Helen Boyce was born on September 25, 1920, and learned TM after watching Maharishi Mahesh Yogi being interviewed on the Merv Griffin Show in the mid-1970s. Helen continues to practice the TM technique twice a day and experiences the growth of inner silence or pure consciousness in her daily life.

In March of 1978, I attended the lecture on TM, and I learned to meditate. I immediately felt deep relaxation, tranquility, and quietness, and was instructed to meditate twice a day. I did the TM technique every day and just would take the time to do it because after the practice, I felt energized again and could continue on with my day. I have meditated regularly by myself for more than three decades. I found an energy that would come through, and I would be so relaxed after TM that I was able to continue moving forward in life. I had enormous energy.

As I practiced the TM technique more and more, each time I discovered I could make clearer decisions in my life. Beyond these practical benefits, I would have experiences of bliss, no mantra, no thoughts, transcendence. I have had experiences where I would meditate and thought it was 20 minutes and went way over with no thoughts in my mind—just inner wakefulness. There was nothing but my inner self, which I experience every time.

Experiencing Inner Bliss

I experience inner bliss when I meditate, but how can I explain it? I am so relaxed, so peaceful. So much silence. I experience this all the time now. I feel happiness and love. I do not believe I need anything, and nothing is that important except this nice feeling; it feels like unbounded happiness. The experience is an inner fulfillment—there is no sense of time. I find it deeply peaceful.

At this point in my life, the experience developing as a result of my meditation is a sense of inner companionship and fullness. I say to myself when I finish meditating, “I feel like I have been in a church or a cathedral.” I do not need to be sitting in a building, but I feel that way in myself. It is not necessary to listen to someone teaching me how to feel the inner bliss. I do not need it. I can experience it within myself. I close my eyes and experience inner bliss.

I experience inner bliss when I meditate, but how can I explain it? I am so relaxed, so peaceful. So much silence. I experience this all the time now. I feel happiness and love.

Maharishi’s Gift to Humanity

Maharishi has provided an incredible gift to humanity. What I have received from the TM technique and the knowledge is that you need to experience within yourself the reality, and the changes that spontaneously come from meditation. TM is a technique to develop the full potential of who we are. I have to know who I am before I can know anyone else.

If someone would ask me who I am, I would have to respond: I am unbounded consciousness, which is my Self. However, how can I explain to others that I am unbounded awareness? And yet it is true. Perhaps I could say to others: Here I am, unbounded. Even in the middle of activity, my bliss is not lost, and this is what it is like for me most of the time. The inner fullness is more dominant than the objective world. It is such a natural part of me. I do not know whether I realize it or not. I have not analyzed it; I have just been living it.

Wisdom and Insight

Growing older should result in more wisdom and insight. Many years ago I attended a residence course at Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa, and on a videotape, Maharishi remarked that an enlightened person does not become indifferent or detached. He feels the suffering of others deeply, but it is like a line on water; he is free from the lasting impression or anything that would cause him to suffer. I fully agree with him—that is 100% true. The suffering does not reach me, and it happens automatically.

The intellectual understanding that I have gained from watching the Maharishi Channel on the Internet has deepened my experiences. I feel more comfortable with it all the time.

My family members often say, “Aunt Helen, if I could only be like you!” They say, “I do not know how you do it. You are different, and we do not know how or why you are different.” They all want to meditate, and yet they do not have it within themselves to move forward. From watching Maharishi’s tapes, I comprehended what he was saying: A person has to feel it from within himself and make the decision to learn.

I am biologically 92 years old but feel ageless—it is just a number… I am comfortable living in the present and not worried about the future.

Feeling Ageless

Sometimes when I come out of meditation, I feel this is what people should experience when they go to church, and some may. I had never had this depth of experience before learning to meditate. My education was limited, but life has brought me wisdom. The wisdom my father provided to our family was expanded through TM. My father gave his children the freedom of choice, which blossomed in my life throughout the years.

I am biologically 92 years old but feel ageless—it is just a number. Age does not come to me. I am comfortable living in the present and not worried about the future. As the days come, I enjoy every day, and enjoyment seems to be my daily and nightly companion. My description of my state of mind is an inner contentment. I do what I feel, not what I have to do. There is nothing I need externally because I am comfortable with myself.

The collection A Symphony of Silence is available from MUM Press ►