So at American University we looked at 50
students and we looked in a random assignment
design what was the effect on Transcendental
Meditation on these students experience during
a semester of college.
We looked at the beginning of the semester
and then we looked at the end of the semester
just before finals week when it was highest
pressure, highest tension.
What we found is that this two and a half
months of Transcendental Meditation practice
provided a buffer for the students from the
stress of college.
"This is your meditation, this is your eyes
closed--just want you to get a feel".
We found the meditating students would be
able to respond less to stressful stimulus.
They found that if they respond more to the
stressful stimulus as we found in the non-meditating
control groups its associated with being more
anxious, more worried, less able to keep the
attention on task.
We also found that Transcendental Meditation
practice allowed the students to be more awake.
They had less chances of dosing in different
situations and sleepiness is the greatest
enemy to learning because when you sleep the
frontal lobes go offline and you can't take
in information.
The last thing we found is how the brain actually
functioned fundamentally changed.
We found that the frontal areas, that part
of your brain, this part of your brain, which
is the executive processing part of the brain
was more coherent.
It showed greater coordination of the executive
system.
We found that the brain had more diffuse alpha
activity during tasks and this is a sign,
an indication of greater inner-directedness
of activity.
less absorbed in the outer details the fragmented
parts of experience.
Last we found that the brain began to call
up resources when it was needed as the task
demands were there.
So we found the Transcendental Meditation
practice fundamentally changed how the brain
functioned in a positive way, in a way that
now the brain is able to support greater breadth
of vision being able to deal with stress the
demands of the college time.
