A British doctor has stressed the significance of Transcendental Meditation in helping ease the side-effects of society's problems.

Roger Chalmers spoke to the Hamilton Rotary Club at their weekly luncheon yesterday to put across how he felt TM should be considered a true part of everyday medical treatment.

Transcendental Meditation derives from the ancient Vedic tradition of India and was introduced to the western world by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

It is a technique which, through stillness and silence, relaxes the mind and eases stress.

"The simple practice of TM can help an individual live his life more in tune with the world's natural law,'' Dr. Chalmers said.

However, the editor of three volumes of Collected Research on TM added that more than 500 studies had proven that the method can have a profound effect not only on the individual, but on communities as a whole.

"The world's diseases not only consist of conventional medical ones,'' Dr.

Chalmers said, "but ones afflicting society as well, including things such as drugs and crime.

"It was the troubling side effects of these elements that inspired me to look into complementary medicine, including TM.'' "It is a technique which induces deep rest into the person practising it and, in doing so, it counterbalances stress,'' he explained.

A general practitioner in the UK and a member of both the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of General Practitioners, Dr. Chalmers qualified in medicine at Cambridge University in 1979.

He conceded that he was "skeptical'' when first introduced to TM.

"However, after doing TM for a while,'' he said, "I noticed a significant change in my academic performance at Cambridge.'' Dr. Chalmers said he felt that TM was actually "more effective'' in dealing with the victims of drug abuse and criminals than other, more conventional forms of counselling.

He will be giving a free lecture on Transcendental Meditation in the Chamber of Commerce's boardroom tomorrow at 7.30 p.m.

All are welcome and admission is free.

HEALTH HTH