10^th February 2003 — People who report experiences of higher states of consciousness through regular practice of Transcendental Meditation™ have brain wave patterns that are significantly different from non-practitioners, according to breakthrough research published in the scientific journal Biological Psychology.

Transcendental Meditation™ is widely known as a technique to reduce stress, improve health and enhance quality of life. But Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who founded Transcendental Meditation (TM) almost 50 years ago, explains that these benefits are by-products of the main effect of the practice which is to develop higher states of consciousness.

Now a research team in the USA have found that people who have been practising Transcendental Meditation for many years and who report regular experience of higher consciousness have important differences in their brain wave patterns to the normal population. The researchers have developed a new Integration Scale, which quantifies these EEG patterns — and they believe that these measurements will bring them closer to a scientific understanding of higher human functioning and higher consciousness.

The experience that the TM practitioners reported was the co-existence of a silent unbounded continuum of awareness (pure consciousness) along with the changing values of daily life.

Lead author of the study, Frederick Travis, Ph.D., a researcher at Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa, points out that every great religious and philosophical tradition has posed the possibility of higher human functioning. "Until now a major obstacle has been the challenge of finding individuals who report a fairly stabilized experience of the state of transcendence during activity," Dr. Travis said. "Fortunately, a growing number of individuals practising Transcendental Meditation report this experience."

The study is published in Biological Psychology (November 2002, Vol. 61, No. 3, pp. 293–319).

Dr Travis and his colleagues measured the EEG of 17 persons practising Transcendental Meditation™ who had been having regular experiences of transcendence along with activity for at least a year. They recorded brain wave activity (EEG) in the TM subjects and in two comparison groups while all three performed a series of simple tasks (hearing a stimulus tone and then pressing a computer key) as well as a series of decision-based tasks (hearing a tone and then deciding which of two numbers on the screen was larger). Scientists refer to these as simple and choice-contingent negative variation (CNV) tasks. CNV reflects the timing and level of engagement of the brain as it prepares to respond.

Typically, when subjects prepare to respond, the brain becomes "primed" so that it can react more quickly. This is reflected as a higher EEG baseline. The study showed that subjects reporting transcendence along with waking and sleeping responded more efficiently during tasks. Their CNV was higher in simple tasks, when they knew the correct response and so should be getting ready to respond, but it was lower in choice trials, when they did not yet know what would be the correct response and so should not be getting ready to respond.

In the 19th century, William James observed that most people use only 5–10% of their mental potential, thus positing more elevated states. In 1901, Canadian psychologist Richard M. Bucke wrote a landmark book on full human potential entitled Cosmic Consciousness. Later, Abraham Maslow reported that individuals who were "self-actualized" commonly had "peak" or "transcendental" experiences.

The subjects in this experiment had been practising Transcendental Meditation™ for a number of years. All reported experiencing the coexistence of "transcendence" — a silent unbounded continuum of awareness — along with the changing values of daily life.

• The researchers have used these cortical measures—EEG and CNV—to develop an "Integration Scale," a set of criteria that characterize the transformation in brain dynamics corresponding to increasing integration of transcendent experiences with daily activity. Just as scientists earlier quantified the physiological states associated with the common states of awareness—waking, sleeping, and dreaming—they hope now to quantify the experience of transcendence in daily activity, sometimes referred to as enlightenment, self-actualization, or cosmic consciousness.

"The human brain appears to have an innate capacity to function at much higher levels, where mental processes become very calm, precise, and efficient—without common anxieties, frustrations or unhappiness," Dr. Travis said. "These results are important because they validate via Western science the experiences of higher consciousness—deep inner peace, bliss, unbounded awareness, and oneness with the universe—which have been esteemed throughout the ages."

Transcendental Meditation™ is a simple technique practised for 15-20 minutes twice each day sitting comfortably in a chair with eyes closed. During this time the mind settles down in a natural way until activity ceases, and the mind is then left in a state of transcendence, or restful alertness. With regular practice this state becomes stabilized so that it is maintained even during activity.

Transcendental Meditation™, founded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi™, is a programme for the Development of Consciousness which, in the UK, is available only from Maharishi Foundation™, registered educational charity number 270157.

There are 60 teaching Centres around the UK. For more information about the study or Transcendental Meditation please contact Jonathan Hinde on 020 7402 3787 (hinde@t-m.org.uk) or visit www.t-m.org.uk