Long before COVID-19, educators knew we had a crisis on our hands. “There is nothing that approaches the importance of our kids’ mental health issues,” a superintendent stated at a 2018 planning meeting of 32 southeast Iowa superintendents. The priority among educators was clear, but the solution was more elusive.

Now, in 2020, we’re only beginning to understand the toll the pandemic is taking on students’ already fragile mindsets. The recent COVID-19 mandates to close schools have isolated children from their outer connections and systems of support—their schools, their peers, and most of their cherished activities.

As co-head of Maharishi School, an independent K–12 school in Fairfield, Iowa, I’d like to introduce you to a unique approach to education that is needed now more than ever: The use of evidence-based tools to help students find and unfold their own strength and true selves from within.

We could call this “inside-out education,” for it acknowledges that there is something inherent within each student to be nurtured and unfolded: Consciousness, or inner wakefulness and alertness.

This is what I believe has been missing from education, and this is what Maharishi School offers with Consciousness-Based^SM Education (CBE)—inner development and stability as the basis of outer success, even in the face of dramatic changes and challenges such as a global pandemic.

A unique approach to education that is needed now more than ever: To help students find and unfold their own true self from within.

Addressing the Epidemic of Stress for Kids

Young people may be at lower risk of contracting COVID-19 themselves, but mental health disorders have been surging among our children, affecting 1 in 6 kids in the United States. An estimated 72 percent of children in the nation experience at least one major stressful event before the age of 18. Suicide rates among young people aged 10 to 24 rose 56 percent in two decades.¹

We don’t know all of the factors causing these troubling trends, but they roughly coincide with the upsurge in smart phone use among adolescents and subsequent shifts in socialization patterns among teens, such as less time interacting in person with friends and increased incidences of anxiety and depression.

With COVID-19 mandates, students are spending even more time online. Small wonder that educators feel greater urgency to reach out to their students, to support and comfort them, and to provide structure and some means of relief for all that they’re facing.

At Maharishi School the Transcendental Meditation® (TM®) technique is the cornerstone of our unique approach to education. This easy, effortless practice offers one of the most powerful, evidence-based ways for kids—and adults—to relieve stress. It allows them to let go of surface tension and sink into the depth of inner calm.

The unique state of restful alertness gained during TM practice has been shown through hundreds of peer-reviewed scientific studies to relieve stress and improve brain functioning and health.

Especially now, with the incessant news and societal changes due to the pandemic, the special rest provided by the TM technique gives students a respite of inner silence and a connection with their own true self.

At Maharishi School, we believe change begins within, and we give our students the tools needed to beat stress. We teach them how to transcend turbulence and to access that rich reservoir of consciousness at the deepest level within.

Visit MaharishiSchool.org to learn more ►

Especially now, with the incessant news and societal changes due to the pandemic, the special rest provided by the TM technique gives students a respite of inner silence and a connection with their own true self.

Our Mission to Maximize Consciousness

“Your school community has an incredible leg up on most of the rest of the world right now, in that you have an existing routine for folks to stay grounded and mindful. Hang in there,” the head of a prestigious Midwestern private school recently wrote to me.

For more than 40 years, Maharishi School has been pioneering Consciousness-Based Education. We can define consciousness as how awake or alert we are, to ourselves and our environment. When you optimize consciousness—when you become maximally awake—every aspect of the school and work day is enhanced: attention to detail, learning ability, personal relationships, and health.

We know that consciousness is variable. Are you an early-morning person or a night owl? When is your optimal time?

It turns out that for the majority of high school students, it isn’t early morning. That 7:30 a.m. Algebra II class may look more like a sleep-over. Realizing this, many high schools across the country have moved their start time to later in the morning. The result? Academic performance improves and disciplinary incidents decline. That’s a consciousness-related decision.

At Maharishi School we’ve prioritized consciousness by investing in our most precious non-renewable resource—time.

Twice a day, as part of regular class time, our students in grades 5 to 12 practice the TM technique and Maharishi Yoga^SM Asanas together in a group.

The purpose? To optimize their brain coherence and reduce stress by allowing them to connect with that silent core that is waiting within each of us.

When you optimize consciousness—when you become maximally awake—every aspect of the school and work day is enhanced: attention to detail, learning ability, personal relationships, and health.

Practicing TM Together—Online

But how does Group Meditation work while the pandemic closes places of learning?

Twice a day—even now while they shelter at home—our students practice the TM technique with their peers, just as we’ve always done at Maharishi School. Except now, they’re doing so by sharing a screen instead of our meditation hall.

Their presence together in Group Meditation via teleconference produces a tranquility that draws everyone inward. You can feel their silence on the screen. It’s not ideal for them to be apart, but their group practice of the TM technique feels like a lifeline in these turbulent waters.

At Maharishi School, we are definitely “hanging in there.” Our kids feel the same weight of separation and disruption of their lives that kids are feeling around the world. Their TM practice doesn’t solve every problem or eliminate all anxiety, but it’s definitely a powerful tool in their self-care toolkit.

Kaye Jacob, Academic Director and English/Language Arts Teacher, described the profound effect this routine has for her students:

“My students just finished their morning TM practice, which we have been doing every day at precisely the same time since we began our online learning. It is an incredibly important part of their routine, and I really am convinced that now, more than ever, this practice has a very real grounding influence on our students.

“As we rise to the challenge of offering education through an online platform, I can see the difference it makes when students and teachers incorporate the TM technique into their daily lives.

“Beyond that, the relationships we have been able to establish, because meditation is such a strong value in this community, and also because we are a small school, have allowed us to support students in individualized ways and help them progress socially, emotionally, and academically.”

Learn more at MaharishiSchool.org ►

“Now, more than ever, this practice has a very real grounding influence on our students.” —Kaye Jacob, Academic Director and English/Language Arts Teacher, Maharishi School

Stability from Within

Grounded is an apt term. Through all the turbulence of this time—the milestones missed, the uncertainty about college next fall, the specter of an invisible threat—students who practice the TM technique regularly have an anchor. They have a reliable way to transcend and find their own stability waiting within.

Yenet Tafesse is wrapping up a challenging senior year. While applying for colleges and scholarships, she managed to balance four Advanced Placement courses and a weekly commitment to service projects with Interact, the youth branch of Rotary International.

Next fall Yenet will attend Princeton University on a full QuestBridge scholarship, which connects bright students from low-income backgrounds with leading institutions of higher education.

Yenet will be far from the home she’s known since 5th grade, but she’s taking along the TM technique, which she credits for her stability since she arrived in a new country and culture from Ethiopia:

“TM has helped me so much in the past seven years. I often find myself a lot calmer and more focused after TM, especially with the current pandemic and finals, in addition to AP tests. I really have seen the effect of my TM practice. In the morning after meditation, I am able to focus on the day ahead. In the afternoon, after a long day, meditation helps me finish the day strong.”

“In the morning after meditation, I am able to focus on the day ahead. In the afternoon, after a long day, meditation helps me finish the day strong.” —Yenet Tafesse, graduating senior

Students from Around the Country and the World

Fortunately, Maharishi School now offers Consciousness-Based Education to students who aren’t already living in Fairfield, Iowa, with their families. In 2019–2020 our high school boarding program included 22 students from Azerbaijan, China, Korea, Mexico, Switzerland, Vietnam, and the United States.

But we’d like to do more. It is part of our pioneering mission to share Consciousness-Based Education with the world. This has never been more needed—or desired. An educational consultant in Shanghai wrote to inquire whether we could teach the TM technique online, to ease COVID-19 uncertainties and anxieties for student and parents in other countries.

I encouraged the consultant to contact the TM Center in Shanghai. (To find a TM teacher in the United States or around the world, visit TM.org.) Personal instruction in the Transcendental Meditation technique always takes place one-on-one, in person, with a Certified TM Teacher.

To help support students’ practice of the TM technique wherever they live and go to school, Maharishi School is working on creating supplemental online curricula to offer in the near future.

It is part of our pioneering mission to share Consciousness-Based Education with the world.

Supporting Teachers Too

Teachers are the heart of a school. Just as the heart takes in blood and oxygenates it to build the body, teachers take in kids and inform and inspire them to build our society.

This pandemic has raised the awareness and status of teachers as essential workers. Like all essential workers, they’re feeling the stress and anxiety of COVID-19 challenges. They, too, need and benefit from Consciousness-Based Education.

As Jason Walls, a young College Counselor and English/Language Arts Teacher at Maharishi School, shared:

“TM has been invaluable during the pandemic. Personally, it has helped me feel less trapped, in that it reminds me that there is a vast inner world to experience. It’s understandably easy to feel isolated at this time, but my TM practice reminds me that there is a silent field underlying and connecting us all. In this sense, it keeps me grounded, attached to a tranquil reality, which is especially important given the situation.”

There’s that word again: grounded. Now, more than ever, that is a priority—for our children, for our teachers, for our society and our global family.

Helping Kids Shine Now and in the Future

At Maharishi School students grow into their best and happiest selves by optimizing their brains, expanding their hearts, and exploring their creativity. Kids are able to find their true selves and shine—no matter what life throws their way.

We are deeply invested in the growth of our students. Our innovative Consciousness-Based educational environment allows them to think deeply and become creative, compassionate, contributing citizens of the world.

We want to teach them the lifelong skills that will not only prepare them for the future world but also empower them to shine as they are.

Find out more about Maharishi School ►

“It’s understandably easy to feel isolated at this time, but my TM practice reminds me that there is a silent field underlying and connecting us all.” —Jason Walls, College Counselor and English-Language Arts Teacher, Maharishi School

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Richard Beall, Ph.D., is completing his 12th year as Head of Maharishi School. He helped found the school in 1981 and has served as teacher, coach, and principal. He assisted with the school’s accreditation by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the Iowa Department of Education, and started its interscholastic athletics program. He received his Ph.D. from MIU in 1996 with an emphasis on curriculum development and evaluation. He also founded Carolina International School in North Carolina, an award-winning public charter school. He has been a TM teacher for 44 years. 

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Note

1. Sara Nelson, “Mental Health in K–12 Schools,” Iowa College of Education Alumni Magazine 2020, Special Focus: Mental Health in Iowa in Schools and Children, March 16, 2020. https://education.uiowa.edu/news/mental-health-k-12-schools