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The TM-Sidhi program is a meditation technique that was introduced by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in the mid 1970s, following the earlier introduction of the Transcendental Meditation technique. Described as a natural extension of Transcendental Meditation, the TM-Sidhi program may be learned after a minimum of two months' practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique, and is said to accelerate the benefits gained from the practice.

TM-Sidhi technique

Derived from the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the TM-Sidhi Program contains "formulas" or "sutras" (threads), the practice of which can supposedly lead to development of advanced human abilities, called Sidhis. The essential aspect necessary to gain these powers is called samyama, a synthesis of three methods taught by Patanjali. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's samyama includes the incorporation of Yogic Flying and other sidhis.

Research

Research on practitioners of the TM-Sidhi program relative to subjects practicing Transcendental Meditation alone has shown increased EEG coherence during "Yogic Flying", one of the components of the TM-Sidhi program, as well as long-term increases in EEG coherence., differences in reflex, and changes in endocrinological performance. In addition, a study on EEG coherence associated with practice of the TM-Sidhi program is correlated with greater creativity as measured by the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking.

EEG studies compared Yogic Flyers practicing hopping, the first stage of the three distinct stages of Yogic Flying, hopping - floating. - flying, to a control group that practiced voluntary hopping. Compared to the control group researchers found differences in neurological characteristics. Immediately before hopping the yogic flyers showed significant shifts in EEG coherence and power, whereas the controls did not. The differences in EEG spatial distribution and mean amplitude between the two groups suggested that different biological mechanisms underly the EEG activity in the two groups.

Development of extraordinary abilities

According to newspaper and magazine articles, proponents of the TM-Sidhi program say it includes the development of extra-ordinary abilities such as Yogic Flying, the creation of peace, invisibility, walking through walls, mind-reading, colossal strength, extra sensory perception, empathy, compassion, omniscience, perfect health, and immortality.

Yogic Flying

"Yogic Flying", one component of the TM-Sidhi program, and according to the Maharishi is a phenomenon created by a specific thought projected from the simplest state of human consciousness that he calls Transcendental Consciousness. Of the three phases of Yogic Flying, in public demonstrations only the first stage, the hopping stage, has been demonstrated. The hopping stage is described as "the body moving forward in short jumps."

There have been no demonstrations of stage two; hovering or floating, nor any demonstrations of stage three; flying through the air. Since 1986, there have been public demonstrations of the hopping stage of Yogic Flying in many countries including many locations in the United States.

In 1975, when the host of The Merv Griffin (TV) Show asked Maharishi Mahesh Yogi how many of the 40,000 TM-Sidhi students he taught to levitate, he answered: "Thousands."

Reporters attending a public demonstration of Yogic Flying in Washington DC in 1986 viewed 22 participants hopping on foam mattresses while sitting cross legged or in a seated "lotus" position. In 1986, Victoria Dawson, a reporter for the Washington Post who attended a demonstration, observed that "The hoppers remained seated, hopping vigorously among themselves, mixing and mingling with spiritual energy and good feeling."

Robert L. Park, professor of physics at the University of Maryland and author of the weekly science Internet column, What's New, attended a demonstration in 1999 that was presented at a press conference at the Washington, DC Press Club by physicist and Natural Law Party Presidential candidate, John Hagelin. Park wrote:

Mattresses were spread right there on the floor, and 12 fit-looking young guys seated themselves in the lotus position. The audience was cautioned to make no sound as they meditated. After a few minutes, one of them suddenly levitated. Well, he didn't exactly float, mind you, just sort of popped up a couple of inches and thumped back down. Then another levitated, and another, till the scene looked like corn popping. There was nothing to suggest they didn't follow parabolic trajectories.

In a 1987 Washington Post article, the Cult Awareness Network criticized Yogic Flying as "fake". Two former students from Maharishi University of Management said the activity was "strictly physical exercise ... nothing spiritual about it."

In the 1998 ABC News special The Power of Belief, John Stossel criticized paranormal beliefs including Yogic Flying. Stossel said Yogic Flying looked like bouncing and that people paid several thousand dollars to learn it.

The Maharishi Effect

Researchers associated with Maharishi University of Management have hypothesized that practicing the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi programs in a group produces a "Maharishi Effect", that is said to influence coherence and positivity in the social and natural environment. According to these researchers, if the square root of one percent of the population (that is, first calculating 1% of the population and then taking the square root of the resulting number) regularly practices the TM-Sidhi program together, the entire population will experience greater coherence - including reduction in violence, crime, disease, deadly storms, and other destructive natural forces.

James Randi, a magician and critic of paranormal claims, investigated the claims of Dr. Robert Rabinoff, a former Maharishi International University physics professor. In his book Flim Flam Randi disputed a claim attributed to Rabinoff: that a large gathering of TM practitioners had reduced crime and accidents and increased crop production in the vicinity of Maharishi International University in Fairfield, Iowa. Rabinoff made the claims during a talk at the University of Oregon in 1978. Randi spoke with the Fairfield Police Department, the Iowa Department of Agriculture, and Iowa Department of Motor Vehicles and was unable to substantiate the claims.

According to a bibliography on the Maharishi University of Management web site, studies on the Maharishi Effect have been published in journals such as Social Indicators Research, Journal of Mind and Behavior, Social Science Perspectives Journal, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Journal of Crime and Justice, and Psychology, Crime, and Law.

Study on the Maharishi Effect in Washington, D.C.

A study on the Maharishi Effect, written by John Hagelin, David W. Orme-Johnson, Maxwell Rainforth, et al. and published in 1999 in the journal Social Indicators Research, suggested that there was a correlation between the gathering of a group of 4,000 participants in the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi programs, including Yogic Flying, in the District of Columbia, and a reduction in violent crime in that city. The experiment took place over a two-month period in the summer of 1993.

At a 1994 press conference to announce the analysis of that study, Hagelin said that, during the period of the experiment, Washington, D.C. experienced a significant reduction in psychiatric emergency calls, fewer complaints against the police, and an increase in public approval of President Clinton—all of which was consistent with the hypothesis that a coherence-creating group of practitioners of the TM-Sidhi program can relieve social stress and reverse negative social trends. Overall, according to preliminary data released by the police department there was an 18% reduction in violent crime, he told the press. When a reporter asked, an 18% reduction compared to what, Hagelin answered, compared to the level of violent crime had the study not taken place. Hagelin said that criminologists have shown that violent crime fluctuates significantly relative to the temperature. Crime goes down when it's cold and up when it's hot. The standard methodology for assessing whether the crime rate changed or not is to compare it with what is expected for that particular season. Hagelin said that by using the standard methodology (time series analysis), they were able to show the level of violent crime in Washington had dropped well below the expected level based on previous data.

In his book Voodoo Science, physicist Robert L. Park called the study a "clinic in data manipulation". Maxwell Rainforth, a coauthor of the Washington, D.C. study, says that Park does not support the assertion with either supporting data or analysis, and that Park's objection to the use of time series analysis isn't based on any scientific argument. The researchers also questioned whether Park had read the published study, since his criticism focused on a preliminary Interim Report released at a press conference in 1994.

Park questioned the validity of the study by saying that during the weeks of the experiment Washington D.C.'s weekly murder count hit the highest level ever recorded. According to the study, statistical analysis suggests that the murder rate, which typically goes up during hot weather, fell within the range of what would have been expected for that time of year.

As a result of this study, John Hagelin received the 1994 Ig Nobel Prize in peace, a parody of the Nobel Prize.

Facilities

Major facilities for the group practice of the TM-Sidhi program, including Yogic Flying, are located at the Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa, at Maharish Vedic School in Antrim, New Hampshire, and at Maharishi European Sidhaland in Skelmersdale, U.K.

Future plans

The Maharishi's future plans included building 3000 facilities in major cites for group practice of Yogic Flying. His wish was to have 8,000 Yogic Flyers whom he believed can create permanent world peace. His plan also called for a group of 1000 Vedic pandits, all practicing Yogic Flying, to take up residence at Maharishi Vedic City, Iowa.

References

1. http://www.tm.org/sidhi/index.html
2. Chryssides, George D., Exploring New Religions, Continuum International Publishing Group, (2001) ISBN 0826459595, 9780826459596, pp. 301-303
3. Forsthoefel,Thomas A. and Humes, Cynthia Ann, Gurus in America, SUNY Press (2005) ISBN 079146573X, 9780791465738, p. 66]
4. [http://books.google.com/books?id=KUbmdGhkQvsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+big+fish&ei=hIDXSbr_H4qGNoDxydwC#PPA144,M1 Bonshek, Anna, Bonshek, Corrina and Fergusson, Lee, The Big Fish: Consciousness as Structure, Body and Space, Rodopi (2007) ISBN 9042021721, 9789042021723,] pp 143-145
5. Chryssides, George D., Exploring New Religions, Continuum International Publishing Group, (2001) ISBN 0826459595, 9780826459596, p. 302
6. TRAVIS, F. T., and ORME-JOHNSON, D. W. "EEG coherence and power during yogic flying. International Journal of Neuroscience", 54: 1-12, 1990.
7. Baltimore Chronical, "Yoga: Flying High", August 6 1986, Mary Ellen Graybill
8. Orme-Johnson, D. W., et al.: 1989,"Longitudinal effects of the TM-Sidhi program on EEG phase coherence", in Chalmers, R.A., et al., eds., Scientific Research on Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi Pogram: Collected Papers, vol. 3 (Maharishi Vedic University Press, Vlodrop, Netherlands), pp. 1678–1686
9. Wallace, R.K., et al.: 1983, "Modification of the paired H-reflex through the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program," Experimental Neurology 79, pp. 77–86
10. Werner, O.R., et al.: 1986, "Long-term endocrinological changes in subjects practicing the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program", Psychosomatic Medicine 48, pp. 59–65
11. Orme-Johnson, David W., and Christopher Haynes: 1981, "EEG Phase Coherence, Pure Consciousness, Creativity, and TM-Sidhi Experiences," International Journal of Neuroscience, vol 13, 1981, pp. 211–217
12. Pearson,Craig. The Complete Book of Yogic Flying. Maharishi University of Management Press, 2008. Fairfield,Iowa.p546.
13. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,915237,00.html?iid=digg_share
14. http://www.permanentpeace.org/technology/yogic_flying.html
15. Times Herald, August 15 1986 "A Lift for lives of stress"
16. AssociatedPress, July 9 1986, "And awaaaaaaaay we go"
17. TRAVIS, F. T., and ORME-JOHNSON, D. W. "EEG coherence and power during yogic flying. International Journal of Neuroscience," 54: 1-12, 1990.
18. Skolnick, Andrew A., "Maharishi Ayur-Veda: guru's marketing scheme promises the world eternal 'perfect health'", JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association 0098-7484 (Oct 2 1991) v266, n13, p1741(6)
19. "Politics and Transcendental Meditation" San Francisco Chronicle (December 29, 1995)
20. Ryan, Leyland, "Transcendental Meditation hits hard times", The Colombia Missourian (January 8, 1978) p.B3
21. Mahesh Yogi, Maharishi (1995) Maharishi’s Absolute Theory of Government – Automation in Administration. Maharishi Vedic University Press
22. The Washington Post July 10, 1986, "At the Hop: The Flying Yogis' Olympiad" by Victoria Dawson
23. The Washington Post, At the Hop: The Flying Yogis’ Olympiad, July 10 1986, Victoria Dawson
24. Los Angeles Times, July 10 1986, "Yogis Say They're a Hop, Skip and Jump From Flying"
25. Maharishi's Programme to Create World Peace, Age of Enlightenment Press, 1987, p.1
26. Template:Harvard reference
27. The Skeptics Guide To The Paranormal, Lynne Kelly, p.234, 2005
28. Daily News, "Followers of Yogi Do the Bounce", July 10 1986, Frank Van Riper
29. The Washington Post, At the Hop: The Flying Yogis’ Olympiad, July 10 1986, Victoria Dawson
30. http://liberator.net/articles/StosselBelief2.html
31. http://www.mum.edu/m_effect/
32. The Big Fish; Consciosness as Structure, Body and Space, Anna Bonshek, p.146, Rodopi, 2007
33. http://www.mum.edu/m_effect/summary_table.html
34. Template:Harvard reference
35. http://www.mum.edu/m_effect/summary_table.html
36. Hagelin, J. S., Orme-Johnson, D. W., Rainforth, M., Cavanaugh, K., & Alexander, C. N. (1999). Results of the National Demonstration Project to Reduce Violent Crime and Improve Governmental Effectiveness in Washington, D.C. Social Indicators Research, 47, 153–201
37. http://www.mum.edu/achievements/2008_11_08.html
38. Effects of Group Practice of the Transcendental Meditation Program on Preventing Violent Crime in Washington, DC: Results of the National Demonstration Project, June-July 1993, John S. Hagelin, et al.
39. Park, Robert, Skeptical Inquirer, Sept 2000 Voodoo Science and the Belief Gene
40. A Rebuttal to "Voodoo Science", Maxwell Rainforth, The Institute of Science, Technology and Public Policy at Maharishi University of Management
41. Bob Park (7 October 1994). "1994 IgNobel Prize winners are honored, in a fashion, at MIT!". What's New.
42. Hagelin, J. S., Orme-Johnson, D. W., Rainforth, M., Cavanaugh, K., & Alexander, C. N. (1999). Results of the National Demonstration Project to Reduce Violent Crime and Improve Governmental Effectiveness in Washington, D.C. Social Indicators Research, 47, 153–201
43. Winners of the Ig Nobel Prize
44. The Ig Nobel Prizes

External links

• The TM-Sidhi Program on the United States Peace Government website
• Yogic Flying Clubs

• Transcendental Meditation
• Pseudophysics
• Parapsychology