Frequently Asked Questions

We’ve been teaching meditation for over two decades, and in that time we’ve seen an explosion in the number of techniques and practices labelled as meditation. It’s not hard to see why. There’s an urgent need to counter-balance the roller coaster of life in a way that actually works and doesn’t have negative side-effects.

Much of the growth in meditation is in mindfulness-based approaches, now a multi-billion dollar industry. Originating out of the Buddhist tradition, mindfulness has been packaged in a way that minimises the religious overtones to make it more accessible.

The other stand-out area of expansion is the ‘meditation app’ approach. The market for these apps is huge and it’s an easy way to access mindfulness or guided techniques.

On balance it’s positive there’s more awareness about meditation. The watch-out is that with so much demand, the market fills up with products of varying quality and effectiveness. We see many things that are called meditation that have little positive impact. Many techniques don’t deliver because the fundamentals aren’t in place. This results in confusion and misunderstanding about the value of all meditations. It might also mean someone tries something and when it doesn’t work they think meditation is not for them, when the fault actually lies in having had a sub-optimal experience.

3 approaches to meditation.

Broadly there are three main styles of meditation:

1. Concentration or Focused Attention

It’s in the name. This approach involves fixing your attention on something with the aim of not thinking anything else. It might be concentrating on a candle, staring at an image or simply focusing on your breath. The goal is to create and maintain a state of silence. This approach takes effort and discipline to maintain. In my experience, people often find it too much hard work and abandon the process pretty quickly.

2. Open Monitoring

This approach is also known as mindfulness. Open Monitoring meditation directs the meditator’s awareness to feelings, thoughts or breathing, with a mood of non-judgment and detachment. The practitioner looks to maintain a sense of calm in the midst of a thought-filled mind. The goal is to become more grounded by developing awareness of the present moment, rather than overreacting to the situation.

3. Automatic Self-Transcending

This is the meditation style we practice and teach – we refer to it as Vedic Meditation. It involves the use of a sound called a mantra to orient the mind towards quieter levels of thinking. The mantra is like a vehicle that the mind hops onto, and automatically the mind moves with the mantra to experience finer and finer layers of thinking. A point comes when the mantra disappears and the mind falls quiet. This is a state of pure inner contentedness for the mind. The mind is alert, however there are no thoughts going on.

Different meditations have different effects.

Just as different meditation techniques are approached and practised differently, they also produce very different effects on the mind and body.

When examining different techniques, there are three aspects we look at:

1. What’s the effect on brain functioning?

The brain is the most important organ in the human body, governing and coordinating our thoughts and actions at the centre of the nervous system. Therefore it makes sense to know what impact a particular practice is having on the brain. Through the use of neural imaging and EEG we can see different parts of the brain are activated and developed with each of these styles.

2. How deeply are you resting?

One of the most important benefits of meditation, is the deep rest that it delivers. Much deeper than sleep. We all know how much better we feel and perform when we’re well rested, so having a regular way of resting deeply is key.

3. Is it easy, enjoyable, and practical?

Perhaps this is the most important of all. Meditation only works when you do it. Is it easy?  Do you look forward to meditating? Or does it feel like hard work? Can you fit this in to your life?

At our Introductory Talks we’ll often ask: “How many people have tried meditation?” About 8 out of 10 hands go up. Then we ask: “And how many of you are meditating every day?” Maybe one hand stays up. Yes, meditation is popular, but finding a practice that you are motivated to do and that fits with your lifestyle can be challenging.

On a personal level we know if meditation wasn’t easy and enjoyable we wouldn’t give it the priority we do. Our students look forward to meditating every day because it feels good to do it. Even more important, they feel better having done it.

Vedic Meditation is very different to a mindfulness practice.

Let’s start with what it means to be mindful:

Mindfulness means to be in the present, fully engaged with whatever is happening in the moment – aware of thoughts but not distracted by them.

How do we stay in the present and not get overwhelmed by all the noise in our head?

Mindfulness practices use many different approaches. Some are done while walking, others sitting quietly and others are practised while engaged in an activity, like washing the dishes. They all involve monitoring whatever’s happening with the aim of staying in the present moment. Notice how the body feels, the contact point of the feet with the ground, the feel of the air on the skin, watch the breath and observe thoughts as they float through the mind. Try not to drift into the past or begin planning and speculating about the future.

It takes effort to hold the attention in this way. Thoughts may settle down, but the mind is still engaged in thinking and the body is active to some degree.

Vedic Meditation works differently.

Rather than being a practice of trying to stay in the moment, Vedic Meditation is effortless. You close your eyes and silently repeat a mantra. Your mind automatically settles down to its least-excited state and your body rests profoundly. As a result, you release stress and tiredness. These are like obstructions that block our ability to be fully awake and present. Then, having dissolved those blockages during meditation, you come out more available to perceive what’s actually going on. You’re more mindful. In this way, present moment awareness is an outcome of meditation.

Jillian and Michael teach Vedic Meditation. They were trained to teach by Thom Knoles.

Thom trained as a teacher of Transcendental Meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. He then taught for over 25 years with groups affiliated with Maharishi.

Thom now teaches independently of the TM organisations. He continues to teach meditation as he learned from Maharishi. Jillian and Michael teach in just the same way.

Jillian Lavender and Michael Miller are independent teachers of Vedic Meditation. They are not affiliated with the TM organisations. Services, processes and programmes may differ.

A lot. Every year more studies come out saying how good meditation is for you, including benefits to health, emotional state, memory and relationships. For an overview and some recent articles see the page on Vedic Meditation.

We teach Vedic Meditation, the form of meditation that our teacher, Thom Knoles, taught for over 25 years within the Transcendental Meditation organisations. TM has been the subject of hundreds of scientific studies showing a wide range of benefits from regular practise. (These studies refer to this form of meditation using the name “Transcendental Meditation” or “TM”.)

Introductory talks are offered online.  When you sign up, you’ll get the details to connect via Zoom.

We teach the full course in Notting Hill in London.

Four two-hour sessions over four days in a row. Group courses are are mostly Thursday – Sunday. Sessions on Thursday and Friday are in the evening, and on Saturday and Sunday they’re either in the morning or the afternoon.

Private courses are also four consecutive days. We’ll work out the schedule according to your diary.

We work on the fundamental principle that you get from meditation what you put into it. This means you make a meaningful commitment of your time and your resources to learn this ancient knowledge. Your willingness to meet this commitment indicates your understanding of that value.

The course fee is on a sliding scale according to your circumstances. You can pay in instalments over ten months. We also have special rates for young students and those on government support. We’ll explain all this in detail when you come to the Introductory Talk.

Once you’ve learned from us, you can come to group meditations for free. These are offered online every month, and in-person in London every three months or so. We also record these sessions so if you can’t tune in at the time, you can catch up whenever you like.

You will also receive the Meditator’s Map support programme. This is a weekly email with tips, reminders, and short videos. You can see the first of these messages here.

We also stay in touch by email and social media. You’ll get regular newsletters from us and you can check out the Listen Watch Read section on our website for inspiration.

You’ll feel changes right away. We get you meditating on the first day of the course. Then we give you a way of identifying and tracking the effects.

Most people report feeling calmer, more energised and more focused after only a few days of meditation.

This is a question we hear at nearly every Introductory Talk. The short answer is “No”. If you can think, you can meditate. You simply need to be open, curious and willing to follow some simple instructions.

You don’t have to try to stop thinking in order to meditate. If you try not to think, you end up thinking more!

In Vedic Meditation we teach you a sound (called a mantra) that leads the mind to quieter and quieter layers. You don’t need to do anything. The mantra does it for you.

We’ve taught thousands of people who find the time to meditate every day. We’ve got lots of tips about how to fit this in to very busy lives. And when you’re less anxious and more focused you start to gain time and get stuff done. Including meditation.

The best time to meditate is first thing in the morning and then again in the late-afternoon or early evening.

There’s a lot of flexibility around timing and it’s not necessary to meditate at the same time each day.

By meditating before the day gets going, you take all the energy and clarity that comes from meditation into your busy day. Everything that you put your attention on post-meditation is positively impacted by you being sharper, calmer and more awake.

Then towards the end of the working day, you meditate again to clear out the tiredness and stress that you’ve gained during the day. This means you go into your evening refreshed and ready to enjoy yourself in a completely different way.

Nope. No robes, no shaven heads, no chanting.

The Veda is the umbrella body of knowledge from ancient India. It’s the source of meditation, yoga, Ayurveda and all Eastern philosophy. So Vedic Meditation has that culture reference point. Yet, the practice itself is a simple mental technique, free of dogma or belief.

We’ve taught people from all the world’s major religions—there is no conflict.

No chanting. You simply sit in a comfortable chair with your eyes closed.

No, quite the opposite. Meditators find that they are even sharper, more driven and more focused.

You don’t turn into a spaced-out bliss bunny. You actually get better at dealing with the things that matter in your life. You also get clearer about what those priorities are.

No. We’re not going to ask you to stop drinking coffee and start eating kale. You don’t have to change your life at all in order to learn.

That said, some people learn because they want to stop smoking, or reduce their drinking, or change other habits. Meditation will help.

Not at all. The group courses involve discussion about the technique and the effects you are noticing. We won’t be talking about your parents or your neuroses.