The Mind-Body-Heart Connection in Health and Evidence for Meditation: A Conversation with Robert Schneider (December 18th)

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 Transcendental Meditation (TM) has long been studied as an approach to improving health status generally and lowering blood pressure specifically.  For example, the American Heart Association published research in 2012 that found African Americans who practiced TM regularly over five years were almost half as likely to have a heart attack or stroke or die from all causes compared to African Americans who attended health education classes due to lowered blood pressure and improved anger management.  Among other applications, TM has also shown to be effective in reducing PTSD and polytrauma among active military service members and veterans.  

During this 21 minute podcast Dr. Schneider discusses what's meant by the "mind-body-heart" connection, what role can/does TM play in influencing these connections, the research evidence for TM's use in reducing hypertension and more generally stress and anxiety for a wide variety primary and secondary disease prevention purposes and the level of acceptance for TM within the medical community.     

Dr. Robert Schneider is currently the Director and Senior Investigator of the Center for Natural Medicine and Prevention at the Maharishi University of Management Research Institute.  Over the course of his career Dr. Schneider has been awarded more than $20 million in grants from the NIH for his pioneering research on natural approaches to reducing heart disease.  Dr. Schneider is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, a former member of the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy and has has served on numerous commissions and expert panels for the Congress, the CDC and others.  Dr. Schneider is the author of Total Heart Health and over 100 medical research articles.  He has been featured in numerous media reports including CNN, The New York Times, and Time magazine.  He received his MD from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and did his residency training at the University of Michigan Medical Center.

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