There are many accounts of serious casualties and also adverse effects ......

By Dick Polman, Inquirer Staff Writer

POSTED: January 14, 1987 ( Kropinski Trial In Philidelphia ) 

...the jury apparently gave considerable weight to the views of Gary Glass, senior attending psychiatrist at the Philadelphia Psychiatric Center, who examined Kropinski for 10 hours last year. Glass testified last month that Kropinski's 11 years of intensive meditation had triggered a ''pathological state" that left him disoriented and depressed.

"He sees the world clearly for a while, maybe a few days, maybe a few moments," said Glass, "and then (his mind) just goes on the fritz for a while, then comes back again, and it interferes with virtually everything." Glass said Kropinski would require between four months to a year of psychiatric hospitalization to get well. Read full news article 

http://articles.philly.com/1987-01-14/news/26190099_1_tm-robert-kropinski-jury .

"The Report of Germany's Institute for Youth and Society on TM"

• 76% of long-term meditators experience psychological disorders -- including 26% nervous breakdowns
• 63% experience serious physical complaints
• 70% recorded a worsening ability to concentrate
• Researchers found a startling drop in honesty among long-term meditators

findings were upheld by the German high court (The Federal Republic of Germany: OVG Muenster: 5 A 1152/84, The Bundesverwaltungsgericht: 23.5.87 7 C 2.87, The Bundesverfassungsgericht: 1 BvR 881/89). Read full article here  http://minet.org/www.trancenet.net/research/index.shtml. 

Kropinski's trial documents cited cases of serious TM casualties. http://minet.org/www.trancenet.net/personal/40.html 

The book " Buddha Pill" tells these 2 stories -

Aaron Alexis was in search of something. He started attending a Buddhist temple and learned to meditate; he hoped it would bring him wisdom and peace. ‘I want to be a Buddhist monk,’ he once told a friend from the temple. His friend advised him to keep studying. Aaron did. He learned Thai and kept going to the temple – chanting, meditating. But other things got in the way. On 16 September 2013 Aaron drove into Washington’s Navy Yard. It was eight o’clock in the morning. He’d been working there not long before, and security let him in. He walked out of the car with a large bag and briefly disappeared into a toilet. Minutes later the security cameras caught him holding a shotgun. Aaron walked briskly and hid behind a wall for a few seconds before advancing through thebuilding. Within 30 minutes 12 people were dead. He killed randomly, first using his shotgun and then, after running out of ammunition, using the handgun belonging to a guard he’d just killed. He died after an exchange of gunfire with the police 1 .1 Media reports on 16– 17 September 2013 by The New York Times and the Daily Telegraph. See http:// www.nytimes.com/ 2013/ 09/ 17/ us/ shooting-reported-at-washington-navy-yard.html? pagewanted = all& _r = 0 and http:// www.telegraph.co.uk/ news/ worldnews/ northamerica/ usa/10314585/ Aaron-Alexis-Washington-navy-yard-gunman-obsessed-with-violent-video-games.html

In 1992 David Shapiro, a professor in psychiatry and human behaviour at the University of California, Irvine, published an article about the effects of meditation retreats. Shapiro examined 27 people with different levels of meditation experience. He found that 63 per cent of them had at least one negative effect and 7 per cent suffered profoundly adverse effects. The negative effects included anxiety, panic, depression, increased negativity, pain, feeling spaced out, confusion and disorientation.When Shapiro divided the larger group into those with lesser and greater experience, there were no differences: all the meditators had an equal number of adverse experiences. (5) Shapiro, D. (1992). Adverse effects of meditation: a preliminary investigation of long-term meditators. International Journal of Psychosomatics, 39: pp. 62– 67.

Jordan Grafman :'The brain is a real trickster..."

Jordan Grafman, cognitive neuroscientist and the director of brain injury research at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago states :

•  “The frontal lobes are the most evolved areas of the human brain, and help control and make sense of the perceptual input we get from the world”
• "Further investigation revealed that damage to a specific area of the brain known as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex was linked to markedly increased mysticism. "
• "When the frontal lobes' inhibitory functions are suppressed, a door of perception can open, increasing the chances of mystical experiences."

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2016/02/16/mystical-experiences-open-door-perception-in-brain.html

Site Comments : A normal brain in meditation has reduced cerebral blood flow ( Yoga Nidra ) or is taken "offline" by denying the frontal lobe all incoming information ( mantra based ), which deliberately "suppresses" a normal frontal lobe, reducing its functionality as if it is damaged. This opens a door to mysticism.