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Randomized longitudinal experiments as well as cross sectional studies have shown that practice of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique by individuals reduces cortisol excretion and other biochemical, physiological, and psychological indicators of stress. Other studies report that group practice of an advanced form of the TM program by a small fraction of the population significantly reduces crime, violence, and other behavioral indicators of "social stress" in the entire population. This prospective, quasi-experimental study investigates a proposed psychoneuroendocrine mechanism that may help to mediate these observed societal effects. Dynamic regression analysis of time series observations over the experimental period (77 days) found that the daily change in the size of a TM group was a significant predictor of immediately subsequent mean (natural log) overnight excretion rates of (a) cortisol, (b) the main metabolite of serotonin (5-HIAA), and (c) the ratio of rates for 5-HIAA and cortisol. An increase in the day-today change in the size of the group for the afternoon session was a significant predictor of reduced cortisol excretion later that night in a group of 6 non-practitioners living and working up to 20 miles from the group (t(68) = -2.98, p = .004). An increase in the daily change in group size also was a significant predictor of increases in both the excretion rate of 5-HIAA (χ^sup 2^ (2) = 7.34, p = .03) and the ratio of the excretion rates of 5-HIAA to cortisol (t(69) = 4.56, p < .0001). These findings are consistent with those of a prior time series quasi-experiment that examined 5-HIAA excretion in another sample of individuals outside the group. Thus the results of the current study support the hypothesis that group practice of the TM program reduces social stress by producing beneficial neuroendocrine effects in non-meditators outside the group.
Over 40 studies have reported reductions in crime, violence, and other indicators of "social stress" due to daily group practice of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique (and its more advanced aspect, the TM-Sidhi program) by a small fraction of the population (Dillbeck, 1990; Hagelin, Rainforth, Orme-Johnson, Cavanaugh, & Alexander, 1999; Orme-Johnson, 2003; Orme-Johnson, Alexander, Davies, Chandler, & Larimore, 1988). An annotated bibliography of these studies is available online (Maharishi University of Management, 1999). This type of effect was...