The Brooks, Dunn and Slotnick families--including their children--all practice Transcendental Meditation, an effortless meditation technique that provides a deep level of rest.

In 1996, Lori Willmarth-Dunn was directing the Helen L. Morse Physical Health Research Center at MCO, finishing up a doctorate and mothering two small children. She went in search of something that offered calm and balance. Lori explored many routes -- progressive relaxation and mindfulness--but didn't find anything she could stick with. Studies supporting Transcendental Meditation (also known as TM) attracted her. "I was in the midst of a very stressful situation and felt a change by the next day--the ability to have patience, especially in a family setting."

Her husband, Dan, who works in quality control at National Flight Service, went for training four months later. Lori reports that he's more tolerant, more patient at work as well as at home.

"Transcendental Meditation is such a simple technique and it has so many benefits," said Bruce Smith, who teaches the meditation in Ann Arbor. Among the benefits, he lists reduced blood pressure, substance abuse prevention and increased cardiovascular health.

Until she started Transcendental Meditation, Kelly Brooks had suffered from panic attacks for years. A nurse with an associate's degree in women's health and occasional lecturer on alternative medicine, she ruled out prescription drugs. Brooks looked up "meditation instruction" in the yellow pages and talked with Sonia Gunderson, a certified Northwest Ohio-based Transcendental Meditation instructor. "I didn't really intend to take the instruction," Kelly explained, "but I was very drawn to it after talking to Sonia. What stuck out in my mind was how holistic it was."

Kelly didn't have a drastic turn around after she began meditating, but she said she must have experienced enough of a benefit because she stuck with it. The change came six months to a year later. "I began to have something like an awareness, an understanding. It was almost like these little revelations kept coming to me about my own behavior, about my kids, about people in general. Things just started becoming clearer--when I didn't know they'd been unclear."

"This is the most valuable foundation any parent can give their kid. TM literally builds intelligence.

Kelly's husband, Brian, took the meditation course last year. Kelly observed: "My husband and I tend to be type-A personalities. TM is really good for us."

Smith said that studies over the years have shown that Transcendental Meditation produces a variety of changes in people -- physiological, cognitive and psychological. He said it is two to seven times more effective than other meditations.

Dennis Slotnick teaches biology and environmental science at Clay High School. He began meditating in 1971 when he was a freshman at the University of Michigan. He reflects back on those years: "I'm really quite convinced I'd have not survived without TM. My steady increase in grades -- from below C to a 3.3 to a 4.0 in grade school -- was due primarily to being able to dissolve stress and stay focused." Today, Transcendental Meditation is a basis for his marriage. "It lets us refresh ourselves as to what's really important."

Unlike most other types of meditation, TM requires neither concentration nor control. It's a technique that allows the mind to settle down. Adults practice twice a day for 20 minutes, sitting in a chair with their eyes closed. Children practice a version adapted to their more active nervous systems. Regular practice of TM moves the mind and body in a direction that's natural for the individual.

For example, a child who suffers from attention deficit disorder may become more settled while another who exhibits symptoms of depression may become more lively. Afternoons at the Dunn household in Bowling Green finds 6-year-old Cory and 5-year-old Chelsea in their toy room, meditating as they play quietly. Nine year-old Jake and 6-year-old Alex Brooks meditate in the car on the way to and from West Side Montessori school each day.

Why do parents want their children to grow up meditating? "This is the most valuable foundation any parent can give their kid," said Dennis Slotnick. "TM literally builds intelligence." His daughters Julia, 15 and Ava, 12 --"understand us much better and they understand themselves better. They feel content in themselves," he said.

Since 1975, Gunderson has trained U.S. Steel workers, Washington, D.C. public school children, prisoners, members of the Pittsburgh symphony orchestra and MCO medical professionals. The meditation technique, she explains, is independent of age, culture, religion and educational background.

Gunderson conducts TM courses quarterly in the Toledo area. On May 7 at the 577 Foundation in Perrysburg, she is offering a free presentation on TM specifically geared to families with children. For more information call (419) 536-1554.

Susan Ford is a Toledo-area freelance writer

[Back to top]

Reprinted with permission of Susan Ford, 1999.