Transcendental Meditation Appears in the Classroom

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The spiritual practice popularized in the 1960s and known as Transcendental Meditation is showing up in elementary school classrooms. Teachers have students use the practice between classes to help quiet their minds, but some opponents claim the practice is religious and say it violates separation of church and state.

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Transcendental Meditation is practiced in at least 15 schools nationally, according to the committee. Supporters believe the program, which requires participants to sit quietly in a deep rest for 20 minutes at the start and at the end of the school day, allows the brain to tap into a reservoir of energy and intelligence.

The Transcendental Meditation Program is a nonreligious practice started by the East Indian spiritual leader Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Its most famous students include the Beatles, who made the practice popular in the late 1960s.

At the conference, 17-year-old Owen Stowe said he loved art, but after transferring from a school that used meditation to Buckingham Browne & Nichols private school in Cambridge, he felt too stressed out to draw.

Three years ago, Stowe decided to return to the Maharishi School, a private school in Fairfield, Iowa, and live with family friends. The school encourages students to meditate twice a day.

[almaty 19]

sounds cool...i wish they had it in my school..