“More than 15 years ago I was teaching in a High School in a ‘challenging’ environment (that’s the polite way to describe it). Although teaching had always been my desired employment, I was increasingly finding that the aggressive behaviour of the students was causing me more and more stress. I developed all the stress related symptoms (IBS, headaches, stiff neck, high blood pressure, and insomnia to name some. My husband tells me I was difficult to live with, although he knew it was not me, but the effects of the job on my health. I felt like I was swimming through treacle and the harder I tried the thicker the treacle became. I could not see a way out and despair began to close in on me.

A good friend of mine who worked for the NHS suggested I go to meditation classes and so in desperation I went – not knowing quite what to expect. I remember my husband joking that “if I started wearing a yellow sheet and shaving my head he was leaving”!!

I arrived with a very sceptical mind but very soon all my worst suspicions were gone. It seemed that Chris knew more about the way I was feeling than I did myself. At last someone who actually understood – but was also offering me a way to deal with my stress. He couldn’t make my everyday troubles go away, but he could teach me how I could deal with them so that my health would not suffer.

I could write pages about how easy I found it and how within a very short time I knew it was helping. I wanted to tell the whole world that everyone should be trying this. I continue to use TM although I am now retired, and over the years I have told as many people as I can about how wonderful the effects are. I can honestly say that TM ‘saved’ me from what would probably have ended up in a complete meltdown of my nervous system.”

Heather, Newcastle upon Tyne.