PAPER
31
THE TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION TECHNIQUE
AND TEMPERATURE HOMEOSTASIS
JOHN M. MCDONAGH, PH.D., and THOMAS EGENES, B.A.
Department of Psychology, St. Mary's College, Notre Dame, Indiana
Research completed May 1973.
Subjects practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique showed rapid recovery of baseline
temperature after exercise, indicating improved temperature homeostasis.-EDITORS
Temperature homeostasis was examined in four meditators and three nonmeditating control subjects. After sitting with
eyes closedfor ten minutes and then with eyes open for jive minutes, all subjects ran in place for jive minutes and then sat
with eyes open during a recovery period. Skin temperature was monitored throughout. The meditators returned to their
pre-exercise skin temperature significantly faster (p < .01, analysis of variance) than nonmeditators. This result
suggests that the Transcendental Meditation technique enhances temperature homeostasis.
INTRODUCTION
There is a large and rapidly growing body of literature
on various psychophysiological correlates of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique, several of which
point to its possible therapeutic application ( 1). While
some work has been done on temperature changes related
to TM (3) and some work is in progress, the study of
temperature homeostasis following disruption does seem
to be a useful contribution to the literature. The purpose of
the present study is to ascertain if people who practice the
Transcendental Meditation technique return to their predisruption temperature more quickly than nonmeditators.
METHODS
Ten male college students were selected as subjects.
Five who had been practicing TM regularly for at least one
year composed the experimental group; the other five
served as nonmeditating controls. However, it was discovered after beginning the study that two control subjects
had been practicing a mental technique of mind control
during the experiment, and thus they were excluded from
the analysis. The remaining control group of bona fide
nonmeditators had a mean baseline temperature higher
than that of the TM group. Consequently, the TM subject
having the lowest baseline temperature was excluded
from the analysis even though there was no statistically
significant difference between the groups on baseline
temperature. This was done to avoid any "law of initial
values" effect that could have remained.
A biofeedback temperature trainer (model TB 1, Scott
Behavioral Electronics) was used for continuous monitoring of temperature changes. A thermistor was taped to the
middle finger of the dominant hand. A baseline temperature was determined when the needle stabilized to less
than 0.1 °F deviation for one minute. The experimenter
then instructed the subject to close his eyes for ten minutes
and at nine minutes told him that he would be asked to
open his eyes in one minute. It was assumed that the TM
meditators would spontaneously meditate during the
eyes-closed phase, and all reported that they did. After ten
minutes of sitting with eyes closed, subjects sat for five
minutes with eyes open, then ran in place for five minutes
(thereby producing a temperature drop in the hand), and
finally sat down again for five minutes. The experimenter
recorded subjects' temperature deviation from the baseline to within 0.05°F every 60 seconds throughout the
experiment (25 minutes).
For each subject a score was computed equal to the
mean temperature of the final two readings for each phase
of the experiment. For the eyes-closed phase, the
temperatures at eight and nine minutes were used rather
than at nine and ten minutes, because when the meditators
were told that they should open their eyes in one more
minute, they stopped meditating. The eyes-open value
was the mean of readings at 14 and 15 minutes; the
running-in-place value was the mean of readings at 19 and
20 minutes; and the recovery value was the mean of
readings at 24 and 25 minutes.
RESULTS
The skin temperatures of subjects during each stage of
261
SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ON THE TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION PROGRAM: COLLECTED PAPERS, VOL. I
the experiment are shown in table 1 and fig. 1.
6~~~
EYES
CLOSED
~rY~~l~~
RECOVERY
----1-1-1-1
Table 2 shows the analysis of variance of repeated
measures for the baseline, eyes-closed, and eyes-open
stages. The purpose of this analysis was to determine
whether the practice of the Transcendental Meditation
technique resulted in temperature changes that were different from those seen in the control group. The results
indicate no significant interaction (F = .453, df = 2, 10,
p > .20) and no trials effect (F = 1.198, df = 2, 10,
p> .20).
-
92
u..
~
TM
rLl
~
:::::>
91
~
~
rLl
c..
~
rLl
CONTROLS
II
~
0
Table 3 shows the analysis of variance for eyes-open,
running-in-place, and recovery stages. The results indicate a significant trials X condition interaction
(F = 16.31, df=2, 10, p<.01); the meditators recovered significantly faster than controls.
z
<t:
=
88
~
DISCUSSION
0
5
15
10
20
25
MINUTES
The results shown in table 2 indicate that changes in
hand temperature in the meditators while practicing the
TM technique did not differ from changes occurring in
controls while merely closing the eyes. Also, the changes
in temperature were not in the same direction in every TM
subject. Table 3 and fig. 1 indicate that the subjects in the
FIG. 1. MEAN HAND TEMPERATURES DURING EACH STAGE OF
THE EXPERIMENT. Meditators and nonmeditators were compared
on the rate of recovery of their skin temperature after a period
of temperature disruption induced by running in place. Faster
recovery indicates superior temperature homeostasis.
TABLE 1
HAND TEMPERATURE IN DEGREES FAHRENHEIT DURING FIVE STAGES OF THE EXPERIMENT
GROUP
TEST STAGES
SUBJECf
Baseline
Eyes Closed
Eyes Open
Running in Place
Recovery
2
3
4
Mean
5*
88.50
90.70
92.50
91.50
90.80
85.00
87.65
91.45
93.00
92.25
91.09
89.55
89.55
90.15
92.25
92.00
90.99
88.25
87.00
87.00
90.20
88.55
88.19
84.85
90.05
90.30
92.85
91.25
91.12
88.00
6
7
8
Mean
91.00
92.50
88.00
90.50
91.10
92.73
90.85
91.56
90.75
92.80
89.90
91.15
88.30
89.65
87.25
88.40
90.75
91.50
86.70
89.65
MEAN SQUARE
F
p
0.06
8.47
< 1.0
TM
1
Control
*Not included in analysis (see Methods).
TABLE 2
ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE OF TEMPERATURE DURING BASELINE,
EYES-CLOSED, AND EYES-OPEN STAGES
SOURCE
Between
Condition
Error between
Within
Trials
Trials x condition
Error within
Total
262
SUM OF SQUARES
42.41
0.06
42.35
7.57
1.36
0.52
5.69
49.98
df
6
1
5
14
2
2
10
20
0.68
0.26
0.57
1.20
0.45
>0.20
>0.20
MCDONAGH AND EGENES
PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFICIENCY AND STABILITY: TEMPERATURE HOMEOSTASIS
....:_PAPER
31
TABLE 3
ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE OF TEMPERATURE DURING
EYES-OPEN, RUNNING-IN-PLACE, AND RECOVERY STAGES
SOURCE
Between
Condition
Error between
Within
Trials
Trials X condition
Error within
Total
SUM OF SQUARES
df
37.61
0.68
36.94
34.21
30.14
3.11
0.95
71.82
6
1
5
14
2
2
10
20
TM group returned to their prerunning temperature more
quickly than did the subjects in the nonmeditating group.
This finding is consistent with the view that the Transcendental Meditation technique enhances one's ability to
cope with a changing environment both physically and
emotionally (2). This study does not distinguish between
the effect of meditation immediately preceding the
temperature disruption and the long-term effect of meditation over a period of months.
A second interpretation, which cannot be ruled out by
this study, is that the self-selecting process, whereby
some people who practice TM continue to meditate regularly, may yield a group of people whose autonomic
homeostasis differs from that of irregular meditators and
nonmeditators. Also, the degree to which expectation
may have affected these results cannot be fully ascertained. Nevertheless, this preliminary finding of in-
MEAN SQUARE
F
0.67
7.39
< 1.0
15.07
1.56
0.10
157.84
16.31
p
<.01
<.01
creased temperature homeostasis in people who practice
the Transcendental Meditation technique is sufficiently
encouraging to warrant further research.
REFERENCES
1. KANELLAKOS, D. P., and FERGUSON, P. 1973. The psychobiology of Transcendental Meditation: An annotated bibliography. Los Angeles: MIU Press.
2. MAHARISill MAHESH YOGI. 1966. The science of being and
art of living. (Rev. ed.) Los Angeles: International SRM Publications.
3. RITTERSTAADT, H., and SCHENKLUHN, H. 1973. Measuring
changes of the temperature during the practice of Transcendental
Meditation. Unpublished report cited in Kanellakos, D., and
Ferguson, P., The psychobiology ofTranscendental Meditation:
An annotated bibliography. Los Angeles: MIU Press.
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