Education News: Top Stories

Maharishi University curriculum includes study of meditation
by Tina Hesman

The Kansas City Star Translate This Article
25 March 2005

On 25 March 2005 The Kansas City Star reported: Maharishi University of Management hopes to measure students' brain activity and issue them 'brain report cards' as a new way to determine how their educational experience is affecting their brain. The University, which includes the Transcendental Meditation Programme (TM) as a part of their curriculum, holds that the mental technique can increase academic performance, improve judgment, and develop decision-making skills. It is a joy for Global Good News service to feature this news, which indicates the success of the life-supporting programmes Maharishi has designed to bring fulfilment to the field of education.

The article, which was reprinted from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, noted that increased scientific attention is being focused on the changes that occur in the brain during Transcendental Meditation, and how those changes actually impact intelligence and creativity.

The article quoted Dr Robert Schneider, director of the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention at Maharishi University of Management, as saying that TM practitioners reach a fourth state of consciousness that can be detected by specific brainwave patterns and changes in metabolism.

Schneider gave reporter Hesman a run-down of the scientifically validated benefits of the Transcendental Meditation Programme: 'reduction in stress hormones, lower blood pressure, slowing or reversal of hardening of the arteries, lower rates of smoking and alcohol abuse, reduced death rate from heart disease, lower hospitalization rates for cancer and psychiatric diseases, and reduced rates of infectious diseases'.

Now scientists want to verify the effects of TM on mental capability. Schneider and Travis, a neuroscientist at the university, are coordinating studies at a number of different hospitals and universities to determine whether the Transcendental Meditation Programme really affects the brain and body the way they think it does.

The article also noted that Maharishi University of Management is unique in that it offers students organic vegetarian meals in the cafeteria, encourages going to bed by 10 p.m., and provdes time for all students to meditate twice a day. The idea is to culture a healthy environment for learning and mental growth.
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