The Peruvian Miracle

This book argues that Peru's remarkable socio-economic recovery after 1995, often called the 'Peruvian miracle', originated from a 1983 visit by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and the subsequent teaching of Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi programs. The book presents research across four parts: pre-pandemic studies with students at high altitudes and in multiple schools; peri-pandemic research comparing meditating students during COVID-19 home isolation to a pre-pandemic comparison group; post-pandemic research including a quasi-experimental study with 402 indigenous children showing increased personal wellbeing after practicing Transcendental Meditation; and sociological research linking large-scale group practice of these programs to the Maharishi Effect, which the authors claim contributed to Peru's transformation.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The term ‘Peruvian miracle’ is not ours and we are not the first to use it. Indeed, many authoritative observers have referred to Peru’s remarkable socio-economic recovery and transformation after 1995 as a miracle. However, uniquely, this book explores the antecedents of this phenomenon by tracing its origin to a 1983 visit to Lima by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of the Transcendental Meditation and TM–Sidhi program, and to the subsequent teaching of his educational programs for the development of human consciousness and their ability to transform every aspect of Peruvian society. The book has been organised into four parts: Part I—Pre-pandemic Research; Part II—Peri-pandemic Research; Part III—Post-pandemic Research; and Part IV—Sociological and Social Welfare Research. Part I includes four chapters on pre-pandemic research: the first, conducted with 91 students at German Pomalaza Rixe in Huay-Huay at an extremely high altitude of 4,590m (15,000ft), explores the health and school performance of students; the second confirms the Huay-Huay results in four other Peruvian schools; the third examines third-person parent and teacher perceptions of the practice of Transcendental Meditation in students; and the fourth considers outcomes of the practice for long-term meditators. Part II includes three chapters on peri-pandemic research: the first examines the impact of home isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic on health and school performance for a group of 54 meditating students and contrasts these results to a comparison group of 53 meditating students who reported their health and learning prior to the pandemic; the second explores the experience of Aymara and Quechua students during home isolation at Institución Educativa Privada Prescott; and the third documents the practise of Transcendental Meditation by students during home isolation and the perception of their experience by parents and teachers. Part III includes six chapters on post-pandemic research: the first is confirmatory analysis of the Test de Autoevaluación de Meditación Tras-cendental; the second measures depression, anxiety, and stress levels of 809 students in two schools who practice Transcendental Meditation and compares these findings to normative data from Australia, Chile, China, and Malaysia; the third explores pretest and posttest wellbeing scores of orphan girls at Hogar de Niñas Virgen de Fatima de Chejoña who learned Transcendental Meditation; the fourth, also conducted at Hogar de Niñas Virgen de Fatima de Chejoña, examines indigenous female orphans and their carers before and after practising Transcendental Meditation; the fifth compares educational outcomes for 248 students at three schools in Cusco, Huancayo, and Acomayo with normative data from five other schools in Peru and with international educational settings; and the sixth, using a quasi-experimental pretest–posttest design with a 402 5th- and 6th-grade indigenous children at three schools, found personal wellbeing increased significantly after practicing Transcendental Meditation. Finally, Part IV includes two chapters on socioeconomic research and the Maharishi Effect. Chapter 14 presents evidence of the Peruvian miracle using a range of socioeconomic data from Peru to support our proposition that the large-scale group practice of Maharishi’s Transcendental Meditation and TM–Sidhi program since 1995 contributed to the creation of the miracle and, in conclusion, Chapter 15 contexualises these findings and explains how this large-scale group practice generated the Maharishi Effect for Peru thereby confirming the findings of many other research studies documented in this book.