Field-Effects of Consciousness: A Seventeen-Year Study of the Effects of Group Practice of the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi Programs on Reducing National Stress in the United States
World Journal of Social Science December 20, 2022 D. Orme-Johnson, Kenneth L. Cavanaugh, M. Dillbeck et al.
A group practicing the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi techniques, when reaching or exceeding a predicted threshold of 1725 individuals (√1% of the U.S. population), was associated with significant reductions in national stress indicators including homicides, rape, aggravated assault, robbery, infant mortality, drug-related deaths, motor vehicle fatalities, and injury fatalities in youths ages 10-19 during 2007-2011 compared to a baseline period of 2000-2006. When the group size fell below the threshold from 2007 to 2016, all stress indicators increased again. Alternative explanations such as economic changes, political leadership, demographics, and policing strategies could not account for the results.