The actual name of Maum Meditation is Ma-Eum Su-Ryun meditation.
Ma-Eum Su-Ryun means mind training.
It is a method and school of meditation established by South Korean author Woo Myung. Maum is a deviation from the actual term Ma-Eum, that got adopted when the method made its entry into the western world.
Maum Meditation is among the very newest methods of meditation to develop in recent times. It’s also among the most controversial. The first Maum Meditation branch was opened in 1999 in South Korea. So far they have over 345 centers in 41 countries around the world offering Woo Myung’s meditation program.
However, due to the high number of controversies surrounding the term and practice of maum meditation, the centers no longer use the term Maum Meditation or associate themselves with the term anymore.
In this article, we will discuss all the aspects of Maum Meditation in an easy to grasp manner.
Let’s begin by getting a brief overview of what the meditation method looks like.
Related Posts:
Void Meditation: What Is the Void State & How to Get There?
Reiki Meditation and Principles Explained with Examples
Wear the pulse of the new age!
Sauna Meditation: A Great Way to Achieve Fast Relaxation as a Beginner
The Overview of Maum Meditation
Maum Meditation is a form of mind subtraction meditation.
In this kind of meditation, the practitioner attempts to subtract the stored impressions, ideas, beliefs, memories, emotions in the mind in an attempt to free themselves from their false self or ego.
Maum Meditation method consists of seven to eight levels of practice that enable subtraction of the false elements of the self at different levels of the being.
- Level 1 is about letting go of thoughts.
- Level 2 deals with discarding the ideas or false images that you have about yourself and your relationships with people and the surrounding universe.
- Level 3 is about disassociating your identity from the physical body that you have.
- Level 4 and 5 takes it one step further and attempts to sever the false identities that you have about the whole universe.
- Level 6 results in the culmination of the body and universe identification purge. As a result, the practitioner gets to form a new and real identification with the universe. The journey from the false self to the original soul and spirit achieves near completion.
- Level 7 and 8 are kinds of a home run at which you gradually complete the process of discarding the false self in the world and being reborn as truth in the true world.
At each of the levels, the practitioners go through certain visualization practices.
While meditating, they visualize that they are letting go of their false thoughts, images, perceptions, identities, worlds, and the universe using many visualized scenarios.
The visualizations even involve imagining death and also throwing false images into the black hole or a fire.
Reviews of Maum Meditation
The Maum Meditation reviews available online are mostly negative with a few people also praising the method here and there.
There are quite a few positive as well as negative reviews available online. However, it’s true for any kind of meditation methods and practices.
So, how can we know the real picture of the benefits of Maum Meditation?
Well, the rapid growth in popularity is surely a testimony that it has potential. However, the large number of practitioners giving negative and often cautionary reviews raises strong suspicion.
If you do a Google search with Maum Meditation reviews, you will mostly see people pointing out the negative and dangerous aspects of the method and practice.
The most common negative points about Maum Meditation are:
- It’s highly commercialized and has lots of hidden fees.
- The methods are secretive and should only be practiced at the centers. That’s why many people consider Maum Meditation centers as cults.
- The meditation centers won’t share any information about the methods publicly.
- The meditation schedule and procedure are very intensive and highly demanding.
- The centers exploit the practitioners by making them do work for free.
- They demand almost god-like devotion to Woo Myung and other leaders of the organization.
- The speedy high intensity meditation sessions often harm practitioners psychologically.
- The centers demand that practitioner abandon their families.
On the other hand, you will also find on Google a couple of studies that have researched the benefits of Maum Meditation and found the method to be helpful in fostering happiness, peace, and coexistence. One study on school-based Maum Meditation program also found a close relationship with the development of personality, mental health, and characters of children.
Maum Meditation Benefits
Any meditation can be beneficial. Mind subtracting meditations are great for relieving anxiety, guilt, fear, shame, and other similar negative emotions.
Through the mind subtracting process you can get rid of limiting beliefs and false ideas and gradually become a better human being.
This kind of meditation practice is also helpful in making you peaceful and calm by removing the constant negative chatter of the mind.
All the great meditation traditions of the past also rely on this very principle of mind subtraction. No matter which tradition you subscribe to, you will see the same concepts of silencing your mind and getting rid of your ego or limited self as the basis of self-transforming meditation.
So, in essence, Maum Meditation is no different from any other form of traditional meditation and it will also give you all the benefits of meditation that you are likely to get from any good meditation practice.
However, the way the meditation method is being sold at high prices and the way it has been taught at the centers in a highly secretive manner surely makes it something to be careful of.
Dangers of Maum Meditation
If what the reviewers are saying is true and it seems very likely that they are telling the truth, then although the method in itself is not dangerous, the way it has been administered can be dangerous for many practitioners.
Mind subtracting meditations can be very sensitive as it deals with identity, self-worth, and other very personal aspects of our life and idea of the self.
We usually love ourselves and when we try to get rid of our very own ideas about ourselves, things can get scary and painful.
This is precisely where the dangers of Maum Meditation lie.
Mind subtracting meditation should be carried out in a subjective manner. In the shape, form, and speed suitable for each individual practitioner.
When you try to shove the same aggressive system into every person, it’s very much natural that many will become unstable and suffer various psychological issues.
On top of that, the secretive and commercial manner of the centers is also dangerous for the progress of the personal growth community that largely depends on the open flow of information.
If Woo Myung and the Maum Meditation centers are really here to help humanity, they should open up about their methods a bit more and make the bulk of their practices public for the world to see and judge.
Wear the pulse of the new age!