FAQ transformational deep meditation relaxation mp3 download program

What is meditation?
Meditation is an ancient relaxation technique which has gained more and more scientific backing in recent times for its many health and stress-reducing qualities.

However, it is well known to have many other benefits - such as in the areas of personal development, clarity of mind, balancing emotions, increasing creativity and intuition, and many others.

Millions of people all over the world meditate, and there are many different methods of meditation, as well as varying depths of meditation - though it's generally accepted that the deeper states provide the maximum benefits from the technique - which happen to be the most difficult states to attain.

Meditation is now taught in many hospitals around the world as a supplementary treatment, and has been widely accepted in the health industry, business and sporting worlds as being a powerful relaxation and stress management tool.

New scientific research is coming out all the time revealing new ways that meditation benefits the mind, body and spirit, though these usually reveal facts that long-time users of this powerful technique have already known for many, many years. For info on the Deep Meditation Program, go to the homepage here

What is "automatic" meditation?
Automatic meditation is where you are able to access the deepest and highest-quality meditation states without any effort required.

Only Master meditators who have meditated all their lives can usually do this without assistance, which is why the automatic meditation program was created.

This allows anyone to access these advanced meditation states without needing to have meditated for the past 50 years. For more info on automatic meditation, go to the homepage here

June 2010
Recent research suggests that meditation may contribute to a measurable difference between the brains of mediators and non-meditators.

A study published in NeuroImage presents findings by a group of researchers at UCLA who used MRI to scan the brains of meditators. The researchers found that certain brain areas of the long-term meditator group were larger than those of the non-meditating control group, including hippocampal tissue, orbito-frontal cortex, the thalamus and the inferior temporal gyrus. All of these areas are recognized as playing a role in emotional regulation.

June 2010
A scientific study revealed that meditation carries a considerable influence over how much pain the human body can feel, and that the emotional impact pain often brings is significantly diminished in patients who meditate on a regular basis.

"Meditation trains the brain to be more present-focused and therefore to spend less time anticipating future negative events. This may be why meditation is effective at reducing the recurrence of depression, which makes chronic pain considerably worse,” explained University of Manchester expert Christopher Brown, who was a part of the team behind the new study.

The investigation was conducted on 12 volunteer participants, of which some had decades-long experiences with meditation, whereas others had no training.

March 2010
Researchers from the University of North Carolina report that meditation creates a relaxed state of mind and an analgesic effect against pain, according to new research published in The Journal of Pain, published by the American Pain Society.

March 2010
Mar 3, 2010 - Meditation can increase blood flow in the brain and improve memory, according to researchers who found the improvement after just eight weeks.

The 15 participants, ages 52 to 77, all had memory problems at the start, says Dharma Singh Khalsa, MD, one of the researchers and the medical director of the Alzheimer's Research and Prevention Foundation in Tucson, Ariz.

The researchers first gave all 15 participants cognitive tests and took brain images to measure blood flow.

A study at American University and published in a special issue of Cognitive Processing, dedicated to meditation and consciousness in February, 2010, concluded that meditation produced a unique state of "restful alertness," and that meditation produced greater brain functioning. Finally, the study described how meditation enhanced an individual's sense of "self" by activating what neuroscientists call the "default node network" in the brain, the natural ground state of the brain that exists when you close your eyes, but is much more enhanced during meditation.

Previous research, funded by the National Institute of Health shows that meditation practice decreases blood pressure, heart disease, and lowers cholesterol.

January 2010
A study suggests the practice of meditation may bring cardiovascular and mental health benefits. The research followed close to 300 students, half of whom practiced meditation for 20 minutes once or twice daily over three months. A subgroup of subjects in the meditation group who were at increased risk for hypertension significantly lowered their blood pressure and psychological distress, and also bolstered their coping ability.

The average reduction in blood pressure in this group -- a 6.3-mm Hg decrease in the top (systolic) number of a blood pressure reading and a 4-mm Hg decrease in the lower (diastolic) number -- was associated with a 52 percent reduction in the risk of developing hypertension in the future.

Meditators who were not at increased risk for hypertension saw a reduction in psychological distress, depression, and anxiety as well as increased coping ability.

A study presented at the American Heart Association meeting in Orlando, Fla., suggests that meditation assist people with established coronary artery disease. Researchers followed about 200 high-risk patients for an average of five years. There were less heart attacks, strokes and deaths in the meditator's group than the comparison group, and the meditators tended to remain disease-free longer and also reduced their systolic blood pressure.

"We found reduced blood pressure that was significant -- that was probably one important mediator," said Dr. Robert Schneider, director of the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention, a research institute based at the Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa, who presented the findings.

December 2009
A $3.8 million study funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) has reached a first-ever finding: patients with coronary heart disease who practiced meditation had a nearly 50 percent lower rate of heart attack, stroke, and death compared to a matched group that didn't meditate.

Findings from a study were presented at an American Heart Association meeting in Orlando suggest that meditation may have real therapeutic value for high-risk people with established coronary artery disease.

Research on meditating students shows improved grades and overall academic achievement; reduced stress, depression, and anxiety, and improvements in ADHD and post-traumatic stress disorder among children and teens.

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New research shows that long term practitioners of meditation have significantly lower free radical levels, which dramatically boosts longetivity.

Meditation has shown to improve the effectiveness of flu shots. In the controlled study in Psychosomatic Medicine, 48 employees at a biotechnology corporation in Madison, Wis., were randomly divided into two groups. One group received eight weeks of meditation training, including three hours of classes per week, and one seven-hour silent retreat. The subjects were also asked to meditate on their own for one hour a day, six days a week, guided by audiotapes. The other group received no training.

Then the two groups were injected with the seasonal flu vaccine and subsequently the protective antibody response was measured. The meditators had a statistically significant greater immune response to the vaccine than the non-meditators. It was almost as if the vaccine was more potent in the meditators.

Research from the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind/Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Genomics Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center say that relaxation techniques work by changing patterns of gene activity that affect how the body responds to stress.

“It’s not all in your head. What we’ve found is that when you evoke the relaxation response, the very genes that are turned on or off by stress are turned the other way. The mind can actively turn on and turn off genes,” says Dr Herbert Benson of the institute.
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June 2009

Meditation may be effective in the treatment of insomnia, according to research presented at the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies.

Sleep latency, total sleep time, total wake time, wake after sleep onset, sleep efficiency, sleep quality and depression improved in patients who used meditation.

December 2008
A study released by the US federal government showed that meditation is used more often as a complimentary medical therapy (ie. CAM therapies) than the therapies of chiropractic, massage, yoga, diet-based therapies, progressive relaxations, guided imagery, or homeopathic treatments.
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August 2008
Multiple research studies have confirmed meditation's beneficial effects in boosting the immune system, dealing with stress, thickening brain areas in charge of decision-making and emotion regulation, delaying the progression of HIV, and the immune system destroying virus that causes AIDS, a new study at the Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology at UCLA has shown.
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6 AUGUST 2008
Many cancer patients and survivors use complementary and alternative therapies, according to a new study by the American Cancer Society. The study, which is published in the journal Cancer, found that several types of complementary therapies are used by nearly half of cancer survivors, according to co-author Dr Ted Gansler, a member of the American Cancer Society.

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May 5th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Meditation may be an effective management strategy to control the frequent urge to urinate among women, according to a study. Loyola University Health System (LUHS) have employed cognitive therapy to treat overactive bladders.

April 2008
According to a review study from the American Journal of Hypertension, meditation may help people lower their blood pressure.

Researchers reviewed nine studies to see how blood pressure levels were affected by meditation. In all of the studies, people with high or high-normal blood pressure who practiced meditation were able to lower their blood pressure compared to people who didn’t meditate.

The average drop was 4.7 mm Hg systolic and 3.2 mm Hg diastolic pressure. Lowering your blood pressure can reduce your risk of stroke, atherosclerosis (narrowed arteries) and heart damage.

March 2008
Neuroscientist Dr Shanida Nataraja Shanida Nataraja' PHD and post-doctoral research at the neuroscience department of Johns Hopkins School Of Medicine, Baltimore, has proved meditation does more than clear your head - it can put both halves of your brain to work, improving your concentration, memory and decision-making.

March 2008
An eight-week study led by Dr. Toneatto, a senior scientist in the Clinical Research Department at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, evaluated the effects of daily meditation among 17 undergraduates.

After a pre and post-assessment of depression, somatic stress, and anxiety, findings concluded that these participants reported lower rates of anxiety, depression, and somatic stress, over an eight-week experimental period.

“Those that suffer from depression and anxiety are convinced that their negative beliefs about themselves are self-fulfilling prophecies. With meditation as a form of cognitive- behavioural treatment the goal is to realize that just because you have these beliefs doesn’t mean they are true—the same can be applied to problem gamblers,” Toneatto explained.

22 January 2008
Meditation is fast becoming a more widely endorsed treatment for conditions such as insomnia and anxiety, according to a new body of empirical research released today from Harvard, Yale and MIT.

Following on from the range of scientific research into the benefits of meditation and the positive psychological and physiological elements of the practice, many mainstream physicians are recommending that patients suffering from sleep deprivation or nervous conditions undertake a process of meditation as a self-help remedy, which is helping the treatment win new fans the world over.

This means meditation's medical credentials are now making it more mainstream after having previously been seen as a purely alternative treatment, with more and more physicians beginning to adopt and endorse the findings of research into meditation, and it looks likely to continue to grow in popularity over the coming years.

The news follows recent high profile research from Harvard, Yale and MIT that found a correlation between brain size and meditation, leading to the conclusion that meditation can actually help increase the size of certain areas of the brain as compared to those that don’t meditate and have never done so.

"Our data suggest that meditation practice can promote cortical plasticity in adults in areas important for cognitive and emotional processing and well-being," said top neurologist Dr. Sara Lazar, leader of this research project at Harvard University.

It has been suggested that there is a clear physiological benefit to meditation in achieving greater relaxation and improving sleep, and it was stated there is a voluminous amount of literature about meditation research and study all pointing to the conclusion that it is beneficial for the human body, spirit and mind.

It was a surprise that it has taken this long for medical science at a practitioner level to adopt treatment by meditation after people across the world have testified to its effectiveness for thousands of years on a spiritual and physical level.

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin in Madison studied meditation and brain scans showed surprising differences in brain waves with patients who had clinical depression, after just weeks of meditation.

December 2007
Any condition that's caused or worsened by stress can be alleviated through meditation, says cardiologist Herbert Benson, MD, well known for three decades of research into the health effects of meditation. He is the founder of the Mind/Body Institute at Harvard Medical School's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

"The relaxation response [from meditation] helps decrease metabolism, lowers blood pressure, and improves heart rate, breathing, and brain waves," Benson says. Tension and tightness seep from muscles as the body receives a quiet message to relax.

There's scientific evidence showing how meditation works. In people who are meditating, brain scans called MRI have shown an increase in activity in areas that control metabolism and heart rate. Other studies on Buddhist monks have shown that meditation produces long-lasting changes in the brain activity in areas involved in attention, working memory, learning, and conscious perception.

Heart Health: Countless studies have looked at meditation and heart health. Regular practice has been shown to significantly help high blood pressure over the long term, according to government-sponsored studies conducted at the College of Maharishi Vedic Medicine in Fairfield, Iowa. Among those studies, one showed significant lowering of blood pressure and heart rate in black adults.

Also, a study in the American Journal of Hypertension showed that teenagers who meditated for 15 minutes twice a day for four months were able to lower their blood pressure a few points.

Immune Booster: Meditation also helps ward off illness and infections. In one study testing immune function, flu shots were given to volunteers who had meditated for eight weeks and to people who didn't meditate.

Blood tests taken later showed the meditation group had higher levels of antibodies produced against the flu virus, according to the study in Psychosomatic Medicine.

Women's Health: Premenstrual syndrome (PMS), infertility problems, and even breastfeeding can be improved when women meditate regularly. In one study, PMS symptoms subsided by 58% when women meditated. Another study found that hot flashes were less intense among meditating women.

Women struggling with infertility had much less anxiety, depression, and fatigue following a 10-week meditation program (along with exercise and nutrition changes); 34% became pregnant within six months. Also, new mothers who meditated on images of milk flowing from their breasts were able to more than double their production of milk.

Monks who practiced Buddhist meditation had evidence of significantly greater brain activity, called gamma wave activity, in areas associated with learning and happiness compared with those who didn't practice meditation, according to a recent study.

Gamma waves involve mental processes including attention, memory, learning, and conscious perception. The monks also showed higher activity in areas associated with positive emotions, like happiness.

"There's no doubt from the standpoint of research and my own clinical experience that meditation can reduce both the experience of pain and help people manage stress resulting from having pain," Chapman said. Meditation is a therapy offered in all comprehensive pain centers, he says.

August 28 2007
New Haven, CT - A team of Yale researchers have found yoga - which is a form of meditation - to be an effective treatment for high blood pressure, one of the America's most common illnesses.

July 09, 2007
SCIENCE can finally prove what Buddhists have sworn by for centuries - meditation really does sharpen and clear the brain.

Tests by Adelaide researchers have revealed that as people go further into a deep meditative state, their brain rhythms shift into a pattern of focus. This supports long-standing beliefs that the practice can improve concentration levels and alertness in daily activities.

Scientists at the Flinders Medical Centre's Centre for Neuroscience have completed the first scientific demonstration of brain activity changes in distinct meditative states. The test used electroencephalography (EEG), which relies on electrodes placed on the scalp.

The results, to be reported at the World Congress of Neuroscience in Melbourne, showed clear changes in brain activity as subjects progressed deeper into meditative states.

Alpha brainwaves, which are associated with focus and attention, initially increased and delta brainwaves, linked to drowsiness, decreased.

As participants went further into mediation the alpha brainwaves, too, started to decrease, as the brain no longer needed to make an effort to be alert.

"So instead of becoming increasingly drowsy, they apparently become more alert,'' PhD researcher Dylan DeLosAngeles said.

"This supports the idea that meditation may help your day-to-day concentration.''

Meditation was developed more than 2500 years ago as a way to explore consciousness and a discipline to help people achieve a more beneficial state of mind. The research will be presented at the International Brain Research Organisation's annual world congress starting this week.
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23 June 2007
Tucson, Arizona
A study has found for the first time that there is evidence that daily meditation appears to improve memory loss and may strengthen parts of the brain affected by Alzheimer's disease.

12 June 2007
Meditation is among the most commonly used alternative therapies in the world, practiced by millions of individuals to reduce stress and anxiety, improve concentration, and even lower blood pressure.

At the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference on the Prevention of Dementia in Washington, D.C., results from a University of Pennsylvania study were unveiled confirming for the first time that daily practice of meditation can improve cognitive function among individuals with memory complaints.

Researchers began their investigation by conducting a series of neurological and memory tests on each subject, who ranged in age from 52-70, with either a history of memory complaints or a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment.

Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) scans, a brain imaging technique which measures cerebral blood flow, were also conducted on each subject.

Testing confirmed statistically significant improvements in memory among all of the study's subjects.

But the most significant outcome of the study was the dramatic increases in blood flow to the region of the brain associated with learning and memory (the first region of the brain to decline in individuals diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, which helps to explain why the blood flow-producing meditation has such a profound impact on cognitive functioning).
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“This exciting study confirms what we have been observing in clinical practice for many years, that meditation is one of the most effective tools to address memory loss,” said Dharma Singh Khalsa, M.D., president and medical director of the Alzheimer’s Research and Prevention Foundation, the non-profit organization which sponsored the study.

“While we are planning additional research in this area, we can say today with confidence that daily meditation is recommended as part of an integrated brain longevity strategy to delay, even prevent, cognitive decline”.

Andrew Newberg, M.D., assistant professor of radiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and the study’s principal investigator, agreed.

“For the first time, we are seeing scientific evidence that meditation enables the brain to actually strengthen itself, and battle the processes working to weaken it,” said Newberg. “If meditation is helping patients with memory loss, we are encouraged by the prospects that daily practice may even prevent neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.”
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June 7, 2007
Tulsa, Okla.- Scientific studies in the UK and Australia indicate that focused meditation techniques increase left-brain activity, altering perception and creating optimism. Two scientific studies have shown that certain relaxation techniques stimulate the left side of the brain, resulting in decreased anxiety and a happy disposition.

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin - Madison looked at the effects of meditation on 41 people. Twenty-five of the people attended a weekly class and a seven-hour retreat, and worked on meditation exercises at home. The others were a control group and did no meditation.

After eight weeks, the group who had meditated had a more active left frontal lobe, which is related to lower anxiety and a positive emotional state. The findings lend scientific credibility to the use of meditation techniques to reduce stress and treat pain.
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May 2007
Researchers at the Clifford Saron at the University of California-Davis Center for Mind and Brain investigated 17 meditation volunteers before and after they completed three months of rigorous training in meditation.

They meditated for 10 to 12 hours a day and the researchers also studied 23 novices who received a one-hour meditation class and then meditated for 20 minutes daily for a week.

The scientists asked volunteers to look for numbers flashed on a video screen amongst a series of distracting letters. Their brain activity was monitored using electrodes placed on their scalps.

Davidson and his colleagues found the brains of volunteers who received the intense mental training apparently needed less time to spot details than before. The training also improved their ability to detect the second number within the half-second attentional blink time window.

November 6, 2006 – Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa. The first 100 days of a $12 million scientific study to monitor the effects of 1200 advanced meditators on aspects normally beyond our field of influence.

This included meditation of the money markets, showed that since the project began on July 23, the Dow Jones Industrial Index and the S&P 500 have posted total gains of approximately 12%, and the Nasdaq has climbed nearly 18%--with the Dow repeatedly hitting all-time record levels, the S&P reaching a 5.5-year high, and the Nasdaq climbing to a five-year high.

Panelists included:
* John Hagelin, Ph.D., director of the Institute of Science, Technology and Public Policy;
* Ken Cavanaugh, Ph.D., professor of applied statistics and senior research scientist at the Institute of Science, Technology and Public Policy;
* Fred Travis, Ph.D., director of the Center for Brain, Consciousness, and Cognition;
* Robert Schneider, M.D., F.A.C.C., director of the NIH-funded Institute of Natural Medicine and Prevention

August 9, 2006 – Study Shows TM reduced brain's reaction to pain in just five months.
A new scientific study supported by the National Institutes of Health says that in only five months, study participants experienced a significant decrease in their pain.

Twelve healthy long-term meditators who had been practicing TM for 30 years showed a 40-50% lower brain response to pain compared to 12 healthy controls. Further, when the 12 non-meditators then learned and practiced meditation for 5 months, their brain responses to pain also decreased by a comparable 40-50%.

This could reduce the brain's response to pain because neuroimaging and autonomic studies indicate that it produces a physiological state capable of modifying various kinds of pain. In time it reduces trait anxiety, improves stress reactivity and decreases distress from acute pain.

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According to Orme-Johnson, lead author of this research, "Prior research indicates that meditation creates a more balanced outlook on life and greater equanimity in reacting to stress. This study suggests that this is not just an attitudinal change, but a fundamental change in how the brain functions".

Pain is part of everyone's experience and 50 million people worldwide suffer from chronic pain. Transcendental Meditation would have a long term effect in reducing responses in the affective component of the pain matrix.

Future research could focus on other areas of the pain matrix and the possible effects of other meditation techniques to relieve pain.

The study is reported in a NeuroReport journal article, published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (Vol.17 No.12; 21 August 2006:1359-1363)

Using brain scans, researchers have recently discovered that meditation can change brain activity and improve immune response; while other studies have shown it can lower heart rate and blood pressure, both of which reduce the body’s stress response.

There are thousands of scientific tests backing the power of meditation in the area of health, stress and longetivity - to mention just a few recent ones:

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May 2006 - In 1991 the Dalai Lama approached Richard Davidson, a University of Wisconsin scientist, professor and director of UW’s Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior, who had been working on how the brain regulates emotion, whether he would study the effect meditation had on the brain.

Fifteen years later in May 2006, after Davidson’s research led to the groundbreaking discovery that activities like meditation could in fact “train” the mind to react to situations with positive emotions, Davidson was named a “pioneer in the exciting frontier of mind-body medicine.”

Davidson’s research discovered that during meditation, people experience increased brain activity in areas associated with attention and emotion, specifically in the left prefrontal cortex, a region associated with positive emotions.

The discovery, hailed as scientific validation of the link between spiritual practices and mental and physical health, earned Davidson worldwide recognition.

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May, 2006 - Hero DMC Heart Institute (HDHI) conducted a workshop on meditation and yoga on the reversal of heart disease with Prof Dr S.C. Manchanda and Swami Dharmananda from New Delhi, and Dr Bishav Mohan, a cardiologist, coordinated the workshop.

Strong scientific evidence was provided for the effectiveness of meditation and yoga in managing heart diseases.

Research people were selected with age group of 30-75 years with chronic stable angina and those who had more than 70 percent of heart blockage as shown in angiography, and they were subjected to meditation as well as good diet, moderate aerobic physical exercise and yoga.

After few months the results were astonishing - the progression of cause of blockage in artery stopped and their regression achieved by 15 percent, and their lipid profile showed 20 percent improvement. More importantly, procedures in the active group were reduced by approximately 90 percent.

Dr. G.S. Wander, chief cardiologist Hero DMC Heart Institute said that holistic systems should be incorporated in clinics of regular hospitals, which could go a long way in prevention of cardiac diseases.
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February 2006 - A study by Richard Davidson, a neuroscience professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison, showed that Tibetan Buddhist monks managed to structurally alter their brain functions with meditation.

Davidson's study showed that while meditating, Tibetan monks produced gamma waves – which represent extremely focused thought – thirty times stronger than a control patient.

Davidson also documented that normally erratic brain waves became more synchronized during meditation and that the part of the brain associated with positive emotions was more active.

February 2006 - "I think the science behind meditation is actually quite good," says Matthew Stanford, a neuroscientist at Baylor University in Texas who signed the petition and who is working on an article about Christianity and psychology.

December 2005 - The Garvan Institute discovered how stress causes a hormone to be released into the bloodstream which inhibits the immune system and makes people more susceptible to getting sick. As more future research comes to light we will post it on the internet.

November 2005 - Massachusetts General Hospital study published in November 2005 showed that meditation slowed the aging of certain portions of the brain and increased its user's ability to focus, and a University of Kentucky team found that meditation could offset the sluggishness of sleep deprivation.

November 2005 - Massachusetts General Hospital's Sara Lazar says she can see physical changes in the brains of people who routinely meditate.

"Meditation can have a serious impact on your brain long beyond the time when you're actually sitting and meditating, and this may have a positive impact on your day-to-day living," says Lazar, an assistant in psychology at Massachusetts General Hospital and an instructor at Harvard Medical School.

Lazar found that certain parts of the brain were thicker for meditators. As she reported in the journal NeuroReport, Lazar and her research team used a MRI brain scanner to compare the brains of people who practiced Insight meditation every day, with non-meditators.

"These are not monks; these are just people who choose to meditate for about 45 minutes a day every day," she says.

Insight Meditation, or Vipassana, is the practice of mindfulness and awareness of yourself and the world around you. The belief is that the practice of mindfulness is highly effective in helping bring calm and clarity to the pressures of daily life, as well as being a spiritual path.

"Insight meditation is very user-friendly," says Joseph Schmidt, co-founder and executive director of the New York Insight Centre. "People in west can adopt this if you're a person involved in the church or a non-secular person or don't believe in religion."

Lazar and her research team found that certain areas of the cortex — the outer layer of the brain that contains our thinking, reasoning and decision-making functions — were significantly thicker in the meditators.

"One of them is right up in the front of your brain right above your right eye, and this is an area that's involved in decision making and in working memory, working short term memory," she explains.

She also saw thickening in another region of the brain, called the insula, that she considers "a central switchboard of the brain," connecting the primitive limbic cortex and the more advanced cortex, which is highly developed in primates and humans.

Lazar says this region is thought to be "involved in coordinating the brain and the body and the emotions and thoughts," she explains. "It helps us better make decisions."

The researchers think this thickening might help to counteract the natural thinning of the cortex that occurs as we get older. The brain's cortex starts getting thinner from about age 20 and continues to thin throughout life.

"It's not a cure-all, but it perhaps can help prevent the loss of some functions," Lazar says.

"One small part of the front of the brain does not get thinner with age… and this suggests that this part of the brain is not affected by age. And this part of the cortex is involved in short term working memory and cognitive decision-making."

Their results also suggested that continuing to meditate would continue the thickening process. "The thickness is strongly correlated with the amount of experience. So the more they sat, the thicker it was," Lazar says.

She says she'd expect a similar effect from other forms of meditation. She plans to further study how meditation might affect mental ability by testing people "at multiple time points and to test their cognitive ability to see if cognitive ability correlates with thickness and if that changes as the brain gets thicker," Lazar explains.

The Dalai Lama advocates that neuroscientists investigate the effect of spiritual traditions, such as meditation, on the brain.

People who practice meditation regularly will certainly tell you of the benefits. "I've noticed the benefit, certainly, in my own life in terms of awareness," says New York City writer, Andrea Louie.

"The most profound experience I had was just after 9/11. Immediately after the attack here in New York, many, many people were very angry. I found myself really feeling equanimity with myself, I was fully aware that adding to the anger wasn't going to help."

Lazar's research was published in the November 15, 2005 issue of NeuroReport, and was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control.

Other Scientific Studies.
- Richard Davidson, a University of Wisconsin scientist, found that longtime Buddhist practitioners of meditation can induce a heightened pattern of electrical signals called gamma-band oscillations.

These are associated with concentration and emotional control – not seen in control groups. These changes are sustained even after meditating.

- At Harvard, a scientist Lazar found that people who incorporate meditation into their daily lives have thicker brain tissue in regions associated with attention and sensory processing.

Her results, published in November in NeuroReport, showed that those regions were 20 percent larger than in control groups. Practicing meditation regularly may slow age-related thinning of the frontal cortex, her study suggests.
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Of the 20 subjects studied, two were full-time meditation teachers and three were part-time yoga or meditation teachers. The rest were professionals in other fields who meditated an average of once a day for 40 minutes.

- Dr Bruce O'Hara, from the University of Kentucky, studied claims by Buddhist monks that dedicated meditation can reduce the need for sleep, and tested a group who deprived themselves of sleep the night before a test. Those who meditated right before the test performed better than those who did not.

O'Hara next examined sleep-deprived subjects who took a nap right before the test. They actually did worse because it takes time to fully recover alertness after a nap. O'Hara found meditating subjects, whether alert or sleep-deprived, still performed better on the test an hour after meditating.

Generally the most common method is to be seated in a comfortable chair with feet flat on the floor, back straight, and hands rested comfortably in your lap, and your eyes lightly closed. Ensure phones are turned down as sound can be rather a shock if you are in a deep state of meditation.

What makes Deep Meditation so effective?
There are many reasons actually as to the benefits of Mind Training for Deep Meditation. Here are a few of the main ones:

1) Deep meditation is the deepest level of relaxation you'll ever experience, which has shown to provide the most powerful benefits. These include such areas as overcoming stress, anxiety, fatigue - and many other holistic benefits (see home page for more details on these).

2) The deep meditaiton program is a complete all-in-one meditation. Regardless of whether you're a beginner, intermediate or advanced-level meditator, it works from whatever level you're currently at, and then continues to progress you to deeper levels as time goes on.

3) With the deep meditation program, you don't have to do anything at all - you simply put headphones on, and let the meditation do the rest.

4) The program provides you both a long and short versions to help to fit in with your busy lifestyle, as well as an Introduction to Deep Meditation.

5) An additional extra to the meditation is that the relaxation soundtrack uses binaural beat techology to create meditative brainwaves.

5) While the program remains currently available, it features lifetime product support for whenever you need advice on anything at all regarding the program.

6) The program has a 12 month unconditional moneyback guarantee, no questions asked.

Are music or binural technology used in the Deep Meditation - what methods do you use?

The Deep Meditation program does not resemble any other meditation programs on the market so you will not have experienced it before.

It actually combines many different forms of meditation which have been blended into one program and then recorded with a deep relaxation audio track, to create a unique and maximum level of relaxation.

This unique blend of techniques guides the mind down into delta and theta states easily and effortlessly.

Combining all these techiques into one recording achieved far greater results than any one of the techniques was able to achieve on their own.

The composer of the particular soundtrack used over the top of the meditaiton (a US doctor in the mental health industry) used binaural beat technology to create the relaxation soundtrack.

While many meditations talk mainly about the various modern methods employed in the creation of the process, the ultimate goal of this program has never been the process, but only focused upon the end result - the true level of depth, peace and effectiveness of the meditation.

How long does the meditation go for?
The main Deep Meditation recording lasts 38 minutes, while the additional 22 minute Quick Deep Meditation is also available to be used when you are pushed for time (plus an additional 14 minute meditation has now been added to the program).

How regularly do I need to listen to the meditation?
For maximum results, it's highly recommended that you listen to the meditation each day. For those who order this month, this is why the 22 and 14 minute Quick Deep Meditations are also provided, to help make this task easier.

The meditation becomes such a pleasurable part of your day, you'll find that you'll make room for some meditation every day - because you'll simply never want to miss out on it.

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Is shipping included in the price of the CD version?
Yes, shipping is fully included in the price, to any destination in the world.

Should I use headphones or other special equipment?
Yes, headphones are highly recommended - as they help to keep outside noise to a minimum, and allow the meditation to work most effectively. No other special equipment is necessary other than any form of iPod, mp3 or CD player.

How long before I see results?
This varies with each person. Within a few weeks you begin to feel the depth of the relaxation taking effect, and this continues to build with continued use.

The transformational life-changes that come from the meditation happen when the person is mentally and spiritually ready for them to take place - which is also different for everyone.

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Can I listen to it as I go to sleep?
This is generally not recommended. The Deep Meditation Program is best used during the day or before bed, but not actually during the time that you are going to sleep.

It's also not recommended to be played all night, while you are asleep - but can be used up to two, or even three, times a day if you like. It's not recommended that you use the Deep Meditation Program any more than this each day however.

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Is deep meditation 100% safe?
Deep relaxation / meditation is completely safe at all times when used as instructed. Of course, it should never be used while driving a motor vehicle or while doing anything that requires you to be alert.

Apart from this, the only discomfort you could possibly ever have might be some initial emotional upheaval, which for some, is necessary to clear out the past, and move forward.

What if I go to sleep during the meditation?
It's common for people to feel that they may have gone to sleep during the Deep Meditation Program - but this is not real sleep! This becomes more obvious once you notice that you still return to the awakened state every time you are instructed to at the end of the meditation.

If this happens, it's simply a sign that the meditation is moving you to deeper and more effective meditation levels.

When should I do the meditation?
Any time during the day, or at night before sleep, are fine. And while it's probably ideal to use it the same time each day, it's not necessary - and sometimes impractical! The meditation works just fine at any time during the day. It's best not used while you are actually going to sleep, however.

Should I expect any emotional release or upheaval?
This can occur for some people, but does not neccessarily occur with everyone - and certainly doesn't have to happen to get the benefits.

If some emotional upheaval does occur though, then it's a sign that some necessary processing of past issues is happening through the meditation, and usually this will clear within days or weeks, depending upon the person.

If it continues or intensifies, it may be preferable to reduce the daily use of the program down to alternative days (ie. every 2nd day), to reduce the upheaval until it clears completely. Those who need further advice on this can always email me any time here

How deep can my meditation become?
As deep as meditation gets. With continued use, you'll access the very deepest levels of meditation.

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What about distractions and other thoughts?
These are completely taken care of by the program - which will lessen in number with each use, and also in their level of distraction, each time you use the program. Eventually you'll reach a point where you will no longer notice any distractions whatsoever.

Does the meditation contain any religious material, etc? Absolutely not. There is no religious material, political material, persuasions relating to any belief systems of any kind, or any marketing material, included in the meditation whatsoever - absolutely guaranteed.

Can I make copies of my download or CD?
No, this may inhibit the effectiveness of the program.

Can I use my regular meditation method with this program?
Certainly! As long as it is not an external meditation program you are blending this program with - but as far as your own 'mental' techniques are concerned (ie. what you do with your thoughts), you 're absolutely free to to use whatever approach you wish, while the meditation is playing.

What if I change my mind and want a refund?
No problem - if you decide for some reason that the program is not for you, simply contact us and we will provide you a 100% unconditional refund, any time within 12 months of purchase - no questions asked.

How can I purchase?

Quickly, easily and securely, online through our site - here, using our secure World Pay processing (see 'online security' below). We accept Visa, Mastercard and Delta cards for online transactions.

We use only the world's highest standard of internet security, utilising the world standard Thawte 2048 bit encryption systems and 128-bit SSL browser encryption which effectively protects credit card details from the outside world. No-one (including It's Mind over Matter or this website), has access whatsoever to your credit card details, which are processed only by World Pay, one of the world's largest, longest-established and most respected e-Commerce companies in the world today. To this point, we have never once had a fraudulent transaction of any kind.

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