Linda Logan, a 62-year-old minister in Los Angeles, didn’t feel well. "I was nervous," she says, "and my blood pressure had shot up to the ceiling."

Interested in improving her condition, Linda enrolled in a study for the prevention of atherosclerosis, or clogged arteries—a condition brought on in part by high blood pressure and a major cause of heart attack and stroke. Half the study participants learned the Transcendental Meditation technique while the other half received standard instruction in risk factor reduction, including exercise and diet.

Linda was assigned to the TM group. She had tried other types of meditation but found they required intense concentration and effort. She recounts, laughing; "I always felt like, ‘Oh I’m not doing this right!’" But from her first session with the TM technique, Linda says she felt a big difference. "It was so much easier for me to do it."

At the end of the study, ultrasound measurements revealed the arteries of the TM group to be clearer than those of the health education group. For the first time it was shown that a mind-body technique can reverse atherosclerosis, which causes almost half of all the deaths in America. The distinct state of "restful alertness" experienced during the practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique seems to enliven the body’s own self-repair mechanisms.

For Linda, and millions of others, this could be life-saving news. The findings of this groundbreaking research were published in the March 2000 edition of the American Heart Association’s journal Stroke, and the news was picked up by over 100 newspapers, magazines and other media.

Since learning the TM technique, Linda’s heart condition has greatly improved. Although she continues to use heart medication, the doses are minimal and her blood pressure is no longer fluctuating unpredictably. "I’m a lot more peaceful now," she says with assurance. "I’m able to relax more with my life and things that happen."

Christine Schrum works for the Public Affairs Office at Maharishi University of Management.