Compassion and Health

CLICK HERE TO WATCH VIDEO
As the medical director at the Oregon State Correctional Institution for 14 years, Michael Puerini knows a thing or two about stressful environments and how they impact our health. He also knows that emotional health is a key ingredient to physical well being.

But how do you increase compassion? According to Dr. Puerini “you can’t teach compassion but there is something about TM that brings compassion out”. He also feels that a “compassionate person is a healthier person”.

According to an article in Psychology Today, compassion is “the ability to understand the emotional state of another person” and “having a desire to alleviate or reduce the suffering of another”.

In his book the Science of Being and Art of Living, Maharishi writes: “It has been found that all kinds of tensions are released and that the hard cruel nature of a man changes to one of tolerance and compassion” with the practice of his meditation technique.

In this three minute video, Dr. Puerini discusses compassion and health as well as his personal practice of the TM technique and its ability to make him calmer and more focused at the same time. In his words: “more put together” and “more present to myself” and others.

In the video, Dr. Puerini also emphasized that we must have the desire to focus on taking good care of our bodies and that the TM program has a “strong potential for benefitting real people”. He feels that its practice could have a positive impact on diseases like hypertension, chronic pain and Crohn’s disease.

According to neurologist Gary P. Kaplan, several studies on both teens (American Journal of Hypertension, 2004) and elderly adults (Hypertension, 1999) have demonstrated that high blood pressure is reduced even after a few months of the Transcendental Meditation technique. The need for antihypertensive medication is also often reduced and sometimes eliminated.

In the end Dr. Puerini feels that the TM program and increased self esteem, self health care and increased compassion could help his patients to stay out of prison and lead more productive lives.

This TM blog article was written by Dr. Keith DeBoer http://AdventuresInTranscendentalMeditation.blogspot.com

® Transcendental Meditation, TM and Maharishi are registered or common law trademarks licensed to Maharishi Vedic Education Development Corporation and are used under sublicense. Maharishi Vedic Education Development Corporation, is a non-profit, educational organization.