stress, some of it contested, and the course fee is the main barrier compared with free breath-based methods. People who keep it up for decades tend to talk about it as a daily reset rather than a spiritual event.
People on record
Sorted by strength of stance
Does it: documented as part of their own routine. Recommends: explicitly advises other people to do it. Discusses: covered it substantively without clear personal adoption; this can include criticism or disagreement.
- Hugh JackmanDoes it
Actor · Wolverine and The Greatest Showman
Learned TM at drama school and has kept the mantra practice since. He describes the settling as a cloudy glass of water clearing, and says he comes out with a finer energy and clearer intention rather than a burst of drive. Falling asleep mid-session, in his view, is fine and probably what his body needed.
Source: The Tim Ferriss Show #444 transcript“I have a feeling of coming home, the feeling of experiencing my true self and not just being caught up in the monkey mind or being reactive to life. And it gives me a finer energy.”
The Tim Ferriss Show #444 transcript (opens in a new tab) · 30 Jun 2020 - Oprah WinfreyDoes it
Talk show host and producer · The Oprah Winfrey Show
Quiet time at least once a day, twice when she is on point: 20 minutes in the morning and 20 in the evening, as she put it in O. TM teachers taught everyone at her company who wanted to learn, and she credits the results across the staff with better sleep, fewer migraines and more getting done.
Source: Oprah.com: What Oprah Knows for Sure About Finding the Fullest Expression of Yourself“So now I give myself a healthy dose of quiet time at least once (and when I'm on point, twice) a day. Twenty minutes in the morning, 20 in the evening. TM teachers have taught everyone in my company who wanted to learn how to meditate.”
Oprah.com: What Oprah Knows for Sure About Finding the Fullest Expression of Yourself (opens in a new tab)
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Protocol entry · notes paraphrased from cited sources, quoted excerpts copied from the transcript they link to. Not medical advice. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or reviewed by anyone listed. How this works.