Carmen N’Namdi has 30 years of entrepreneurial, educational, and organizational experience.

A nonmedicinal antidote to childhood stress —making school ‘easier and better’
by Global Good News staff writer
2 July 2009

A study on meditating children at a middle school in inner-city Detroit—and the experience of their teachers and parents—confirms what previous published research has shown: Transcendental Meditation increases inner happiness, self-esteem, and self-worth and reduces anxiety and depression.

The research results and the classroom experience suggest that this same programme, offered to students on a wider scale, could well provide a nondrug antidote for childhood depression—or better yet, prevent depression in the first place.

Here, in brief, is the Nataki Story.

The benefits of the twice-daily practice were immediate
The Nataki Talibah Schoolhouse of Detroit is located in an old, three-story brick building in northwest Detroit, right off Seven Mile—a stark stretch of road of mostly boarded-up store fronts, churches, and liquor stores. There are steel bars over the windows and doors of the houses around the school—decorative but definitely protective.

But while the location may not be great, the Nataki charter school (K-8), founded 30 years ago by educator Carmen N’Namdi and her psychologist husband George, is outstanding. Nataki has earned a well-deserved citywide reputation for excellence, and the school attracts students—all of them African American—from all over Detroit. In fact, many of the city’s government and civic leaders attended Nataki as children.

In 1997, Ms N’Namdi decided to introduce the Transcendental Meditation Programme to students and faculty for one reason: she wanted to offer everyone in her school a simple tool to decrease stress and boost achievement. She continues to offer the programme at Nataki each year for one reason: it works.

Jane Pitt has directed the Transcendental Meditation programme at the school, where as many as 125 children (and 30 teachers) have practised the technique together twice a day in the school gymnasium.

She describes the scene that plays itself out every day as part of the normal school routine: ‘A horde of active, energetic middle-school students come bounding into the gym, take a “backjack” chair off the stage, and sit down in rows with their classes. They finish up conversations with friends, get comfortable—and the lights are dimmed. They begin their practice of Transcendental Meditation and literally, within moments, the room grows deeply silent. Then, ten minutes later, rested and refreshed, they get up, put away the backjacks, and get on with their school day. By now, the whole process is just routine.’

The benefits of the twice-daily practice were immediate. Ms Pitt recalls, ‘Students said they were more focused in their classes, and teachers reported more energy throughout the day. Both groups noticed they had more patience in dealings with each other. Parents noticed the changes in their children, so they wanted to learn Transcendental Meditation themselves—and they wanted their other children to learn as well.’

Significant differences between meditating and non-meditating students
In 2002, Rita Benn, PhD, director of the Complementary and Alternative Medicine Center at the University of Michigan, conducted the first of several studies on the students at Nataki. She examined the ‘social–emotional competencies’ of the meditating students compared to non-meditating controls. Dr Benn found significant differences between the two groups: the meditating students exhibited high mood states, reported they handled stress better and got along better with their peers—and in general felt more peaceful, happy, and calm.

Dr Benn saw huge implications for the millions of children—one in five, actually—in America who suffer from mental health problems. ‘If Transcendental Meditation has the capacity to facilitate kids feeling better about themselves, it has huge implications for other areas of their lives. It may prevent mental health difficulties—and it may reduce the likelihood of the need for medication,’ she says.

Dr Benn presented her findings at the International Center for Integration of Health and Spirituality at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, in April 2003, and at the International Symposium for Complementary Health Care in London in November 2003.

Students enjoy and value Transcendental Meditation
Ms Pitt says the students enjoy their practice and appreciate the benefits it brings. She recalls one student, James, a tall, sullen-looking boy with an attitude of ‘I just want to be left alone.’ That changed almost as soon as he started to meditate. ‘James was one of the first kids to come to the gym and sit down in a group to meditate every day—and he really seemed to be enjoying it,’ she says, adding that James wrote a note to Carmen N’Namdi just before he graduated from eighth grade thanking her for making Transcendental Meditation available: ‘Thank you for letting me experience Transcendental Meditation. It has helped me stay awake and more alert in class. Thanks to you, school is easier and better for me.’

Ms Pitt remembers another boy, Brian, who wrote Ms N’Namdi: ‘Due to the effects of Transcendental Meditation I have cut back on arguing. I’ve only talked back to a teacher once or twice (and I apologized) and I haven’t had a fight since before I can remember.’

Patricia, a three-year meditator at age 13, reaffirms the value of the programme. ‘Transcendental Meditation calms me down. It gives me the energy to work hard in school. If I didn’t have Transcendental Meditation, I don’t know what my life would be like.’

For students at the Nataki Talibah Schoolhouse, the daily routine of meditating is now as normal as taking a daily class in social studies or math or physical education. ‘The Transcendental Meditation Programme seems like the most obvious and logical thing in the world: give the students an easy, practical way to help them to clear their minds, dissolve stress, and feel more self-confidence. Give them the ability to achieve the goal of all education—to enjoy learning, to enjoy childhood, to enjoy growing into happy and healthy adults. From what we have seen at Nataki, we feel that this is the gift that should be given to all our children everywhere, so that education can do what it set out to do,’ Ms Pitt says.

Programme sponsor is pleased
Funding for the Nataki Transcendental Meditation project has come in part from the DaimlerChrysler Fund and the General Motors Foundation. Nellie LaGarde, Manager of Education programmes, Civic and Community Relations at DaimlerChrysler reflects on her company’s role in the project.

‘DaimlerChrysler is always interested in supporting programmes that improve learning and alleviate stress in children. Transcendental Meditation has shown itself to be a highly effective technique to accomplish these goals—and that is why we have been pleased to support its use in Detroit.’

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