There were articles that tried to explain the physiological and EEG characteristics of TM as some form of waking, dreaming, or sleep states of consciousness, or as an altered state, such as hypnosis, or as mere relaxation. Dr. Wallace had shown in his Scientific American article that TM is completely different from hypnosis, and numerous meta-analyses over the years have subsequently shown that TM has much more profound effects than relaxation techniques on reducing anxiety, alcohol, drug, and cigarette use, and blood pressure, and on increasing psychological health and self-actualization.

One study reported a preponderance of sleep during TM and suggested that the benefits of TM could be due to napping. Napping may be beneficial, but we found out later from a subject in that experiment that the researchers used ether to apply the EEG electrodes, which is why the meditators napped! Also, as we know from our TM instruction, sleep during meditation is natural if the body is fatigued. As Maharishi commented, however, sleep during TM is not Transcendental Consciousness.

On a tour of England with Maharishi in 1973, Jean-Paul and I visited Dr. Peter Fenwick, a neuropsychiatrist, in his EEG lab at the Maudsley Hospital in London. Dr. Fenwick said that what happens during TM is the same as what you see during sleep onset, nothing new. “No,” Jean-Paul replied, he could see the difference between the EEG of TM and sleep onset.