"Periodontal patients are very fearful. Even the newspaper columnist, Dave Barry, wrote a funny article recently on the most feared word in the English language - periodontist," Lopez laughed. "Fear is eliminated by trust. Trust between the patient and the doctor. The daily practice of Transcendental Meditation, in the morning and evening, has helped me to clearly understand the needs of my patients, which has enabled me to secure their trust." He said TM has helped him to feel "happier and stronger inside" on a day-to-day basis. His blood pressure is 110/70 and pulse rate is 65. "When I meditate, it drops to the low 50s. In our fast-paced society, where dental practices are larger, the stress levels are naturally higher. Physicians today are saying that approximately 80 percent of disease, in one way or another, is associated with high levels of stress and anxiety. Just being able to reduce those stress levels allows us to enjoy life more. Practicing TM will do that. This is not to ignore the importance of diet, exercise, and moderation in lifestyle habits. People who follow these rules, are healthier overall." Lopez was reflective when talking about the long-term benefits he had experienced with TM. He said, "We're living in an information age. It takes a lot of time and energy to keep up with all the new information. Everything from how to practice dentistry and manage people to how to be a better businessman. The longer I meditate, the easier it is to assimilate and integrate this information. After a hard day at the office, I'm usually exhausted. When I get home, I shower and meditate for 20 minutes. I feel like a new man, ready to enjoy the evening's activities." When I asked Lopez why TM can't be learned from a book, he replied, "TM is a very simple, delicate technique. It's something that would be very difficult to learn by reading a book. It needs to be taught by a teacher who has been trained to teach it the way it was taught 5,000 years ago, when it originated. Then you can be sure of the results." How do you learn TM? Roth provides a detailed description in his book about how one learns the TM technique: "The Transcendental Meditation program is taught through a seven-step course of instruction offered through hundreds of Maharishi Vedic Universities and Schools throughout the United States and the world. The course includes two lectures that provide the necessary intellectual understanding to start the technique and four consecutive days of actual instruction - about two hours each day ... There are few practical requirements to start the technique - two hours a day over four consecutive days - and a course fee ... Following these seven steps of Transcendental Meditation instruction, there is a complete, optional lifetime followup program (covered in the initial fee) that is available for every meditator." Curtin, Tower, and Lopez unanimously recommend TM to other dental professionals. Curtin summed it up by saying, "Not only would I recommend this technique to other dental professionals, I would recommend it to anyone who wants to significantly improve the quality of their life. TM has helped me to cope with the stress of life in general, especially the complexities of business. It has helped with life's losses and changes, of which we have no control. Things don't bother me the way they do other people, and I can attribute that to my daily practice of TM." Mary Martha Stevens, RDH, PhD, is an RDH consulting editor. For many years, she was manager of health and wellness for Puritan-Bennett Corp. Currently, she is clinical associate professor, UMKC School of Dentistry. She can be contacted by e-mail at mms8@swbell.net. References available upon request. .............................................................................................A personal experience with TM In 1993, I was Manager of Health and Wellness for the Puritan-Bennett Corp. in Overland Park, Kan. After four years with the company, I was charged with addressing the issue of "stress in the workplace," which had been identified by 2,600 employees worldwide as being one of their major concerns. At the time, the 80-year-old corporation was the leading maker of respiratory care equipment throughout the world. But somehow, in the midst of their enormous success, everything that could go wrong had gone wrong. Having spent over 25 years researching stress management and self-development programs, I knew that the Transcendental Meditation(r) technique was the easiest, most effective stress elimination technique on the market today. Its effects had been verified by hundreds of scientific studies. But, the question I kept asking myself was, what was it going to take to sell a "do less" technique to a "do more" culture? Approximately 90 Kansas City-based, Puritan-Bennett executives were invited to attend a day-long seminar on the benefits of practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique. The managers began calling me the next day to ask what they needed to do to learn to meditate. Fifty percent of the managers who attended the seminar wanted to learn immediately. One of the vice presidents suggested that we design a research project to measure the results of the program. Then, if the managers liked the technique and the research showed significant results, Puritan-Bennett would make the TM technique available to interested employees throughout the company. A pre- and post-assessment of the managers' experiences was designed to measure the effects of practicing TM over a three-month period. The Puritan-Bennett managers who were not participating in the project agreed to act as controls. Strangely enough, the groups were well matched with one exception: There were more women managers in the TM group. (Not surprising. Women are smarter than men! They know a good thing when they see it.) The TM group improved significantly relative to the control group for each of the following measures: (1) mental health
At the end of practicing TM for two months (twice a day for about 20 minutes), a survey of the managers' subjective experiences was administered. Some of their comments were as follows: Feel less hassled and pushed - more patience with family.
These were just a few of the comments that came from all levels of management. The CEO of the company received many letters of thanks for introducing and sponsoring the Transcendental Meditation technique. Two years after the project began, Puritan-Bennett managers were still so impressed with the results that I was allowed to produce a videotape documenting their personal experiences and the research results. The videotape was used to introduce the TM technique to employees throughout the company.Through his video-taped lectures the Maharishi helped us see that most if not all of our tensions, anxieties and frustrations are caused by the stresses and strains of daily living, especially in our interpersonal relationships and the competitive struggles of our society. Reprinted with permission of RDH: The National Magazine for Dental Hygiene Professionals |
