Whatever a person’s background, becoming a teacher of the Transcendental Meditation® (TM®) technique is a life-transforming experience, both personally and professionally. For David Pohlman, becoming a TM teacher was a natural progression after earning his Ph.D. at Maharishi University of Management and serving as Dean of Students there.

David Polman, Certified TM Teacher

“It was a desire for many years,” David says. “I always felt that teaching someone to transcend was the highest profession—and I admired those who had been trained to do that. It was the fulfillment of my education and a clear next step in my own evolution to gain the ability to teach someone to transcend.”

The TM Teacher Training Course

The TM Teacher Training Course (TTC) is a several-month, in-residence program especially designed by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Founder of the TM program, to give the most profound value of knowledge in a short time. TTC trains teachers how to lead a student through the seven steps of learning TM—the introductory lecture, preparatory lecture, personal instruction, and three days of validation and verification of experience.

The course also teaches how to provide a TM Tune-Up or personal checking of meditation, how to lead Knowledge Meetings and Retreats, and how to organize and run a Transcendental Meditation Center.

The course also teaches how to provide a TM Tune-Up or personal checking of meditation, how to lead Knowledge Meetings and Retreats, and how to organize and run a Transcendental Meditation Center.

Of course, the highlight is learning to teach someone to transcend.

“The purpose of TTC is to train the teacher to ‘whisper infinity’ to the people in their area,” says Linda Brittingham, a TM teacher of  35 years who recently co-taught a TTC for women. “And we know that the teacher always gains more than the student. By teaching someone to transcend, the teacher stabilizes that transcendence in her own life and quickly hastens her own growth towards enlightenment.”

Personal Growth

Graduates of the TM teacher training program agree that the structure of the TTC program is in itself transforming. For Krystle Liggins, 26, who completed TTC in 2010 right after graduate school, following the course routine changed her life. (Krystle is pictured in the photo banner above.)

“On TTC I felt like I was moving in the rhythm of nature.”—Krystle Liggins

“On TTC I felt like I was moving in the rhythm of nature,” says Krystle. “We fell asleep early, woke up before the sun rose. After a while I realized I wasn’t thinking about what to do next. I understood effortlessness in a whole new way. Because you put aside all other obligations while on the course, you don’t have to worry about a lot of things. You can just focus on this beautiful knowledge.”

Says David Pohlman, “The course is structured so perfectly by Maharishi to purify and restructure your nervous system. I felt that what I got was a more refined physiology.”

Increased confidence and leadership skills are other results cited by students.

Enlightening Others

The main purpose of the TM teacher training course is to gain the ability to enlighten others. As Krystle says, “So many women come to the TM Center distraught and troubled, and are looking to me to give them some tool to help ease what they’re feeling. I feel confident I can help them, because the teaching of TM is systematic and will work every single time. To see their relief and simple stories of enjoying their day or feeling more happy is so rewarding.”

Krystle was hired by the David Lynch Foundation^SM to teach at-risk children at the John O’Connell High School in San Francisco’s Mission District right after her TTC. “Behavior would change, there were less fights in school, and compassion grew,” she recounts. “One student came off parole early because he practiced the technique consistently, and others discovered that TM made them feel clear and settled, without any side effects.”

“One student came off parole early because he practiced the technique consistently, and others discovered that TM made them feel clear and settled, without any side effects.”—Krystle Liggins

When Krystle helped teach the first public school residence course to 33 students, she experienced firsthand how the students became more harmonious: “At the beginning of the weekend course, the students sat in their cliques—the sports group, the dance group, the music group. After the first day, we heard this huge noise in the dining hall. It was the sound of the students moving the tables and chairs so they could sit as one.”

Krystle now teaches at the Palo Alto TM Center, and in her spare time attends acting classes at the Meisner Technique Studio in San Francisco. At the TM Center she heads outreach programs for doctors, educators, entrepreneurs, and other professionals in high-stress jobs who are looking for a way to calm their anxiety.

“You see the need for people to have something like this in their lives,” she says. “As a TM teacher, I feel like my life is so worth living. I wake up knowing I’m going to help others.”

“Because transcending is the core of all progress and happiness in life, to be able to open the door for others is incredibly fulfilling. I wouldn’t want to do anything else.”—David Pohlman

David, who taught A-list celebrities, musicians, and business executives in Beverly Hills for four years, says, “People have such amazing results—it’s consistent and profound. They come for all kinds of reasons—stress and anxiety, usually—and immediately we see how much brighter they look, how much more rested, how there’s a sparkle in their eye.”

He concludes, “Because transcending is the core of all progress and happiness in life, to be able to open the door for others is incredibly fulfilling. I wouldn’t want to do anything else.”

For information on the next TM Teacher Training Course, read more ►