The Tibetan Monks Who Surprised Scientists
Herbert Benson was a cardiologist and renowned professor of medicine at Harvard University . He spent a lot of time studying Eastern cultures in the 60’s. It was at that time when the theme was a source of fear for some people. This was the reason why he waited until after midnight to infiltrate the 36 Tibetan monks in his laboratory.
Benson wanted to see for himself how much myth and reality there was in the stories people told about Tibetan monks. Bruce Lee was the king of television these days, but beyond that, transcendental meditating people were thought of as people with superhuman qualities. After all, Benson was a scientist, and he did not believe anything that science could not prove.
What he discovered that night changed his life forever. Three years later, he actually wrote a book that later became a bestseller: The Relaxation Response . Not only that, but it created an alternative type of medicine. One who says that faith can heal since the placebo effect has a high therapeutic power.
The Tibetan monks from Benson
What Herbert Benson and his team found was that the Tibetan monks actually had abilities that were contrary to scientific claims.
For example, a group of monks who practiced yoga using the Tummo technique can reduce the temperature of their hands and feet by up to 17 degrees. So far there is no scientific explanation for this phenomenon, but the Harvard Gazette reviewed this experiment and the subsequent ones.
Tibetan monks can reportedly raise their body temperature to the point where they can wipe wet sheets with their bodies. This was not the only thing. Benson also found that advanced meditating people who used the Sikkim technique could also slow down their metabolism by up to 64%.
Some theoretical approaches
In the article “Ciencia y Meditación” (in Norwegian: “Science and meditation”), written by Professor Ana María Krohn from Antonio Nariño University, it is said that there are around 500 studies on the physiological, psychological and sociological effects of transcendental meditation inspired of the traditions of the Tibetan monks so far.
She also mentions that the first study on it was published by the journal Science in the 70’s. In that study, the author indicates that they found a different state of consciousness in monks.
Science is about dreaming, deep dreams and awakening of consciousness. Apparently it was a fourth condition that simultaneously combines rest and wakefulness in the monks.
In 1971, Daniel Goleman, the creator of the multi-intelligence concept, wrote an article called ” Unstressing “. In it he postulates the existence of a fifth type of state of consciousness. One where there is not only simultaneous rest and alertness, but also action.
Swami Rama
The question of the overarching capacities of Tibetan monks and other transcendent meditating people is one of the things that always borders on the boundary that separates facts from fiction. Therefore, it is not uncommon to find confirmed information, along with myths and legends. However, it is not always easy to distinguish one from the other.
An example of this is the case of Swami Rama. He is the author of Living with the Himalayan Masters: Spiritual Experience of Swami Rama . This study claims that Tibetan yogis and monks can stay calm for several hours and soar.
However, there is no evidence that this is true. But there are some studies that the Menninger Foundation has conducted on him.
Doctors Elmer and Alyce Green studied his “powers”. Their results indicated that Rama could produce the same brain waves from sleep in his waking moments, and that he had voluntarily stopped pumping the heart for 17 seconds without stopping beating.
Although the media published this phenomenon at the time, they did not follow up. In any case, the results of the studies were published in Beyond Biofeedback by Elmer and Alyce Green.
Maybe it’s nothing more than a scam that is both sophisticated and ingenious. Or maybe the mind is absolutely amazing and people have just started to discover it.
