Meditation Can Change The World
New research shows meditation
leads to higher consciousness
By Frederick Travis, Ph.D. and Ken Chawkin
Newlife magazine
September - October , '03
How many individuals today are leading peaceful lives in this increasingly stressful world? How many can say they are happy and don't resort to some form of substance abuse, or to bending the truth a little—or a lot to fulfill their personal desires? Normally we look outside ourselves to solve problems and end up paying a price due to the lack of effective solutions. How to break this cycle? Can meditation provide much-needed relief by releasing stress from our physiology? Is there a technique that enlivens the full potential of the brain and allows us to experience life in a holistic peaceful way? Yes!
Meditation has a long and respected history, and fortunately in these frenetic times, more and more people are realizing its importance. However, unlike times past, there is now a substantial body of systematic research that shows practical benefits of meditation practice for both the mind and body. Qualitatively distinct inner states during meditation practice, and the resulting enrichment of daily activity are now the subject of systematic scientific investigation. Research first published in the 1960's began reporting distinct patterns of brain wave, breath rate, and heart rate during meditation practice. Fast-forward 30 years and the research continues to move ahead, and some recent discoveries are showing more clearly the long-term effects of meditation. It's one thing to find that something interesting is going on in the brain while one meditates. But now, research is reporting that people who have been practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique over a period of years don't just have unique brain waves during meditation but also during daily activity. Further, specific testing suggests that their brains are functioning very efficiently.
Although this is recent research, in one sense it's the oldest news of all, because the ancient Vedic literature from which Transcendental Meditation comes, predicted that practice eventually leads to enlightenment. Think of it as a fifth state of consciousness, different from waking, sleeping, and dreaming, as well as different from the transcendence experienced during meditation.
Vedic literature refers to it as “Cosmic Consciousness.” People describe it as a continuum of silent, uninvolved inner self-awareness along with ongoing waking and sleeping states. They report deep inner peace, “bliss,” and a sense of being infinite and eternal. Their individual self is not bound by time, space, or even the boundaries of its own body.
In a study published last November in the journal, Biological Psychology, brain wave patterns of 17 persons who said they had the experience of Cosmic Consciousness on a regular basis were compared to two experimental control groups. Just to make sure it wasn't simply something they were imagining, the subjects were asked specific questions to see how well their experience correlated with that described in the Vedic literature. During the study, brainwaves were recorded during meditation and during computer tasks and things were found that were never seen before. Their brain wave patterns showed high frontal coherence in most frequencies, upper theta, alpha, beta, and gamma, during both meditation practice and during mental tasks. While these patterns are often seen during meditation, these Cosmic Consciousness subjects had these patterns of coherence all the time.
Changes in frontal coherence were also associated with more efficient processing during the computer tasks. Studies show that as people anticipate a mental task, their brains start to become more active, even though it isn't yet time to perform the task. The brains of the 17 subjects didn't become active until precisely the moment that they needed to perform the task, resulting in faster performance. This research suggests that the human brain has an innate capacity to function at much higher levels; where mental processes become very calm, precise, and efficient, almost frictionless, without common anxieties, frustrations, or unhappiness.
So what's the next step? The goal now is to use these brain measures to clearly define higher human potential. These very important states of mind and body are part of our birthright, yet they have been outside of systematic scientific study. With these recent brainwave findings, it is the delight of science to be able to objectively verify growth of higher human functioning.
THE TM TECHNIQUE
While there are many forms of meditation, the one most widely researched in our time is the Transcendental Meditation technique. Whereas most employ some form of effort, contemplation or concentration, TM is unique in that it is effortless, relying on the natural tendency of the mind to go to finer more enjoyable levels of experience. Brought to the west by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, this simple mental procedure is practiced twice a day for 20 minutes while sitting comfortably in a chair. More than five million people worldwide have learned TM, taught in a 7-step course by qualified teachers.
Over the past decade, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded close to $20 million for research on TM, which is one of the most effective modes of complementary and alternative medicine. Over 600 studies have been published in scientific journals showing that Transcendental Meditation improves nearly every aspect of mental and bodily health. It has been shown to lower high blood pressure, reduce hypertension, and reverse risk factors for heart disease and atherosclerosis. It also improves mental faculties such as intelligence, memory, creativity and decision-making. Further research shows that TM reduces prison recidivism, substance abuse, and the need for health-care usage. In summary, TM leads to holistic development of the brain and behavior.
Research documents that only the experience of transcendental consciousness leads to total brain development. “The total brain gets enlivened during the practice of TM,” says Dr. Arenander, Director of The Brain Research Institute of The Maharishi University. “We don't see this in any other system of mind-body development.” The benefits of TM practice are rapid, cumulative and sustainable. This enhancement of brain function occurs naturally without any effort. “Earlier studies found that distinct EEG amplitude and coherence patterns are associated with transcendence during the practice of TM,” says Dr. Travis, Director of The Consciousness and Cognition Lab. “This study shows for the first time that the practice of TM eventually leads to a new style of brain functioning in which these integrated brain patterns are sustained during daily activity.”
These results are significant because modern science has now begun to validate the experiences of higher states of consciousness esteemed throughout the ages in most traditions around the world as enlightenment. Higher states have been recorded in Dr. Travis's groundbreaking study in these individuals as the experience of deep inner peace, bliss, unbounded awareness, and an intimate connectedness with all of nature.
It turns out TM is good not only for the individual but also for society and the world. In 1974, social scientists were surprised to discover an interesting effect of TM practice. In 4 cities where 1% of the population was experiencing this state of inner calm, or transcendental consciousness, the beneficial effects extended to the environment‹the crime rate dropped 8%. Subsequent studies confirmed that when 1% of certain city populations were practicing TM twice a day the crime rate went down while the national average continued to climb. When the more advanced TM-Sidhis program, including Yogic Flying, (derived from Patanjali's Yoga Sutras), was introduced and performed in large groups, violence, disharmony and terrorism were reduced around the world, as reported in top peer-reviewed journals. With this advanced program, only the square root of 1% of a given population was needed to effect a phase transition from social incoherence to coherence, from war to peace.
How can a small group of people have such a large effect? In the Vedic text of the Yoga Sutras this phenomenon is explained. In the vicinity of coherence (Yoga), hostile tendencies are eliminated. (Yoga Sutra 2.35). Modern science also provides an explanation. Quantum mechanics shows how this phenomenon, called the Meissner Effect after the scientist who discovered it, functions.
A common example is the case of a superconductor. When a magnet comes in the vicinity of a conducting wire at room temperature, magnetic induction occurs, penetrating and disrupting the electrical field. In a superconductor, the electrical current continues to flow unimpeded, without resistance. When a magnetic field is brought near the superconductor, the electrons around the periphery effortlessly, automatically, and collectively change their spin direction to repel the magnetic field. The internal system remains highly ordered, essentially impenetrable. This is the Meissner Effect.
THE MAHARISHI EFFECT
Human consciousness appears to have the ability to create this same effect of coherence and invincibility in collective consciousness. When a group of meditators, allow their minds to transcend the ordinary thinking level, their awareness identifies with the underlying Unified Field of all the laws of nature, transcendental consciousness. This experience creates increased orderliness in the individual and collective consciousness. When the square root of only 1% of a population gather together to practice the more advanced TM-Sidhi program, including Yogic Flying, the effect is even more dramatic.
Over 50 studies have shown that violence on different levels: city, state, nation, and the world can be reduced by this consciousness-based technology. To cite examples, the degree of violence in a major crime center like Washington, DC, (Social Indicators Research 47, 1999) or war deaths during the Lebanon war, (Journal of Conflict Resolution 32,1988) all dropped dramatically in inverse proportion to the number of peacemakers collectively practicing Yogic Flying. Scientists named this transition from incoherence and disharmony to coherence and harmony in society the Maharishi Effect, in honor of the man who predicted it over 40 years ago‹Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
Maharishi is now organizing 40,000 Yogic Flyers in India and 200 in each of the 3000 major cities of the world. Together, they will enliven the underlying unified field of nature, transcendental consciousness, and thereby neutralize the negativity in world consciousness. Maharishi has been saying on his weekly global press conferences that a few lighted lamps here and there are enough to remove the darkness. Even if it's been dark for a thousand years, electricity is available, so why not use it.
THE INDIVIDUAL IS COSMIC
The ancient text of Ayur-Veda proclaims, “The individual is cosmic,”Yatha pinde, tatha Brahmande, or “as is the microcosm, so is the macrocosm; as is the body, so is the cosmic body.” Nearly every religious tradition echoes this same sentiment. For example, the Bible states, Man is made in the image of God. We need to realize this in our lives and manifest it in the world around us. Increasing numbers of enlightened individuals here and there can transform our planet from one dominated for millennia by ignorance, fear and violence, to one of knowledge, happiness and harmony. The choice has always been ours. Each one of us can make a difference. All the old approaches like treaties and peace conferences have repeatedly failed, and military force, no matter how well intentioned, seems only to exacerbate matters. A spiritual revolution in individual and collective consciousness is clearly what's needed. It is the only lasting solution that can save the planet from destroying itself. A dramatic change for the better is possible for individuals and for the world. Transcendental Meditation is an effective and fulfilling way to make this happen.
Ken Chawkin received his BA in English at Loyola College in Montreal, Canada, in 1971, and an MA in education from Maharishi University of Management (M.U.M.) in 1986. He has been a TM Instructor, Ayurvedic Health Technician, Reading and Writing Facilitator, and is currently a part time graduate student in Vedic Studies while working as a publicist for M.U.M. in Fairfield, Iowa. He can be reached at: kchawkin@mum.edu.
Frederick Travis, Ph.D. in Psychology is a leading researcher in consciousness studies and Transcendental Meditation research. To find out more information on TM research visit www.tm.org.
