Scientific Research Verifies that Consciousness-Based
Education Promotes Development Toward the
Full Potential of Brain Functioning

Consciousness-Based education makes use of the Transcendental Meditation^® and TM-Sidhi^® programs to develop higher integration of brain functioning and associated higher cognitive capabilities, as the basis for increasingly effective and rewarding thought and action.

The Transcendental Meditation technique provides the experience of wholeness of awareness, unbounded awareness, in Transcendental Consciousness. Physiological research has established Transcendental Consciousness as a fourth major state of consciousness, a unique state of restful alertness distinct from waking, dreaming, and deep sleep, and characterized by enhanced integration of brain functioning.

This and other research summarized below indicate that the experience of Transcendental Consciousness is essential for the total development of brain functioning. Maharishi Vedic Science^SM brings to light that development of total brain potential is experienced as the development of higher states of consciousness.

This enlivening of total brain functioning, and the corresponding actualization of mental potential, are the crucial missing elements in education today, and are provided by Consciousness-Based education.

The research findings that directly pertain to increased integration and effectiveness of brain functioning can be summarized in four categories:

Measured during the practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique:

1. Greater integration of all cortical areas during the practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique — measured by greater use of the latent reserves of the brain; increased synchrony and coherence of electroencephalographic activity at diverse frequencies and cortical areas; and increased cerebral blood flow widely throughout the cortex.

Measured outside the practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique:

2. Greater integration of diverse styles of brain functioning — as measured by greater activation of each brain hemisphere; and by the unique integration of EEG associated with the experience of higher states of consciousness.

3. Greater integration and efficiency of brain functioning underlying cognitive processes — as measured by faster brain processing of cognitive and sensory stimuli; and by development of cognitive abilities that are associated with more integrated brain functioning, including increased intelligence, field independence, and ego development, all of which were previously thought to stop developing after the initial maturation of the brain in late childhood.

4. Greater integration and effectiveness in the total functioning of the brain, peripheral nervous system, and neuroendocrine processes — measured by more adaptive responses to stress by the autonomic nervous system and the endocrine system; and by reversal of the detrimental effects of the aging process, shown in a wide variety of physiological, cognitive, and behavioral variables.

Details of these four categories of research are given in the following pages.

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