Both Transcendental Meditation and Acem meditation are relatively young meditation techniques developed in the mid-twentieth century and involving the mental repetition of a mantra (which in Acem they refer to as a “method sound”).
According to Wikipedia, a mantra is:
a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words in Sanskrit believed by practitioners to have psychological and spiritual powers.
Both TM and Acem have divorced the mantra from its religious backgrounds for the purpose of reaching more people and gaining more practitioners. Meditators can be religious or spiritual but it is not a requirement.
Transcendental Meditation (TM)
The famous “Beatles Ashram”, a training center for students of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in Rishikesh.
- Developed by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in the 1950’s.
- One of the most practiced meditation techniques worldwide.
- Repetition of a silent mantra for 15-20 minutes twice per day.
The Transcendental Meditation technique, a form of a mantric meditation technique, was developed by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in India in the 1950’s. It has been taught to over six million people worldwide and is reported to be one of the most widely practiced meditation techniques.
The Maharishi gave spiritual instruction to thousands during his seven years of world travels beginning in 1958. TM became wildly popular in the 1960’s and 70’s. At this time, the Maharishi shifted to a technical rather than spiritual presentation. He began training teachers and created a giant international organization. By the early 2000’s, the TM organization had grown to include educational programs, health products and other services.
This specific form of silent mantra meditation can only be taught (supposedly) by certified teachers in a seven-step course. Maharishi explicitly said that mantras should not be spoken aloud, written down or assigned meaning. The guru passed away in 2008, but the TM organization is still going strong.
TM is seen and understood in many different ways, depending on who you talk to. For some it’s considered to be a religious practice while by others not so much. It has been labeled a cult by some authorities while at the same time also been endorsed and praised for its various benefits by celebrities like The Beatles in the sixties to Jerry Seinfeld and David Lynch today.
Acem Meditation
- Developed out of TM in Norway in the 1960’s.
- ACEM is secular meditation technique devoid of religious content.
- Mental repetition of a sound devoid of meaning, focus is on relaxation and letting go.
Acem meditation is a non-religious meditation technique that grew out of Transcendental Meditation. Developed in Norway beginning in the sixties by Are Holen, who himself had learned TM from Mahesh Yogi in 1962. Four years later in 1966, Holen established the Academic Meditation Society, later renamed Acem School of Meditation, and began to teach at the University of Oslo. However, Acem distanced itself from the TM movement in the early seventies due to disagreements about methods and ideology.
Like TM, Acem meditation involves mental repetition of a sound without effort. Thoughts and other mental and physical impressions are allowed to come and go freely. Like TM there is no attempt nor effort at emptying or stilling the mind.
The Acem technique is now taught throughout Europe and in India, Dominican Republic, Taiwan, the UK and the US. Being a secular meditation technique, it is scientifically-backed with psychological and physiological benefits.
Its main difference from many other forms of meditation is that it is process-oriented and does not focus on concentration. Instead, the technique allows the practitioner to let go of effort and engage in some of the spontaneous thoughts that come and go during the practice. This practice enables deeper relaxations and allows for deeper personal growth, according to Acem.
Acem meditation may also help the practitioner to alter and/or improve certain parts of his or her personality, leading to a mindset of expanded consciousness and greater sensitivity.
The limitations and shortcomings in one’s everyday life are often mirrored in each one’s meditation practice, which makes the session itself a perfect opportunity to allow certain detrimental tendencies to surface. For example, someone who has a bossy personality may initially repeat the meditation method sound too forcefully or aggressively, this in turn, if practiced sufficiently and correctly, can gradually soften by the gentle and light nature of the Acem meditation technique.
According to the Acem website:
Relaxation comes naturally. Knots and ties unravel, stress and worries gradually give way to a calmer frame of mind. Afterwards you feel refreshed, energized and often more creative.
How to perform Acem
Acem meditation is a simple meditation technique, here’s how you do it in a nutshell:
- Sit comfortably in a chair, meditation cushion or bench.
- Close your eyes and take three deep breaths.
- Choose a method sound devoid of linguistic meaning.
- Repeat the method sound gently and effortlessly in your minds eye.
- Allow your mind and body to relax.
- Let thoughts come and go as they do, without forcing or controlling.
- Repeat gently and lightly for 10 minutes or more. (For experienced ones some recommend twice a day for 30 minutes or once daily for 45 minutes.)
Price and organization type
Essentially Acem and TM offer the same basic technique with slight modifications here and there. However the two organizations do have some considerable differences when it comes to the business side of things, i.e. the prices and type of organizations that are behind them.
TM
In its early days, TM was taught by donation or on a sliding scale based on income. Today, TM is quite pricey at $960 dollars for adults, $480 for full-time college students and $360 for high school students to enroll in a beginner’s course at any TM Center in the United States. Mahesh Yogi made a public address in the mid 1990s stating that the technique should primarily be taught to wealthy leaders in order to enact maximum change in society. Immediately, TM centers worldwide raised their prices substantially.
Acem
In contrast, because Acem is for the most past a nonprofit organization and the meditation teachers are generally unpaid volunteers, their courses are much more affordable. The beginner’s course is $95 in the US, advanced meditation courses are $60 and most group meetings are either $5 or free.
Conclusion
The truth is that these meditation techniques are rather simple yet potentially beneficial techniques. Our opinion is that the TM courses are grossly overpriced and what you end up paying for is probably more the community and the guidance rather than the technique itself. With a little desire and curiosity, you can reap the benefits of these “mantric techniques” without breaking your bank.
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Yeap, good summing up of both TM and Acem.
I’ve been taught both (and mindfulness meditation).
The introductory courses are broadly similar, and as they both teach the same meditation technique so it’s hard to see the justification for TM’s charges.
I would be nice where TM/Acem to Open Source their training materials (while retaining copyright).
While it would definitely destabilize their existing organisational structures it would greatly increase the adoption of this most excellent meditation technique.
I learned TM a long time ago, and when I read descriptions of ACEM, I see no essential difference. Since long I have introduced variations of the technique, both regarding mantras and other aspects, which makes me able to harvest certain benefits or objectives not so easily obtained by the pure technique. One of these objectives is to bring back memories of things that happened to me and other persons during my childhood and use these recovered elements in a sort of detective work regarding society.
I do not any longer think you should attend these courses to learn mantra meditation. Going into any of these two organizations, you get under control of somebody that have objectives in addition to your benefit. They want to control you, to be an abiding part of a certain kind of hierarchical society the organizations secretly promote. Therefore I recommend learning mantra meditation by reading and trying out in private, or with the help of a friend that already meditates. By the way, I am Norwegian, and I know that the Norwegian society is much more manipulative towards individual persons than usually thought, and this ACEM organization is an offspring of this side of the Norwegian society.
By the way. Another replier mentioned a woman that teaches something she calles ACEM meditation on youtube. Josie Thompson.
She uses the method sound “shigaba” which may or may not be a method sound used in the ACEM courses, but conforms to general descripions I have read. But you should compose and try out various other method sounds too, because variation gives more felxible results.
The menthod she teaches is sitting calmly and breathing calmly, and repeating inside you the mantra every time you breath out, not speaking it loadly.
I am not sure syncronizing with each outbreath is teached in ACEM courses, but I know this is a recommended method. In TM you do not syncronize like this.
You could also try out meditation without this syncronizing, but then with shorter mantras.
You do it without strain of any kind and allow thoughts and feelings to come and go. When a thought crap up and disturbs the mantra-repetition you calmly stop the thought and begin the repitition again.
To learn it from such videos is as good as learning it in a course of these organizations, I think, and you avoid the psychological and social manipulations of these organizations and the costs, and you avoid becoming a tool used by the leaders of these cultic organizations in their aim to manipulate society.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNQ6ehKcldQ
Having studied the ACEM organization and its leadership pretty much, I worn against involving yourself deeply in this cultic organization.
Attending a single course and the go away will not harm you. After that you should try out new method sounds and variations by your own.
The organization has sveral tricks to get you on the hook, and subject you to psychosocial manipulation. One trick is the claim that the method sound and method must be thought by an authorized ACEM teacher, and you must go back to such a teacher after some time to get a new and more effective method sound.
je vous suggère d’aller voir sur internet la vidéo de josy thomson sur la méditation acem utilisez le son shee gah vah et ce son vous apaisera pour méditer
In 50 che pratico, sebbene saltuatiamente a causa degli impegni di lavoro, la TM.
Non ho alcun ruolo nella organizzazione per l’insegnamento e la diffusione mel mondo.
Non ho mai rilevato alcun tentativo, né segreto e né palese, di controllo di individui, gruppi o società.