• Overview
• Theoretical Foundations
• Conflict Resolution
• Achieving World Peace
• Charles N. Alexander
• Review of Research
• Principal Findings
• Summaries of 13 Studies

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Maharishi Effect

Improved U.S.–Soviet Relations

During months following periods when the group of participants in Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program at Maharishi International University in Iowa reached approximately the square root of 1% of the U.S. population, analysis of data provided by the Zurich Project on East-West Relations indicated a significant improvement in U.S. actions towards the Soviet Union (upper graph). When the group size increased further, Soviet actions towards the U.S. improved (lower graph).

Reference: Gelderloos P., Cavanaugh, K.L., & Davies, J.L. (1990).

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Population influenced: United States and Soviet Union.

Coherence group: Coherence-creating group of participants in the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program at Maharishi International University in Fairfield, Iowa, U.S.A.

Dependent variables: Monthly ratings, obtained from the Zurich Project on East-West Relations, of all interactions of the U.S. towards the Soviet Union and of the Soviet Union towards the U.S., 1979–1986.

Experimental design: Box-Jenkins time series impact assessment analysis of the size of the TM and TM-Sidhi program group distributed by quartile, using a simultaneous equation model.

Results: During the months following periods when the size of the coherence-creating group was above the second and third quartiles, corresponding approximately to the square root of 1% of the U.S. population, there was a significant improvement in U.S. actions towards the U.S.S.R. In months after the group size was above the third quartile, Soviet actions towards the U.S. also improved. The overall impact of the coherence-creating group on the U.S.A.-U.S.S.R. interaction was highly significant (p<.00001).

Conclusions: The effect of collective practice of the TM and TM-Sidhi program improves U.S.-Soviet relations, as indicated by analysis of a data bank developed by independent investigators.

Reference: Gelderloos P., Cavanaugh, K.L., & Davies, J.L. (1990). The dynamics of U.S.-Soviet relations, 1979–1986: Effects of reducing social stress through the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program. In Proceedings of the American Statistical Association, Alexandria, VA: American Statistical Association.

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