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Dr Rutherford has likened the Transcendental Meditation programme to an immunization for stress; he considers it a requirement for education.
Transcendental Meditation has a transforming, positive impact upon educators, helping them maintain their inner evenness and focus on learning objectives, and promoting their increased creativity, personal satisfaction, and self-actualization.
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by Global Good News staff writer
1 March 2010
Dr George Rutherford, one of the most distinguished and beloved principals in the Washington, DC area, is credited as being the ‘Grandfather’ of the Transcendental Meditation/Quiet Time programme in the United States. He is currently principal of the Ideal Academy Public Charter School in the District and also serves as the National Co-Director of the US Committee for Stress-Free Schools.
For 30 years Dr Rutherford was the principal and chief operating officer of Fletcher Johnson Educational Center, once one of the toughest middle schools in Washington, DC. In 1993, Dr Rutherford introduced the Transcendental Meditation Programme and later expanded it to the entire school—a first in US education.
Students began practising the Transcendental Meditation Programme in the classroom twice a day. ‘Fights stopped breaking out on the third floor, test scores went up,’ Dr Rutherford said.
Speaking about his experience as a school administrator, particularly when dealing with any problems for which people come to him, Dr Rutherford commented that you have to ‘be their sounding board for them, because the problem is not always what you think it is. The problem can be something else and you've got to listen so you can pick up on what that problem is.’
He said that Transcendental Meditation helps you to do that. ‘You become more patient,’ he said. ‘It calms you down, and when you calm down, you become more patient and you listen better.’
He also appreciates that when managing a school, he now is able to do it more efficiently, and it takes less time, because Transcendental Meditation helps to clear his mind—‘You are able to think more clearly and you're more focused and more creative,’ he said.
A number of scientific research studies verify such benefits of Transcendental Meditation for school teachers and administrators:
Effective teachers are able to maintain inner evenness and focus on their learning objectives while adapting to continually changing demands in the classroom. Research findings show increased physiological stability and increased field independence through the practice Transcendental Meditation.
For example, studies examining galvanic skin responses, which measure physiological excitation, found that the Transcendental Meditation Programme enables the body to react more quickly to a situation and to return more quickly to a calm state after the situation has passed.
Those who practise Transcendental Meditation have been found to significantly improve in field independence, a measure of the ability to maintain internal stability in a distracting environment.
A major factor contributing to teacher satisfaction is the experience that one is progressing and actualizing one’s potential. Research shows the Transcendental Meditation Programme to be uniquely effective in promoting increased creativity, personal satisfaction, and self-actualization.
Other research shows longitudinal increases in creativity and physiological, cognitive and behavioural flexibility. Growth of these qualities naturally results in expanding creativity in teaching, the ability to adapt fruitfully to different situations with students, and the resulting fulfilment that comes from greater success.
On the basis of greater fulfilment, teachers naturally flow in greater appreciation and respect for their students, and feel greater commitment to the success of each student. This is borne out in the scientific research findings of increased tolerance, appreciation, warmth, helpfulness, and caring through the practice of the Transcendental Meditation Technique.
Dr Norman Brust, retired Superintendent of Schools and Principal, Missouri, USA, also comments about the value of Transcendental Meditation for educators:
‘Our schools need to help teachers and administrators develop effective management skills to enhance student learning in our classrooms. One activity that will dissipate stress and refine our educational efforts is Transcendental Meditation. Transcendental Meditation has been well documented by modern research to reduce stress. It also enhances the development of a more integrated person and produces a more harmonious environment.
‘I have seen Transcendental Meditation have a transforming, positive impact upon students, teachers, and administrators even within three months. You will find that it will begin to work for you, as you, staff members, and students make use of it.’
© Copyright 2010 Global Good News®
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