Benefits for Education

The Transcendental Meditation technique is being increasingly employed in education as a technology to facilitate optimal cognitive, intellectual, social and emotional development. Research findings include:

• Increased intelligence and creativity [236, 63, 201, 233, 238, 243, 245, 247-249]
• Improved memory, learning ability, and cognitive flexibility [22, 175-176, 236, 248, 250-251]
• Improved academic achievement in school, university, and postgraduate students [239-242, 252]
• Accelerated cognitive and self development [198, 200, 216-224, 246, 253]
• Improved attention, perception, and mind-body co-ordination [236, 63, 142, 158-159, 167, 238, 241, 243, 258-270]
• Increased orderliness and integration in brain functioning (see above) [101-104, 106-108, 119-120, 141-179]
• Improvement on both verbal-analytical and visual-spatial tasks (indicating improved functioning of both left and right cerebral hemispheres) [63, 159, 233, 243-245, 247-250, 264]
• Improved athletic performance [272-274]
• Reduced blood pressure in pre-hypertensive adolescents [29, 30, 14]
• Increased field independence (indicating greater ability to maintain broad comprehension while focusing sharply) [236, 241, 243, 260-262]
• Comprehensive benefits for mental health and well-being (see above) [22, 69-70, 75, 80, 190-193, 196-199, 201-214, 225-235]
• Greater moral maturity and higher moral reasoning [213, 223, 248, 173]
• Increased orientation towards positive values [212]
• Increased social maturity in college students [201]
• Reduced alcohol consumption, drug abuse, and smoking (see above) [51-54, 230, 303-320]
• Reduced behaviour problems in school – decreased absenteeism, rule infractions, and suspension days [234]
• Settled, positive school atmosphere conducive to successful learning [252]
• Increased harmony between students and teachers [252]
• Benefits in special and remedial education:
o Increased independence and self-supportiveness, improved self-regard, and decreased dropout rate from school in economically-deprived adolescents with learning problems [225]
o Increased intelligence and improved self-concept among children from low income families [246]
o Decreased anxiety, examination anxiety, and school dislike in children with learning problems [255]
o Improvements in children with ADHD (please see www.adhd-tm.org)
o Improvement in autism: decreased echolalic behavior [256]
o Benefits for learning disabled subjects: improvements in social behaviour, cognitive functioning, intelligence, physical health; and normalization of neuroendocrine measures [229, 100]
o Decreased stuttering [257]
o Improved social behaviour, increased self-regard, and decreased anxiety among juvenile offenders [337, 332]

Three randomized controlled studies conducted in Taiwan found that TM produced greater improvements in speed of cognitive processing, cognitive flexibility, creativity, general intelligence, practical intelligence, and field independence than either a traditional Chinese meditation technique or napping [236]. The authors note that, as in earlier research on TM and intelligence, the technique produced unexpected improvements in basic cognitive abilities that do not usually develop beyond early adolescence [236, 233, 238].

In a British study, master’s degree engineering students who learned Transcendental Meditation showed improved performance on standard examinations after six months, compared with randomly assigned controls [239].

Canadian secondary school students who practised Transcendental Meditation over a 14-week period showed improvements in intellectual performance (problem-solving ability), creativity, tolerance, self-esteem, autonomy and independence, innovation, energy levels, and ability to deal with abstract and complex situations, as well as decreased anxiety, in contrast to control students [245].

In Cambodian students taking a one-year preparatory course before university, TM led to increased intelligence and self-esteem, improved physical health, and decreased depression and anxiety, compared to control students [235, 237]

In a four-month randomized trial, adolescent African American children who learned Transcendental Meditation showed reductions in absenteeism, school rule infractions, and suspension days compared to a control group who participated in health education [234].
In a ten-year longitudinal study, university students practising the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi programme increased significantly on a measure of self development (Loevinger’s ego-development scale), in contrast to non-meditating control students at three other universities [198].

Another study of university students practising TM found that they rated important people in their lives (parents and spouse) significantly more positively than did control students [212].

Consciousness-Based Education in Practice
TM has been practically applied in schools and universities in highly diverse social and economic environments in many parts of the world, including UK, USA, India, Thailand, Cambodia, Taiwan, Australia, South Africa, Uganda, Canada, Peru, Venezuela, Bolivia, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Trinidad and Tobago, Paraguay, and Guatemala. These projects have produced exceptional standards of academic achievement, student well-being, and school harmony [www.consciousnessbasededucation.org.uk].

The longest established educational institutions employing Maharishi’s Consciousness-Based Education – Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa and Maharishi Schools in Fairfield and in Skelmersdale, Lancashire – have consistently delivered outstanding educational outcomes, and their students have repeatedly won regional, national, and international awards in many fields, including science, mathematics, creative thinking, literature, and sport. These results are particularly notable since both schools have an open admissions policy and do not select pupils by ability or background.

At Maharishi School in Lancashire in 2007, 100% of the pupils who took their GCSE examinations gained passes at grade C or above, compared with the national average of 63%. Approximately 66% of the passes were at the highest grades of A or A*; this is over three times the national figure of 19.5%. These results maintain the high standards of previous years: in 2006, all pupils gained five or more passes at grades A to C, with 58% at A or A* [www.maharishischool.com].

Maharishi School in Fairfield, Iowa has ten times the national average of graduates who are National Merit Scholar Finalists and has seen 95% of graduates accepted at four-year colleges, with senior students consistently scoring in the nation’s top 1% on standardized tests of educational development. Maharishi School students have won over 100 international, national, and state competitions for academic projects, sports, arts, and extracurricular activities. For example, in Destination ImagiNation, an international problem-solving competition, Maharishi School students have not only won the World Championship three times, but have had more top ten finishes than any other school in the world [252, www.maharishischooliowa.org, and www.mum.edu].

The TM program can also make a great contribution to calming the stress and violence that has become all too frequent in schools, especially in economically-deprived areas. Dr George Rutherford, a Washington D.C. educator and school principal for over four decades, served for 20 years as Principal of the Fletcher-Johnson Educational Centre in one of the city’s most violent areas. There he introduced Transcendental Meditation to hundreds of students and teachers as part of a unique programme of ‘quiet time’. ‘We had amazing results,’ Dr Rutherford has said. ‘I used to have to be in the streets all the time to stop the fighting, but after we started the TM programme, I didn’t have to go out there. You walk into the school and you feel it’s tension-free: a stress-free school right in the heart of the inner city, where we had plenty of violence.’ Other American schools situated in troubled areas are experiencing similarly positive results, including reduced student suspensions, improved teacher attendance, improved school environment, and fewer fights. Two recent studies have shown that Transcendental Meditation positively influences emotional development in early adolescent African-American children in a school setting where its practice is supported by the administration [www.tmeducation.org].

By incorporating TM into the daily curriculum, Consciousness-Based Education progressively develops integration in brain functioning—the essential foundation for more effective learning, enhanced personal growth, and greater success in any field of life (see ‘Physiological Changes during TM’ above). A recent randomized controlled trial found that college students who practised TM over a three-month period showed increased scores on an electroencephalographic (EEG) index of brain integration compared to non-meditating control students [163], corroborating the findings of earlier studies [164-165]. The TM group also showed reduced sleepiness and had no increase in physiological stress levels (measured by skin resistance responses) despite impending final examinations, in contrast to the expected increase seen in controls [163].

Reduced Smoking, Alcohol Consumption, and Drug Abuse

Transcendental Meditation has consistently been found to reduce the use of tobacco, alcohol, and non-prescribed drugs in a wide variety of settings and populations [51-54, 190, 230, 276, 303-320]. A systematic review and meta-analysis of 198 studies (including 19 on TM) found that Transcendental Meditation produced marked, sustained, and highly significant reductions in smoking, alcohol consumption, and illicit drug use, with larger effects than other treatments including standard therapies, other forms of meditation, relaxation training, educational programmes, anxiety management, counselling to counteract peer pressure, biofeedback, hypnosis, acupuncture and sensory deprivation [51].

Over an 18-24 month period, abstinence ranged from 51% to 89% for people practising Transcendental Meditation, compared to 21% for good conventional substance abuse programmes. In contrast to high early relapse rates with standard programmes, reductions in smoking and alcohol consumption with TM increased gradually over time, while initial marked reductions in illicit drug use were sustained [51]. Overall, research in this area indicates that the longer individuals practise Transcendental Meditation, the more likely it is that they will stop or markedly reduce smoking, alcohol consumption, or drug abuse [51, 54].

Improved Occupational Health and Job Performance

by Roger Chalmers, MD

Studies conducted in business and industry have shown that TM improves occupational health and performance [52, 70, 190, 253, 275-298]. Findings include:
• Improved job performance [276, 279]
• Increased job satisfaction [190, 279]
• Improved relationships at work [190, 279]
• Increased productivity [279]
• Increased employee effectiveness [190]
• Increased contribution of managers to the organization [276]
• Improved leadership [278]
• Enhanced management development [253, 281-298, 166]
• Improved physical and mental health and well-being [52, 70, 190, 275-277]
• Improved health-related behaviour in employees and managers [52, 190, 276]
• Reduced stress in employees and managers [190, 275-276]
• Reduced job tension, anxiety, and depression [70, 190, 277]
• Increased energy and decreased fatigue [190, 276]
• Reduced difficulty in obtaining employment for people with post-traumatic stress disorder [69]

In a five-month study conducted by researchers from Japan's National Institute of Industrial Health (a branch of the Japanese Ministry of Labour), industrial employees practising Transcendental Meditation showed increased emotional stability and reductions in anxiety, tendency to neurosis, impulsiveness, physical complaints, insomnia and smoking compared to controls. Depression also decreased in the TM group, despite lower initial levels [52, 70]. Overall, employees practising Transcendental Meditation improved significantly on 10 out of 14 dimensions, whereas controls improved on only one [70].

Another study examined stress, health, and employee development in two settings in the automotive industry: a large manufacturing plant of a Fortune 100 corporation and a small sales distribution company. Employees who learned Transcendental Meditation showed significantly greater improvement than matched control subjects on a wide variety of measures, including improved general health and reductions in physiological arousal, anxiety, job tension, insomnia, fatigue, and consumption of cigarettes and hard liquor [190]. Practice of Transcendental Meditation also led to increased job satisfaction, improved employee effectiveness, and better work and personal relationships, confirming the findings of an earlier study [190, 279].

Further analysis identified three factors underlying this wide range of improvements through TM: ‘occupational coherence’, ‘physiological settledness’, and ‘job and life satisfaction’. The effect size of TM in reducing physiological arousal, anxiety, and alcohol/cigarette use, and in enhancing personal development, was substantially larger than for other forms of meditation and relaxation reported in four previous statistical meta-analyses [190].

A three-month prospective study at a medical equipment company compared managers who learned Transcendental Meditation to matched controls who were similar in age, education level, race, marital status, hours worked per week, job type and level of responsibility in the organization. Managers who practised TM made an increased ‘organizational contribution’ compared to controls, as measured by a combined index of productivity, leadership practices, work relationships, vitality, mental health, job satisfaction, and anger. TM also led to reduced alcohol consumption; healthier habits of exercise, diet, and sleep; decreased serum cholesterol; increased energy and less fatigue; improved mental health; reduced stress-related physical symptoms; and reduction in perceived stress (the degree to which situations were perceived as overloading, uncontrollable or unpredictable) [276].

In a randomized study of employees at a high-security government agency, subjects who learned Transcendental Meditation showed reductions in anxiety and depression after 12 weeks, in comparison to controls who participated in an educational corporate stress-management programme. When retested after three years, the TM group showed not only sustained reductions in anxiety and depression, but also improved self-concept compared to controls [277]. Consistent with these findings, a controlled prospective study of employees at a South African firm found that TM was effective in reducing psychological stress and decreasing both systolic and diastolic blood pressure over a five-month period [275]. In another study, employees at a food sales company who learned TM showed greater improvement on a composite measure of leadership behaviour over an eight-month period than non-meditating controls [278].

Development of a company's human resources through Transcendental Meditation has been shown to produce marked improvements in corporate health and performance. For example, in a medium-sized chemical manufacturing company, productivity and profitability increased steadily as the number of employees practising Transcendental Meditation rose over six years to 80% of the total workforce. During this period, productivity increased by 52%, annual sales per employee grew by 88%, while days lost through illness or injury decreased by 50%, and absenteeism declined by 89% [285].

Effective Rehabilitation of Offenders
Research spanning more than 35 years demonstrates that Transcendental Meditation is effective in correcting and preventing criminal behaviour. These studies have used some of the most sophisticated and widely validated measures of mental health and developmental maturity available in the social sciences [193, 321-341].

A study conducted at Harvard University on maximum security inmates in Massachusetts showed that the criminal mindset can be altered by Transcendental Meditation. Prisoners who learned the technique significantly improved on measures of psychopathology, including decreased aggression, anxiety, and schizophrenic symptoms. Furthermore, Transcendental Meditation increased their self development by more than one level on Loevinger’s ego (self) development scale—from the dependent, exploitative orientation that is commonly found in criminals to the more responsible, self-monitoring, self-respecting, and communicative orientation of law-abiding citizens. Such holistic effects on development in adults are remarkable, especially among people previously thought to be most resistant to change [327-328].

In another maximum security prison study, inmates who learned Transcendental Meditation showed reductions in anxiety, resentment, negativism, suspicion, verbal hostility, neuroticism, and tendency to assault, as well as decreased insomnia and improved quality of sleep compared to controls [193, 324].

Transcendental Meditation can also facilitate rehabilitation of juvenile offenders: young people referred to juvenile court for a legal offence showed improved social behaviour and increased self-regard after learning TM. Anxiety levels were also reduced, a result corroborated by a later study [337, 332].

Both previous and subsequent research strongly supports these findings [321-313, 325-326, 329-331, 333-336, 338-341]. A narrative and quantitative review of the application of TM in eight correctional settings involving almost 1500 inmates found that the technique leads to positive changes in health, psychological development, and behaviour [322]. Another review examining changes in brain chemistry of criminals found that stress-related neuroendocrine abnormalities known to be associated with aggression and crime were alleviated by Transcendental Meditation [341].

The ultimate test for any rehabilitation programme is whether it reduces the frequency with which former offenders commit new crimes and return to prison (recidivism). Two studies, one with a 15-year follow-up period after release, found that TM markedly decreased recidivism rates, with up to 47% reduction compared to controls participating in other treatment programmes [321, 323, 329]. In keeping with these results, a large scale study of 11,000 prisoners and 900 prison officers in Senegal found that Transcendental Meditation reduced recidivism rates to only 8%, as well as markedly decreasing prison violence and health problems [326].

In a pioneering, community-based rehabilitation programme, six Missouri judges have sentenced over 100 probationers, whose offences range from drunken driving to manslaughter, to learn TM. The programme has had remarkable success, with extremely low rates of re-offending based on promotion of more balanced, successful, and law-abiding lives for participants [325].

Normalization of weight

More Effective Weight Reduction 

Obesity is a major and rapidly growing problem in modern society, with multiple health risks including increased cardiovascular disease, diabetes, musculoskeletal problems, and cancer. Current approaches to management have consistently proved inadequate for many people. A randomized controlled trial conducted in Germany examined weight changes and psychological health in two groups of markedly overweight subjects who were given the same calorie-controlled diet. Over a four-month period, subjects assigned to learn Transcendental Meditation lost more than twice as much weight as non-meditating controls (7.5 kg versus 3.1 kg). Evaluation of mental health showed reduction of anxiety and depression, increased emotional stability, and other positive effects in the TM group [57].