Consciousness-Based Education
A Simple Solution to the
Fundamental
Problems in Education
Ashley Deans, Ph.D., Director, Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment, and Professor
of Consciousness-Based Education, Maharishi
University of Management, Fairfield, Iowa, USA.
Abstract: Consciousness-Based
education offers, in addition to the study of traditional academic disciplines,
technologies of consciousness, including the Transcendental Meditation
technique, that unlock the hidden reserves of the brain. Extensive scientific
research, together with direct application in hundreds of schools and colleges
worldwide, confirms that students receiving a Consciousness-Based education
exhibit increased receptivity, creativity, and intelligence, together with reduced
stress and anxiety. The result is superior academic outcomes, better health,
and improved social behavior.
Introduction
Traditionally, education has
focused primarily on what a student studies—mathematics, physics, art,
literature etc. However, education has lacked a systematic means to develop the
full value of the consciousness of the student–qualities such as creativity,
intelligence, receptivity, alertness, and breadth of comprehension. As a
result, increasing academic demands on the student are not accompanied by an
increase in the student’s capacity to learn. This failure to expand the
student’s “container of knowledge”—this failure to unlock the hidden reserves
of the brain—not only restricts the full expression of the inner genius of the student
but also leads to the accumulation of fatigue and stress, resulting in the
epidemic of stress-related health and behavior problems prevalent in society
today.
To date, over 600 scientific studies performed at more
than 250 universities and research institutes in 33 countries, and published in
over 100 peer reviewed journals such as Education,
The American Journal of Cardiology,
and the Journal of Conflict Resolution,
have confirmed that Consciousness-Based education, which includes the
Transcendental Meditation program, results in increased brain wave coherence,
growth of creativity and intelligence, improved academic outcomes, decreased
stress and anxiety, lower levels of substance abuse, a decline in school
bullying, and reduced crime and violence in society.
Over the past thirty years, Consciousness-Based
education has been implemented in hundreds of schools worldwide. These schools
have introduced two short periods of “Quiet Time” each day so that students
have the opportunity to practice the Transcendental Meditation technique. The
resulting growth of student receptivity, creativity, and intelligence, together
with reduced stress levels throughout the school system, has resulted in
significantly improved academic outcomes and enhanced quality of student life.
What is Missing
from Modern Education?
Why is it that there is so much dissatisfaction with the state of
education in schools and universities today? Fundamentally, it is because
“fact-based” education, which often involves merely book learning and career
training, does not develop the total creative potential of the student—it does
not unfold the student’s inner genius.
Why is this? Let us consider the three-fold structure of education
comprising the knower, the process of knowing, and the knowledge that the
student learns. Modern education focuses primarily on providing the student
(the knower) with skills and information (the known) and does not provide the
means to fully develop consciousness—alertness, receptivity, intelligence, creativity,
and breadth of comprehension. The result is that students become overwhelmed
with information, suffer from stress and anxiety, and gain only partial,
fragmented knowledge of any particular discipline. All of these factors
contribute to fragmented brain development. So while parts of the brain may be
stimulated by studying a particular discipline such as mathematics or language,
education must add something to the curriculum that enlivens the whole brain
physiology to ensure that students graduate using their total creative
potential.
Only the Experience of
Transcendental Consciousness Results in Total Brain Development
Today, we know that the Transcendental Meditation program unlocks the
hidden reserves of the brain and enlivens holistic brain functioning. The
Transcendental Meditation program provides a simple, natural, effortless mental
technique that is practiced for 15-20 minutes morning and evening and allows
the student to gain the experience of the field of pure, silent, unbounded
awareness at the source of thought.
The experience of pure consciousness at the source of thought—the
fountainhead of creativity and intelligence within everyone—results in an
increase in coherent, holistic brain functioning as shown by numerous EEG
studies of the brain. For example, research by Dr. Fred Travis, published in
the journals Biological Psychology (1)
and the International Journal of
Neuroscience (2), shows increased brain wave coherence in students who
practice the Transcendental Meditation program, both during meditation and even
when engaged in activities with eyes open after meditation.
The practical application of this holistic brain development is
illustrated by a study published in the journal Intelligence (3), which found that, when compared with a
control group, students who had learned the Transcendental Meditation technique
six months earlier exhibited increased creativity, enhanced fluid intelligence
and practical intelligence, and decreased levels of anxiety.
Experiencing the Most Fundamental
Level of Life
Why is the experience of the source of thought so important for total
brain development and the growth of creativity and intelligence? It is because
the field of silent, Transcendental Consciousness is the source of the
student’s creativity and intelligence. Moreover, it is also the unified source
of nature’s infinite creativity and organizing power.
The experience of the field of unity underlying the
superficial diversity of the universe is easily gained through the practice of
the Transcendental Meditation technique. During this simple practice, the
conscious mind expands from its “classical,” fragmented, thought-dominated
style of activity, to a quieter, more subtle, more expanded “quantum
mechanical,” state of awareness, known in the scientific literature as
Transcendental Consciousness, a fourth major state of consciousness distinct
from waking, sleeping, and dreaming. Only the experience of Transcendental
Consciousness has been found to enliven the holistic functioning of the whole brain
physiology.
Unified quantum field theories of modern physics reveal that at the
basis of the infinite diversity displayed in the universe is a single Unified
Field, which is a field of infinite creativity and organizing power—the unified
source of both the knower and the known. The Transcendental Meditation
technique allows the student to experience this Unified Field within themselves
at the source of their own thinking. As a result they naturally grow in
creativity, intelligence, and organizing power and spontaneously begin to
appreciate the connectedness of all disciplines and the relationship of all
disciplines to their own Self.
Benefits of Coherent Brain
Functioning
When students experience this unified state of inner silence as part of
their daily routine, extensive research and practical experience in schools has
found that students become more awake and more receptive in class, their
creativity and intelligence increases, and as a result academic outcomes
significantly improve. Students also suffer from fewer stress-related
disorders, spontaneously reduce their consumption of cigarettes and alcohol,
and naturally exhibit improved social behavior. And of course, since teachers
can also learn the Transcendental Meditation program, they can experience less
stress, better health and more creativity, resulting in decreased absenteeism,
greater job satisfaction, and improved health.
Benefits for Health
Stress related disorders are growing not only in the general population
but also amongst children and young adults. Rising rates of hypertension,
adult-onset diabetes, anxiety, depression, ADHD, alcohol and drug abuse, and
rising incidence of bullying and violence are clear evidence of rising stress
levels amongst our youth. The Transcendental Meditation technique has been
found to be by far the most effective way to dissolve the harmful effects of
stress and to increase longevity as reported in the American Journal of Cardiology (4).
A recent study at the
These findings of improved health and longevity
confirm that schools now have the opportunity to make education “prevention
oriented” so that students are not only well prepared academically but also
have the knowledge that will help to prevent disease and enjoy a long and
healthy life.
Consciousness-Based
Education in Schools.
In Consciousness-Based schools, at the beginning and end of the school
day, students sit in their classrooms with eyes closed and practice the
Transcendental Meditation program for fifteen minutes. The results reported are
nothing less than astounding. For example, at the Maharishi
School of the Age of Enlightenment in Fairfield, Iowa, USA, where I have been
the director for the past seventeen years, students have won more than 600
individual state championship ribbons in math, science, history, creative
problem solving, speech, photography, athletics and art.
Here are just a few of the honors this small private school, which has
an open admissions policy, has been awarded since its first high school class
graduated in 1983:
·
State drama competitions competing against over 300 schools—more
“Critics Choice” awards in than any other school in the history of the state,
·
“Destination Imagination,” an international creativity competition—4
time world champions and more top-ten finishes in the global finals than any
school in the world,
·
Top honors in art and photography contests at the state, national, and
international levels, including first place at the Congressional High School
Art Contest three years in a row,
·
Five state titles in the State History Fair,
·
Ten state titles in State Science Fairs,
·
17 state championships in tennis,
·
State champions in golf.
These results are even more remarkable given that students admitted to
Today, hundreds of schools in countries as diverse as
Benefits for Society
It is well known that a stressed individual is more prone to have an
accident, more likely to suffer from stress-related disorders, and more likely
to exhibit anti-social behavior. Since a society is a collection of individuals
it should come as no surprise that studies have shown that when a small
percentage of a population is practicing the Transcendental Meditation
technique there is a measurable reduction in the acute social stress of society
as measured by decreased rates of sickness, accidents, crime, violence, and
conflict. These improvements in quality of life have been measured when just 1%
of the population has learned the Transcendental Meditation technique.
Furthermore, extensive research has shown that there is an even more
powerful influence of harmony and coherence generated in the whole society when
the Transcendental Meditation technique and the advanced TM-Sidhi
program, including Yogic Flying, is practiced in a group equal to, or
exceeding, the square root of 1% of the population. Many of these studies have
been published in independent refereed journals such as Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly (8), The Journal of Offender Rehabilitation (9), Criminal Justice and Behavior (10), and the Journal of Conflict Resolution (11) to name but a few.
Reducing the Threat of Terrorism and
War
The published scientific research reporting that crime, violence, and
conflict in society are reduced when the square root of 1% of the population
participates in the group practice of the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program, including Yogic Flying, confirms the
practicality of schools becoming sources of coherence and positivity
for the whole nation. For example, in
By creating greater coherence in the collective consciousness of
society, and thereby reducing the acute social stress that gives rise to
terrorism and war, Consciousness-Based education offers to create an integrated
national consciousness where negativity and conflict cannot arise within the
nation or afflict the nation from the outside. This is the principle of
creating national invincibility by preventing the birth of an enemy.
By implementing Consciousness-Based education in schools,
How to Learn the Transcendental
Meditation Technique
The Transcendental Meditation technique is taught to everyone in a
standard and systematic manner by instructors who have graduated from a
Transcendental Meditation program teacher training course. The course is taught
in seven steps:
1. An introductory lecture (1 hour)
2. A preparatory lecture (1 hour)
3. A personal interview with a teacher
4. Personal instruction (privately with the teacher)
5,6,7 Three sessions of group instruction
In a school setting, the school incorporates two 15-minute periods a day
of “Quiet Time” into the daily schedule. All students are offered the
opportunity to learn the Transcendental Meditation technique and those students
who choose to do so meditate twice a day in their classrooms or in an assembly
hall, while any remaining students gather in a separate room for some quiet
activity such as silent reading.
The benefits of introducing Consciousness-Based education into a school
become apparent immediately and the result is a fulfilling educational
experience that benefits the students, the teachers, and the society as a
whole.
References:
(1) Travis, F. Patterns of EEG coherence, power, and
contingent negative variation characterize the integration of transcendental
and waking states. Biological Psychology,
61: 293-319, 2002.
(2) Travis, F.
and Arenander, A. Cross-sectional and longitudinal
study of effects of Transcendental Meditation practice on interhemispheric
frontal asymmetry and frontal coherence. International
Journal of Neuroscience, 116: 1519-38, 2006
(3) So, K.T. and Orme-Johnson,
D.W. Three randomized experiments on the longitudinal effects of the
Transcendental Meditation technique on cognition. Intelligence, 29: 419-440, 2001.
(4) Schneider,
R.H. et al. Long-term effects of stress reduction on mortality in persons >
55 years of age with systemic hypertension. American
Journal of Cardiology 95: 1060-1064, 2005.
(5)
(6) Nidich,
(7) Nidich, S.I. and Nidich, R.J. Increased academic achievement at
(8) Alexander, C.N. et al.
Treating and preventing alcohol, nicotine, and drug abuse through
Transcendental Meditation: A review and statistical meta-analysis. Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly 11:
13-87, 1994.
(9) Alexander, C.N. et al.
Transcendental Meditation in criminal rehabilitation and crime prevention. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation 36:
(1/2/3/4), 2003.
(10)Abrams, A.I. and Siegel, L.M. The Transcendental Meditation program
and rehabilitation at Folsom State Prison: A cross-validation study. Criminal Justice and Behavior 5: 3-20,
1978
(11) Orme-Johnson, D.W. et al. International peace project in the
Middle East: The effect of the Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field. Journal of Conflict Resolution 32:
776-812, 1988.