With TM she was able to sleep better. "I had fewer dreams about the incident and policing and I felt I was able to talk about it without getting too upset. I just felt more myself."
"When I was meditating I felt at peace."
"I felt as if I had fewer flashbacks. That feeling of being on high alert and waking up at 3 in the morning and checking out the entire house, or feeling jumpy any time I heard a loud bang: that went away."
"I was drinking less alcohol. I felt a lot calmer around my kids and husband."
The Transcendental Meditation technique is a natural, easily learned practice that provides deep rest to body and mind and thereby begins to reverse the accumulation of stress within the practitioner. Studies show TM can alleviate high blood pressure and insomnia.
A police officer who is calmer, able to think more clearly, and less on edge will be better equipped to spontaneously implement techniques to defuse a potentially explosive situation, rather than to escalate it. The manifold health benefits of TM practice can reduce work hours lost and increase overall effectiveness among law enforcement officers. If veterans of foreign wars with PTSD can find rapid relief from stress through TM practice, how much easier will it be for police to find inner peace and become models of community support?
By choosing to practice TM daily, not only can police take control of their lives and no longer over-react to challenging situations, but anyone who practices TM regularly chooses to grow more settled in mind, less reactive to the many external stressors, and more able to enjoy the progressive possibilities that arise for progress for themselves and their society.
The police officer who implements TM not only reduces the likelihood of getting PTSD or reduces the PTSD if he or she has become highly stressed, but he experiences Post-Traumatic Growth if he has been in traumatic situations. Not only do anger and violence diminish and sleeplessness and disturbing memories of past traumas fall away, but one begins to appreciate the nourishing qualities of oneself and others. One becomes happier and more creative. Over 350 peer reviewed studies show a very wide range of improvements through Transcendental Meditation. All these are measures Post-Traumatic Growth. (TM.org). Now the pressures of the job and of life stimulate the police officer or anyone to make even greater progress without accumulating stress.
All of us, whether a policeman facing daily challenges under the stress and needing to stay calm and act appropriately, or the store clerk helping customers every day but fearing that he or she is getting or giving others CoVid-19, or the family staying at home and unable to enjoy the company of so many of their friends, need a tool to become less stressed, more calm to be able to find the best in each day, even as the world vigorously changes in front of our eyes, like turbulent waves in an ocean storm. Here is a tool to help us re-united ourselves and the nation.
About the authors:
Dr. Scott F. Terry, Ed.D., M.A., IL.-L.M.F.T., IL.-L.C.P.C., IA.-L.M.F.T., IA.-L.M.H.C., Ch.T., and AAMFT approved supervisor. With 25 years of practice as a doctoral level clinician, supervisor, professor, clinical and executive director of five large mental health organization practices, including the Ardent Counseling Center, and a radio show.
David Shapiro, M.A. Philosophy, B.A. cum laude chemistry, the founding President of PTSD ReliefNow and its African PTSD Relief projects and Alliance for PTSD Recovery (both are 501C3 charities)
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