Corporate leadership
Develop Your Total Brain for Executive Peak Performance
• Eliminate harmful stress
• Optimize decision-making and planning
• Improve cardiovascular health
• Improve productivity
There are countless executive training programs that promise to improve an executive’s effectiveness—but how can those improvements be documented objectively? This Corporate Leadership Program, which includes the Transcendental Meditation program of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, is the only executive training program that can be scientifically documented to improve—on a daily basis—the executive functioning of the brain. Published research shows that these improvements lead to increased creativity and intelligence and improved decision-making, judgment, planning, moral reasoning, and sense of self.
The Transcendental Meditation program has been learned by hundreds of thousands of professionals as a simple, effective technique to prevent and solve the problems of
• Executive burnout
• Anxiety and depression
• Poor planning and decision-making
• Memory loss
• Drug and alcohol abuse
• High blood pressure
• Sleep disorders
• Health care costs
How stress damages the brain
Stress, pressure, fatigue, poor diet, alcohol, and drugs damage neural connections between the brain’s prefrontal cortex—or “CEO”—and the rest of the brain. When you are overtired or under intense mental or physical stress, the brain bypasses its “higher,” more evolved, rational frontal executive circuits—it starts using more primitive stimulus/response pathways. Consequently, you respond to daily demands without thinking; you make impulsive, shortsighted decisions. When the CEO goes “offline,” strong emotions, such as fear and anger, take over, adversely coloring your view of the world.
How the Transcendental Meditation technique optimizes the brain
The stress-reducing, nonreligious Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique provides the experience of “restful alertness,” which reduces stress, strengthens communication between the brain’s prefrontal cortex and different areas of the brain, and develops total brain functioning. As a result, the TM practitioner displays stronger executive functions, with more purposeful thinking and farsighted decision-making. When the CEO is fully “online,” the emotional response to the world is more balanced and appropriate.
How stress damages the heart
Psychological stress has been shown to increase activation of the sympathetic nervous system and the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis. This increased activation releases adrenaline, noradrenaline, and cortisol, which lead to faster heart rate, increased cardiac output, and narrower arteries. These changes, in turn, create increased blood pressure. Activation of these systems also accelerates the progress of atherosclerosis and can lead to acute plaque rupture, which results in ischemia of the heart (angina) and coronary heart disease and stroke.
How the Transcendental Meditation technique promotes a healthy heart
The twice-daily practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique reduces activation of the sympathetic nervous system—which, in turn, dilates the blood vessels and reduces stress hormones, such as adrenaline, noradrenaline, and cortisol. Published research confirms that the TM technique:
• Reduces high blood pressure
• Reduces atherosclerosis
• Reduces constriction of blood vessels
• Reduces thickening of coronary arteries
• Reduces use of antihypertensive medication
• Reduces mortality rates.
Do all meditation practices improve the functioning of the brain’s prefrontal cortex?
No. Research confirms what one would expect. Different meditation techniques produce different effects on mind and body—just as different medicines affect the body differently. EEG and brain imaging show that only the experience of transcendental consciousness—unbounded awareness—gained during the Transcendental Meditation technique enhances the functioning of the CEO of the brain. “Mindfulness,” “visualization,” or “concentration” techniques enliven isolated areas and functions of the brain.
Research documents the benefits of the Transcendental Meditation program
The American National Institutes of Health has granted over $20 million to study the effects on the Transcendental Meditation program for the prevention and treatment of heart disease, hypertension, and stroke. In addition, hundreds of other studies have been conducted on the beneficial effects of the TM program for mind, health, behavior, and society at over 210 independent universities and research institutions in 33 countries, including Harvard, Yale, and UCLA Medical School.
What is the Transcendental Meditation technique?
The Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique is a simple, effortless mental technique practiced 15 to 20 minutes twice a day, sitting comfortably with the eyes closed. During TM practice, the active mind settles down naturally to quieter and quieter levels of the thinking process until the practitioner experiences the source of thought—the most settled yet fully awake state of awareness, also called “pure consciousness.” As the mind settles down, the body also settles down and gains a state
of rest and relaxation that is, in many respects, deeper than the deepest part of deep sleep. This unique state of “restful alertness” eliminates stress and fatigue and is the basis for increased creativity and intelligence, improved health, and improved relations with others.
Ramani Ayer, Chairman and CEO The Hartford Financial Services Group:
“The Transcendental Meditation technique has been ideally suited to my hectic life. It has demonstrably reduced my stress and helped to maintain my good health, and has immeasurably benefited my family and business relationships. Importantly, it has helped me to make clearer, more effective decisions on the job—and has reinforced my integrity in my dealings with all my stakeholders. I encourage you to look more closely into this highly effective technique—and to take up the practice.”
Ramani Ayer has been practicing the TM technique for 35 years.