The TM-Sidhi program is a meditation technique that was introduced by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1975, following the earlier introduction of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique.^[1] Described as a natural extension of Transcendental Meditation, the purpose of the TM-Sidhi program is to accelerate the benefits gained from the Transcendental Meditation technique by training the mind to think from the level of Transcendental Consciousness, the mind's source. One aspect of the TM-Sidhi program, called Yogic Flying, is said to develop mind-body coordination.^[2]

Origin and principles of the technique

The Transcendental Meditation technique is said to give the experience of pure consciousness at the source of the mind.^[3] The TM-Sidhi program aims to train the practitioner's mind to operate without losing connection with its source.^[3] By learning to function in this way, thinking is said to become more coherent and the practitioners desires may be fulfilled more easily.^[3]

Derived from the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the TM-Sidhi Program consists of "formulas" or "sutras" (threads), the practice of which proponents say can lead to development of advanced human abilities, called Sidhis. The essential aspect necessary to gain these powers is called samyama, a synthesis of three methods taught by Patanjali. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's samyama includes the incorporation of Yogic Flying and other sidhis.^[4][5][6]

The term Sidhi means "perfection" and refers to the development of a perfectly coordinated mind and body.^[6] Early advertisements for the TM-Sidhi program stated that its practice could lead to the development of extra-ordinary abilities such as Yogic Flying, the creation of peace, invisibility, walking through walls, mind-reading, colossal strength, extra sensory perception, empathy, compassion, omniscience, perfect health, and immortality.^{[7][8][9][10][11]}

A former student at the Maharishi University of Management wrote in 1976 that his TM-Sidhi program was a 2-hour long sequence performed twice daily, consisting of Transcedental Meditation, breathing exercises, mental repetition of sutras in 15-second intervals, Yogic Flying and reading from Hindu scriptures.^[12]

Yogic flying

According to the Maharishi, "Yogic Flying" is a phenomenon created by a specific thought projected from the simplest state of human consciousness called Transcendental Consciousness.^[13] Only the first stage of the development of Yogic Flying, the hopping stage, has been demonstrated in public. The hopping stage is described as "the body moving forward in short jumps".^[14] Since 1986, there have been public demonstrations of the hopping stage of Yogic Flying in numerous countries including many locations in the United States.^[15] There have been no demonstrations of stage two: hovering or floating, nor any demonstrations of stage three: flying through the air.^[14][16]

The Maharishi appeared as a guest on The Merv Griffin Show in 1975 and again in 1977.^[17][18][19] According to author James Randi, the Maharishi said during a Merv Griffin Show appearance that he had enrolled 40,000 students in the TM-Sidhi program. When Griffin, a practitioner of TM,^[18] asked how many of them had learned to levitate, the Maharishi answered: "Thousands".^[20]

Reporters attending a public demonstration of Yogic Flying in Washington, DC in 1986 viewed 22 participants hopping on foam mattresses while sitting cross legged or in a seated "lotus position".^[21][22] In 1986, Victoria Dawson, a reporter for the Washington Post who attended a demonstration, observed that, "The hoppers remained seated, hopping vigorously among themselves, mixing and mingling with spiritual energy and good feeling".^[14]

Robert L. Park, professor of physics at the University of Maryland and author of the weekly science Internet column, What's New, attended a demonstration in 1999 that was presented at a press conference at the Washington, DC Press Club by physicist and Natural Law Party Presidential candidate, John Hagelin. Park described 12 "fit-looking" young men who demonstrated levitation following a meditation session and "popped up a couple of inches and thumped back down." Park says, "There was nothing to suggest they didn’t follow parabolic trajectories".^[23]

In a 1987 Washington Post article, the Cult Awareness Network criticized Yogic Flying as "fake". Two former students from Maharishi University of Management said the activity was "strictly physical exercise ... [with] nothing spiritual about it".^[24]

In the 1998 ABC News special The Power of Belief, journalist John Stossel reported on paranormal beliefs including Yogic Flying. Stossel said Yogic Flying looked like bouncing, and costs several thousand dollars to learn. A stock analyst who practices Yogic flying and who was interviewed said it brought him bliss.^[25]

Research on physiological effects

Research on practitioners of the TM-Sidhi program relative to subjects practicing Transcendental Meditation alone has shown increased electroencephalography (EEG) coherence during "Yogic Flying",^[4][26][27] one of the components of the TM-Sidhi program, as well as long-term increases in EEG coherence,^[28] differences in reflex,^[29] and changes in endocrinological performance.^[30] In addition, a study on EEG coherence associated with practice of the TM-Sidhi program is correlated with greater creativity as measured by the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking.^[31]

EEG studies compared Yogic Flyers practicing hopping, the first stage of the three distinct stages of Yogic Flying - 1) hopping, 2) floating, 3) flying ^{[10][32][33][34][35]} - to a control group that practiced voluntary hopping. Compared to the control group, researchers found differences in neurological characteristics. Immediately before hopping the yogic flyers showed significant shifts in EEG coherence and power, whereas the controls did not. The differences in EEG spatial distribution and mean amplitude between the two groups suggested that different biological mechanisms underlie the EEG activity in the two groups.^[26]

The Maharishi Effect

Theory and Critique

In 1960, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi predicted that if one percent of the population practiced Transcendental Meditation, the quality of life for the entire population would be affected. In 1976, a study by researchers associated with Maharishi University of Management described, an on-average reduction in crime of 16% in communities where 1% of the population was practicing the TM technique. Following the Maharishi's introduction of the TM-Sidhi Program, it was theorized that exponential effects would be experienced from group practice of "yogic flying".^[36] According to these researchers, if the square root of one percent of the population (that is, first calculating 1% of the population and then taking the square root of the resulting number) regularly practices the TM-Sidhi program together, the entire population will experience greater coherence - including reductions in violence, crime, disease, deadly storms, and other destructive natural forces.^[6]

Studies on the Maharishi Effect have been published in Social Indicators Research, Journal of Mind and Behavior, Social Science Perspectives Journal, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Journal of Crime and Justice, Psychology Reports, Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science, Proceedings of the American Statistical Association, Proceedings of the Midwest Management Society and Psychology, Crime, and Law.^[37]

According to Robert Ableson, there is no known physical principle that could account for the "Maharishi Effect", nor any articulation by its proponents of how the "unified field", if it is active on the targeted people and institutions, could translate into the desired psychological and political behaviors. There is no currently-accepted causal relationship in Western science that would link group meditation to the claimed phenomenon. In a review of Ableson's book, Peter McBurney says that if an experiment identifies a phenomenon for which no known explanation exists, this is in itself interesting and deserving of publication.^[38] According to Ableson, who looked at a study of the Maharishi Effect that appeared in Yale's Journal of Conflict Resolution, the prior probability, in Bayesian statistics, of there being a Maharishi Effect, is practically zero. According to Ableson, "Maharishi adherents" say that the probability is closer to 1.0.^[39] Philip Schrodt wrote that validation of the Maharishi Effect theory would contradict virtually the whole of contemporary understanding of causality in social behavior.^[40]

In response to Schrodt and others, researcher David Orme-Johnson said in a 2009 paper that, a body of research since the late 1970s has found small but statistically significant causal effects in a wide variety of contexts in which the mechanism isn't clearly understood. He says this evidence supports a field-theoretic view of consciousness, which suggests that there is an underlying common field of consciousness and that individuals can interact directly at a distance via this underlying field. Research has demonstrated that focusing attention on a common event may produce small but statistically significant effects on inanimate detectors, such as random generators. In addition, well-controlled EEG studies have shown that evoked potentials in one person’s brain may produce changes in the brain of another person, but who was isolated in an electromagnetically shielded room. Also, studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) suggest that the brains of individuals separated from each other may become significantly correlated. Reviews have found over 2,200 reports of distant intentionality.^[41]

The theory that there is a unified field of consciousness is characterized by Peter Woit in his book, Not Even Wrong: The Failure of String Theory and The Search for Unity In Physical Law as wishful thinking that is viewed by most physicists as nonsense.^[42] Christopher Anderson wrote in a 1992 news article in Nature that Hagelin's investigations into how the extension of grand unified theories of physics to human consciousness could explain how Transcendental Meditation influences world events "disturbs many researchers" and "infuriates his former collaborators". Anderson says that John Ellis, director of CERN, was worried about guilt by association. Anderson quotes Ellis as saying "I was afraid that people might regard [Hagelin's assertions] as rather flaky, and that might rub off on the theory or on us”.^[43] Dallas Observer political reporter Jonathan Fox wrote in 2000 that "Once considered a top scientist, Hagelin's former academic peers ostracized him after the candidate attempted to shoehorn Eastern metaphysical musings into the realm of quantum physics." ^[44]

The Maharishi Effect, and its underlying master theory was critiqued by Fales and Markovsky in the journal Social Forces. They concluded that thare are serious problems with the theory, that it does not cohere well with other strongly confirmed theories, conflicts with evidence supporting those theories, is vague, relies upon specious analyses, is silent about key processes that link causes to their alleged effects, and "does not pass minimal criteria of meaningfulness and logical integrity." They state that the Maharishi Effect predictions cannot be derived from the master theory, because of a lack of causal connection, an inability to specify time lags, and the fact that the model that can be derived from the formal component of the theory to to make specific Maharishi Effect predictions is ignored by its researchers. Thus, they concluded that the evidence offered by researchers as support for the Maharishi Effect "cannot significantly enhance confidence in the veracity" of the theory. ^[45] David Orme-Johnson and Robert Oates later replied to this critique in the Journal of Scientific Exploration.^[46]

James Randi, a magician and critic of paranormal claims, investigated the claims of Robert Rabinoff, a former Maharishi International University physics professor. In his book Flim Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns and Other Delusions, Randi disputed a claim attributed to Rabinoff: that a large gathering of TM practitioners had reduced crime and accidents and increased crop production in the vicinity of Maharishi International University in Fairfield, Iowa. Rabinoff was said to have made the claims during a talk at the University of Oregon in 1978. Randi spoke with the Fairfield Police Department, the Iowa Department of Agriculture, and Iowa Department of Motor Vehicles and was unable to substantiate Rabinoff's claims.^[20]

James Grant, former dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and Associate Professor of Education at Maharishi University of Management, says in the book The University in Transition that the environmental influence of the group practice of the TM and TM-Sidhi techniques is "one of the most rigorously confirmed findings in the field of sociology".^[47]

Author Lynne McTaggert says in her book, The Field: The Quest for the Secret Force of the Universe, that although the TM organization has been ridiculed, the sheer weight of the data is compelling.^[48]

Huw Dixon, the Professor of Economics at York University, says: “I have been following research on the Maharishi Effect over the past 20 years. Its conclusions are so strong that it demands action from those responsible for government policy.” ^[49]

Experiments and Demonstration Projects

Middle East

A study conducted in the Middle East in 1983 by David Orme-Johnson et al was published in Yale's Journal of Conflict Resolution and presented statistical evidence for the Maharishi Effect. According to the study, which was conducted in Israel and applied Box-Jenkins impact assessment, cross-correlation, and transfer function analysis, it determined that a group of individuals practicing the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi techniques located in Jerusalem had a statistically significant effect on improving the quality of life in that city. Analysis showed there were fewer automobile accidents, fires, and crime in Jerusalem during the time of the experiment. Additionally, research results indicated that the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi group practice caused statistically measurable improvements in the quality of life in the country as a whole. The study measured reduction in crime, an increase in the stock market price, improved national mood (as measured by news content analysis) and a reduction of hostilities in the war in Lebanon (fewer war deaths and decreased war intensity as measured by news content analysis). According to the study, the effects of religious holidays, temperature, weekends, and other forms of seasonality were controlled for and did not account for the results. Additionally, all cross-correlations and transfer functions supported a causal interpretation. This was a prospective experiment (one in which the outcome is predicted in advance). All the variables were publicly available data, and a list of the variables used in the study was placed prior to the experiment with an outside Project Review Board.^[50]

Subsequent to this study, Philip Schrodt published a critique of the study in the Journal of Conflict Resolution. He contested that the study’s measurement of the critical independent variable did not correspond to the most obvious interpretation of the theory, since it was obtained using political boundaries rather than geographical radius. Had the study used geographic radius (a method used in all later studies of the Maharishi effect), the observed effects would not have taken place, Schrodt maintained. According to Schrodt, the study does not account for reverse causation, nor properly test for the existence of spurious relationships.^[40] The study failed to randomize their independent variable - the number of meditators. Rather than being random, there was a systematic rise in the number of meditators over the first month of the study, followed by a clear weekly cycle in the second month. The failure to explicitly and adequately account for artifactural time patterning makes the claimed correlation very weak datum, because the claimed correlations over time are notoriously susceptible to artifacts.^[39]

In an article published in the same issue as the critique by Schrodt, the authors responded to the points in the critique. Regarding the independent variable, the authors state that previous research also used political units rather than purely geographical distance and that it is appropriate that the independent variable take into account political units because they reflect greater homogeneity, closer personal ties, more frequent interaction, and stronger internal lines of influence, such as (cultural, emotional, economic, and political). The authors pointed out that the issue of randomization was addressed in the original paper: when the data was broken into quartiles, the 15 (or 16) days representing each quartile were found to be essentially randomly distributed over the duration of the experiment. They also gave five reasons why the issue of reverse causation was not a factor.^[51]

Fales and Markovsky's article also criticized the study and its findings. After discussing specific criticismsn, they concluded, "it is hardly unreasonable to suppose that the fluctuations of the dependent variables measured by O88 would have remained exactly as they were even if there had been no meditators at all. The claim that TM provides the only plausible explanation of these data cannot be sustained. There are alternative explanations that do not depend on esoteric or paranormal influences".^[45] An article by David Orme-Johnson and Robert Oates in response to Fales and Markovsky analyzed their alternative explanations and found that they couldn't explain the phenomenon and that there is as yet no other explanation other than the one hypothesized by the study.^[52]

A critique of the project published in Cultic Studies Journal by Mordecai Kaffman characeterized the methods of the project as unscientific, the claims of positive results unconvincing, anecdotal, and based on a conceptual error, and concluded that the theory of a unified field of consciousness was no more credible than was Blondot's theory that metals gave off N-rays.^[53] In their response published in Cultic Studies Journal, Charles Alexander and David Orme-Johnson say that Kaffman didn't provide any data, analytic procedures, or specific results. Also, they said the period of time he considered was different from that of the study. And they say that he didn't assess the two most important variables. To his claim that the theory is no more credible than N-rays, Alexander and Orme-Johnson say that there are many examples where implausible new theories were resisted by were eventually born out, such as the germ theory of disease.^[54]

United States

A study on the Maharishi Effect written by John Hagelin, David W. Orme-Johnson, Maxwell Rainforth, et al. and published in 1999 in the journal Social Indicators Research, concluded that there was a correlation between the gathering of a group of 4,000 participants in the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi programs, including Yogic Flying, in the District of Columbia, and a reduction in violent crime in that city.^[55][56] The experiment took place from June 7 to July 30, 1993 and utilized a twenty member independent Project Review Board consisting of sociologists and criminologists from leading universities, representatives from the police department and government of the District of Columbia, and civic leaders. This Review Board approved in advance the research protocol for the project and monitored its progress.^[55]

The dependent variable in the research was weekly violent crime, as measured by the Uniform Crime Report program of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; violent crimes include homicide, rape, aggravated assault, and robbery.^[55] This data was obtained from the District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department for 1993 as well as for the preceding five years (1988-1992). Additional data used for control purposes included weather variables (temperature, precipitation, humidity), daylight hours, changes in police and community anti-crime activities, prior crime trends in the District of Columbia, and concurrent crime trends in neighboring cities. Average weekly temperature was significantly correlated with homicides, rapes and assaults (HRA crimes) and so temperature was used as a control variable in the analysis of HRA crimes. Using time series analysis, violent crimes were analyzed separately in terms of HRA crimes (crimes against the person) and robbery (monetary crimes), as well as together.^[55]

At a 1994 press conference to announce the analysis of that study, Hagelin said that, during the period of the experiment Washington, D.C. experienced a significant reduction in psychiatric emergency calls, fewer complaints against the police, and an increase in public approval of President Bill Clinton. Overall, according to preliminary data released by the police department, there was an 18% reduction in violent crime, he told the press.^[57] Hagelin also said that criminologists have shown that violent crime fluctuates significantly relative to the temperature. Crime goes down when it's cold and up when it's hot.^{[citation needed]} The standard methodology for assessing whether the crime rate changed or not is to compare it with what is expected for that particular season.^{[citation needed]} Hagelin said that by using the standard methodology (time series analysis), they were able to show that the level of violent crime in Washington had dropped well below the expected level based on previous data.^[55]

Physicist Robert L. Park called the study a "clinic in data distortion".^[57] This chapter of Park's book was also published as "Voodoo Science and the Belief Gene" in the Skeptical Inquirer (September 2000). Park questioned the validity of the study by saying that during the weeks of the experiment Washington, D.C.'s weekly murder count hit the highest level ever recorded.^[57] According to the study, statistical analysis suggests that the murder rate, which typically goes up during hot weather, fell within the range of what would have been expected for that time of year.^[55] In addition, the study says that temperature was used as a control variable in the analysis of homicide, rape and assault and that violent crimes were analyzed separately as well as in relationship with other types of crime.^[55] In 2001, The Skeptical Enquirer published "A Rebuttal to Voodoo Science", written by Maxwell Rainforth, a coauthor of the Washington, D.C. study. The rebuttal states that Park did not support his assertions with supporting data, analysis, nor scientific arguments, and simply parroted a journalist's comment.^[58] The researchers also questioned whether Park had read the published study, re-stated the validity of time series analysis, and emphasized that such method clearly showed a drop in violent crime.^[59][60]

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, "those outside the movement" saw no such cause and effect.^[8] Lynne McTaggart, author of The Field: The Quest for the Secret Force of the Universe says that the study demonstrated that the effect created in Washington DC couldn’t have been due to such variables as weather, the police or any special anti-crime campaign.^[61]

As a result of this study, John Hagelin received the 1994 Ig Nobel Prize in peace, a parody of the Nobel Prize that honors achievements that "first make people laugh, and then make them think".^[62][63]

Research published in 1987 in Journal of Mind and Behavior^[64] found a correlation between quality of life in Rhode Island and the group practice of the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi programs.^[64] Results from the research showed that quality of life improved significantly when the group practicing was large enough. What made the study more statistically significant was that the result had been announced in advanced, and that such improvement occurred only in Rhode Island, and not in the nearby control state of Delaware.^[64]

As Raja of Invincible America, John Hagelin organized the Invincible America Assembly in Fairfield, Iowa on July 23, 2006 as a demonstration of the Maharishi Effect. Hagelin stated in a press release announcing the project that only 1,730 yogic flyers were required for the demonstration to work.^[65], a level which the Assembly has exceeded nearly every day in the afternoon group meditation session.^[66] An official TM Movement website stated that, as a result of the Assembly, the United States achieved "invincibility" on November 28, 2006 when it exceeded 1,730 participants.^[67] According to the Assembly, for the project to have permanent effect, 2,500 participants were needed.^[68] Hagelin predicted that when the number of assembly participants reached 2,500, America would have a major drop in crime, and see the virtual elimination of all major social and political woes in the United States.^[69] As of December 2009, the number of Invincible America Assembly course participants has never reached 2,500.^[70]

Hagelin said that the Assembly was responsible for the Dow Jones Industrial Average reaching a record high of 14,022 in July 2007, and predicted that the Dow would top 17,000 within a year.^[69][71] On the first trading day after the Assembly began, the Dow had closed at 11,051.05, up 182.67 from 10,868.38.^[72] A research abstract published on a TM Movement website in November 2006 by MUM researchers claimed "statistically significant" shifts in economic indexes, including the DJIA, S&P 500, NASDAQ Composite, Domini 400 and Consumer Sentiment over the first 100 days of the Assembly.^[73] The Dow did not reach 17,000 by July 2008, instead peaking October 9, 2007 at 14,164.53, then dropping through the balance of 2007 and into 2008, eventually closing under 7,000 in March 2009 for the first time since May 1997.^[74][75] As of December, 2009, the Dow's high for the year was 10,337 on November 25.^[76]

India, Puerto Rico and the Philippines

Five studies, which used a direct intervention design with Box Jenkins time series analysis, determined that crime was reduced and quality of life improved when a sufficient number of people (more than the square root of 1%) practiced the TM-Sidhi program in a group in the Philippines, New Delhi, Puerto Rico. The research was published in 1987 in Journal of Mind and Behavior.^[64] Specifically, the studies found that:

• Crime fell by 11% in New Delhi, India, in 1980 during a five-month period in which a statistically significant number of people participated in a Vedic Science course and engaged in group practice of the TM-Sidhi Program.^[64]

• In Puerto Rico, research found that the establishment of a large group practicing the TM-Sidhi program in 1984 corresponded to a decrease in crime, and that the departure of that group corresponded to a rise in crime.^[64]

• A study of a group of TM Sidhi practitioners who convened in Manila, showed a significant decrease in the police department’s weekly crime totals, while the group practiced the TM-Sidhi program in the area.^[64]

• Another study, which also took place in Manila, showed that the quality of life improved significantly when a statistically significant number of people engaged in group practice of the TM-Sidhi program.^[64]

United Kingdom

A study conducted in Merseyside, England (a metropolitan high crime area which includes Liverpool) from 1988 to 1992 by researchers associated with Maharishi University of Management, was published in 1996 in Psychology, Crime and Law. Using time series analysis, the study showed that beginning in March, 1988, when the number practicing the TM-Sidhi program in a group reached the required threshold percentage, the crime rate fell significantly. That trend continued all the way to 1992: when scientists analyzed the percentage of crime rate changes for the years 1987/90 and 1987/92, they found that of all the 42 police districts of England and Wales, Merseyside was the only one where the crime rate decreased, whereas it rose everywhere else.^[77]

In 2004, the Maharishi directed Transcendental Meditation practitioners at the Maharishi village at Skelmersdale, Lancashire employ the Maharishi Effect with the aim of overturning the Labour government. Tony Blair's Labour Party won reelection in May 2005. In response, the Maharishi withdrew all instruction in Transcendental Meditation in the UK, eventually lifting the ban two years later, around the same time Blair left office as Prime Minister. UK TM Movement spokesman Geoffry Clements explained that while 100 yogic flyers were able to affect the Merseyside crime rates, the election experiment failed due to the inability to obtain a critical mass of yogic flyers of more than 800 needed to affect the entire country, other than for brief periods during the Summer. ^[78][79][80]

References

External links

• The TM-Sidhi Program on the United States Peace Government website
• Yogic Flying Clubs