Tag Archives: transcendental meditation

Meditating: a personal experience

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Monday morning.  When my alarm goes off it interrupts a seemingly interminable dream of the not-so-pleasant variety.

In the dream, I turn up at 7pm prompt ready to sing in a concert.  I open my bag to find that everything I expect to take out of it – my music, my concert clothes – are not there.  It seems that we are singing with a second choir who have things organised – they are able to offer me a black top with the regulatory below-the-elbows sleeves.  I ask if anyone has a skirt or trousers and several people tell me they’ll check – before disappearing into the dream ether.  I look around me and find the entire contents of my wardrobe seem to be at hand – except, that is, anything black.  7.30pm comes and I discover the concert doesn’t start until 8pm – I have an extra half hour to fill the gaps.  Except that I don’t manage to fill the gaps:  I just have more time in which to feel stressed and run around trying to find clothes and music unsuccessfully.

Waking, I notice how some details of the dream are totally true to life (the bag I open at the beginning of the dream is one I’m using a lot right now) and others are strangely off beam (I am always ready for a 7.30pm concert in time for our warm up, which is usually at about 6.40pm).  Others are, of course, figments of the dream-state imagination.  I also reflect that it’s not surprising to have had this dream at this time.  It’s not just that I am returning to work after a break and face the prospect of several weeks of busy-ness at work and in my hobby as a singer.  It’s also that in the past week my dreams have indeed been varied and vivid.

This seems to have been a side-effect of my time spent at Oxon Hoath on retreat.  This was a brief sojourn – I arrived on Tuesday afternoon and left after lunch on Friday.  Still, I have been meditating up to five times a day.  In the morning, I have done two full meditation rounds before breakfast, comprising ‘asanas’ (simple yoga exercises – not nearly as stretching as the one shown, though this photo tickled me rather), ‘pranayama’ breathing, meditation and a gentle return.  We have also meditated as a group before lunch and then, in the afternoon, I have enjoyed two more meditation rounds.

What does the meditation comprise?  After the preparatory asanas and pranayama breathing, I close me eyes and repeat a mantra that has been given to me by my teacher – over and over for a full twenty minutes.  The effect is a slowing and deepening of my breathing.  As my thoughts arise I simply let them go, returning to the mantra.  Sometimes my thoughts are active – a kind of inner chatter.  Sometimes, my mind is more still.

In our shared discussions, people get to ask all sorts of questions which range from questions about the experience of meditating to questions about the body of spiritual teaching from which the approach springs.  Questions about meditation can reflect or stimulate a certain anxiety (am I doing it right?) which spring from the belief that somehow there is such a thing as the perfect meditation to which we can all aspire.  It reminds me of discussions about sex, except that the word “transcend” replaces the word “orgasm”.  My teachers have always, however, highlighted that every experience is OK.

My own experience seems quite mundane in the moment – a gentle falling away of inner chatter and an increasing sense of peace.  It’s easy to tell myself that in some way I am falling short.  My vivid dreams tell me, though, that something is happening – some release of stress, perhaps, or a greater connection with self.  And if this is the result of just two days’ meditation, how much more is possible over time?  For doesn’t it make sense that, like exercise, the effects of meditating on a regular basis are cumulative, like exercise or gardening?

In truth, even the act of arranging my schedule to make it possible to meditate has an effect.  By doing this I am giving priority to a certain way of being, perhaps even to being over doing.  For to a greater or lesser extent, the act of meditating brings me to greater stillness within myself, or opens my awareness to the greater stillness that is already within.

Meditating on leadership

Developing as a leader, ,

Yesterday was my first day back at work after a short break – spent in the depths of Kent at the Oxon Hoath Retreat Centre on a TM retreat.

TM – or transcendental meditation – is one of the first meditation techniques to become popular in the West.  Like many other ‘alternative’ approaches, it attracts a wide range of responses – from those who revile it, through those who are interested in its benefits from a purely pragmatic point of view right through to those who are deeply versed in the spiritual thinking and teachings that lie behind it.

I fall squarely in the middle of this spectrum (at least for now).  I was attracted to TM as much on the recommendation of a good friend who is also a highly successful businessman as I was for any spiritual reasons – though I do enjoy the opportunity to learn more that is on offer at Oxon Hoath.  My friend’s experience on starting to meditate was typical and included such things as increased concentration and effectiveness.

What on earth, though, has meditation to do with leadership?  Well, quite a lot.  Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee, whose careers have focused on conducting research into what differentiates the most outstanding leaders, include a whole chapter on Mindfulness in their book Resonant Leadership.  Why is it important for leaders?  Here’s a quick brainstorm:

  • Practices such as meditation which support mindfulness help to clear the mind, leading to increased clarity of thinking and improved decision-making;
  • Clearing the mind also reduces levels of stress by releasing stressful thoughts and clearing the mind – a bit like clearing a blocked cognitive ‘drain’;
  • Sustaining mindfulness through regular meditation or other activities helps leaders to sustain the high levels of performance needed to lead effectively over time (and to know when it’s time to stop and rest):  mindful leaders can lead effectively for longer periods during the day and over time.
Perhaps at the heart of the benefits for leaders lies the role leaders play in shaping the direction of an organisation or part of an organisation.  How can you shape the direction of an organisation if you are anything but clear thinking – mindful?
If you’d like to enjoy a glimpse into the experience of meditating you’ll find I have more to say in my next posting.  If you would like to look into the possibilities to train to meditate, you might like to make contact with the Meditation Trust, who offer courses in the UK.  Alternatively, Peter Russell’s book The TM Technique is recommended as a very clear introduction.

Stepping softly into the New Year

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Most years I like to take a few days out over Christmas to reflect on the year just gone and to look forward to the year ahead.

This year was slightly different! Three weeks after I first wondered if I was going to go down with a cold Christmas came and so did my cold, a drawn-out weary affair which was certainly not flu though it came close. After Christmas with family (as it happens, a time to bring our diverse winter germs together and compare notes) I holed up in my London home for a few days to recover. Having listened to my body’s feedback I postponed my time to reflect and took time to relax. It was good to have these few days with absolutely no agenda other than to listen to my inner guidance and to ‘hole up’. Donny Osmond was the perfect companion.

So I have been grateful this week for a relatively gentle start. My coaching appointments have all been over the phone and I have yet to have any early starts. I have been able to send out invoices to those clients who pay me a monthly fee. (I always do this with joy and gratitude, for this exchange is what makes it possible for me to meet my needs whilst also supporting my clients). I have had time to meditate with ease – though not to meditate and to write on my blog (until today). All this has given me time to return to my aims for the year ahead and to begin to shape the two page document which will guide me through 2009.

I confess that for a few days, this experience has knocked me off my ‘smug healthy’ pedestal, reminding me that I am not omnipotent. As Dr. Christiane Northrup so often puts it (in her wonderful books on women’s health), “sooner or later, the body presents the bill”. My diet has played a huge part in keeping me healthy in 2008. Still, I know that I am currently in the midst of a challenging personal decision and that this is taking time and energy. I wonder how much the widespread germs and colds we have been sharing so generously reflect a time of concern – about the economy, about world events. I don’t know.

Still, here it is. 2009. As I step softly into the New Year I do not know what will happen in the world around me. Still, I know where my direction lies. This latter is enough for me.

TM: Getting started

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When we take on a new responsibility or commitment, there is often a gap between our input and the effects over time that motivate us to get started. We make many visits to the gym before our bodies show the effects of our regular exercise – be they newly-defined muscles, increased stamina or new-found energy. The golfer makes many shots before celebrating a hole-in-one. The salesman or -woman may wear down many pairs of (real or metaphorical) shoes before the results start to show. For this reason, new beginnings require an attention to our inputs ahead of a focus on our outputs or results.

So it is for me as I begin to meditate. Over a period of about six years I have been paying attention to such evidence as I have been able to find, including the testimony of people I have met who meditate on a regular basis. I am already convinced of the benefits of a regular practice of Transcendental Meditation. Still, leaving my initial training programme on Friday, I already know that my first challenge will be to carve out time every day to meditate.

What better test of my resolve than a trip to Dubai, beginning the very next day! I plan ahead of time, deciding to spend half an hour of my taxi journey to the airport “snoozing” and another half an hour on the plane. I calculate the best time to meditate on the plane, leaving a gap between meditations and ahead of the meal that will sustain me through the night. And then, setting my alarm for my first day’s work on Sunday (yes, Sunday begins the working week here in Dubai) I realise that I shall be rising at 2 a.m. UK time. Hey, ho!

I am glad that I am not looking for any immediate results to convince me to continue. It’s enough for me to celebrate these first two days of managing my own meditation practice. I did it! I made time on both days for two meditations a day. I know I am ready to begin this daily practice. To commit.

What is an “alternative approach”?

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Some time ago, I wrote about an experience I had – a session of Emotional Freedom Technique. This was something I hadn’t heard about until my friend Alex started to study it. I chose a new keyword for this posting – Alternative Approaches – and even as I chose the keyword I recognised that this heading begs the simple question: what is an alternative approach? Today, sitting in the lounge at Heathrow Airport, I am taking some time to respond to this question. I offer no prior research – simply an opinion.

As I understand it, the word “alternative” when applied to all sorts of approaches, is used as an alternative to “mainstream”. The primary issue here seems to be one of acceptance: is an approach accepted. This in turn begs the question: who by? I think of questions of power – would it be true to say that mainstream approaches are those approaches which are recognised by those sections of society which are most powerful? However, the question of what constitutes power is a subtle one. Instead, I opt to describe the mainstream as a tide of culture which is in some way recognised and endorsed.

It’s easy, when discussing alternative and mainstream approaches, to jump to the conclusion that those approaches which are seen as mainstream are those which scientists have tested and endorsed. There is much to discuss here and much to dispute. In the field of leadership in which I work, one approach that has passed into the mainstream via academic research is the use of competencies to identify those characteristics which differentiate the most outstanding leaders. Whilst this approach is largely taken for granted now, it was originally an alternative to the prevailing idea that testing for IQ (intelligence quota) was the best way to recruit for leadership potential. It was the research of David McClelland and his colleagues which showed this widely accepted (“mainstream”) approach to be based on assumptions which were, in fact, inaccurate. Because of McClelland’s research, testing for competencies, still an alternative approach 30 years ago, has gradually become mainstream.

At the same time, scientists can be blind to evidence when it does not fit prior theories or when they struggle to explain it. Fresh from participating in a training in Transcendental Meditation (TM) I am struck by an anecdote which I had heard prior to attending the training and which I heard again whilst I was there. Some years ago, a large group of meditators spent some time meditating in Washington D.C. with the express aim of reducing crime rates. The Chief of Police was highly sceptical, predicting that it would take six feet of snow to have this effect. Still, the scientists who had been lined up to study the data had to concede that yes, crime rates did go down. A paper was written but only published some time after the event in a peer-reviewed journal, accompanied by a rather apologetic addendum. The research that supports the use of Transcendental Meditation to achieve all sorts of positive outcomes is now extensive. Has it (as yet) become a mainstream approach? No.

In what sense then, do I use the term “alternative approach” on this blog? I aim to use it entirely without prejudice, recognising the many and varied approaches that can make a difference in people’s lives. Perhaps an underlying belief that I hold, which may mark me out from the mainstream, is that far more is possible than we often imagine. The myriad of approaches available to us serve to highlight – should we choose to be aware – just what possibilities exist. In this sense, an alternative approach is simply an option and every approach to which I gave airtime on this blog is an option – an alternative approach.