J. Behav. Ther. & Exp. Psychiat. Vol. 3, pp. 97-98. Pergamon Press, 1972. Printed in Great Britain.

T R A N S C E N D E N T A L MEDI TATI ON A N D YOGA AS RECI PROCAL

I NHI BI TORS*
LI~ONCE BOUDREAU
Summary--In t wo cases, one of cl aust rophobi a, t he other of profuse perspi rat i on,
t ranscendent al medi t at i on and yoga were t herapeut i cal l y successful aft er at t empt s wi t h
syst emat i c desensi t i zat i on had yielded onl y part i al al l evi at i on.
IN A RECENT article Gershman and Stedman
(1971) suggested that oriental defense exercises
could act as reciprocal inhibitors of anxiety.
In 15 college students whose practice of trans-
cendental meditation had ranged from 6 months
to 3 yr, Wallace (1970) reported physiological
changes during meditation indicating "a signi-
ficant and reproducible decrease in oxygen
consumption and metabolic rate", the latter
indicated by raised skin resistance and decreased
heart rate.
In the two cases described here, transcendental
meditation and yoga were used because the
clients manifested a preference and a reported
mastery of them.
The transcendental meditation technique
(Mahesh Yogi, 1969) is defined as "turning the
attention inwards towards the subtler levels of a
thought until the mind transcends the experience
of the subtlest state of the thought and arrives
at the source of the thought".
CASE 1
Mr. T., 18, a college student, expressed fears
of enlosed places, elevators, being alone and
examinations. His avoidance behavior to these
situations was extreme, having started when he
was 13. The physiological sensations he ex-
perienced gave him the additional fear of mental
illness.
At the beginning of treatment, systematic
desensitization with relaxation as the inhibitor
was tried with the use of a tape recorder to
*Request s f or repri nt s shoul d be addressed t o L6once
Monct on, Monct on, Nouveau- Br unswi ck, Canada.
97
suggest both relaxation and scenes. Massed
desensitization was attempted again with a tape
recorder, the client practicing 3 hr continuously
on 3 consecutive days. No noticeable improve-
ment was evidenced.
At this point, the patient indicated that he
was adept at transcendental meditation. He was
instructed to practice meditation following
imagined phobic scenes for hr every day and
also at the actual appearance of fear-evoking
situations. Marked improvement followed.
Within 1 month, the avoidance behavior to
enclosed places, being alone and elevators had
all disappeared. Once his tension level had
decreased, he did not experience abnormal
physiological sensations and this reassured him
as to his physical and mental state.
CASE 2
Miss L., 40, a school teacher suffered severely
from excessive perspiration. Baseline data
indicated that she had mild perspiration for
about 12 hr each day, all over her body, but
mainly on her hands and feet, She also ex-
perienced "excessive" perspiration for 3 hr
daily. With mild perspiration she felt humidity
in her hands and feet, so that rubbing her hands
on paper would leave a wet trace. "Excessive"
perspiration was described as visible drops of
sweat on her hands and feet, accompanied by
humidity in various other parts of her body,
such as underarms and legs. This behavior
Boudreau, Depar t ment of Psychol ogy, Uni ver si t e de
98 LI~ONCE BOUDREAU
began when she was 5 yr old and was unal t ered
in spite of numer ous medi cal interventions.
Wi t h rel axat i on as an i nhi bi t or, t he dur at i on
of mild perspi rat i on decreased f r om 12 hr t o
5 hr a day, and t hat of "excessi ve" perspi rat i on
f r om 3 t o 1 hr daily, wi t hi n a 4 mont h peri od.
Since cert ai n gr oup situations pr ovoked con-
sistently mor e perspi rat i on, she was i nst ruct ed
t o pract i ce daily rel axat i on pai red wi t h scenes of
these gr oup situations or der ed in a hierarchical
sequence. The t hemes were meet i ng people,
maki ng errors, performi ng in public, and bei ng
observed. Six mont hs of practice di d not bri ng
t he dai l y dur at i on of mild and excessive pers-
pi r at i on bel ow 5 hr and 1 hr respectively. She
r epor t ed t hat al t hough rel axat i on hal t ed pers-
pi rat i on i nevi t abl y whenever she resort ed t o it
in stressful situations, it resumed onl y mi nut es
aft er she st opped relaxing.
The pat i ent t hen t ook a summer course of
t rai ni ng in yoga exercises. Her practice con-
sisted of a hr dai l y of yoga exercises, wi t h
addi t i onal practice duri ng tense moment s. Af t er
3 mont hs of practice of this technique, her mi l d
perspi rat i on decreased t o bel ow 1 hr every
day while her "excessi ve" perspi rat i on dis-
appeared. A 6- mont h fol l ow-up indicates t hat
her perspi rat i on level is mai nt ai ned at below
1 hr daily.
REFERENCES
GERSHMAN L. and STEDMAN J. M. (1971) Oriental
defense exercises as reciprocal inhibitors of anxiety,
J. Behav. Ther. & Exp. Psychiat. 2, 117-119.
MAHESH YOGi M. (1969) Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
on the Bhagavad-Gita: A New Translation and
Commentary, Penguin, Baltimore.
WALLACE R. K. (1970) Physiological effects of trans-
cendental meditation, Science 167, 1751-1754.
WOLPE J. (1958) Psychotherapy by reciprocal inhibition,
Stanford University Press, Stanford.
(First received 13 December 1971; in revised form 23 February 1972)