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MAHARISHI UNIVERSITY OF MANAGEMENT |
2000 Capital Blvd. Fairfield, Iowa 52556 |
Contact: Ken Chawkin 641-470-1314 kchawkin@mum.edu |
Can the large collective practice of a scientifically documented stress-reducing meditation technique positively impact a larger population through the “field effects of consciousness”— reducing societal stress, crime, and violence, and improving economic and climatic trends?
Yes, according to a rigorous, controlled statistical analysis of the first 100 days of a $12 million scientific demonstration project to monitor the effects of 1200 advanced Transcendental Meditation practitioners on U.S. quality of life indicators.
The research shows that since the project began on July 23, the Dow Jones Industrial Index and the S&P 500 have posted total gains of approximately 12%, and the Nasdaq has climbed nearly 18%—with the Dow repeatedly hitting all-time record levels, the S&P reaching a 5.5-year high, and the Nasdaq climbing to a five-year high.
“The group of advanced meditators are ‘creating coherence in national consciousness’—generating confidence, optimism, and positivity in the national mood,” said quantum physicist John Hagelin, Ph.D., the demonstration project director. “Sociologists as well as economists are aware that the markets are an extremely nimble and sensitive barometer of the collective consciousness.”
The results will be presented during a news conference on Wednesday, November 1, at 10 a.m. CST at Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa. The conference will be webcast live at www.demonstrationproject.org.
Panelists will include John Hagelin, Ph.D., who also serves as director of the Institute of Science, Technology and Public Policy; Ken Cavanaugh, Ph.D., professor of applied statistics; Fred Travis, Ph.D., director of the Center for Brain, Consciousness, and Cognition; and Robert Schneider, M.D., F.A.C.C., director of the NIH-funded Institute of Natural Medicine and Prevention at Maharishi University of Management.
Dr. Hagelin will also lodge a new set of predictions for the demonstration project, since an additional 500 advanced meditation experts from India have now joined the group to further intensify its positive impact. The predictions include a continued bullish rise in the stock market, a reduction in violent crime rates nationwide, and progress towards peace in the Middle East and North Korea.
The new research on the effects of collective meditation on society follows 23 previous studies published in peer-reviewed journals over the past 25 years. (See www.permanentpeace.org.)
The benefits of the Transcendental Meditation program for individual health are scientifically well documented. The National Institutes of Health has provided $25 million to study the effects of Transcendental Meditation practice on reducing stress and preventing and treating cardiovascular disease. The research been published in such peer-reviewed journals as the American Medical Association’s Archives of Internal Medicine and the American Heart Association’s Hypertension.
Dr. Cavanaugh said the behavior of the Dow, the S&P, and Nasdaq during the past 100 days are in marked contrast with the period prior to the course, when the three indexes were essentially flat from January 1, 2000, through the week prior to the course.
However, immediately following the start of the course on July 23, there was a dramatic change in the direction of all indexes. The Dow and S&P shifted suddenly to a strong positive average rate of growth of approximately 0.8% percent per week, while the Nasdaq rose even more strongly at a 1.17% average weekly growth.
“Time series impact assessment analysis confirms that this change is highly statistically significant,” Dr. Cavanaugh said. “The probability of observing such a large increase in the rate of growth purely by chance is less than 3 in 100,000 for the S&P 500, 6 in 100,000 for the Dow, and 2 in 1,000,000 for the Nasdaq.”
Since the course began,
The positive developments over the past 100 days are consistent with prior studies, Dr. Hagelin said, citing extensive research published in leading, peer-reviewed scientific journals, which documents reduced negative trends, including reduced crime and violence, and improved economic and social trends when as few as the square root of one percent of a population practice Yogic Flying together in a group.
Scientists named this phenomenon the “Maharishi Effect” after His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the renowned Vedic scholar who founded the Transcendental Meditation program, and who predicted the beneficial impact of group meditation on social trends as early as 1975.
Dr. Hagelin emphasized that, as significant as the economic developments of the past 100 days have been, the momentum for national transformation is about to accelerate, with another 500 advanced meditators now joining the group of 1200 experts at Maharishi University of Management to produce an even more powerful influence of coherence in collective consciousness.
“This is not wishful thinking,” Dr. Hagelin said. “This is hard science that has been field tested for over 50 years and documented through more than 600 studies conducted at over 250 independent universities and research institutes throughout the world.”