Transcendental Meditation - my experiences so far

I had half-heartedly toyed with the idea of various kinds of meditation for a few years before I actually did something about it. I knew it was a GOOD thing. There's plenty of evidence on the internet and first-hand experiences of friends that told me that. Ultimately, however, I think the fact I had tried many self-help techniques over the years (hypnosis, reflexology, EFT, shiatsu etc etc) and still felt I hadn't 'arrived' was the drive for me to finally take proper initiative. While I could momentarily access inner calm -it was hardly prevalent in my existence. I have a pretty stressful job. I teach young children who have been kicked out of mainstream education and I'm quite a sensitive soul. The irony is - I think you have to be to be drawn to such a job. So about five months ago I became determined to give meditation a go. I was also very lucky because my cousin is a TM teacher and she waived her teaching fee to give me a reduced price deal. She stayed with me for five days. It's very easy to learn. She was brilliant.

I was a little sceptical that two, twenty minute sessions a day of chanting a mantra in my head would have much impact. Indeed, at first the impact was not that noticeable. It just felt good to sit quietly for a while. But over time I noticed subtle changes. Each meditation is different. Sometimes I feel like I have just sat and my head has raced through a hundred thoughts, sometimes I have great ideas mid-meditation and I have to resist the urge to rush off and write them down and other times I enter an extremely deep state of blissful relaxation. More recently I have accessed these blissful states more regularly. I guess the cumulative effect is kicking in. It's only when I stock-take consciously that I can recognise the impact meditation has had - because nothing has happened drastically or overnight - but generally I have noticed:

- I am able to focus on one thing at a time more effectively without flighty distraction
- I feel like I look at potentially tense situations with a bigger perspective and consequently I am less negatively reactive. It's almost like I have become a little detached from my ego.
- I feel more creative. I always had lots of ideas but the ideas come more coherently these days!
- I sleep better
- I am less easily irritated and stressed by things
- I feel more calm in my day-to-day existence and generally happier
- and of course, because of this, sobriety and my new, revised, baseline consciousness is more attractive than it used to be.