transcendental meditation (sometimes shortened to "tm") grew out of guru dev's teachings, and the maharishi's own physics studies. a person practices transcendental meditation by sitting quietly, and mentally repeating a "", of syllables or names considered or holy in hinduism. in transcendental meditation, the sounds are used purely as sounds independent of any associated meanings in any language. meditating helps a person to relax, and to concentrate on important things. during this meditation a person transcends conscious thought to a quieter state of mind, and this gives the technique its name.