Tm Reviews

The instructor Deirdre Meehan was not that great I have studied meditation techniques and she continually told the students they were wrong

I have found TM to be profoundly helpful but the class experience much less than ideal The instructor s location was listed in a convenient location but despite information on the internet the actual location was in a completely different city The instructor worked out of his home which was not handicapped accessible The level of secrecy he kept going over and over in a variety of ways was extremely off putting as was his over the top solicitousness I am a 70 year old cancer survivor on a limited income so the discount was appreciated but still a tough nut to crack The instructor did make accommodations and met me at a more convenient and accessible location which I appreciated But when I told him I couldn t remember the mantra he assigned me and asked him to call and leave it on my voice mail he refused offering to meet me for a meditation session instead I have chemo brain - lots of memory issues- and I just wanted the mantra to be accessible as I had struggled to remember it and been consistently unsuccessful I didn t want to meet with him His ingratiating manner is annoying I just wanted the mantra so I could remember it I had already signed forms ad nauseum stating I wouldn t share anything I had listened over and over to stories meant to drive home the secrecy of the practice I just wanted to remember the mantra I finally told him forget it it s a meaningless word anyway I ll just make something up What a rip off I live on 14 000 a year and I can t even get the mantra I paid more money than I could afford for

Lesson seven repeats I ve viewed it twice and started lesson 8 stopped half way through and when I go back it takes me back to the beginning of lesson 7

The technique appears to be a good one That s about the only positive I can note about the experience Instructor had no respect for time Only one of the 90 minute sessions was 90 minutes They were all far longer The last one went over 40 minutes The third one I never even got to meditate he FINALLY got to that part at the 90 minute mark but I could not stay I had a commitment I had to get to after I planned for the advertised 90 minutes and I couldn t hang around all night The 14 day follow-up Never happened I showed up at the appointed time and the instructor never showed up Never heard from him again Reached out to another instructor a friend of mine learned from but it doesn t look like I ll be able to have that 14 day follow-up until sometime in June Maybe I am doing it right - no idea Doesn t look like I can get those tune-ups unless I am willing to destroy my schedule to get one in

My instructor was very pleasant and I do think that mantra meditation is an excellent skill but I am upset by what I believe to be unethical practices My understanding going into TM was that my first session needed to be in-person because my instructor would be assigning me a unique mantra based on my disposition I did not agree with my mantra and upon further research I discovered that it was most likely arbitrarily given to me based on my age My instructor insisted that I could not change my mantra and the entire organization places a huge emphasis on not speaking or sharing your mantra with anyone else which seems to be a way of tricking people into thinking they have a unique mantra I would not recommend that someone spend money on TM as there are cheaper alternatives to learn mantra meditation and that s really all this is

Update edit - regarding the response they sent me below no one ever followed up- regarding whether the mantra is nonsense I got that directly from the TM app from the main teacher s mouth who said the mantras were meaningless- I would not recommend the only two teachers that run the center in Cambridge MA I found particularly the husband its a couple to be particularly dogmatic closed minded For example I experienced blame from him when I said I wasn t feeling any benefit I asked him if there was anyway he could imagine a student not benefiting and it not being the student s fault He said no I ll save you 1 000 belowI have no problem with the TM technique I think it works along with a bunch of other free techniquesI paid 1 000 for a guy lecturing me on an app for 10 hours and a live teacher for just 2 5The technique is straightforward and has no business being behind a 1 000 paywallWant to save yourself 1 000 - pick a nonsense word to repeat in your mind lightly and easily- gently come back to it when you find yourself lost in thought which is normal- do that twice a day for 20 min

I have been an active meditator for over 30 years and I m always interested in new methods I tried TM and found it to be wanting I believe there is poor communication regarding fees and donations I experienced subtle manipulation to pay the fees and follow the plan I felt pressured to report positive experiences but had negative experiences explained away In the end my experience with TM was not one I d care to repeat or encourage others to try

I first learned the TM technique back in 2017 A few months after I wanted to do a tune up as I did not think I was doing to practice correctly My teacher was never able to meet me so I gave up Last year my family and I moved I have tried to contact two local TM centers I live between two major cities to try and arrange a tune up Neither facility has responded To be honest I do see value in the meditation however I am starting to think that because the tune up s are no charge that nobody wants to touch it Being that this is a spiritual practice I am disappointed to see that there is no effort in helping me continue the practice

I think using the app was not a good idea for me Originally I had signed for in person course but it turned out to be only the app and it s a good lesson on the app but I haven t finished the lessons because I needed more motivation than just been thrown an app And paying 980 For using an app for 16 days seems like a scam It s a lot of money for me since I worked day and night to pay my bills And the truth is I work so much that I don t have to time to do meditation I know for a lot of people you can find 20 minutes in the morning 20 minutes at night but I don t have 20 minutes in the morning 20 minutes at night

I am very into the meditation and want to practice it I felt the classes were repetitive and full on the same life stories over and over As well when I asked a question and really did not agree with what he was saying about trauma and stress I felt nit heard and was then just told about his life story His story was brutal and I am glad he is doing well It s not not my life and I was expecting someone to listen and think a bit