- The Times of India, March 11, 1997: Meditation from Scandinavia
- Life positive, April 1997: Bringing meditation to its Mecca
- Neighbourhood Star, March 15, 1998: A Scandinavian Answer to Self
- The Hindu, October 19, 1998: This meditation is different
- Mystique India 98 catalogue: What is Acem?
- The Times of India, November 17, 1998: Norwegian meditation
- Life positive, December 1998: Dhyana from the Midnight Sun
- NBC News, June 1999: Dhyana – Acem Meditation
- The Hindu (Metro), September 13, 1999: Meditating, Norwegian style
- The Hindu, September 27, 1999: Oriental wine in Occidental bottle
- BBC (world service), May 10, 2002: Taking India by storm
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New Delhi, March 11, 1997
In the column “Inner Space, Discourses on religion and philosophy”
Meditation from Scandinavia
Acem Meditation is performed sitting comfortably on a chair, sofa or bed with firm support to the lower back. It is usually done twice a day for 30 minutes each; once in the morning and two hours after lunch (to leave time for digestion), the eyes must be closed and external stimuli like noise and light kept at a minimum. A meaningless meditational sound is repeated with ease and without concentration, unlike in Japa meditation which is based on concentration and meaningful mantras. […] When thoughts take over, then you revert to the sound with a minimum of effort. A free, open mental attitude is a must. The nature of thoughts is irrelevant and these are not analysed as in psychoanalysis: Acem is learnt in two stages – the second involves working through actualised tensions. See a scan of the article.
Life positive
Vol2, April 1997
Your guide to personal growth
Bringing meditation to its Mecca
Whoever thought meditation, which is one of the few things India specialises in exporting, would become an import item? The prospect almost became a reality when representatives of Acem, a non-profit Norwegian organisation, recently visited India to disseminate the virtues of Acem meditation.
Neighbourhood Star
March 15, 1998
New Delhi’s only community fortnightly
ACEM Meditation
A Scandinavian Answer to Self
As for India in particular and the Orient by and large, meditation needs no introduction. From time immemorial, it has been the foundation of theological, philosophical and cultural heritage of the entire East. Yet the concept and practice of meditation seems to have become an alien word in the present modern material life.
Amidst such a scenario, it is heartening that certain yogic practioners from the west, inspired by Indian ethos have us to realise the positive assets one could gain through meditation.
A passing and enchanting experience of complete relaxation. That is how most of the 50,000-plus, spread over the mainland Europe, the US and the Far East refer to this mode of understanding the life on a rare and exclusive plane or medium. And this school of thought from Norway, ACEM, is based on meditation, probing oneself in a free and frank manner which in turn indicates that meditation is neither a religion nor any other ‘ism’.
Delhi, October 19, 1998
India’s National Newspaper
This meditation is different
As a meditation technique, this one is certainly different. It is process oriented and not result oriented. It is based on the psychology of stillness and emphasises the inculcation of a free, open mental attitude. It is from – hold your breath – Norway, an European country.
“Meditation techniques differ greatly in how they are performed and how they work. In general, it appears that the results one is able to achieve by practising a meditation method depends on the specific characteristics of the method, the meditator’s psychology and his or degree of motivation to practice the technique regularly,” Mr. Hobbel says.
“The basic meditation technique has thus originated in India and is based on the mental repetition of a sound. The meditator repeats a meditation sound in his thoughts and this is then repeated with ease, without strain and without thoughts, experiences, impressions, images, bodily sensations and feelings spontaneously come and go, and influence the repetition of the meditation sound.
“Acem Meditation is a mental behaviour that provides relaxation, but its essential effects are evident in a person’s active life,” says Mr. Hobbel. “It is performed in relation to the changing conditions of the mind; for example, the stream of thoughts, images, emotion and the mood we are in will always be present in different ways during meditation, just as they are when we are not meditating.”
In Acem Meditation, the mind follows its spontaneous activity which is partly a reflection of resources, and partly unfinished business or residual tension from the individual’s past and present history. It is one way whereby an individual, through his own conscious activity, can change the psychological conditions in his or her life.
“When we meditate, we meet limitations in our personality in the form of deviation from free, open mental attitude, a tendency to concentrate or ‘float out’. In the organism, muscular tension correspond to concentration in meditation,” Mr. Hobbel stated.
Learning Acem meditation takes, place in two stages. The first is the initial stage, where one learns the basic instruction. The second stage involves learning how to use the performance principles to work through actualised tensions. “One learns to live with meditation and use it to achieve greater self awareness and growth,” Mr. Hobbel says.
From the catalogue for Mystique India 98, Spiritual Renaissance. 7th to 15th October 1998 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi
Organised by: INDIATRADE PROMOTION ORGANISATION & BHARAT NIRMAN
What is Acem?
For the long-term practitioner, the effects of Acem Meditation are even deeper and more wide-ranging. Acem’s psychological approach stimulates a fascinating process of self-exploration and self-enhancement. On this level, Acem Meditation is a way to explore aspects of the unconscious, resulting in a deeper understanding of oneself and the human condition.
New Delhi, November 17, 1998
Norwegian meditation
In the column Inner Space, Discourses on religion and philosophy
Personal growth comes about through practice of the meditation method, and not through specific states of consciousness or a `higher power’. It is not behaviour therapy because change comes about through inner mental activity as opposed to conditioning. The spontaneous activity of the mind such as thought, emotions and residual tension are present even while meditating. But the individual through his own conscious activity and external instruction, gains insight into his subconscious, changes his psychological condition and meets external challenges,” says Mr. Torbjorn Hobbel, a Norwegian teacher of Acem meditation, and specialist in Nordic languages and literatures, as well as in the history of religion.
Life positive
Vol 3, December 1998
Your guide to personal growth
Dhyana from the Midnight Sun
Describing the meditation process, Hobbel states that its aim is to provide a “free and open mental attitude”. Thoughts, he maintains, are a necessary part of the mind. “However,” he says, “even in the middle of your tumultuous thought stream, you can anchor yourself through the volitional activity of chanting the mantra.” The 50-something former college lecturer scoffs politely at the idea of enlightenment through meditation: “In meditation, the so-called brilliant light of enlightenment is very superficial. Meditation keeps alive your existential curiosity about life.”
MDC News
No 7, June 1999
Dhyana – Acem Meditation
A Quarterly Bulletin of Management Development Centre, National Buildings Construction Corporation Ltd. (A Government of India Enterprise)
It is now generally accepted that meditation techniques can be an important aid in managing stress, lowering blood pressure and mitigating other undesirable effects of the modern life style.
ACEM Meditation helps you to work through stress and tensions, and develops new perspectives and existential insights, by working through the experiences from the day, weeks and years. More than thirty years of experience have shown that ACEM Meditation is an effective way to break vicious circles and combat stress; it is a process in which you re-energise and renew yourself.
Metro, Delhi, September 13, 1999
Meditating, Norwegian style
A new method of meditation that provides 100 per cent relaxation while the practitioner is on the self-mode, Acem, is an easy to learn method. But one must find the time for it, writes GAURAV VIVEK BHATNAGAR ….
Meditation is nothing new to India. For ages people here have practised meditation in one form or the other to relax, to rejuvenate their bodies, and to increase self-understanding. And now they will have yet another form of meditation in Acem, which originated in Norway but is fast expanding all over the world due to its unique quality which allows a person to meditate while being ‘alive’ to the surroundings.
In fact, Acem has demonstrated good effects on headaches, backaches, insomnia and other stress-related symptoms too.
The style of practise also helps a person get more energy, realise and tap his potential to the full and develop a personality.
Something, which Mr. Jayaraj claims, helped his son, Anoop, become a more confident chess player.
On the technique behind Acem, Mr. Jayaraj explains that it is “not linked to any guru cult, is non-religious and process-oriented”. It involves the giving of a ‘mantra’ or method sound to a person who is then made to feel life while relaxing.
Delhi, September 27, 1999
India’s National Newspaper
Oriental wine in Occidental bottle
Meditation techniques can be an important aid in managing stress, lowering blood pressure and mitigating other undesirable effects of modern life-style, Mr. Torbjorn Hobbel from Norway said here recently.
Addressing a press conference, Mr. Hobbel, who is here to popularise a technique of meditation known as Acem meditation, said it helped in deep relaxation, better concentration, reduced stress, more energy, unproved relationships, self-awareness and fuller use of one’s potential.
Acem meditation has been developed by doctors and psychologists in Norway. The basic meditation technique originated in India and is based on the mental repetition of a sound.
But Acem has its own original approach to the teaching and understanding of the technique; Mr. Hobbel stated, adding that Acem meditation was a non-sectarian, ideologically, religiously and metaphysically neutral meditation technique based on accepted principles of Western psychology.
May 10, 2002
“A new Scandinavian style of meditation is taking India by storm.”
(This is how the BBC World Service programme Outlook introduced a broadcast on Acem Meditation)