At an event at the Library of Congress, Dr. Schneider presented information on the Transcendental Meditation technique, and said his goal was to expand conceptual boundaries and introduce a new paradigm of health that involves a nonphysical basis for physical health.

Dr. Schneider presents new paradigm at Library of Congress
by Maharishi University of Management, Fairfield, Iowa, USA, The Review
18 April 2012

Government policymakers, scientists, and the public had an opportunity to hear about how the Transcendental Meditation technique fosters resilience in the face of stress—the topic of a talk at the Library of Congress by Robert Schneider, MD, FACC, dean of the Maharishi College of Perfect Health.

Dr. Schneider was invited along with a dozen other top medical scientists in the U.S. to address the issue of the impact of stress on daily life in the individual physiology and in society.

He described the brain/heart connection, and how mental stress causes damage to the heart and blood vessels. Yet that same connection, he said, can be used positively to build resilience to stress by transcending during the Transcendental Meditation technique.

After giving an overview of the extensive cardiovascular research that he and other scientists have conducted, he also spoke about social stress and how it can be alleviated via the Maharishi Effect, which results from the group practice of the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi programs.

He explained that the mechanism in both cases—individual physiology and social stress—is contacting the unified field, the common foundation of the mind, body, and environment.

"The latter part of my talk on the Maharishi Effect and the unified field stirred some discussion," Dr. Schneider said. "Much of the feedback was positive, and it certainly got everyone engaged. The biological correlates of social stress are well established, but it was a new idea to many that you can affect social stress without having a social interaction."

Norman Rosenthal, MD, clinical professor of psychiatry at Georgetown Medical School and author of a recent book about research on the Transcendental Meditation technique, was also invited to speak on the psychiatric implications of the practice.

Dr. Schneider said his goal in his presentations is to expand conceptual boundaries and introduce a new paradigm of health that involves a nonphysical (i.e., quantum) basis for physical health.

"The most meaningful understanding in medicine is how to operate on the subtlest level of mind, body, and the universe," Dr. Schneider says. "It goes way beyond relaxation to something much more profound."

The event was sponsored by the Kluge Center of the Library of Congress.

© Copyright 2012 Maharishi University of Managemen