London Meditation Centre

Vedic Meditation is a simple and natural way to settle down the mind and rest the body deeply.

In Vedic Meditation you learn a very specific sound called a mantra. The mantra is a meaningless sound that’s chosen for each meditator by their teacher. It is a particular pulsation of sound that’s resonant with the thinker. Certain sounds work best for certain groups of people.

You close the eyes and silently begin to think the sound. Immediately and spontaneously, it becomes fainter and begins to quieten down. As you gently repeat it internally, the sound becomes more soft and subtle until a point is reached where it’s almost imperceptible. And then it does its last little trick, and it disappears, and for a moment the mind falls quiet. The mind drops into an inner, serene state. You’re conscious and awake and yet you’re not thinking. Those moments don’t tend to last so long and often you’re not even aware it’s happening.

When the mind settles down, the body rests.

When the mind quietens down, the body follows. Within a few minutes of meditating your body is resting much deeper than sleep. This unprecedented rest is one of the key benefits of Vedic Meditation. And it’s what makes it different to other techniques.

When you get that kind of deep rest, the body can release tiredness and tension. You come out of meditation feeling energised and ready to go. Old stresses and anxiety are released – you feel clearer, calmer and more aware.

Other styles of meditation involve concentration (focusing the mind through effort) orcontemplation (ongoing thoughts about something).Both keep the mind active.

Vedic Meditation isdifferent. In this technique you learn how to quickly and effortlesslysettle down the mind to its least excited state. When the mind is in this super-subtlestate, the brain functioning is optimised and the body rests very deeply.

In our view, mindfulness is not apractice, it is anoutcomeof meditation. To be mindfulis to be aware in the present moment.
Mindfulness involves effort. You’re thinking about and concentrating on being in thepresent moment. Thinking and concentrating useeffort, and are exhausting. You’retrying to create an outcome of being present.
Vedic Meditation is easy. You close your eyes and repeat a mantra. Your mind settlesdown to its least-excited state and your body rests deeply. You automatically releasestress and tiredness.
Having engaged in the process of meditation, you then experience the outcome of beingaware and present to the moment.

A lot. Every yearmore studies come out sayinghow good meditation is for you, includingbenefits to health, emotional state, memory and relationships.(For an overview andsome recent articles see thepage 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 hasbeen the subject of hundreds of scientific studies showing a wide range of benefits fromregular practise. (These studies refer to this form of meditation using the name“Transcendental Meditation”or“TM”.)