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Students and faculty enjoy great benefits from the Transcendental Meditation Programme Though skeptical, alternative education principal for a school district in Arizona, Robert Mackay, listened to a teacher tell him about the benefits of Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation technique. According to the Arizona Daily Star, his 'grave doubts' were dispelled after 'he heard the pitch, including testimonials from schools around the nation using it with populations no less difficult than his'. Mackay responded by learning the technique himself along with school faculty. He personally enjoyed the benefit of a marked drop in his blood pressure. And the teachers must have noticed other effects on Mackay too, because, the Arizona Daily Star points out, 'His teachers have been known to ask before launching into a discussion if he's done his meditation for the day—and if the answer is no, will postpone the discussion for another time.' Mackay has made the Transcendental Meditation Programme available to the students in his district utilizing grant money provided by the David Lynch Foundation. Inspired by the life-transforming and career-transforming effects in his own life from his Transcendental Meditation practice, the famous film director created the foundation to share Transcendental Meditation with students worldwide. Under Mackay's leadership, many students in his school district are the beneficiaries. Forty students at a High School in Arizona learnt the Transcendental Meditation techniques last year. About twenty students at a museum for visual arts have also learnt, and the programme will be implemented throughout a nearby middle school in January. In addition, teaching of staff at the alternative schools in the area have started. 'Despite its simplicity,' the Arizona Daily Star says, the benefits enjoyed by the students and school staffs who have learnt Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation technique are significant. From the only 10 to 20 minutes of twice daily practice, Dynah Oviedo Lim reports encouraging statistical results. The preliminary data, though 'inconclusive' because they are based on only one year of the programme, show that while a control group experienced no change in happiness, the meditating students became happier. The practitioners of Transcendental Meditation also gained in the area of anxiety reduction, starting the year with a higher level of anxiety than the controls, but ending with a lower level. Additionally, the meditators reported higher self-esteem. The Arizona Daily Star also reports more specifically on a few students. Sixteen-year-old David Tran, from Project MORE High School, told the paper that, despite scoffing at the technique beforehand, the first meditation brought calming effects. Also, his mother has noticed that he sleeps better and experiences less anxiety. A 17-year-old MORE student, Favian Marquez, reported on the cooling effect Transcendental Meditation has had on his previously hot temper. He told the local newspaper that after recently being shoved and punched in the face, 'I got mad, but I controlled myself. I just said, "It isn't worth it." It's [Transcendental Meditation] just helped me with my anger a lot.' And 18-year-old MORE senior, Priscilla Ramos, is enjoying much more academic focus and success. In the past, she was passing only some of her classes. Now, she is earning A's and B's in a very heavy load of ten subjects. The faculty appreciate the benefits their students are getting, too. Brisa Gutierrez, a teacher, spoke of a disruptive, 'out of control' student. The Arizona Daily Star quotes her as saying that after the student had begun the Transcendental Meditation technique, 'not only did I see a radical change in his behavior, but his academic performance shot up. We're talking day and night.' Now a graduate, Gutierrez' former student has full-time employment. The simple, effortless practice of Transcendental Meditation is something the students clearly find enjoyable as evidenced by the 20 students who routinely come before school and stay after to meditate. 'That's saying something,' Mackay told the Star. 'It's hard to keep a kid here. When the bell rings, you almost have to get out of the way.' And Gutierrez, concerned about the violence and drugs to which some of her students are exposed, gratefully said to the local reporter, 'This just gives them a chance to quiet the brain. And just for me, anecdotally, it's amazing to see what's happening as a result.' The teacher expresses her positive feelings towards the Transcendental Meditation Programme strongly saying, 'This should be in schools across the nation.' © Copyright 2009 Global Good News®
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