Consciousness-Based Education - Maharishi University of ...

TRANSCEnDENTAL MEDITATION PROGRAM and CORRECTIONSweekly intervals over an 11-week period on the State-Trait AnxietyInventory. Twenty-three meditators, 20 random assignment controls,and 14 disinterested controls completed the experiment. A moderatelyextensive follow-up program was provided to participants so that properpractice of the technique would be ensured and so that they would havea clear intellectual understanding of the mechanics and effects of thetechnique. Seventy percent of those trained in the program were stillpracticing the technique regularly one year after instruction.Results of the study included a significant reduction in both stateand trait anxiety among the subjects who learned the TranscendentalMeditation program, in contrast to both control groups; the twocontrol groups did not differ significantly from one another. The anxietyreduction among Transcendental Meditation program participantsoccurred immediately (by the first retesting at three weeks) and wasmaintained throughout the study. Meditating inmates also showed areduction in disciplinary reports in comparison to controls, and theydoubled the number of educational, recreational, and vocational activities,and tripled the number of hours spent in those activities.Federal Correctional Institution, Lompoc, CaliforniaCunningham and Koch (1977) replicated Balou’s finding of reducedanxiety using a longitudinal single-group design with 38 inmates. Overa five-month period, inmates instructed in the Transcendental Meditationprogram had significant reductions in both state and trait anxiety;their pretest anxiety scores did not differ from a sample of 48 inmatesnot predisposed to learn the Transcendental Meditation technique.Meditating inmates also reported positive changes on self-report Likert-typepersonality scale items. There was no loss of subjects from thestudy and 85 percent of the inmates who learned the TranscendentalMeditation program continued meditating through the five months.The amount of anxiety reduction was significantly correlated (r = .89)with regularity of practice of the Transcendental Meditation program.Federal Correctional Institution, Milan, MichiganRamirez (1990), a private consultant, performed an experimental studywith an extensive measurement battery to assess the effects of the TranscendentalMeditation program at the Federal Correctional Institutionin Milan, Michigan. Eighty volunteers were randomly selected from273