Enriching your life in Christ through profound Christian Meditation
Tantric Christianity
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Buddhist Techniques for
Christian Meditation
Christian Meditation
The Relaxation Response was published in 1976, as the result of extensive testing of the
physiological impact that Transcendental Meditation can have on a person’s body. During
the period of the late 60s and 70s, Transcendental Meditation (often called TM) was
becoming quite the popular means of diving into spiritual experience. Many celebrities, such
as the Beatles, were seen hobnobbing with the man who had brought it from India, the
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
‘TMers’ were actively encouraging research into their practice, and quoting study results on
everything from fighting tooth decay to the reduction of crime in dangerous urban locales
when there were enough people meditating nearby. While some of those studies have been
widely questioned, those focused on the reduction of stress and its attendant health risks
have continued to provide support for the claims of greater physical well-being.
Two of the first researchers were Herbert Benson, M.D., a cardiologist at the Harvard
Medical School, and Dr. Robert Wallace. Anxious to stay away from appearing to be trying
to ‘prove’ something that was largely considered outside the norm of scientific inquiry, they
eliminated the foreign nature of the mantra by using the word ‘one’ and they limited their
observations to the clearly physiological like oxygen consumption, heart rate, blood
pressure, etc. The Relaxation Response is the popular publication that describes their
results, and the technique.
physiological impact that Transcendental Meditation can have on a person’s body. During
the period of the late 60s and 70s, Transcendental Meditation (often called TM) was
becoming quite the popular means of diving into spiritual experience. Many celebrities, such
as the Beatles, were seen hobnobbing with the man who had brought it from India, the
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
‘TMers’ were actively encouraging research into their practice, and quoting study results on
everything from fighting tooth decay to the reduction of crime in dangerous urban locales
when there were enough people meditating nearby. While some of those studies have been
widely questioned, those focused on the reduction of stress and its attendant health risks
have continued to provide support for the claims of greater physical well-being.
Two of the first researchers were Herbert Benson, M.D., a cardiologist at the Harvard
Medical School, and Dr. Robert Wallace. Anxious to stay away from appearing to be trying
to ‘prove’ something that was largely considered outside the norm of scientific inquiry, they
eliminated the foreign nature of the mantra by using the word ‘one’ and they limited their
observations to the clearly physiological like oxygen consumption, heart rate, blood
pressure, etc. The Relaxation Response is the popular publication that describes their
results, and the technique.
| The Relaxation Response |
| Bibliography |
Here is that technique:
- With the specified word (such as ‘one’) in mind, settle into a comfortable upright
position. - Close your eyes
- Relax for a few moments
- As you breathe, silently say your word on the out-breath to yourself
- A passive attitude is the key – when you catch yourself thinking of things other than
your word, just say to yourself ‘oh, well’, and go back to the word - Continue this process for anywhere between 10 and 20 minutes.
- When you are finished take a few moments to enjoy the stillness and allowing other
thoughts to arise.
And that’s it. Do this once or twice daily and soon you will find that any stress related
symptoms you are experiencing will likely start to fade.
Dr. Benson is quick to point out that this is NOT a panacea or a replacement for responsible
health care. While this is a tremendously healthy practice, no matter how much you practice
it, you will still age, still get sick, still eventually die. But, it may not be as soon, and your
suffering due to excessive stress will be diminished, or even eliminated, and that’s very
worthwhile.
Beyond the Relaxation Response
Dr Benson’s follow up book, Beyond the Relaxation Response, while possessing the same
general thrust as the first, has more of interest in the context of our work here. The insight
that he explores in this book is the impact that belief and faith have on our health and
physiology. I found the story of his trip to India to study some of the tumo meditators
especially interesting.
Tumo (meaning ‘fierce woman’) meditation, and its practitioner’s claim that it radically
increases body temperature, has fascinated Westerners for some time. The goal of the
meditation is to focus our psychic energies so they directly burn off the impurities that keep
us wrapped in the delusion that creates our suffering. The rise in physical temperature is
not the main point, but is considered a good indicator of the meditator’s success. There are
all sorts of fantastic claims made for those who excel in this: the ability to dry multiple soaked
blankets in succession on a freezing night, melting a ring of snow around one’s body, etc.
Hardly scientific feedback, but certainly intriguing.
The phenomenon intrigued Dr. Benson and his team to that point that they traveled half way
around the globe to study and ultimately scientifically document the effect of this meditation
on several tumo masters. Without going through the whole story, which I recommend you
read, Dr Benson and his team found that skin temperature was significantly elevated,
though core temperature remained the same, while these men were engaged in the
meditation. He also found, in interviews with these accomplished yogis, that the beginning of
their process engaged the same kind of practice as his relaxation response.
These findings can be important to us for several reasons. First, the effect that meditation
has on our physical organism is more than imaginary. Second, faith in a particular spiritual
reality can deploy tremendous energy and capacity in humans. And third, the pattern
described by Dr Benson where the yogis of Tibet first establish a meditative stillness (the
Relaxation Response) then leverage that centering to empower their faith and visualized
intent has fantastic power. While Tantric Christianity does not teach the tumo meditation,
the pattern of generative meditation is the same.
It should also be noted that the goal and context of generative meditation differ substantially
from the Relaxation Response technique. The Relaxation Response is essentially aimed at
improving our physical and psychological well-being; any spiritual benefits are welcome, but
they are tangential. The inverse can be said for the generative meditation described in
Tantric Christianity. The primary goal is to improve our spiritual state; physical and
psychological benefits are certainly likely and definitely appreciated, but the benefits of this
transformative practice aren’t dependent upon those kinds of temporal improvements.
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