Time Magzin-- Just Say Om'

[Guest guest]

Just Say Om Time Magazine July 27, 2003

 

Scientists study it. Doctors recommend it. Millions of Americans - many of=

whom

don't even own crystals - practice it every day. Why? Because meditation wo=

rks (...)

Meanwhile, the evidence from meditation researchers continues to mount. One=

study,

for example, shows that women who meditate and use guided imagery have high=

er

levels of the immune cells known to combat tumors in the breast. This comes=

after

many studies have established that meditation can significantly reduce bloo=

d

pressure. Given that 60% of doctor visits are the result of stress-related =

conditions,

this isn't surprising. Nor is it surprising that meditation can sometimes b=

e used to

replace Viagra. But meditation does more than reduce stress, bring harmony =

and

increase focus. As the Beatles demonstrated in 1968 when they visited the M=

aharishi

Mahesh Yogi in his Himalayan ashram (they had met him in London in 1967), i=

t can

also give you much needed gravitas. (...) Goldie Hawn, who says she has bee=

n

practicing for 31 years, has a dedicated meditation room in her house fille=

d with her

favorite crystals, flowers, incense and pictures of the Dalai Lama and Moth=

er Teresa.

She meditates twice a day for at least 30 minutes. "How do you learn to wit=

ness your

destructive emotions?" she asks. "You can only do this by being able to sit=

quietly and

quiet your mind." More recent devotees are decisively noncrystal. Ha=

rrington,

who runs the hard-boiled consumer-fraud group of the Federal Trade Commissi=

on in

Washington, invited a meditation speaker to give a presentation after 9/11.=

Roughly

half her staff is still at it. Bill Ford, the head of Ford Motors, meditate=

s, as does a

former chief of England's top-secret MI-5. Hillary Clinton has talked about=

 

meditating, and the Gores are converts. "We both believe in regular prayer,=

and we

often pray together. But meditation—as distinguished from prayer—I highly

recommend it," says the man who nearly became our President.