At a new meditation center Eugeneans have the opportunity to purchase MindPlus, a supplement designed to help you think more clearly and focus more intently.
Dedicated meditators may eventually be able to practice Yogic Flying, an advanced technique in which meditation students attempt to levitate.
Global Country of World Peace, a world-wide organization, returned to Eugene by opening the Maharishi Enlightenment Center downtown where it held an open house on Aug. 15.
“There used to be a center here in Eugene,” said Augusta Sandstrom, one of the center’s directors. “They even had a relationship with the University where students participated in a meditation group, this is something we would like to start again if students are interested.”
Transcendental Meditation is the “key to clearer thinking, fulfilling relationships, and world peace,” according to the Maharishi Web site.
“It releases stress,” Sandstrom said. “And as we know 90 percent of diseases are caused by stress.”
Being a regular participant in the center’s meditation groups costs $2,500.
Those who meditate on their own can come to the center for a
check-up, similar to a regular doctor’s office appointment. At this check-up one of the directors will determine the effectiveness of one’s personal meditation practices.
Sandstrom has been practicing TM for eight years. She said she took it up while in Portland attending a seminar that deeply affected her. She then attended and graduated from the
Maharishi Institute in Fairfield, Iowa.
Sandstrom recently returned to Fairfield where she participated in an enlightenment gathering that she hopes will help stop
wars around the world.
“We are hoping to get 2,000 people to perform yogic flying at once,” she said. “The body lifts and moves forward. If done in a
group it has an effect on the environment, crime, violence, emergencies are lessened, world peace is enhanced.”
Sandstrom’s co-director, Donald Shaifer, said that he has been
practicing TM for about 35 years.
Most of Shaifer’s efforts are focused on an architectural aspect of enlightenment. While looking for place to have the center in Eugene, Shaifer said he wanted to make sure the doors of the building were facing the North and the East.
“Those are the optimal conditions,” he said. “Facing the North can move one in the direction of financial success, while the East helps them towards enlightenment.”
Shaifer received a Master’s in architecture from the University.
Shaifer said he is aware of skeptics who question the legitimacy of transcendental meditation and its effects. He said anecdotal evidence led to scientific studies that prove the legitimate benefits of meditation.
“One student couldn’t remember how or when but sometime after he began meditating he stopped smoking,” he said.
One of the participants at the center, Sue Williams, said she has been practicing TM twice a day for the past 33 years.
“Every time I do it, I feel better than I did before,” Williams said.
Williams said she noticed some very drastic and positive changes shortly after she began TM.
“I was in a very unhappy relationship that I was unable to get out of,” she said. “Two weeks after I began TM, I left.”
New Eugene meditation center opens
Daily Emerald
September 16, 2006
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