The benefits enjoyed by the students and school staff who have learnt Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation Technique are significant—more happiness, higher self-esteem, less anxiety, more creativity, better sleep, less anger, more calmness, more academic focus and success.

Students and faculty speak about their benefits from the Transcendental Meditation Programme
by Global Good News staff writer
12 May 2010

'Transcendental Meditation helps the students be creative and innovative.' 

'I don’t really know the science involved with this, but TM allows them to focus.' 

'Transcendental Meditation gives students an opportunity to slow down and do a lot of deep inner thinking within themselves.' 

'Stress is constant at all time and I just love TM as that buffer tool that helps you cope with that.' 

With these opening remarks from teachers in Arizona, USA, about the value of Transcendental Meditation for their students and in their own life, David Lynch Foundation Television presents a short documentary about the Transcendental Meditation Programme in education. 

One student comments that 'I feel calmer now, like a calming presence. It's constantly in my life. It's pretty sweet.' 

The Assistant Principal for Security of a school where the technique has been introduced was initially very suspect of Transcendental Meditation because he thought it was 'what you see in the movies and on television, where you have to sit with your legs crossed and make loud chanting noises; and roll your eyes in the back of your head, and you have to be totally focused on that, and if you don't, it just doesn't work.' 

He had to experience it in order to see that it wasn't what he had originally believed it to be, and to see his own personal benefits. 'I'm sleeping better at night,' he reports, 'I'm eating healthier. I'm not as stressed out when I'm dealing with some of the crises and drama that happens on school campuses. My thoughts are clear.' 

One student has a 'lot of guy friends who play football,' who told him that he was crazy and meditation doesn't work. But he said 'I don’t know about you guys, but it really worked for me.' 

An Athletic Director reported that their kids are inundated with noise all day long; they have iPods and video games, and videos on television. 'They need some time every day to shut all that out and focus a little on themselves, and along came this Transcendental Meditation opportunity,' he said. 

The Programme Manager at the school first heard about Transcendental Meditation through her Principal of Alternative Education, who brought in two teachers of Transcendental Meditation and introduced them to the school and to the students. The Programme Manager heard the lecture and thought the Transcendental Programme would be very interesting to her students 'because they're right brain thinkers, visual artists, and they sometimes need to settle down a little bit.' 

One of these students smilingly said she is 'a lot more cranky when I don't meditate! . . . If I don't meditate in the morning then in the afternoon I'm irritable.' 

The documentary shows the students practising Transcendental Meditation. 'I thought it was a great opportunity for them,' the Program Manager continues, 'to not only learn about meditation and the benefits of it, but I thought it could really help their artwork and their creativity as well.' 

'My creativity has opened up a lot because of meditation,' reports one of these art students, and another boy says, 'Whenever I do Transcendental Meditation, my imagination starts going.' Another reports,  'Alot of creative thoughts come to mind and they flow with you.'
 
'Most kids when they're having problems, they just blow up. Meditation can help kids to just think about what they're going to do before they do it,' continued the Assistant Principle for Security. 

'What I believe is that students need replacement behaviours. They need positive things that they can do instead of those impulsive types of behaviours that a lot of teenagers go through. 

'I believe that Transcendental Meditation allows students to explore other types of behaviours other than reverting back to those things that they do instinctively or impulsively. 

Other student reports:

'Meditation helps me not get so upset so easily.'

'Meditation relaxes me. I don't get frustrated as much.'

'I would get mad all the time.' 

There has been a significant decrease in the amount of fights on campus; and almost a 50% decrease in behaviours such as being sent out of the class for not being prepared or for talking back to schoolteachers. 
 
'Horseplaying in the corridors and not getting to class on time—those kinds of incidents have decreased almost 50% since the beginning of the school year when we implemented Transcendental Meditation,' the Assistant Principal for Security said.