In writing this book my intention is to give hope and encouragement to the many people who have been diagnosed as suffering from 'hypertension' and who feel intuitively that there is something deeply wrong about accepting a life-time sentence of drug taking. If you are in that situation, then take heart. There is a lot more to the story of hypertension than most patients are ever told. You can do a great deal to help yourself without resorting to drugs.

I run a fairly standard kind of medical practice. I listen to people's chests, sew up their cut fingers and try to keep up to date with medical trends. Yet the reader will find that I am disenchanted with much of the current medical management of hypertension. My attitude may owe to the fact that before entering medical school I was lucky enough to be able to put medicine 'on hold' and spend a few years completing an arts degree, during which I became absorbed in the study of philosophy. It was in those early lectures and tutorials that I became aware of the vast compass of Western and Eastern thought. It became clear to me that our day-to-day decisions, and those of the professionals on whom we depend, are underpinned by thousands of other people's thoughts and opinions, all mixed up together, some evident and some, especially those that come to us from our past, all but buried in our collective consciousness.

Realising that I and those around me were unwittingly accepting a rag-bag of ideas 'second-hand' alerted me to tease out and question the various assumptions and approximations that had been made on my behalf. On entering medical school, I found plenty of material on which to exercise this frame of mind!

I even considered joining the New Zealand Sceptics' Society. While my attitude should have qualified me for immediate membership, I was sceptical of their scepticism, inclining to the view that it was merely a front for a rather materialistic philosophy. So being sceptical of the Sceptics, I was not sure whether I would be admitted to their Society!

In any case it did not seem sufficient to be simply sceptical. I was looking for knowledge that I would find satisfying, that, rather than being a mish-mash of notions, would have an internal consistency and the ability to withstand scrutiny. In my youthful idealism I wanted knowledge that could deal with the great questions and bring with it the power to do good for the world.

Thus it was that, having completed the arts degree I was even more fortunate to again put medical studies aside and spend a year overseas following up my interest in Eastern epistemology. I had read with great interest about the wisdom of ancient cultures e.g. - Chinese, Tibetan and Indian. Hatha Yoga was becoming popular and, along with many of my student friends, I had learned Transcendental Meditation. I was particularly eager to know about its roots in the ancient Vedic knowledge of India.

Readers might notice that my critical attitude seems to melt in the second and third sections of the book, as indeed it does. In those crucial years before entering the 'lock-step' routine of medical school, I realised that I had stumbled on a system of knowledge that could survive my more-than-ordinary scepticism. Indeed, it has survived the scrutiny of many generations over thousands of years. It seems well able to meet the challenge of modern scientific inspection.

I must therefore at the outset declare my position, which is now well and truly in favour of the Vedic Approach to Health, as it has been brought to light by the Indian sage and scholar Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

Maharishi's Vedic Approach to Health is a cornucopia of practical lifestyle, dietary and other techniques, which, among their many other health benefits, get to the root not only of the problem of high blood pressure, but also of a vast array of other medical conditions and problems of living.

The most important among the programmes of Maharishi's Vedic Approach to Health is the technique of Transcendental Meditation. The unique process of transcending thought that occurs when Transcendental Meditation is practised should not be confused with other forms of meditation, most of which are difficult, if not downright impossible. Transcendental Meditation, by contrast, is easy and effective. Because of these unique characteristics I refer to Transcendental Meditation specifically throughout the book, rather than use the generic term "meditation". There is no doubt in my mind that I have done the most service for my patients by helping them to learn this delicate yet simple skill.

Maharishi's Vedic Approach to Health may seem far removed from the everyday business of getting one's blood pressure down. There is still a lamentable gap between public perception and the reality of Maharishi's colossal contribution in the field of health.It is therefore encouraging to see the high degree of medical and research interestin the approach, with over 600 studies having been performed on Transcendental Meditation, many thousands of doctors practising the technique and many more recommending it to their patients. I hope readers will suspend judgemnt until the book has been read, for the truth is that Maharishi's work in bringing to light the essence of the Vedic knowledge from India is of inestimable value.

Why should you need to know more about Maharishi's Vedic Approach to Health? Because it works. If you have high blood pressure, then it could be helping you, safely and effectively. Perhaps you have normal blood pressure, but is it perfect? There is a difference as I will attempt to show.

This is a system of health that not only treats disease but also helps us become truly healthy. While it will not be possible to take you through the many twists and turns of thought I encountered along the path, I hope that the pages that follow will give you some insight into the process that allowed me to finally drop my scepticism and become an enthusiast.

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