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Research on the Transcendental Meditation Program in Education |
Increased Holistic Intelligence
through the Transcendental Meditation®
Technique
Submitted to the Graduate School
of Maharishi International University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
Finding: Three studies conducted with 362 high school students in Taiwan found that regular practice of the Transcendental Meditation program produced highly significant increases in six different aspects of intelligence over a six-month to one-year period. In all three studies the students were randomly assigned to a Transcendental Meditation group or to a no treatment group. In one of the studies a third control group napped instead of meditating while in another study a third control group practiced contemplation meditation. In all studies the Transcendental Meditation program increased holistic intelligence more than any other group. The six aspects of intelligence studied were found to measure different aspects of intelligence. The chart above shows how the Transcendental Meditation program improved all aspects of intelligence compared to the no treatment control for all three studies combined: increased Creative Intelligence (Test of Creative Thinking-Drawing Production); increased Experiential Intelligence (decreased state and trait anxiety); increased Contextual Intelligence (Field Independence, Embedded Figures Test); increased Practical Intelligence (Constructive Thinking Inventory); increased Physiological Intelligence (Inspection Time); and increased Intellectual Intelligence (Culture Fair Intelligence Test).
Interpretation: The Transcendental Meditation program provides the direct experience of the field of pure intelligence, the self-referral level of consciousness, at the basis of the mind. Pure intelligence is the holistic level of intelligence at the source of all expressed values of intelligence, corresponding to the state of restful alertness in the nervous system, which retrains the brain to function in a more coherent style. The holistic improvements in all expressed values of intelligence found in this study corroborate the results of previous research showing increased creativity, increased ability to experience the world more coherently as indicated by reduced anxiety, increased Field Independence, increased ability to succeed in practical situations in one's personal life and on the job, improved physiological functioning, and increased IQ and improved academic performance.
Reference: Tim, S.K. (1995). "Testing and Developing Intelligence in the Chinese Culture with Maharishi's Vedic Psychology: Three Experiments Using Transcendental Meditation." Doctoral Dissertation, Maharishi University of Management.
Department of Education, Maharishi University of Management, Fairfield, IA 52557
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