Like everyone, I was looking for inner peace and happiness. There were the days of booze and drugs. The two hours each day of Yoga positions which included breathing exercises that almost blew my head off. Concentrative meditation which was preceded by a primal scream for everyone to be quiet. A ten-day rice diet which nearly caused me to faint each time I stood up. Even a period of celibacy, which lasted for four days.
Frustration from all these efforts finally brought me to a lecture on Transcendental Meditation. Frankly, I was upset at first, because the lecturer was a Harvard professor who seemed more intellectual than spiritual. I was expecting some ego-less, far-out guru. But I was impressed, nonetheless, by what he said about the nature of thoughts, and how meditation works.
The first few months of practicing TM was difficult. Like most Westerners I couldn’t believe the road to inner peace was as effortless as my TM initiator taught. Yet, over time, both psychological and physiological changes began to take place. I felt healthier, more relaxed, and more energetic. I found myself becoming more secure, more understanding of myself and others, and happier.
Gradually, and subtly, I began to touch more and more the inner source of my thoughts. This source of energy began expressing itself in my everyday activity from those two daily 20-minute meditations. More positive action and thinking began to take place. Inner peace and happiness followed.
