Consciousness-Based Education - Maharishi University of ...

consciousness-based education and governmentEach of the major research projects is reviewed below, and additionalstatistical details of each study are found in Table 1.La Tuna Federal Penitentiary, Anthony, New MexicoThe first study of the effects of the Transcendental Meditation programin a correctional setting was conducted on pilot samples of narcoticaddicted prisoners (Orme-Johnson, Kiehlbauch, Moore, & Bristol,1977), In this longitudinal study a group of 23 prospective meditatorsand 17 non-matched controls were pretested. After a two-month periodin which follow-up by the teachers of the Transcendental Meditationprogram was not possible and in which no place was set aside for practiceof the technique by the institution, 12 meditators and seven controlswere able to be post-tested, and five of the experimental subjects weremeditating regularly (the requested twice daily). Regular participantsin the Transcendental Meditation program decreased significantlymore than irregular meditators and controls on spontaneous galvanicskin resistance (GSR) responses, and the per cent decrease in spontaneousGSR responses was significantly correlated with the number oftimes the subject had meditated. Higher levels of spontaneous GSRresponses are an indication of a less stable autonomic nervous systemand thus lower spontaneous GSR implies greater resistance to stress.There was no change in basal GSR levels. The regular TranscendentalMeditation meditators also displayed a significant decrease relativeto controls on the psychasthenia (obsessive compulsive symptoms) andsocial introversion sub-scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic PersonalityInventory (MMPI).Stillwater Prison, MinnesotaIn a study completed in 1973, Ballou (1977) randomly assigned 30 volunteerinmates to learn the Transcendental Meditation technique and27 inmates to a no-treatment control group who could later learn thetechnique. A second control group consisted of 16 inmates not interestedin learning the Transcendental Meditation program. The volunteerswere found to be comparable to the rest of the prison populationin terms of age, education, socioeconomic status, race, IQ , crime, andlength of sentence. Subjects were measured before the experimentalgroup learned the Transcendental Meditation technique and again at272