David Lynch Foundation Awards Scholarships,
Research Support for TM in Schools
David Lynch answers questions from the press
Dr. Hagelin and the Institute staff continue to play key supportive roles in the development and expansion of the David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness and World Peace. Launched in July 2005, the Foundation has raised over $5 million to provide national and worldwide scholarships to students who want to learn to meditate.
In the last year, thousands of students and hundreds of faculty in the U.S., the Caribbean, South America, and Africa have learned the Transcendental Meditation technique through programs supported by the Lynch Foundation in their schools and colleges. For the coming year, the Foundation has already pledged to fund TM instruction for 2,200 students in the U.S., 2,000 students in Ghana, and 12,000 students in 29 countries in Latin America. The Latin American students will learn both the TM and TM-Sidhi programs as part of their instruction. The Foundation is also providing scholarships for many students attending Maharishi International University and Maharishi School in Fairfield, our flagship institutions of Consciousness-Based education.
Starting last year, the Maharishi International University Research Institute began to evaluate the effectiveness of seven of these in-school Transcendental Meditation programs, involving over 500 students. Preliminary results indicate student improvement in several key outcome areas, including reduced anxiety, improved self-esteem, increased EEG brain integration, reduced total student problems (combined emotional, conduct, peer-related, and hyperactivity), reduced blood pressure, improved math and social studies academic achievement, and reduced absenteeism.
Students and faculty alike have been very happy about their experiences with the TM program. Describing her “much improved mood,” one student said, “It’s either TM or it’s a miracle!” Others commented, “I feel that I now can tap into that place of rest and peace”; “My brain felt almost perfect”; and “TM is just a grand pleasure to have.”
The extensive, decades-long experience of the Institute and its staff in organizing and implementing schoolwide programs of Transcendental Meditation around the world has provided very valuable support for the launch and growth of the David Lynch Foundation, which is now poised to create an unprecedented transformation in education across the nation and the world.