Hi David. Thanks for the question!

The main research question addressed by this project is asking whether different people might be better served by different styles of meditation and what might predict these differences.

For the first study we use the concept of an "anchor" of attention. For example, NSR meditation uses a phrase as a sort of "anchor" for attention. This phrase-based meditation contrasts with the use of the breath or body as an anchor in a lot of "mindfulness meditation" work.

We wanted to scientifically measure whether some people would be better off learning the phrase-based meditation while others would be better off learning the breath-based meditation, and we also have an image-based meditation. We sought to measure if preference differences between these different anchors exist and we found that they do.

The short-term goal is to do the research and publish the results (which are currently in prep).

The broader goal is to get people in the field thinking critically about offering alternatives and considering what best meets meditators' goals.

Thank you for taking the time to write this.

You do seem to be making a fundamental mistake, which I hope does not compromise the reliability of your results.

You say, "For the first study we use the concept of an "anchor" of attention. For example, NSR meditation uses a phrase as a sort of 'anchor' for attention."

This is not true (I should know; I am the head of the English portion of the NSR Project). In NSR the syllable or mantra we use does not serve as an anchor, or fixed point of attention. NSR is not a concentration type of meditation such as the breathing awareness or thinking awareness exercises of the mindfulness family.

In NSR the mantra is used as a "vehicle for transcending". This means that, although we may start a meditation session with a clear thought of the sound of the mantra, since it has no meaning there is nothing to stop the mind from experiencing more abstract values of that sound, until finally (after perhaps a few seconds) there is no sound left at all.

You might wonder: of what value is there for starting with the sound of a mantra and then quickly be left with silence?

The answer is that in that silence we can perceive our true nature, which is unbounded awareness.

It is this transcending, called in Sanskrit "turiya", the fourth state of consciousness, that provides the nervous system with a deep enough state of rest that allows it to dissolve and eliminate stresses, old and new. (Details on this new theory of stress are located at www.nsrusa.org/about-stress.php .) Free of these stresses, our nervous system can function better, or perhaps even perfectly, reflecting the natural qualities of peace and happiness that most of us search for throughout a lifetime. That search ends only when we discover our unbounded nature as the one consciousness.

Given this depth of understanding of the functioning of the mantra, I hope you will reconsider your incorrect view that the mantra is only used as an object of focus, an anchor that keeps us in one experiential place.

Hi David. Your concerns are very well understood and I hope I can assuage them.

Fear not, I have not misunderstood the nature of the phrase or the technique of using it. I have been practising Transcendental Meditation for about eight years now and I bought and tried NSR a while back.

Our instructions share a lot of similarity with the NSR instructions and we address the fact that the anchor is not an object of concentration so much as it is a tool to be used in a particular way. Once the paper is in pre-print we will be sharing our instruction set on the Open Science Framework so it is available for other researchers to use, replicate, and adjust as needed.

Techniques like Transcendental Meditation™ and Natural Stress Relief have been around for a long time, and honed through the experiences of many students or clients. Furthermore,they are based on ancient spiritual techniques developed in India, perhaps thousands of years old.

Modern derived or invented "instruction sets" that are essentially unvalidated should not be published, as their effects might not be completely known and positive. The ethics of instructing anyone in this way is questionable. Also, teaching someone silent mantra meditation without providing support follow-up is also ethically questionable. If you publish instructions, someone may use them to teach people.

Furthermore, I have not received your reply to my previous legal request for you to remove any references to NSR meditation (Natural Stress Relief), our papers, or our websites from your publications. We do not wish to be associated with your research, which may or may not have included unauthorized quotations from copyrighted NSR instructional materials.

We would have no problem with research conducted from the beginning in cooperation with the Transcendental Meditation™ organization, or ourselves, but your invention of mental techniques having unknown effects on the lives of experimental subjects or other people is unconscionable, in my opinion.