TM makes the grade: a Hollywood director is bringing Transcendental Meditation to kids, but they're not the only ones who can benefit from it

CAN MEDITATION help schoolchildren improve their grades and sail serenely through the storms of adolescence? Filmmaker David Lynch, who credits 30-plus years of Transcendental Meditation with unleashing his creativity, thinks so. In 2005, the director of quirky hits like Twin Peaks and Blue Velvet launched the David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace to promote TM programs. Since then, the organization has doled out nearly $3 million to about 20 public and private schools in Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Michigan, New York, and Washington, D.C. The intention is to show that silently reciting a mantra for l0 minutes twice a day can boost academic performance, reduce drug use and violent behavior, and enhance physical and mental wellness.

"Right now education is about cramming information into a child's brain, not about developing the ability to digest information and use it intelligently," says Bob Roth, vice president of the David Lynch Foundation. "TM is an important missing element in education because it can wake up the brain and make it function more coherently."

Developed in India 50 years ago by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, TM is derived from Indian spiritual traditions. By repeatedly thinking a simple Sanskrit mantra or sound twice a day (kids go for l0 minutes a session; adults, 20 minutes), practitioners can achieve a tranquil state of "restful alertness," says Roth. "The mind has a collective reservoir of creativity and intelligence, which TM enables us to access."

Researchers at the Department of Family Medicine, University of Michigan Integrative Medicine in Ann Arbor concluded in 2006 that TM may help youngsters develop "social-emotional capacities necessary for regulating the ... stress of adolescence."

Adults derive similar benefits. Between 1970 and 1972, investigators at Harvard and UCLA published studies in Science and other journals that described a "relaxation response" through which the brain becomes more alert and the body more relaxed. Since then, the National Institutes of Health have funded millions in research on TM's effects, and many studies have linked the practice to reductions in stress hormones, insomnia, chronic pain, anxiety, depression, and blood pressure.

TM differs from other forms of meditation in that it doesn't "force the mind to concentrate [on breathing or muscle-relaxation techniques], which can become tiring," says neurologist Gary Kaplan, M.D., Ph.D., chairman of the New York Committee for Stress-Free Schools.

The method itself seems straightforward: Just sit with your eyes closed, silently repeating a mantra. But the simplicity is deceptive, say devotees. "The specifics of the mantra and how it is used can only be taught one-on-one," says Kaplan.

Authorized TM courses involve several hours of training over several days, followed by a lifetime of instruction, and they cost up to $2,500 (visit www.tm.org to find instructors). While critics take issue with the high cost of training, the mind-body benefits of TM have more scientific support than any other form of meditation.

Still, if you aren't ready to make a big financial investment, a nonprofit organization called Natural Stress Relief (www.naturalstressreliefusa .org) offers a do-it-yourself manual and audio variation on mantra meditation for $47 (the downloadable version is $25). And since it's the repetitive aspect of TM practice that evokes the relaxation response, according to the first Harvard studies, you can get the same kind of restful alertness through meditative-movement techniques like yoga, tai chi, and qi gong.

COPYRIGHT 2007 Weider Publications
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning