Sherlock Holmes Meditating

Peter Cushing as Sherlock Holmes

Solving crime in the Golden Dome

Rick has read every Sherlock Holmes

MEDITATION and mindfulness: the words conjure images of yoga retreats and Buddhist monks. But perhaps they should evoke a very different picture: a man in a deerstalker, puffing away at a curved pipe, Mr. Sherlock Holmes himself. The world’s greatest fictional detective is someone who knows the value of concentration, of “throwing his brain out of action,” as Dr. Watson puts it. He is the quintessential unitasker in a multitasking world.

More often than not, when a new case is presented, Holmes does nothing more than sit back in his leather chair, close his eyes and put together his long-fingered hands in an attitude that begs silence. He may be the most inactive active detective out there. His approach to thought captures the very thing that cognitive psychologists mean when they say mindfulness.

by Maria Konnikova, the author of “Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes”

Over 600 scientific studies done at over 100 independent research institutions in over 160 peer reviewed journals validate the benefits of TM.  Many of these studies are reprinted in 7 volumes of the Collected Papers available from Maharishi University Press.

www.TM.org/research-on-meditation

Top 100 published studies

Reference I: Transcendental Meditation and improved performance on intelligence-related measures: A longitudinal study, Personality and Individual Differences 12: 1105-1116, 1991. Reference II: Longitudinal effects of the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program on cognitive ability and cognitive style, Perceptual and Motor Skills 62: 731­738, 1986.

Peer Reviewed Scientific Journals

References:

1. Proceedings of the International Symposium Physiological and Biochemical Basis of Brain Activity, St. Petersburg, Russia, (June 22–24, 1992).
2. 2nd Russian-Swedish Symposium New Research in Neurobiology, Moscow, Russia, (May 19–21, 1992).

After one year of practice of the Transcendental Meditation program, elementary school students showed significant gains on the lowa Tests of Basic Skills, a nationally standardized test (ref. 1). A second study showed significant gains in high school students (grades 9–12) on the lowa Tests of Educational Development (ref. 2). A third study (ref. 3) found that the length of time students had been practicing the Transcendental Meditation program was significantly correlated with academic achievement, independent of student IQ scores.

References:

1. Education 107 (1986): 49–54.
2. Education 109 (1989): 302–304.
3. Modern Science and Vedic Science 1 (1987): 433–468.

National Institutes of Health
The NIH has awarded more than $24 million to study the benefits of the Transcendental Meditation technique for improving brain functioning and cardiovascular health during the past 20 years.  More

American Medical Association
The AMA’s journal Archives of Internal Medicine published a recent study showing the TM technique is highly effective in preventing the risk factors for high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity.  More

American College of Cardiology
During its annual convention, the ACC hosted a symposium on the research conducted at more than a dozen independent universities and medical schools on the effects of the Transcendental Meditation technique for reducing heart disease, hypertension, stroke, cholesterol, atherosclerosis, and heart failure.   More

American Psychological Association
During its annual conference last year, the APA featured research on the TM technique that documents the positive, long-term benefits of the practice for self-actualization and self-development. More