Landmark Research Shows Transcendental Meditation Groups Decrease Stress in the Nation
An assembly of the square root of the US population (1725 people) took place from 2007 to 2011 at Maharishi International University in Iowa. All the participants practiced the Transcendental Meditation technique and an advanced technique of TM (the TM-Sidhi technique).
Statistics on multiple indications of stress in the nation were studied before, during, and after that assembly. The results, published in the World Journal of Social Science on December 14, 2022, found that multiple stress indicators decrease when the square root of 1% of the US population practices these techniques of the TM program together.
National indicators of stress measured from 2000 to 2006 included homicide, sexual assault, assault, robbery, drug-related fatalities, vehicle-related fatalities, and children’s fatalities caused by injury. Research that monitored these indicators showed that the reduction of negativity in the U.S. took place precisely when the critical threshold of √1% of the U.S. population was assembled in 2007. In 2013 when the number of participants decreased below that threshold, negative indicators in the nation abruptly increased and remained high through the conclusion of the research in 2016.
Hundreds of studies published previously have shown there is an increase of coherence in the individual who practices the TM technique, indicated by such measures as increased brain coherence, creativity, IQ, and emotional and social intelligence, and decreased anxiety, depression, anger, PTSD symptoms, prison recidivism, drug and alcohol addictions, and sickness rates in all categories of disease.
More coherent individuals form a more coherent society but now it is obvious that a transition to a coherent society is enabled by just a small percentage of the population experiencing personal coherence. Just as a lowering of temperature to 32 degrees can change water to ice and the raising of temperature above 32 degrees can melt ice back into water, a phase transition in the character of the nation changes with a √1% effect of increased coherence in consciousness.
The study’s co-author Dr. Kenneth Cavanaugh explained the controls: “This study used state-of-the-art methods of time series regression analysis for eliminating potential alternative explanations due to intrinsic pre-existing trends and fluctuations in the data. We carefully studied potential alternative explanations in terms of changes in economic conditions, political leadership, population demographics, and policing strategies. None of these factors could account for the results.”
This study is the longest and most comprehensive of 50 studies that have demonstrated the Maharishi Effect, named in honor of Transcendental Meditation and Maharishi International University founder Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
The lead author of the study, Dr. David Orme-Johnson, commented: “What is unique about this study is that the results are so visually striking and on such a large scale. We see reduced stress on multiple indicators at the predicted time for the entire United States over a five-year period. And when the size of the group declined, national stress began increasing again. Clearly, the group was causing the effect.”
Although assembling enough participants for long periods of time requires an investment of money, Dr. Orme-Johnson points out, “This is a lot of money, but the savings from the 10% reduction in crimes would save over 200 billion dollars, not to mention all the other savings from reducing other sources of stress in the country.”
