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June
2000
Adding
a New Cycle of Rest
Transcript of an interview with Maharishi Mahesh
Yogi
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Maharishi tells us that rest is the basis of activity.
We sleep at night in order to have a more successful day. When we learned
the Transcendental Meditation technique, we added a new cycle to our daily
routine, a deeper level of rest twice a day for greater success in life.
Residence Courses provide another opportunity to gain even more profound
rest, to deepen our experience in meditation and broaden our understanding
of Maharishi’s knowledge.
In 1974, Maharishi was asked about the benefits of
attending Residence Courses. In the following interview, Maharishi refers
to "rounding" during a Residence Course. Rounding is a
comfortable cycle of additional meditations that includes gentle Yoga
postures and a simple breathing exercise. Maharishi begins by noting the
importance of regular cycles of rest and activity—maintaining a natural
rhythm in life
Maharishi: Regularity is very important, because
in this meditation the physiology is involved—it’s culturing the
physiology. That means culturing all the flesh and the bones and the
cells. And when the bones and blood are involved in culturing, better it
is done regularly. It’s good for health.
Everyone knows ordinarily that in those who sleep in
time and wake up in time and go to work in time—this gives the nervous
system a rhythm. And then the nature of physiology starts to require that
value of rest in time, that value of activity in time. And this is a
procedure to make full use of the potential that is there in the
physiology.
Question: How does a Residence Course fit into
this pattern or cycle of rest and activity?
Maharishi: When one has been exposing oneself to
activity so many days a week, then there is also a weekly cycle of rest
and activity. Two days of rest, five days of activity. It’s a bigger
cycle than the cycle of daily routine.
So there are cycles in smaller areas of life, there are
cycles in the bigger areas of life. There are daily cycles—morning and
night, it’s one cycle. There are monthly cycles. Something happens to
the moon, something happens to the whole influence of the heavenly world,
the starry world, with the earth. So there are monthly cycles. There are
yearly cycles, something happens every year.
There are cycles—you heard when the comet came—the
cycles of comets, after so many thousands of years a comet comes. So there
are smaller cycles and bigger cycles. But the fundamental principle in all
these cycles is the same.
So when we take two days rest after 5 days activity, it’s
a cycle. It’s a time of rest. If in that time we add some additional
quantities of rest, it’s not out of the rhythm. It’s necessary.
Question: What is the reason for the procedure of
rounding?
Maharishi: The reason for the procedure of
rounding is the need for release of stress—as much as possible as soon
as possible. There’s a need to not have the foreign material in the
body, not have foreign matter of stress in the body, so that the
physiology is more refined in order to produce a more precious quality of
awareness. It’s the physiology, the quality of the body, which is
responsible for the quality of awareness.
So if the body is restricted for its full functioning
due to stresses, we do everything to get them out as soon as possible. For
that, these procedures—the very well balanced procedure of rounding,
and weekend courses or week courses—have been designed. They are for the
sake of fulfilling this requirement of life to get the stresses out as
soon as possible, and as much as possible.
Question: Does the physical activity of the Yoga
asanas [postures] facilitate that release of stress?
Maharishi: Because the stresses are on the
physical level, and because they are intimately connected with this
psychological level, with the level of consciousness, so Transcendental
Meditation redresses the system from the mental side—we do something to
the mind, mental activity.
And if something can be done from the physical side as
well, it might add one more engine to it. The train, when it goes up the
hill, one more engine is added to it.
So when we want a quicker pace of redressing the system
and getting the obstacles, the stresses out, then we do something from the
physical side and we do something from the mental side.
Question: People sometimes ask if the procedure
of rounding is appropriate outside of a Residence Course situation.
Maharishi: Better not, because what happens, as
we have just discussed, is that the quality of thought depends upon the
quality of the stress that is being released. And procedure of rounding is
a procedure to eliminate stresses quickly.
One would not know what kind of stress is to come out at
what hour of rounding. And any kind of stress that will be released, that
will be the kind of awareness that one would have at that time. And when
one is all by himself, then whatever one’s awareness, one can act on one’s
own level.
And when the stresses are being released, all kinds of
stresses are being released. So if some negative stress is being released,
that kind of unpleasant thought occupies the whole awareness. And in that
kind of rough awareness, some unusual act. And this will not be very
healthy.
We want to release these stresses more quickly and in
greater quantities, but for that, we put ourself under the guidance of an
experienced teacher.
Click here for the Calendar
of Advanced Courses and programs. Here you will find a list of some
of the upcoming Residence Courses in North America.
Click here for the article
"Resting in the Rockies," a mother and daughter’s experience
of their first Residence Course.
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