Consciousness-Based Education - Maharishi University of ...

consciousness-based education and governmentcognitive components, including vocabulary knowledge, spelling, andattention (also see integrated brain functioning above).In randomized controlled studies with Chinese school students,increases in culture-fair intelligence (IQ ), creative thinking skills,including flexibility, field independence, and inspection time (factorsrelated to executive function) were found in meditating students comparedto controls (So Kam Tim & Orme-Johnson, 2001).Pilot studies on middle and secondary private school studentsshowed higher levels of creative thinking skills, including fluency, flexibility,and originality, in those practicing Transcendental Meditationcompared to controls, and within-group increases in cognitive intelligencein meditators (Nidich & Nidich, 1987).In college students, a two-year longitudinal study showed significantimprovements on culture-fair intelligence and reaction time dueto Transcendental Meditation practice (Cranson, 1991). Dillbeck andcolleagues (1986) also found significant improvement in IQ and fieldindependence. In addition increases in visual perception and verbalproblem-solving ability were observed in students practicing TranscendentalMeditation compared to controls (Dillbeck, 1982).Psychological DistressUnder high stress, the brain “downshifts” to a stimulus/response mode(Caine and Caine, 1991). High psychosocial stress causes brain regionsinvolved in memory and emotions, such as the hippocampus, amygdala,and prefrontal cortex, to undergo structural remodeling, with theresult that executive function such as working memory is impaired andanxiety and other negative affect are increased (McEwen et al., 1998,2006a, b).Research by Elder et al. (in press) on student psychological distressfactors in secondary school students comprised of racial and ethnicminorities showed a significant reduction of distress in those studentspracticing the Transcendental Meditation program compared to controls.A total of 106 secondary school students (68 meditating and 38non-meditating students), who completed both baseline and 4-monthpost-testing, were included. Results indicated reductions in TranscendentalMeditation students compared to controls in general psycho-304