JMVRI Issue No. 22 is dedicated to Ayurveda and Maharishi’s Transcendental Meditation technique in the amelioration of COVID-19 pandemic impacts. The first paper in this Issue, titled “Evaluation of Ayurveda in the Management of Critically Ill COVID-19 Patients in an Intensive Care Unit: An Early Pandemic Retrospective Case-Control Study” (pp. 11–34), is by Lee Fergusson, Neetu Jain, Raghuram Ayyagari, Yogita Munjal, Raj K. Manchanda, and Kenneth L. Cavanaugh. The second paper in this Issue, titled “The Group Effect of Transcendental Meditation on Peruvian Students in Home Isolation During the COVID-19 Pandemic” (pp. 35–58), is by Lee Fergusson, Javier Ortiz Cabrejos, and Anna Bonshek.
JMVRI Issue Number 22
JMVRI Paper 22.2
The Group Effect of Transcendental Meditation on Peruvian Students in Home Isolation During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Authors: Lee Fergusson, Javier Ortiz Cabrejos, and Anna Bonshek
This paper can be downloaded via the following link:
Citation: Fergusson, L., Ortiz Cabrejos, J., & Bonshek, A. (2023). The group effect of Transcendental Meditation on Peruvian students in home isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Maharishi Vedic Research Institute, 22, 35–58.
Summary (excerpt):
Approximately 2,000 indigenous students at Institución Educativa Privada Prescott in Puno, located in the Andes high on the Altiplano of Lake Titicaca, have been instructed in the Transcendental Meditation technique since 1996. In this study, we examine the impact of home isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic on physical, cognitive, and emotional health, and school performance for a group of 54 meditating students and contrast these results to a comparison group of 53 meditating students who reported their health and learning prior to the pandemic.
The study is the first to consider the association of home isolation on students practicing meditation in a group: A) at the same time of day and in the same place as part of their daily school routine; or B) during online sessions at the same time of day but in a different place. Findings indicate both approaches to group meditation before and during the COVID-19 pandemic produced favourable results for student health and school performance.