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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.

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 samyana, a synthesis of three methods taught by Patanjali. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's samyama includes the incorporation of yogic flying and other sidhis.

The term "TM-Sidhi" is a trademark owned by Maharishi Vedic Education Development Corporation, a non-profit organization.

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 Test of Creative Thinking.

Development of extraordinary abilities

According to various newspaper and magazine reports, the TM-Sidhi program claims to develop 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

One component of the TM-Sidhi program is referred to as "Yogic Flying" or "involuntary hopping". According to the Maharishi, Yogic Flying is a phenomenon created by a specific thought projected from the simplest state of human consciousness that he calls Transcendental Consciousness.

EEG studies comparing Yogic Flyers with a control group voluntarily hopping found that the neurological characteristics were different. 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 a different biological mechanism underlies the EEG activity in the two groups.

Public demonstrations of hopping

Over the past three decades there have been hundreds of public demonstrations of hopping in more than one hundred countries around the world including dozens 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." However, reporters attending a public demonstration of hopping in Washington DC in 1986, saw 22 participants bouncing on mattresses in the lotus position rather than levitation.While sitting cross-legged or in a "lotus" position, Yogic Flyers hop about on foam mats.

In 1999 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 that was presented at a press conference at the Washington, DC Press Club by physicist and Natural Law Party Presidential candidate, John Hagelin. Hagelin had called the press conference to offer help in ending the war in Kosovo by sending 7000 yogic flyers to create positive coherence in the violence-torn country. Proponents of Yogic Flying claim that world peace and many other social and environmental benefits can be generated by having at least seven thousand yogic flyers around the world hopping at the same time. This is how Park described the demonstration:

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."

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History of Yogic Flying

Yogic Flying traditionally stems from the Vedic rishi Avatsara, "the flying-one". Later yogic texts also describe this siddhi ("perfection"), most notably the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, in varying degrees of detail. A system of Yogic Flying also exists within the inner tantras (anuttara-tantras) of Tibetan Buddhism as a system to attain enlightenment. In this system the practitioners work at the dissolution of the vital airs, prana, into the centermost part of being, the avadhuti or "central channel". In the initial stages this is used in a system of yogic-running where the practitioner is able to proceed across the ground in large jumps. Some of kings of the Himalayan kingdoms kept speed-runners or practitioners of yogic-running from this Buddhist tradition to carry messages over long distances.

Facilities and practitioners

Facilities for 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.

During the 1990s, various Natural Law Parties encouraged the use of Yogic Flying as part of their party platform. Plans by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of the Transcendental Meditation Program and related programs, included building 3000 Peace Palaces in major cities, and creating permanent groups of 8,000 yogic flyers to create permanent world peace. His plan also calls for a group of 1000 Vedic pandits, all practicing Yogic Flying, to take up residence at Maharishi Vedic City, Iowa.

Criticism of Yogic Flying

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

In the 1998 ABC News special The Power of Belief, John Stossel documents a series of disputed phenomena beginning with Yogic Flying.

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 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 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, John 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.

In 1994, John Hagelin received an Ig Nobel Prize in peace based on this study. This parody of the Nobel Prize is given annually to "honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think".

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. http://www.mum.edu/disclosures/copyright.html
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. 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
8. 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
9. 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
10. 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
11. 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)
12. "Politics and Transcendental Meditation" San Francisco Chronicle (December 29, 1995)
13. Baxter, Bronte, "Where have all the flower children gone? (Part 1)" The Canadian (May 12, 2008)
14. Ryan, Leyland, "Transcendental Meditation hits hard times", The Colombia Missourian (January 8, 1978) p.B3
15. "Seer of flying" Time Magazine (August 8, 1977)
16. "Ayurvedic Medicine", Newsletter, National Council Against Health Care Fraud (July 1, 1991)
17. Potts, Diana, "Levitate Now; Metaphysics as a Growth Industry", Texas Sun (June 10, 1977) p.6
18. The Washington Post July 10, 1986, "At the Hop: The Flying Yogis' Olympiad" by Victoria Dawson
19. http://www.permanentpeace.org/technology/yogic_flying.html
20. Mahesh Yogi, Maharishi (1995) Maharishi’s Absolute Theory of Government – Automation in Administration. Maharishi Vedic University Press
21. TRAVIS, F. T., and ORME-JOHNSON, D. W. "EEG coherence and power during yogic flying. International Journal of Neuroscience," 54: 1-12, 1990.
22. The Washington Post July 10, 1986, "At the Hop: The Flying Yogis' Olympiad" by Victoria Dawson
23. Template:Harvard reference
24. The Skeptics Guide To The Paranormal, Lynne Kelly, p.234, 2005
25. http://www.mum.edu/m_effect/
26. The Big Fish; Consciosness as Structure, Body and Space, Anna Bonshek, p.146, Rodopi, 2007
27. http://www.mum.edu/m_effect/summary_table.html
28. Template:Harvard reference
29. http://www.mum.edu/m_effect/summary_table.html
30. 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
31. 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.
32. Park, Robert, Skeptical Inquirer, Sept 2000 Voodoo Science and the Belief Gene
33. A Rebuttal to "Voodoo Science", Maxwell Rainforth
34. Bob Park (7 October 1994). "1994 IgNobel Prize winners are honored, in a fashion, at MIT!". What's New.
35. 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
36. Winners of the Ig Nobel Prize
37. The Ig Nobel Prizes

External links

• Official Web Site
• Video of Yogic Flying-New

• Transcendental Meditation
• Pseudophysics
• Parapsychology