Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Dr. Hagelin Joined by Hollywood Celebrities at Los Angeles Press Conference on Education

His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Founder of Transcendental Meditation (To address news conference live via satellite) TM TURNS 45 IN LA Maharishi first introduced Transcendental Meditation in Los Angeles 45 years ago—in April 1959. Now, the technique is practiced by 6 million people of all ages and religions worldwide, and used in thousands of schools, colleges, and universities to improve academic achievement and prevent and treat stress, anxiety and depression, and learning disabilities.

John Hagelin, Ph.D.   David Lynch   Bill Duke   Laura Dern “Reducing high blood pressure in teens through a stress-reducing program like TM could save billions in future health costs” Phil Jones–Medical College of Georgia Researcher Dr. Vernon Barnes (left) with participants in his study showing that Transcendental Meditation reduces blood pressure in high-risk teens. The study was published on April 2 in the American Journal of Hypertension.

On April 2, US Peace Government President Dr. John Hagelin chaired a major national press conference in Los Angeles to promote the use of Transcendental Meditation in the classroom—an approach long advocated by the US Peace Government as a scientifically proven means to improve educational outcomes across the nation.

Sponsored by the Los Angeles Committee for Stress-Free Schools, the press conference featured a live teleconference address by His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of the worldwide Transcendental Meditation movement, as well as comments by Oscar-nominated film director David Lynch, Emmy-winning director and actor Bill Duke, and award-winning actress Laura Dern in support of this initiative. Several student TM practitioners also addressed the media.

Another major highlight of the conference was an announcement by Dr. Vernon Barnes, physiologist at the Medical College of Georgia, of research results showing that Transcendental Meditation lowers blood pressure in adolescents at risk for hypertension. The research was published in the April issue of the American Journal of Hypertension.

Dr. Barnes’s research, which studied 156 inner-city African American adolescents in Augusta, Ga., with high-normal pressure, showed that teens who practiced 15 minutes of Transcendental Meditation twice daily steadily lowered their daytime blood pressures over four months and that their blood pressures tended to stay lower after the study. Participants in health education classes, who served as the control groups, experienced no significant change.

Heart rate, probably one of the simplest measures of stress level reduction, also dropped in meditating students while remaining consistent in the control groups, Dr. Barnes said.

“Even if your blood pressure comes down a few millimeters when you are young, if you can maintain that into adulthood, you can significantly reduce your risk for cardiovascular disease,” he said.

Dr. Barnes’ research was supported by funding from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and an American Heart Association Scientist Development Grant.

Media representatives, as well as many student journalists, packed the Los Angeles press conference and asked many wide-ranging questions of Maharishi and the other speakers during the panel discussion following the presentations.

Coverage of the Los Angeles press conference—and more widespread coverage of the impact of Transcendental Meditation on educational outcomes—has now appeared in hundreds of newspapers and television broadcasts across the nation, including reports by the Associated Press, Reuters News Service, the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the New Yorker, Barron’s, Business Week, CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, and BET. For a sampling, click on the links below:

CNN | Washington Post | New Yorker