In many of our nation’s schools, students enter buildings and pass through metal detectors in the presence of armed guards. Gang activity, violence, and stress can appear to be the norm. Declining test scores and student dropout rates  are symptoms that tell of schools in crisis. Increasing num­bers of students deal with the challenges of depression, stress-related disorders, and drug use.

What if there were a better way? Imagine hallways filled with a calm and peaceful energy, students engaged in learning, an absence of violence, and a presence of creativity, increased intel­ligence, and academic performance. Sound too good to be true—like a line from the old John Lennon song, “Imagine”? Think again. Researchers all over the country are reporting amazing results from the simple practice of teaching students to consistently take quiet time during the school day to sit in the silence. Some programs call this a time to practice the relaxation response, others focus on mind­fulness, and some even boldly designate this as a time for medi­tation.

The Antidote to Stress

School programs to help students learn to deal with stress are not a new development. Massachusetts General Hospital led the way in the 1980s with its stress-reduction programs. However, the demand for these programs has significantly increased in the twenty-first century. Dr. John Hagelin, eminent physicist, educator, and president of the David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace, examines the need for this type of education: “According to the former Surgeon General, we are living in an epidemic of stress and stress-related disease. Our children are most vulnerable to it. In the United States, ten million children are medicated for depression, five million have been diagnosed with ADHD, and four million of these children are pre­scribed Ritalin, which has recently come into question. Our children need a simple, effective way to combat stress and promote health and optimal brain func­tion.”

Much of the research in the field of optimal brain function and the ability to combat stress started in the 1960s and 1970s with Dr. Herbert Benson’s research in the field of mind/ body medicine. In conjunction with Harvard Medical School, Benson’s research linked stress to physical health and proved that using the mind in a certain way can be useful in countering unhealthy stress. Benson’s study extracted several key elements from meditation practices and turned them into his now famous “relaxation response.”

Transcendental Meditation (TM) was among the meditation practices Benson studied, but he recognized that this method was not unique. There were universal elements found in the meditative practices of all spiritual paths, in almost every culture, and different forms of meditation and relax­ation could elicit the same benefits. Benson concluded that two basic steps were essential: the rep­etition of a sound, word, or phrase that gives one a sense of comfort or peace, and the passive setting aside of intruding thoughts and returning to the repetition. Dr. Benson measured metabo­lism, blood pressure, heart rate, brain waves, and rate of breath­ing—both when the subjects sat quietly for twenty minutes and when they meditated for twenty minutes. His findings were remarkable.

Through the simple act of changing their thought patterns, the subjects experienced decreases in their metabolism, rate of breathing, and heart rate, and had slower brain waves. These changes appeared to be the oppo­site of the commonly known “fight-or-flight” stress response.

In the 1980s, The Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine’s Education Initiative (EI), at Massachusetts General Hospital, was founded in an effort to bring Dr. Benson’s relaxation response into the school environ­ment to help educators and stu­dents manage daily stress and improve academic performance and health. Since its inception almost twenty years ago, the EI has been well received by hun­dreds of school personnel and students of all ages and back­grounds.

Director of the Benson-Henry Education Initiative, Reana Chudnofsky shared: “Our goal is to make students aware that the relaxation response is the antidote to stress. We keep our curriculum current with today’s students. Today’s kids multitask. We teach mini-relaxation techniques. For example, we encourage students to use a ‘blue dot,’ a simple sticker placed on their iPods, cell phones, or Blackberries, as a reminder to take a breath and be mindful. We ask them to be aware of their bodies and notice things like how rigid the body can become when they are involved in activities like text messaging. We encourage them to focus: instead of multi-tasking, single-task.” EI curriculums offer a variety of strategies to help stu­dents become aware of thoughts and behaviors that keep them from maximizing their potential.

Activities are designed to meet the needs of different learning styles. Guided imagery, move­ment, a focus on positive think­ing, and gratitude are elements of the curriculum. Controlled research shows that students trained in these skills have improved academic performance, better work habits, improved memory, increased self-esteem, and decreased perception of stress.

Senior Director of the Ben­son-Henry Institute, Marilyn Wilshire notes, “Today’s students and teachers face increasing amounts of stress, and it is palpa­ble. Since 9/11, our center has noticed a dramatic increase in the number of calls we receive. We face a financial problem in getting our programs into schools. The federal government has set aside programs for wellness, but that money is not finding its way to stress prevention or school pro­grams. The Institute constantly seeks financial support.”

Transcendental Meditation in the Schools

Across the nation, privately funded projects are stepping in to fill the gap. Perhaps the most publicized meditation method currently taught in schools is Transcendental Meditation, introduced nearly fifty years ago by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and made famous in the 1970s when the Beatles announced their involvement in the practice. Today, there is resurgence in interest in meditation. The David Lynch Foundation is spearheading this resurgence.

The foundation had its incep­tion in 2005, when filmmaker David Lynch announced that he had been practicing the Transcendental Meditation tech­nique twice a day for thirty-two years and was convinced that the use of this technique could bring peace to the world. In July of that year, Lynch launched the David Lynch Foundation For Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace. The purpose of the foundation is “to provide scholarships for school-wide pro­grams in public, charter, and pri­vate schools throughout the United States and around the world, and to provide funds for universities and research institu­tions to assess the effects of the program on creativity, intelli­gence, academic performance, ADHD and other learning disor­ders, anxiety, depression, sub­stance abuse, and eating disor­ders.”

For the last two years, the director has toured the world, raising millions for his charity. So far, the foundation has taught Transcendental Meditation to more than 107,000 thousand stu­dents in thirty countries around the world. Now the foundation’s immediate goal is to expand this initiative to one million youths, especially those who are at risk or are socio-economically disadvan­taged. Lynch explains: “In today’s world of fear and uncertainty, every child should have one class period a day to dive within him­self and experience the field of silence—bliss—the enormous reservoir of energy and intelli­gence that is deep within all of us. This is the way to save the com­ing generation.”

Controversy or Consciousness?

Unlike the Benson-Henry Institute, The Lynch Foundation does not shy away from the word “meditation.” Its programs have a single focus of teaching Transcen­dental Meditation to school stu­dents. The idea of applying con­templation techniques to educa­tion always brings up the question of the separation of church and state. Is this traditional boundary threatened by using approaches in secular education that are similar to those developed in spiritual traditions?

Proponents of the Transcen­dental Meditation technique find entrance into the public sector by taking the stand that the TM technique is not a religion or phi­losophy and does not involve concentration, control of the mind, or change in lifestyle. In the school meditation projects, students are given the option of participating in the program or an alternative activity provided by the schools.

Researchers argue that these activities increase concentration, learning, well-being, and social and emotional growth, and we cheat our students and society when we exclude this approach. Studies have been conducted on the benefits of meditation pro­grams at more than 200 indepen­dent universities and research institutions worldwide in the past 35 years, and the National Institutes of Health has awarded over $25 million to research the prevention-oriented health bene­fits of these programs. Research findings focused specifically on Transcendental Meditation include the following:

A two-year study of 250 stu­dents at American University evaluated the effects of TM on student health and development, measuring blood pressure, health behaviors (smoking, alcohol, and substance usage), psychological stress, and academic achievement. The study found significant improvement among students practicing TM.

A pilot study found a fifty per­cent reduction in ADHD symp­toms among children practicing TM, including improvements in attention, working memory, organization, and behavior regu­lation.

Research at the Medical College of Georgia found re­duced absenteeism, school rule infractions, and suspensions among students practicing TM, as well as decreases in systolic blood pressure in adolescents at risk for hypertension.

A University of Connecticut study in three high schools showed that at-risk students decreased their levels of stress, anxiety, hyperactivity, and emo­tional problems over four months’ practice of the TM technique, as compared with controls.

Early pilot projects in Detroit and Washington, D.C. were so successful that many other schools started to request the program. Once David Lynch Foundation funding became available for these in-school TM programs, the waiting list expanded rapidly—and now includes a hundred schools in the New York City area alone.

Dr. Hagelin also shares impor­tant anecdotal evidence: “Beyond these statistical results, perhaps the most heartwarming signs of suc­cess are the experiences of stu­dents and faculty who learn the TM program in the schools. Describing her ‘much-improved mood,’ one student said, ‘It’s either TM or it’s a miracle!’ Others commented, ‘I feel that I now can tap into that place of rest and peace; my brain felt almost perfect,’ and ‘All the weight of a stressful day comes off my shoul­ders and I can relax and see things more clearly.’”

Imagine the Change

The interest in Transcendental Meditation has reached a level that might have seemed impossi­ble and certainly implausible in the 1970s. Who could have imag­ined that in April, 2009, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr would headline a “Change Be­gins Within” concert at Radio City Music Hall with the inten­tion of raising enough money to teach meditation techniques to children on every continent? Lynch calls the venture a “cele­bration of consciousness, creativ­ity, and bliss.” McCartney and Starr shared the limelight with the icons of a new generation. Among those included were Russell Simmons, Sheryl Crow, Donovan, Eddie Vedder, Ben Harper, Moby, Bettye LaVette, Jim James, Jerry Seinfeld, and Mike Love of the Beach Boys. One cannot help but feel that John Lennon and George Harrison were there, too, in spirit. The global press was enthralled by the historic reunion of the remaining Beatles, and responded with media coverage around the world. Certainly, the star power helps to provide posi­tive role models, motivating stu­dents to become involved in a meditation practice. Dr. Hagelin spoke on the success of the con­cert, “We expect that the enthu­siasm and publicity generated by this concert will help raise the funds needed to implement the first phase of the Foundation’s global initiative.”

Those who practice medita­tion are not surprised that science is confirming what they know to be true from experience. It works! In the silence, one finds transformational power—the power to guide and inform one’s life. While many seem to have no concerns about medicating young people, others ask, are there alter­natives? Why not meditate instead of medicate? Our youth deserve the tools to help them unlock their potential and face the chal­lenges of our stress-filled world.

There are many forms of med­itation, and all can lead to the same place of inner knowing. Ernest Holmes expressed the uni­versal nature of this truth, “Every path leads us back to the one point, and we must learn to real­ize the near presence, the great reality. There through the door of our own thought, we enter into the Universal Consciousness, into a complete realization of life and truth, of love and beauty, and as we sit in the silence of our own souls and listen, it will be the greatest thing that we will ever do.” Our young people need the opportunity to discover a path to connect to their inner wisdom. The TM method is simple, funds are available, and the momentum for these programs is building. Perhaps one of these programs, or a similar option, would be effec­tive in a school in your commu­nity. It seems the change has begun. As the consciousness expands and elevates, we are closer to the world we once could only imagine.

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