We try: Transcendental Meditation

Transcendental meditation (TM) has many benefits. Hannah Fox finds out what it can do for her

I don’t have an especially stressful work or home life, but I find that lots of little things start piling on top of me, contributing to a sort of constant low level of frustration. Inevitably, some minor annoyance will set me off and I’ll end up having a bit of a rant or moan.

Could TM help me get past this need for ranting all the time?

I signed up for my TM course with the The Meditation Trust. They run either a residential course in Kent or non-residential course (locations are all over the country). My course was in Epsom in Surrey and involved four separate session over three days, with my qualified TM teacher, Roger Gurr.

In the first session, I was assigned my mantra.

This is a word or sound that you think in your mind and which helps your mind be still and to transcend. You’re not allowed to tell anyone what your mantra is, as TM is a very personal thing, and the experiences you have with it will vary from person to person.

For my first time, I meditated for about 20 minutes and it was surprisingly easy. But after coming out of the meditation, I was concerned that thoughts (from what I ate for breakfast to the song I was singing in the shower) kept popping into my head while I was trying to meditate. Roger assured me that I shouldn’t worry if I had thoughts while I meditated as it’s completely natural, and that once you accept that you have thoughts, and that you shouldn’t be concerned, you’ll be less likely to have them.

After the meditation session, I felt a real stillness inside me, like I was completely relaxed,  yet at the same time, also really energised. After my first session, I went home and cleaned my whole flat from top to bottom – talk about motivation!

The other sessions were designed to ensure that I was happy with my mantra and that I felt I was going in the right direction with my meditation. Roger warned me that I may start to feel worse before I felt better, as meditation almost acts as a release for years and years of built up stress, and so the body will start to rid itself of that.

He maintained that the key thing, was to try and get in two sessions of 20 minutes each day, with a five minute rest period after each TM session (where you sit there quietly with your eyes closed, but without meditating).

It’s been nearly a month since I started meditating, and I’ll admit, it hasn’t always been easy to fit two sessions in each day. They recommend that you don’t meditate straight after eating as meditation slows down your metabolism (exactly what you don’t want after a meal). They also say you shouldn’t meditate straight before bed. However, by the time I’ve finished work and battled through rush hour to get home, all I want to do is eat and go to bed! And I can hardly pop out of work at about 5pm saying, ‘Don’t mind me, I’m just off to meditate!’

However, I’ve discovered that I can meditate on the bus on the way home from work.

I simply pop in some ear plugs and close my eyes (I probably look a bit strange, but you’d be surprised how many people look like they’ve fallen asleep on the bus, and I’m one of them). That way, I’ve done my meditation before food and bed.

However, if I only manage to get one session in each day, I try not to worry. There’s no point stressing about not meditating enough as that would surely negate the whole reasoning and benefits behind TM.

Overall, I do feel happier and less stressed, and I’m finding that I don’t fly off the handle quite as much as used to, but it is still a work in progress, and something that I’m determined to keep up.

• For more information on transcendental meditation and The Meditation Trust, including course dates and prices, call 01843 841010 or visit www.meditationtrust.com