What People Are Saying

“His compelling account of TM’s research enterprise, including conflicts of interest and concealment of the practice’s religious character from the universities and government agencies asked to evaluate it, should be troubling to anyone who cares about the integrity of clinical research and the Bill of Rights. . . . Aryeh Siegel has spent years assembling a documentary record that clinicians, ethicists, and policymakers can turn to. . . . I commend this book to anyone who takes seriously the obligation to protect research participants, particularly those entrusted with the care of the men and women who served this country.”

“Siegel has written the definitive cultural history of TM. . . . Having reviewed much of this record independently, I consider Siegel’s representation of the facts to be careful and substantially accurate. Siegel has, moreover, brought to light much documentation that I did not know existed. . . . When program advocates do not voluntarily make such disclosures, someone else must do so. Aryeh Siegel enters this void with Transcendental Meditation: A Half Century of Deception, a book that merits the reader’s careful attention.”

“Aryeh Siegel’s Transcendental Deception was the roadmap for our litigation against the Chicago Board of Education and the David Lynch Foundation. When we filed suit on behalf of students who had been coerced into Hindu religious rituals under the guise of a secular stress-reduction program, Siegel’s book gave us the factual roadmap we needed. Opposing counsel ordered eight copies. . . . I believe his anticipated testimony was a significant factor in the defendants’ decision to settle the class action for $2.6 million. Aryeh Siegel did not just write about TM’s deception — he helped hold it accountable in federal court.”

“Siegel’s updated and expanded critique of the Transcendental Meditation research programs documents violation after violation of basic scientific norms. Time and again, qualified and reputable scholars identify conflicts of interest, fraudulent practices, deliberate deception, and gross exaggeration of findings. No independent research validates the proponents’ central claim that TM is superior to other meditation techniques. . . . I cannot imagine a more potent or definitive account.”

“This is a must-read book! The public image of TM may be benign but as a licensed mental health counselor, I am well aware of TM’s many deceptions and the related psychological damage this group can cause some individuals. I have worked with many of them. If you are considering meditation, this book will help you choose wisely and caution you to never surrender your critical thinking to anyone.”