Transcendental Meditation in education
Transcendental Meditation in education is the application of the Transcendental Meditation technique in an educational setting or institution. These educational programs and institutions have been founded in the US, United Kingdom, Australia, India, Africa and Japan. The Transcendental Meditation technique became popular with students in the 1960s and by the early 1970s centers for the Students International Meditation Society were established at a thousand campuses in the US with similar growth occurring in Germany, Canada and Britain. The Maharishi International University was established in 1973 in the US and began offering accredited, degree programs. In 1977 courses in Transcendental Meditation and the Science of Creative Intelligence (SCI) were legally prohibited from New Jersey (USA) public high schools on religious grounds by virtue of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. This "dismantled" the TM program's use of government funding in U.S. public schools "but did not constitute a negative evaluation of the program itself". Since 1979, schools that incorporate the Transcendental Meditation technique using private, non-governmental funding have been reported in the US, South America, Southeast Asia, Northern Ireland, South Africa and Israel.
Students in a Peru classroom practicing the TM technique
Maharishi University of Management campus
MERU branch campus in Vlodrop, the Netherlands
Maharishi Centre for Educational Excellence, Bhopal, India.
Transcendental Meditation technique
The Transcendental Meditation technique is the technique associated with the practice of Transcendental Meditation developed by the Indian spiritual figure Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The practice involves the use of a private mantra, and is practised for 20 minutes twice per day while sitting comfortably with one's eyes closed. TM instruction encourages students not to be alarmed by random thoughts which may arise, but to easily return to the mantra when one becomes aware of this.
Maharishi Centre for Educational Excellence, Bhopal, India