Download Meditation and Its Behavioral Effects on Academic Performance

Meditation: A Research Overview
And It’s Correlation to Academic Performance and Behavioral
Change
Once the province a few lone researchers, over the last 4 decades, research on the medical benefits of
meditation has increased at an exponential rate. This increase has grown from a small group of researchers
to a diversified field incorporating the latest modern technology and funded by such prestigious institutions
as the National Institute of Health in Washington DC. Past and current research effort have ranged from the
effects of meditation on stress related diseases to a wide variety of illnesses including, anxiety disorder,
depression, pain alleviation, aging, blood pressure, cardiovascular disease and even cancer treatment. The
clinical results of these studies is now documented in hundreds nay thousands of articles and hundreds of
books. To give a sense of how vast the field of research has become a recent search in the Publications
Medical site, a subsidiary of the National Institute’s of Health on articles dealing with meditation and stress
reduction showed over 5000 articles or entries. The playing field has indeed grown. The focus of this paper
is on the current research done on the effects of meditation on academic performance, behavioral changes
and stress reduction treatment in adolescents. It might useful here to give a brief overview of the research
over the last forty years and the shift in the kinds and focus of research now being done.
Overview of Research
The first major publication on the clinical effects of meditation was Michael Murphy’s and Steven Donovan’s
The Physical and Psychological Effects of Meditation published in 1988. Michael Murphy and Steven
Donovan, leaders in the American growth center movement and themselves seasoned meditators, presented
an annotated bibliography of some 1253 articles on the effects of meditation. They introduced their
bibliography with a series of essays to make a statement on the physiological, psychological and behavioral
effects of meditation as it was understood in Western literature. This first edition clearly showed the
scientific study of meditation was seriously becoming one of the fastest growing areas of study.
In the wake of its publication, Esalen Institute in cooperation with the Institute of Noetic studies launched an
annual series of invitation only conferences on the advances in meditation research. These conferences held
annually at Esalen from 1988 to 1996 brought leading edge scholars of religion and science interested in
research on meditation to create a cross disciplinary dialogue about the effects of meditative practice. Out of
these conferences came a second major edition of Murphy and Donovan’s bibliography. Since this time,
research has grown at a pace nothing short of spectacular especially in comparison with the previous fifty
years.
While more and more studies are being undertaken overall, the majority of research programs appear to be
conducted by practitioners of meditation who are also skilled in the techniques of modern experimental
methods. Most importantly, from the standpoint of basic science, investigation has moved from the level of
gross research to more refined and detailed points of biochemistry and the voluntary control of internal
states. Although research has been conducted by a wide variety of researchers three main groups have
dominated the research in the last couple of decades. The first is the research on TM or Transcendental
Meditation conducted at Maharishi Mahesh International University (MIU), the second, Mindfulness based
meditation conducted by a team of researchers at University of Mass in Boston, (MBSR), and the work of
Herbert Benson cardiologist at Harvard Medical School and the Mind Body Institute who has studied a
variety of generic meditation techniques.
TM and Transcendental Meditation
In terms of the sheer volume of research conducted and number of articles, published TM or Transcendent
Meditation continues to be ahead of the pack. The experimental research program into the effects of TM is
carried on largely at Maharishi Mahesh University in Fairfield Iowa now called the Maharishi Mahesh
International School of Management. However, there are other centers also engaged in TM research. Over
the past two decades, David Orne-Johnson, one of the key investigators at MIU, and his colleagues have
compiled and edited 508 studies on TM in five volumes under the title Scientific Research on Maharishi’s
Transcendentalist Meditation and TM –Sidhi Program Collected papers (Orne-Johnson and Farrow, 1977;
Chalmers, Clements Schenkluhn and Weinless, 1989a, 1989b, 1989c, Wallace, Orne-Johnson and Dillbeck,
1990.) Since then, research has continued at a prodigious pace.
Current research has moved into the field of applied social situations, for example the effects of teaching TM
to the police, the military, and such populations as juvenile offenders, incarcerated adults, high school
students and athletes as well as managers in corporate environment. In more recent years, research has
also begun looking at more subtle measures of blood chemistry. These have included endocrine levels,
effects on neurotransmitters, such as dopamine, noradrenaline, and serotonin as well as the measurement
of altered cell metabolism.
Herbert Benson: The Mind-Body Medical Institute
Benson began his early research by studying TM practitioners but he has since expanded to include Tibetan
Buddhist meditators and generic forms of relaxation. His first major work entitled the Relaxation Response
appeared in 1975 and sparked a plethora of interest and research into the effects of meditation on the body.
Since then he has published two more books Beyond the Relaxation Response and Your Maximum Mind both
further explored the effect of meditation on improving the quality of character and clearly showed the
positive physiological effects of the relaxation response with the hopefulness of the patient's own religious
beliefs and values.
Since then Benson has been investigating advanced meditators. In order to better understand the effects of
meditation he began by studying the physiological effects of advanced Tibetan meditators, using monks who
followed the Dalai Lama. Many of these were on sight investigations at monasteries in Nepal in the
Himalayas. Even more recently, Benson and his colleagues have been studying and testing out the
physiological effects of different forms of practice, as well as assessing metabolic and electrophysiological
changes in the advanced meditators. His book Timeless Healing: The Power and Biology of Belief argued
that the placebo effect is a “remembered wellness.” He redefines the term placebo as a person’s natural
desire for health and the person’s right to choose the kind of healing to achieve it. Western Medicine he
argues, must now add the patients own desire to achieve wellness and it’s capacity to heal itself to the mix
of more intrusive healing like surgery and pharmaceuticals. Hence, expectations, beliefs, and values and the
practice of meditation are potent forces we must now harness for health and growth. He has also set up
various educational initiatives including a one- week training program for health practitioners in all aspects
of the relaxation response. He has also inaugurated a successful relaxation response curriculum for high
schools students.I
Jon Kabot Zinn and Mindfulness Based Meditation
Jon Kabat Zinn, PhD., is the director of the Stress Reduction clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical
center. He is internationally known for his work using meditation to help medical patients find relief from
chronic pain and stress related disorders. His work, which has spanned nearly two and half decades, has
focused on a Theravadan meditation technique called “mindfulness meditation.” This method focuses on
creating a new awareness around the thinking process sometimes known as “witness consciousness.” In this
state, the meditator begins to observe his or her thoughts as merely thoughts, which arise and go. As the
process deepens, the observer is able to detach himself or herself from the constant litany of thoughts some
good and some negative running through his or her mind. In the process, he or she works through the
conditioned, habituated and reactive patterns, which are often the cause of deep-seated anxiety, stress
related illness and even depression. II
Five Case Studies on the Effects of Meditation on Academic Performance and
Behavior
There have been a number of studies done correlating the effect of meditation on academic performance
and the effect on at-risk behavior for adolescents and college students. There have also been a number of
studies done which suggest that behavioral stress reduction via the TM program may hold promise in the
improvement of school related behaviors in youth. Research has shown that TM produces improvements in
mental health, including reduction of various forms of psychological stress such as depression, anxiety,
hostility and emotional instability.TM has also been shown to reduce aggression and increase in overall
relaxation in adults. III One of the more important studies done by a team of researchers including, Vernon
A. Barnes, Lynette B. Bauza and Frank A. Trieber took at look at the impact of stress reduction on negative
school behavior in adolescents. The study was conducted at the University of Georgia Medical College and its
intended purpose was to determine “the effect of stress reduction via Transcendental Meditation program on
school rule infractions in adolescents.” IV
Methods and Results
The study worked with 45 African American adolescents ranging fro 15-18 with high normal systolic blood
pressure and were randomly assigned to ether a Transcendentalist Meditation program or a health education
control group. The meditation group practiced 15 minutes of meditation at home and at school each day for
4 months. The control group were given 15 minutes of health education classes for the same time period.
The results of the study showed that the meditation group had a decrease in absentee periods, rule
infractions and suspensions compared to an increase in the control group.
This study was part of a larger study examining the impact of stress reduction via TM on normal blood
pressure levels in adolescents. The result of this study showed that a beneficial impact of TM on
cardiovascular functioning at rest and during stress. V The findings also indicate a potential beneficial impact
upon anger expression in African American females. The study also suggests that the feasibility of
implementing a school based stress reduction program in efforts to improve both physical and behavioral
risk factors in youth.
The Effects of TM on Stress Reactivity and Mental Health
A second study of perhaps related to the first looked at the effects of TM meditation and progressive muscle
relaxation and EKG coherence, stress reactivity, and mental health in black college students. This study was
conducted by C. Gaylord and Orme Johnson and F. Travis at the Social and Behavioral Sciences at University
of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. VI
Methods and Results
Eighty three black college students , staff and adults were pretested on EKG coherence skin potential SP
habituation to a series o loud tones, psychometric measures if mental heath (Tennessee Self-concept
Empirical Scales and Spielberger State Trait Anxiety Inventory) and IQ. They were then randomly assigned
to one of three control groups: The TM meditation technique,™; Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PR): or
cognitive behavioral strategies (C). Approximately one year later, they were post tested. TM and PR
increased in overall mental health as measured by the Empirical Scales and Spielberger State Trait tests. TM
also showed a greater reduction in neuroticism than PR and C. TM also showed faster habituation to series of
loud tones (SP) than did the PR and C groups.
The Effects of Mindfulness Meditation on Stress Reduction, Sense of control and
Spiritual Experiences
This study conducted in 1997 by J. Astin from the Department of Psychology and Social Behavior at the
University of California at Irvine, looked at the effects of mindfulness meditation on reducing stress related
symptomatology and helping patients cope with chronic pain. This study looked at the effects of a 8 week
mindfulness stress reduction program on twenty eight individuals who volunteered to participate. The
twenty-eight volunteers were randomized into two groups the experimental group and a nonintervention
control group. VII
Results and Methods
The study found that the techniques of mindfulness meditation with its emphasis on developing detached
observation and awareness of the contents of consciousness may represent a powerful cognitive behavioral
coping strategy for transforming the ways in which we respond to life events. The study found that the
experimental group when compared to the control group showed significantly greater changes in terms of
(1) Reductions in overall psychological symptomatology; (2) increase in overall domain specific sense of
control and utilization of an accepting or yielding mode control in their lives and (3) higher scores on a
measure of spiritual experiences. The importance of this study lies in the ability to teach this simple
technique to students who are coping with high levels of anxiety or stress in school settings and their ability
to learn how to manage these stressful situations.
Academic Performance and TM Meditation
Three studies in the arena of academic performance standout as highly significant especially for secondary
school educators. All of these studies were conducted by researchers using the TM method. The first study
looked at the development of intelligence via increased IQ among university students. The study looked at
the use of TM programme in four Canadian High Schools over a period of 2 years from 1985-1987 and found
that there was significant improvement in intelligence, IQ tolerance self esteem and five other personality
factors in comparison to the control group. VIII
A second study looked at the effect of TM on increased practical intelligence, IQ, creativity and field
independence and reduced anxiety among high schools students. This was a longitudinal study of high
schools practicing the TM meditation programme in three Taiwanese high schools. TM students after forty
days of use of TM meditation showed improved clustering of short-term memory, indicating increased
organization of thinking process in comparison to control group who sat with closed eyes twice daily. IX
A third study on elementary students and secondary students showed improved academic performance,
cognitive ability, creativity and self-esteem. In particular student showed improvement in standardized
tests, improved cognitive abilities, and improved field independence indicating broader comprehension with
the ability to focus sharply. X
Conclusions
The vast amount of research done on meditation is staggering when you consider how short a time period it
been accomplished in. From the perspective of educators from the elementary to college level, the potential
seems enormous at both the cognitive level and behavioral levels. At its most basic level, meditation
whether Mindfulness based, Transcendental, Kundalini, Loving Kindness or other forms all can produce
powerful effect on reducing stress in clinical and educational environments. There is now also strong
evidence that meditation directly improves, IQ, short-term memory, creativity and cognitive ability.
However, as dramatic as this is, it misses the more profound significance of meditation as a tool for
educators; it connects the student to deeper levels of peace, inner fulfillment and self-consciousness
itself. XI Education, which does not address a student’s entire well being and does not include a spiritual
basis, is inherently dysfunctional and leads to the bifurcation of the intellect and the heart and the malaise
of the spirit.
As educators, we must come to see how “consciousness of oneself” is the prerequisite for all educational
endeavors. As students grow in awareness of themselves they come to know not only the “objects of
knowledge” but also the “subject of knowledge”, the knower himself. Without knowing the subject of
knowledge, which is consciousness itself, all other forms of knowledge become baseless and dangerous. In
fact, the monumental and rapid scientific advances in the fields of medicine, technology and computers have
lead us to the brink of destruction and world-wide devastation. Sadly, these very advances, which were
intended to bring us greater peace, comfort and happiness, have become the sources of global warming,
nuclear proliferation, massive deforestation, soil depletion, financial melt-downs, and religious and ethnic
rivalries.
Our knowledge has been entirely one sided. We have become masters of outer third-person scientific
investigation, but are mere novices at first-person inner investigation of ourselves. Martin Luther King
summed up our predicament wisely when he said, “we have guided missiles but misguided men.” As
students come to know their inner most self, which is pure awareness or consciousness, they will gradually
come into harmony with the greater consciousness of which we are all a part. The realization of a greater
whole, of which, all knowledge and intelligence arises from, gives students a true picture of the
interdependence and interconnectedness of all things animate and inanimate. From this fountain head of
unity springs the universal fraternity of spirit and well-spring of human kindness sand compassion necessary
to heal our planet. Such like “inner centered” education will produce humans who cherish all life and who
live in harmony with all and for the benefit of all. Anything less than this will bring us even closer to the
environmental, financial, and political abyss we are already find ourselves in.
END NOTES
The preceding summary was adapted from the article posted on the Institute of Noetic Sciences website
and written by Eugene Taylor Ph.D. p.1-11. www.noetic.org/research/medbiblio/ch
I
The preceding summary was adapted from the article posted on the Institute of Noetic Sciences website
and written by Eugene Taylor Ph.D. p.1-11. www.noetic.org/research/medbiblio/ch
II
Brooks JS Scarano T. Transcendental Meditation in treatment of post Vietnam adjustment Journal of
Counseling and Development. 1985;65212-215
III
The Impact of Stress reduction on Negative School Behavior in Adolescents. Health Quality Outcomes
2003 1.10
IV
Barnes VA, Trieber FA, Davis H. Impact of TM on cardiovascular function at rest and during times of stress
in adolescents with high blood pressure . Journal Psychosom Res. 2001:51,597-605
V
VI
International Journal of Neuroscience 1989 May; 46(1-2);77-86.
VII
Psychother Psychosom 1997;66 (2);97-106
VIII
IX
X
See the CBE website or Consciousness based Schools www.cbesa.org/topacademic performance
Ibid.
Ibid.
The most powerful effects of meditation lies in its ability to shift the focus of attention of from outside to
inside and hence tap into a new dimension of awareness triggering new levels of inner peace , happiness
and fulfillment. See Benson research as well as Kabot Zinn.
XI
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