There are many forms of meditation. I learned TM in the early 70's and now have a daily mindfulness sitting practice.

TM is the father of bringing the knowledge of meditation practice to the western public. Of course, the Beatles going to India to practice under the Yogi increased the publicity.

In TM, you receive group lesson and then at a quasi-religious ceremony, your instructor bestows upon you "your" mantra.

A person can gain all the benefits of TM by using other meditation techniques. For a beginner, using the mindfulness technique is the easiest physically.

Instead of a mantra, mindfulness meditation (which traces its roots to the practice called Shamatha) uses focusing on your breathing . The purpose of this is to quiet the raging thoughts of everyday. A teacher once said that the reason you concentrate on the breath is that the breath is now - and in meditation, you focus on the "now." Just as you are not guaranteed a second into the future, neither can one expect to be granted a next breath.

Some tips"
1. Set a routine. This informs your mind and body that it is time to relax and to become quiet. Some people always sit in the same chair at the same time. Some people light a candle and dim the room lights.

2. Get a timer with a softly sounding alarm. This frees you from keeping track of the time. A soft sound will not jar you back to the world of activity.

3. You will have thoughts that keep flashing through your mind. Even after years of practice, I still struggle with this. A teacher once said that the goal is for one moment of being totally present in the "now." Some teachers recommend that imaging clouds and attach the thoughts to clouds. Others suggest to take note of the thought by saying in you mind "this is a thought" and let it sail away like a sailboat. I find it helpful to imaging a great ball of light. As a thought comes, I place the thought into the light until it is absorbed by the light..

4. Some people play soft music when they meditate. You may want to do this in the beginning. The music fills the voids of silence. We have become uncomfortable with silence and must develop a comfort level with it.

5. For the first week, limit your sitting time to 10 minutes. This will get you accustomed to being still.

6. See meditation as a joyful, reviving experience.

PS: If you have a significant other in your life, try meditating with them. It becomes a wonderful shared experience.

The video below is Mindfulness Meditation with Deepak Chopra

Transcendental Meditation is taught in seven steps, always by a certified instructor, and under the auspices of Maharishi Vedic Education Development, a charitable, 501(3)(c) organization. The first step to learning can be done online at home at www.tm.org. On the homepage, at the top, there is a blue bar that says 'TM presentation'. Clicking on that will take you to a 40-minute video that features world-renowned physicist, Dr. John Hagelin outlining many of the benefits of practicing TM regularly.

The second and third steps together take about 1 hour or so and are done in person with the instructor. These three steps are free of charge.

Once you decide you'd like to learn the technique, you sign up for four consecutive days; each day your class will be about one and a half hours. On the first of these four precious days, you will learn the TM technique, allowing you to transcend at will to the infinite and unbounded reservoir of peace, bliss, intelligence, creativity and harmony that is at the source of thought deep within your mind.

Because TM is transmitted orally, it must be learned in person. If you are not able to get to a teacher because of health or serious mobility issues, I am sure a teacher would come to you.

To watch other videos on the TM technique, go to www.davidlynchfoundation.org, DoctorsOnTM.Org, TM-Education.org, TM-Business.org, or TM.ORG.

Call 1-888-LEARNTM to find a Certified Teacher of The Transcendental Meditation Techniuqe. There are Certified TM Teachers all over the US who are dedicated to finding loans, grants, scholarships to enable everyone to learn The Transcendental Meditation Technique regardless of their financial situation. The website TM.org has lots of great informative videos.

"By necessity, the practice of Transcendental Meditation is imparted by personal instruction. It cannot be done through a book CD or online training because it not only involves telling an aspirant how to experience the subtle states of thinking, but an even greater responsibility lies in finding out what the aspirant experiences when he proceeds on that path… The experiences on the path of Transcendental Meditation are very subtle… It takes a while for the beginner to be able to pinpoint his experiences of the subtle state of thought. The practice of Transcendental Meditation must always be given by the expert teachers of Transcendental Meditation who have been properly trained to give it and who have been trained to check the experiences.

"The checking of experiences is a vital point in the practice of Transcendental Meditation. Again, it cannot be done through books…by nature it is delicate and therefore highly technical. But under personal instruction and guidance the way is smooth and easy.“ Mahesh Yogi, The Science of Being and Art of Living (New York: Plume/Penguine Group, 1963/2001), p. 35-36

The process of systematic "effortless transcending" is simple and easy, but also very, very delicate; so delicate that it was lost to society, East and West, for thousands of years simply because of misunderstanding and inadequate teaching methods.

There have been at least 358 published peer-reviewed studies on The Transcendental Meditation Technique including 7 meta-analysis comparing TM to any other mental technique that has published research on it. One meta-analysis shows that TM is at least twice as effective in reducing anxiety as other techniques and if the studies are rigorously done TM is found to be 3 to 4 times as effective as any other mental technique on which there has been published research. A paper, including a visual summary of the meta-analyses, Five Meta-Analyses Comparing the Transcendental Meditation Program with Other Meditation and Relaxation Techniques, can be found at TruthAboutTM.org

A new scientific research study conducted at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine showed that people with high blood pressure can find relief through meditation—but the study also found that not all forms of meditation are equally effective. The study compared findings from research on several well-known types of meditation and relaxation practices, and found that the only mind/body practice that produces significant changes in blood pressure is the Transcendental Meditation technique.

Neural imaging and EEG studies indicate that TM practice creates a unique brain pattern: it is the only meditation technique known to create widespread brainwave coherence which results in increased IQ, moral reasoning, etc. The TM technique also produces deeper rest than other practices, and studies show the technique to be more effective at reducing depression and increasing self-actualization.

Following is additional information with regard to how different meditations affect the brain differently. Electroencephalographic (EEG) research has found that different methods of meditation have their own individual EEG signature. This agrees with studies that directly compare one technique with another and analyses of data pooled from all relevant research (meta-analyses). These have found that different methods of meditation or relaxation vary in their effectiveness. Please see this site for more detail: http://www.fredtravis.com/talk.html

Learn TM the right way from a Certified TM teacher and you will enjoy a life time of benefits as a result..

I learned TM in 1975, the TM-Sidhis, with 'Yogic Flying', in 1978, and I took the Science of Creative Intelligence course in the seventies too. I also attended many in-residence courses with TM. And I learned the Primordial Sound Technique personally from Deepak Chopra, M.D., when he was still associated with the TM organisxation and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

You cannot learn Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Transcendental Meditation at home, unless a TM teacher comes to your home to teach you.

Unless you are in a special group project organized by the TM organization. TM is not taught in a group. It is an introductory lecture that is given in a group, followed by a preparatory lecture. Neither of those two free talks gives any instruction about how to do TM. The information given in the another contributor's answer regarding TM is misleading.

The best way to find out about Transcendental Meditation is to go one of the official TM websites (e.g. http://www.tm.org ) , or attend an Introductory Lecture given by an authorized TM teacher.