Transcendental Meditation technique

This article is about the technique. For the movement, see Transcendental Meditation movement.

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The Transcendental Meditation technique is a specific form of mantra meditation often referred to as Transcendental Meditation. It was introduced in India in 1955 by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (1917–2008). The meditation practice involves the use of a sound or mantra and is practiced for 15–20 minutes twice per day, while sitting comfortably with closed eyes.

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi introduced and taught his meditation technique in a series of world tours beginning in 1957. From the late 1960s through the mid 1970s, both the Maharishi and TM received significant public attention in the USA, especially among the student population. During this period, a million people learned the technique, including well-known public figures. By 2008, as many as six million people or more had been trained in the TM technique.

TM has been reported to be one of the most widely practiced, and among the most widely researched meditation techniques. Independently done systematic reviews have not found health benefits for TM beyond relaxation or health education. It is difficult to determine definitive effects of "meditation practices in healthcare" as the quality of research has design limitations and a lack of methodological rigor. Part of this difficulty is due to the fact that many studies on TM appear to have been conducted by devotees or researchers at universities tied to the Maharishi and on subjects with a favorable opinions of TM.

TM is taught in a standardized, seven-step course over four days by certified teachers. The fees vary from country to country. In the United States the adult fee is $1,500, while prices in the United Kingdom (UK) are based on income. Transcendental Meditation is part of the Maharishi Vedic Approach to Health and is made available worldwide by a number of organizations, sometimes collectively referred to as the Transcendental Meditation movement. Transcendental Meditation is a registered trademark of the Maharishi Foundation.

Use of a mantra

During the initial, personal instruction session, the student is given a specific sound or mantra along with the technique of how to use the mantra. The sound is utilized as a thought in the meditation process, and as a vehicle that allows the individual's attention to travel naturally to a less active, quieter style of mental functioning.

Selection

Russell says the sounds used in the technique are taken from the ancient Vedic tradition, while Lola Williamson states that the mantras used in the Transcendental Meditation technique come from the Tantric tradition. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi explains that the selection of a proper thought or mantra "becomes increasingly important when we consider that the power of thought increases when the thought is appreciated in its infant stages of development". The Maharishi says that certain, specific vibrations suit certain people and that this method of meditation enables the mind to experience subtler phases of the vibration until the source of all vibration is experienced.

William Jefferson, in The Story of the Maharishi, explains the importance of the "euphonics" of mantras. Jefferson says that the secrets of the mantras and their subsequent standardization for today's teachers of the technique were unraveled by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi after his years of study with his own teacher, Guru Dev (Brahmananda Saraswati) so that selection is foolproof, and that the number of mantras from the Vedic tradition, which could number in the hundreds, have been brought to a minimum number by the Maharishi.

Author George Chryssides says that, according to the Maharishi, the mantras for "householders" and for recluses differ. The Transcendental Meditation mantras are appropriate mantras for householders, while most mantras commonly found in books are mantras for recluses. Chryssides says that TM teachers claim that the results promised by the Transcendental Meditation technique are dependent on a trained Transcendental Meditation teacher choosing the mantra for the student.

TM meditators are instructed to keep their mantra private. Robert Oates writes that this is a "protection against inaccurate teaching". In his 1997 book, The Sociology of Religious Movements, William Sims Bainbridge wrote that the mantras given for Transcendental Meditation are "supposedly selected to match the nervous system of the individual but actually taken from a list of 16 Sanskrit words on the basis of the person's age".

A list of mantras has been published in various sources, including the January 1984 edition of Omni (magazine), which says it received them from "disaffected TM teachers".

Meaning and sound value

Speaking in Kerala, India, in 1955, the Maharishi connected the mantras with personal deities. Similar references can also be found in his later works. According to Williamson, the bija or seed mantras used in TM come from the Tantric, rather than Vedic tradition. In the Tantric tradition, these mantras are associated with specific deities and used as a form of worship. At other times, the Maharishi stated that "The theory of mantras is the theory of sound."

In the 1977 court case Malnak vs. Yogi (see below), an undisputed fact in the case was that the mantras are meaningless sounds.

The 1995 expanded edition of Conway and Siegelman's Snapping: America's Epidemic of Sudden Personality Change describes a teacher of Transcendental Meditation who says: "I was lying about the mantras — they were not meaningless sounds; they were actually the names of Hindu demigods - and about how many different ones there were — we had sixteen to give out to our students".

In his book, Alternative Religions: A Sociological Introduction, sociologist Stephen J. Hunt says that the mantra used in the Transcendental Meditation technique has no meaning but that the sound itself is sacred.

Philosophy of science scholar Jonathan Shear, in his book The Experience of Meditation: Experts Introduce the Major Traditions, characterizes the mantras used in the TM technique as independent of meaning associated with any language, and are used for their mental, sound value alone. Fred Travis, Professor of Maharishi Vedic Science at Maharishi University of Management, writes in a 2009 article published in the International Journal of Psychophysiology that "unlike most mantra meditations, any possible meaning of the mantra is not part of Transcendental Meditation practice".

Teaching procedure

The Transcendental Meditation technique is taught in a standardized, seven-step course that consists of two introductory lectures, a personal interview, and four, two-hour, instruction sessions given on consecutive days. The initial personal instruction session begins with a short puja ceremony performed by the teacher, after which the student is taught the technique. During the puja ceremony, the teacher recites text in Sanskrit, part of which has been translated as:

Whosoever remembers the lotus-eyed Lord gains inner and outer purity. To Lord Naryan, to Lotus-born Brahman the creator, to Vaishistha, to Shakti, to Shankaracharya the emancipator, hailed as Krishna, to the Lord I bow down and down again. At whose door the whole galaxy of gods pray for perfection day and night.

Walter Martin notes that in learning the Transcendental Meditation technique it is only after this ceremony has been performed that the student receives the mantra. Following initiation, the student practices the technique twice a day. Subsequent group sessions with the teacher ensure correct practice. Step five verifies the correctness of the practice and give further instruction; step six teaches the mechanics of the TM technique based on his/her personal experiences; and, step seven explains the higher stages of human development per this system of meditation.

The technique is practiced morning and evening for 15–20 minutes each time, but is not recommended before bed. According to Russell and the official TM web site, the Transcendental Meditation technique can be learned only from a certified, authorized teacher.

According to the movement, four to six million people have been trained in the TM technique since 1959. Notable practitioners include The Beatles, David Lynch, John Hagelin, Deepak Chopra, and Mia Farrow. For more names, see List of Transcendental Meditation practitioners. For its consistency and ubiquity, TM has been called "the McDonald's of the meditation business" by columnist Adam Smith.

Fees

From 1967 to 1968, the fees for instruction in the UK, the US, and Australia were variable, ranging from the equivalent of one-week's salary to a flat fee of $35 for students. By 1975, fees in the US were fixed at $125 for adults, but with discounted rates for students or families. At the time, author John White wrote that fees were "becoming exorbitant", that TM instruction should be free, or at least much cheaper, and that a lot of people question paying $125 for six hours of instruction. Fees rose to $400 for adults and $135 for students in the US and Canada by 1993, and then were increased to $1,000 for adults and $600 for students in 1994. In Britain, TM cost £490 (£290 for students) in 1995. By 2003, fees in the US were $2,500. In Bermuda, where fees had been kept below the international average for many years, a 2003 directive from TM Movement headquarters to increase prices from $385 to $2,000 was partly responsible for the suspension of TM instruction there. A former instructor was critical of the fees for excluding ordinary people and making TM something exclusively for the wealthy. In January 2009, The Guardian reported that the expensive fees for TM instruction had "risked it being priced into oblivion" until David Lynch convinced the Maharishi to "radically reduce" fees so as to permit more young people to learn TM.

In 2009, fees in the US were reduced for a one-hour-a-day, four-day course to $1,500 for the general public and $750 for college students. Fees in the UK were also reduced, and a tiered fee structure introduced, ranging from £290 to £590 for adults, and £190 to £290 for students, depending on income. The Maharishi was criticized by other Yogis and stricter Hindus for charging fees for instruction in TM, who contended that it was unethical, amounting to the selling of "commercial mantras".

Science of Creative Intelligence

The Science of Creative Intelligence (SCI) is the system of theoretical principles that underlie the technique of Transcendental Meditation. SCI describes "pure creative intelligence" as the basis of all life, and Transcendental Meditation as a means to contact the field of creative intelligence, and according to the theory, realize life's full potential. The TM organization refers to the Science of Creative Intelligence as both theoretical and practical. Peter Russell, in the TM Technique, investigates SCI as part of an in-depth exploration and understanding of the TM technique. Russell goes on to write about SCI as the interface between the subjective experience or subjective knowledge attributed to practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique, and the objective experience of the various fields of knowledge. SCI, introduced by the Maharishi, has been called his "unified theory of life" and "the science of expansion of awareness or the science of progress in life". An official TM website says it is "the systematic study of the field of pure creative intelligence, the Unified Field of all the Laws of Nature, and the principles by which it governs the coexistence and evolution of all systems in Nature". "Science of Creative Intelligence" has sometimes been used as a synonym or alternate name for "Transcendental Meditation".

Supplemental techniques

"Rounding" is a more intensive meditation process taught as part of Residence Courses. A round consists of a sequence of yoga postures called asanas, breathing techniques called pranayama, a standard TM meditation routine and rest. Each round takes about 50 minutes and is then repeated several times. Rounding is said to be especially effective in facilitating "unstressing" in the practitioner. Unstressing is a release of tension in which deep relaxation may be accompanied by physical and emotional effects, including insomnia, anxiety, headaches, and spontaneous imagery.

The movement also teaches, for additional fees in the thousands of dollars, "advanced techniques" of Transcendental Meditation, introduced by the Maharishi in the mid-1970s when new enrollment in Transcendental Meditation collapsed. The TM-Sidhi program, introduced in 1975, expanded the number of offerings. This later program teaches that, through the power of meditation, one is able to gain various "signposts" of spiritual progress, such as the powers of levitation and invisibility, walking through walls, colossal strength, ESP, perfect health and immortality, among others. The Maharishi has said that "thousands" have learned to levitate. James Randi however, after investigation concludes that there is "no levitation, no walking through walls, no invisibility".

Maharishi Effect

Main article: Maharishi Effect

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi predicted that the quality of life for an entire population would be noticeably improved if one percent of the population practiced the Transcendental Meditation technique. This is known as the "Maharishi Effect". With the introduction of the TM-Sidhi program including Yogic Flying, the Maharishi proposed that only the square root of 1% of the population practicing this advanced program would be required to create benefits in society, and this was referred to as the "Extended Maharishi Effect", according to a MUM webage.

Practice of the TM and TM-Sidhi programs has been credited by the TM organization with the fall of the Berlin Wall, a reduction in global terrorism, a decrease in the rate of inflation in the US, the lowering of crime rates, and other positive effects. The Maharishi Effect has been endorsed by the former President of Mozambique Joaquim Chissano, who applied this technology in his country, and positive results have been reported in 42 independent scientific studies. Some have described this research as "pseudoscience". James Randi followed up on some of the claims attributed to the Maharishi Effect that Maharishi International University of faculty member Robert Rabinoff made at a talk in Oregon in 1978 attended by Ray Hyman. Randi spoke to the Fairfield Chief of Police who had not experienced any drop in crime rate and the regional Agriculture Department whose statistics on yield showed no difference between Jefferson County and the state average.

According to a follower, the Maharishi said that "the earth yields up its treasures" when the one percent threshold is met.

Research

Health outcomes

A comparison of the effect of various meditation techniques on systolic blood pressure.

A 2007 government report and meta-analyses found that the effects of TM are no greater than health education regarding blood pressure, body weight, heart rate, stress, anger, self-efficacy, cholesterol, dietary intake, or level of physical activity in hypertensive patients. The report found that compared to progressive muscle relaxation, TM produced a greater reduction in blood pressure. The report also analyzed studies that compared TM to no treatment. In these studies, TM did not produce significantly greater benefits on blood pressure but did produce improvement in cholesterol levels and verbal creativity. In studies that compared TM to a wait-listed control group, TM resulted in greater reduction in blood pressure. The report's assessment of before-and-after studies on patients with essential hypertension found a reduction in blood pressure after practicing TM. The review concludes that firm conclusions regarding health effects cannot be drawn due to the poor quality of the research, though TM researchers said an inappropriate method of quality assessment was used.

A 2007 review said that data from two studies found reduced mortality from all causes over a mean period of 8 years in subjects practicing Transcendental Meditation compared to controls. The review said that this finding is consistent with a study that found improved blood pressure, insulin resistance, and cardiac autonomic-nervous-system tone in subjects with cardiovascular disease. The study concluded that, "Findings regarding the effects of psychosocial interventions on disease processes, morbidity and mortality are not yet well established and require appropriate clinical trials."

A 2008 meta-analysis of nine studies found a 4.7 mmHg systolic blood pressure and 3.2 mmHg diastolic blood pressure decrease in those who practiced TM compared to control groups that included health education. Three of the studies were assessed as good quality, three as acceptable, and three suboptimal. The review and its primary author were partially funded by Howard Settle, a proponent of TM. A 2007 meta-analysis by researchers at Maharishi University of Management and the University of Kentucky found that TM lowers blood pressure. The results differed from the 2007 government report mentioned above because the authors removed overlapping studies, corrected data collection errors, and included studies outside the scope of that report.

A 2009 review of 16 pediatric studies on meditation done in a school setting that included 6 studies on Transcendental Meditation reported that randomized controlled trials on Transcendental Meditation found a reduction in blood pressure and improvement in vascular function relative to health education. A randomized controlled trial on psychosocial and behavioral outcomes that compared TM to health education found that the TM group had decreased absentee periods, rule infractions, and suspension days, but found no difference in the TM and control groups in regard to tardiness, lifestyle, or stress. The review concluded that sitting meditation "seems to be an effective intervention in the treatment of physiologic, psychosocial, and behavioral conditions among youth." Of the 16 studies included in the review, 5 were uncontrolled. The review said that because of limitations of the research, larger-scale and more demographically diverse studies need to be done to clarify treatment efficacy.

Mental function

A 2010 review by the Cochrane collaboration was unable to draw any conclusions regarding the effectiveness of meditation therapy (including TM ) for ADHD due to the lack of suitable evidence. A 2006 review by the Cochrane collabortion found that there was insufficient evidence to draw conclusions regarding the effectiveness of meditation for anxiety disorders. The review found that, as of 2006, two randomized controlled trials had been done on this topic, one of which was on TM, and concluded that meditation is equivalent to relaxation therapy.

A 2003 review by Peter Canter and Edzard Ernst concluded that evidence does not support a specific or cumulative effect from TM on cognitive function. The review did find positive results in studies that recruited people with favorable opinions of TM, and used passive control procedures. Edzard Ernst, professor of complementary medicine at the Peninsula Medical School in Exeter, was quoted in The Guardian newspaper as saying that "there is no good evidence that TM has positive effects on children. The data that exist are all deeply flawed."

A 2003 research review looked at "well-designed studies" and discussed three randomized controlled trials on students that suggested that TM improves cognitive performance. A study of 154 Chinese high school students found increased practical intelligence, creativity, and speed of information processing. A study of 118 junior high school students replicated the finding, as did a study of 99 vocational school students in Taiwan.

Criminal rehabilitation, addiction

Transcendental Meditation has been used in correctional settings, and research has shown a reduction in negative psychological states and recidivism — that is, returning to criminal behavior after being released from prison. According to a 2010 research review, studies involving hundreds of prisoners at San Quentin and Folsom State Prisons in California and Walpole State Prison in Massachusetts found that recidivism rates were reduced by as much as 47%. Overall, the TM prisoners at Folsom were 43% less likely to return to prison compared to control groups. The study at Folsom also looked at anxiety measures and found a sharp reduction compared to controls. The review said that meditation studies may be subject to researcher bias and self-selection bias, but concluded that policy makers and prison officials may want to implement meditation programs in prisons.

A 2009 review looked at the effect of TM on addiction and noted that while many studies exist, they were conducted by researchers affiliated with Transcendental Meditation and were not randomized controlled trials. Thus the evidence for treating addictive disorders is speculative and inconsistent. It said that while the quasi-religious aspects and cost may deter people, the simplicity of the technique, the physiological changes it induces, and the apparent effectiveness in nonpsychiatric settings merit further study and that "the theoretical basis for meditation’s role in addressing substance use disorders is compelling" based on the physiological mechanisms that have been found. According to the Cambridge Textbook of Effective Treatments in Psychiatry, a randomized controlled trial that included the use of Transcendental Meditation in treating alcoholism found that TM and biofeedback increased abstinence in alcoholics. The textbook concluded that there is not yet sufficient evidence for use as treatment but that meditation can help alcoholic patients in a variety of ways.

Effects on the brain

Transcendental Meditation has been found to produce specific types of brain waves as measured by electroencephalography (EEG). Studies have found that, compared to a baseline, during meditation there is an increase in alpha amplitude followed by a slowing of the alpha frequency and the spread of this to the frontal cortex. Alpha brain waves are classically viewed as reflecting a relaxed brain. When compared to control groups using a different relaxation technique, the increase in alpha is similar and integrated alpha amplitude may even decrease compared to a baseline of eyes-closed rest.

Transcendental Meditation also produces alpha coherence, that is, large-scale integration of frequencies in different parts of the brain. This pattern is also sometimes seen while a subject is actively focusing his or her attention on an object or holding some information in mind. These brain patterns generally suggest a decrease in mental activity and are associated with a relaxed state. According to the Cambridge Handbook of Consciousness, TM promotional material has said that this coherence represents a more orderly state of the brain and one that is unique to TM. The Cambridge Handbook says that these claims may be overstated or premature. "Because alpha rhythms are ubiquitous and functionally non-specific, the claim that alpha oscillations and alpha coherence are desirable or are linked to an original and higher state of consciousness seem quite premature" and "alpha frequencies frequently produce spontaneously moderate to large coherence (0.3-0.8 over large inter-electrode distance.) The alpha coherence values reported in TM studies, as a trait in the baseline or during meditation, belong to this same range. Thus a global increase of alpha power and alpha coherence might not reflect a more 'ordered' or 'integrated' experience, as frequently claimed in TM literature, but rather a relaxed, inactive mental state."

EEG studies have shown an increase in theta waves and a dominant pattern of alpha waves in the frontal and occipital lobes. Other EEG measurements that show neuronal hypersynchrony are similar to those found in epilepsy, leading to concerns about the potential risk of kindling of epilepsy from repetitive Transcendental Meditation. Other studies have found meditation to be a possible antiepileptic therapy, leading to calls for more research.

A 1999 paper by Lachaux et al. suggests that EEG coherence may be a less useful measurement since it does not separate the effects of amplitude and phase in the interrelations between two EEG signals.

Effects on the physiology

TM has been found to produce a set of characteristic responses such as reduced respiration, decreased breath volume, decreased lactate and cortisol (hormones associated with stress), increased basal skin resistance, and slowed heartbeat. The mechanism for the effects of TM has been explained by proponents as being due to greater order in the physiology, decreased stress, and growth of creative intelligence.

Research quality

Popular media and scholars have found problems with the body of research. According to newspaper reports and the Encyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology, some of the research has been "criticized for bias and a lack of scientific evidence", for "methodological flaws, vague definitions, and loose statistical controls", and for "failing to conduct double-blind experiments" and for "influencing test results with the prejudice of the tester". According to Newsweek, early research was "not of high caliber", failing to adequately address self-selection and the placebo effect, but later research has been "much more rigorous". Research on Transcendental Meditation has been published by the American Medical Association and the American Heart Association, as well as other medical journals such as the American Journal of Hypertension, the American Journal of Cardiology, and the International Journal of Psychophysiology. Research reviews have identified some studies as being "well-designed," "rigorous," or "high quality."

Most of the 700 studies on TM have been produced by researchers directly associated with the TM movement and many of them have not been peer reviewed, according to a 2003 review that looked at the effects of TM on cognitive function and an article in Student BMJ. Articles in the Jerusalem Post and Wall Street Journal, and a review by Canter and Ernst (2004), said that many studies have been conducted by devotees or researchers at universities tied to the Maharishi, including Maharishi University of Management in Iowa and Maharishi European Research University in Switzerland, which is disputed by Orme-Johnson, who cites the number of institutions worldwide where the research has been conducted. He also says that a meta-analyses of studies on TM and anxiety found that those studies done by researchers with no connection to TM showed a slightly larger effect than those studies by researchers who had a connection. According to TM researchers, studies on Maharishi Vedic Approach to Health have been conducted at over 200 different research institutions and universities in over 30 countries worldwide. TM promoter and physician Roger A. Chalmers compiled a list of 341 studies on TM that he says were published in "independent peer-reviewed journals or other edited scientific publications".

Canter and Ernst's 2004 review of the five published studies on blood pressure which met their basic criteria said that they had important methodological weaknesses and were potentially biased by the affiliation of authors to the TM organization. It concluded that to date (May 2004), there was "insufficient good-quality evidence to conclude whether or not TM has a cumulative positive effect on blood pressure". In response, TM researchers said that most of the studies in the review were funded by various institutes of the National Institutes of Health and that, as such, the methodologies were peer-reviewed by experts.

A 2007 U.S. government-sponsored review of research on meditation, including Transcendental Meditation, yoga, tai chi, qi gong, mindfulness, and others, said that firm conclusions on health effects cannot be drawn, as the majority of the studies are of poor methodological quality. The review included studies on adults through September 2005, with a particular focus on research pertaining to hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and substance abuse. The review used the Jadad scale to assess quality of the studies using control groups and Newcastle-Ottawa Scale for the others. The quality assessment portion of the 2007 review was published in 2008. The article stated that "Most clinical trials on meditation practices are generally characterized by poor methodological quality with significant threats to validity in every major quality domain assessed". The authors found that there was a statistically significant increase in the quality of all reviewed meditation research, in general, over time between 1956 and 2005. Of the 400 clinical studies, 10% were found to be good quality. A call was made for rigorous study of meditation. These authors also noted that this finding is not unique to the area of meditation research and that the quality of reporting is a frequent problem in other areas of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) research and related therapy research domains.

TM researchers said that the 2007 review suffered from various limitations related to data collection, analysis, and reporting procedures. TM researchers say that double blinding may not be possible. TM researcher David Orme-Johnson said that the use of double blinding, which is required by the Jadad scale, is not appropriate to meditation research and that the review failed to assess more relevant determinants of research quality. Research reviews in science journals say that double blinding may not be possible in meditation research. Canter and Ernst say that blinding of participants isn't feasible., and a Cochrane review says that it's only possible to blind the raters or assessors in meditation trials. One of the earliest double-blinded placebo studies of Transcendental Mediation was conducted in 1975, but the 2007 government-sponsored review found this study and none of the other 800 studies reviewed were properly double blinded.

Research funding and promotion

In 1999, the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine awarded a grant of nearly $8 million to Maharishi University of Management to establish the first research center specializing in natural preventive medicine for minorities in the U.S. According to the MUM website, the research institute, called the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention (INMP), was inaugurated on October 11, 1999, at the University's Department of Physiology and Health in Fairfield, Iowa. By 2004, the U.S. government had awarded more than $20 million to Maharishi University of Management to fund research.

In 2009, the National Institutes of Health awarded an additional grant of $1,000,000 distributed over two years for research on the use of TM in the treatment of coronary heart disease in African-Americans. The award was for research in collaboration with the INMP and Columbia University Medical Center in New York City. The award was from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 via the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

Leading individuals and organizations associated with TM cite the existence of many studies, "more than 600 published research studies, conducted at over 200 independent research institutions in 33 countries", to support TM-related concepts. The quantity of studies have been cited to support the political programs of the Natural Law Party, the tax status of a TM property, the use of TM to rehabilitate prisoners, the teaching of TM in schools, the issuance of bonds to finance the movement, as proof that TM is a science rather than a religion, to show the efficacy of the Maharishi Vedic Approach to Health, and as a reason to practice TM itself.

School programs

For schools belonging to the Transcendental Meditation movement, see Educational institutions

TM in public schools in 1970s : Malnak v. Yogi

As of 1974, 14 states encouraged local schools to teach TM in the classroom, and it was taught at 50 universities. Among the public school systems where TM was taught were Shawnee Mission, Kansas, Maplewood, Paterson, Union Hill and West New York, New Jersey, Eastchester, New York and North York, Ontario.

In 1979, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the 1977 decision of the US District Court of New Jersey that a course in Transcendental Meditation and the Science of Creative Intelligence (SCI) was religious activity within the meaning of the Establishment Clause and that the teaching of SCI/TM in the New Jersey public high schools was prohibited by the First Amendment. The court ruled that, although SCI/TM is not a theistic religion, it deals with issues of ultimate concern, truth, and other ideas analogous to those in well-recognized religions. The court found that the religious nature of the course was clear from careful examination of the textbook, the expert testimony elicited, and the uncontested facts concerning the puja ceremony, which it found involved "offerings to deities as part of a regularly scheduled course in the schools' educational programs". State action was involved because the SCI/TM course and activities involved the teaching of a religion, without an objective secular purpose. The Malnak decision resulted in the dismantling of the Maharishi's programs to establish Transcendental Meditation in the public schools with governmental funding.

TM in schools and universities 1990s–present

Since 1994, a number of schools and universities in the U.S. have introduced Transcendental Meditation on a voluntary basis, with teachers and parents being taught the meditation before the students learn. The children meditate for 10 to 15 minutes twice per day. The program consists of TM instruction and follow-up, as well as training of school faculty and staff to supervise the TM sessions offered at the school.

The David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace (DLF) provides funding for some school programs and subsidizes the cost for training in TM, which was $650 per year in the US as of 2004. In 2006, six public schools were each awarded $25,000 to begin a TM program and a total of twenty five public, private, and charter schools in the United States had offered Transcendental Meditation to their students. As of 2008, the foundation had funded more than 2,000 students, faculty and parents at 21 universities and schools, in addition to substantially higher numbers at schools overseas. According to the DLF, it has funded school programs in Washington D.C, New York City, Hartford CT, Detroit MI, California, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Vietnam, Nepal, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda and Israel.

• The Fletcher Johnson Educational Center, a charter school with 1,500 students in Washington, D.C., introduced the TM program for schools in 1994. Its principal, George H. Rutherford, is a member of the DLF's Board of Advisors.

• The Ideal Academy Public Charter School began its program with the approval of the Washington, D.C. Board of Education in 1997. The 2005-2006 pilot project at Ideal Academy was conducted along with research to document the effects of the program.

• The Nataki Talibah Schoolhouse in Detroit began using the program for students in the fifth through eighth grade in 1996 and was featured on the Today Show in 2003. The school has since been classified by the Skillman Foundation as a "High-Performing Middle School". Over the years, the program at Nitaki Talibah has been funded by various foundations including General Motors, Daimler Chrysler, the Liebler Foundation and the DLF. The program at the school has been researched by Rita Benn of the University of Michigan's Complementary and Alternative Medicine Research Center.

• The Chelsea School, a private school in of Silver Spring, Maryland, offers the program to its fifth through twelfth graders who have attention deficit and hyperactivity disorders (ADHD). The program was part of a three month pilot study conducted by William R. Stixrud, a clinical neuropsychologist and health advisor for the TM's Committee for Stress-Free Schools.

• The New York Times reported in 2005 that American University, in Washington D.C., was scheduled to begin offering Transcendental Meditation in its classes the following year, pending approval, and conducted a research project to study its effect on mental health, IQ and student grades. Later, the practice of the technique by 250 students at American University, Georgetown University and Howard Universities in the Washington D.C. area was monitored as part of a research study conducted by American University and Maharishi University of Management.

• According to the DLF web site, the TM program was introduced to the Arts and Technology Academy at Weaver High School in Hartford CT in 2006. Four hundred and fifty students as well as principals and administrators are reported to have been instructed in the technique.

• A voluntary program at the Kingsbury school, a private K-12 school for students with learning disorders located in Washington D.C., began in 2005 and was featured on the PBS program, To The Contrary in 2007. According to the school director, about 10 percent of the teachers, parents and students declined to participate because they found it be religious and cult-ish.

• In 2008, the Lowell Whiteman Primary School in Steamboat Springs, Colorado was in its second year of a two-year trial using Transcendental Meditation in their classrooms. The program is being used with fifth through eighth graders. After instruction, the TM teachers visit the school once per month to asses the students progress and their meditation technique.

The introduction of Transcendental Meditation into some public schools is viewed by some parents and critics as an overstepping of boundaries. Some parents have opposed these efforts based on concerns that it may lead to "lifelong personal and financial servitude to a corporation run by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi". In 2006, the Terra Linda High School in San Rafael, California canceled plans for Transcendental Meditation classes due to concerns of parents that it would be promoting religion. In spite of critics, many parents say they feel the meditation has created "profound results" and that they "hardly view TM as exclusively, or even overtly, religious".

According to a 2008 Newsweek article, there is a "growing movement to bring Transcendental Meditation... into more U.S. schools as a stress-buster for America's overwhelmed kids". Critics have the belief that Transcendental Meditation is a revised form of Eastern, religious philosophy and oppose its use in public schools. Advocates say that it is a physiological technique that calms the mind and improves grades, attention span and happiness while reducing disruptive behavior. University of South Carolina sociologist Barry Markovsky describes teaching the Transcendental Meditation technique in schools as "stealth religion". According to Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Transcendental Meditation is rooted in Hinduism and, when introduced into public schools, crosses the same constitutional line as in the Malnak case and decision of 1979. In May 2008, Lynn said that the Americans United for Separation of Church and State is keeping a close legal eye on the TM movement and that there are no imminent cases against them. Brad Dacus of the Pacific Justice Institute says doing Transcendental Meditation during a school's "quiet time" (a short period many schools have adopted that children use for prayer or relaxation) is constitutional. TM is being used in schools, with some governmental sponsorship.

In 2004 the New York Committee for Stress-Free Schools held a press conference in New York City. It included testimonies from students, educators and scientists who support the use of TM in the school setting. In 2005, a conference sponsored by the New England Committee for Stress-Free Schools was held in Providence RI, Fairfield CT, and Boston MA. The Boston conference was attended by 100 teachers and featured testimonies from school principals who have experience with the TM program in schools.

The web site for Consciousness-Based Education, South Africa lists 12 partner schools in the USA, Netherlands, Australia, India, Ecuador, Thailand, China, and Great Britain and says that "Consciousness-Based Education has been introduced into more than 230 schools and more than 25 universities or other tertiary institutions worldwide".

Corporate programs

Transcendental Meditation has been utilized in corporations both in the U.S.A and in India. As of 2001, companies such as General Motors helped their salaried employees pay for TM; IBM reimbursed half the TM course fee for its US employees.

The Washington Post reported in 2005 that The Tower Companies, "one of Washington D.C.'s largest real estate development companies", has added classes in Transcendental Meditation to their employee benefit program in order "to contain stress-related ailments and health care costs". Seventy percent (70%) of the employees at The Tower Companies participate in the program.

A number of Indian companies give their managers training in Transcendental Meditation to reduce stress. These companies include: AirTel, Siemens, American Express, SRF and Wipro, Hero Honda, Ranbaxy, Hewlett Packard, BHEL, BPL, ESPN-Star Sports, Tisco, Eveready, Maruti, and Godrej. All employees at Marico practice Transcendental Meditation in groups as part of their standard workday. According to the Times of India, this practice benefits both employees and employers.

Social Programs

In 1979, the TM technique was one of the programs offered to inmates at three California correctional institutions; Folsom, San Quentin and the Deuel Vocational Institute. A TM representative stated that meditation has been included at “over 25 prisons and correctional institutions. In the African country of Senegal, more than 11,000 prisoners and 900 correctional officers in 34 prisons received instruction in the Transcendental Meditation technique between 1985 and 1987.

In 2010, instruction in the TM technique was given to a group of New York City homeless men through an organization called Ready, Willing and Able.

The Transcendental Meditation technique has also been taught to military personnel with post traumatic stress syndrome as part of a research study at the University of Colorado.