David Lynch Foundation Awards Scholarships,
Research Support for TM in Schools
David Lynch greets 3,500 meditating children in Brazil. These at-risk kids from the Belo Horizonte shantytowns all learned Transcendental Meditation thanks to Foundation funding.
Dr. Hagelin and the Institute staff continue to play key supportive roles in the development and expansion of the David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace (see www.DavidLynchFoundation.org). Founded in 2005 by award-winning filmmaker David Lynch (Twin Peaks, The Elephant Man, Mulholland Drive), the Foundation provides scholarship funds for students and teachers around the world to learn to meditate.
In the past few years, the Foundation has brought the Transcendental Meditation program to over 70,000 children in schools throughout the United States, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa. Now the Foundation’s immediate goal is to expand this global initiative to include a million youth, especially those who are at risk or are socioeconomically disadvantaged. Half a million young people in 60 countries are already waiting to begin the Transcendental Meditation practice.
Extensive published research has found that the simple, scientifically validated TM program, introduced 50 years ago by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, reduces stress and stress-related disorders, improves health, optimizes brain functioning, increases creativity and intelligence (IQ), improves academic performance, and reduces anxiety, depression, substance abuse, and symptoms of ADHD and other learning disorders.
The TM technique, a nonreligious mental practice endorsed by leaders of all religious faiths, has been learned worldwide by 6 million people from all cultures, races, and backgrounds. The National Institutes of Health has awarded $24 million to research the benefits of the TM practice.
In recent years, the alarming rise of classroom stress has fueled widespread problems in education, including poor academic achievement, anxiety, depression, school violence, and teacher burnout. To help neutralize this stress, the David Lynch Foundation currently provides funding for schoolwide Transcendental Meditation programs in public, charter, private, and Native American schools throughout the U.S. and around the world, as well as funding for universities and research institutions to assess the effects of the program. Instruction is voluntary and is provided to a child with parental permission and at no cost to the family, organization or school. Meditation instruction is offered through school-sponsored Quiet Time programs, before- and after-school programs, hospital-sponsored wellness programs, Boys and Girls clubs, and TM teaching centers.
The Foundation and its programs enjoy strong support from school administrators, teachers, parents, and students. Jim Dierke, the 2008 Middle School Principal of the Year of the National Association of Secondary School Principals, commented, “The TM/Quiet Time Program is the most powerful, effective program that I have come across in my 37 years as a public school educator for addressing the problem of stress. It is working. It is nourishing these children and providing them an immensely valuable tool for life. It is saving lives.”
Starting two years ago, the Maharishi University of Management Research Institute began to evaluate the effectiveness of seven 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.