Comments on: Unprecedented? Journal yanks transcendental meditation paper 12 minutes before it’s scheduled to publish

By: Chrissy

Chrissy — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 20:45:59 +0000

I love that you call him “Mahesh” instead of Maharishi. I do the same thing, refusing to use a high honorific that someone gave themselves.

By: sudarsha

sudarsha — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 23:43:21 +0000

Perhaps I should also add that I was one of Mahesh’s personal secretaries, helped make the SCI course, was one of the course leaders for a course of about 1,500 people and taught TM to about 800 people. I am now one of the critics of everything that Mahesh tried to do, which, basically, was to squeeze as much money out of people as he possibly could by making impossible promises, like levitation, perfect health, immortality (you’ve got to back in the advertising to the 80′s for that one). Check out: http://tmfree.blogspot.com/ for more information.

By: sudarsha

sudarsha — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 23:39:43 +0000

It would be very good if ALL TM-related “research” were pulled and reviewed by real scientists who knew nothing about TM, had no interests in any aspect of the TM program or any of Mahesh’s strange stuff (claiming that the so-called ‘yogic flying’ is the first stage of “levitation” is pretty strange), and just reviewed it on the merit of the work itself.

I’ll bet that would generate an outcome quite surprising to many and horrifying to the people who operate the TM organization.

By: Neuroskeptic

Neuroskeptic — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 07:50:16 +0000

“During the week prior to publication, the authors received additional requests for further clarification and data analyses from external reviewers.”

That’s extremely unusual. Reviewers often ask for more data, but not after they’ve approved it for publication. The reviewers behaved in a very strange (and rather unfair) manner, and the editor did too if he allowed that – assuming there’s not more going on here behind the scenes.

By: Jann Ingmire

Jann Ingmire — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 20:07:09 +0000

My apologies to Shelley. It really was just your timing in the midst of our busy afternoon. I should have followed-up with you. Jann Ingmire

By: Shelley Wood

Shelley Wood — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 18:51:53 +0000

Huh. I guess timing is everything. I wrote, almost immediately, to JAMA/Archives to ask about the status of this unusual 11th hour communication, and whether we could report on it on http://www.theheart.org. Here’s the response I got at 3:07 CT Monday, from the Director of Media Relations.

>>Hi Shelley — That’s an interesting question. Hmmm…. Yes, I guess our notice to reporters before the embargo lifted on a paper we’re not publishing is not really for public consumption. The manuscript information is still considered to be confidential until publication.

>>Thanks for checking.
>>Jann Ingmire

Sometimes it sucks to follow the rules: you get scooped, the rules change, or both!