{"id":6633,"date":"2012-04-26T15:30:55","date_gmt":"2012-04-26T19:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tm.org\/blog\/?p=6633"},"modified":"2012-08-06T19:05:54","modified_gmt":"2012-08-06T23:05:54","slug":"tm-studied","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/research\/tm-studied\/","title":{"rendered":"TM Studied for Promoting Resilience Among Military Leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tm.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Soldiers.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"Norwich\" width=\"160\" height=\"133\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-6641\" \/>The military allocates untold monies and resources to treating post-combat stress. Now, for the first time, research is being conducted at the nation\u2019s oldest, private military college, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.norwich.edu\/\">Norwich University<\/a> in Northfield, Vermont, to determine whether the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tm.org\/?leadsource=CRM420\">Transcendental Meditation<\/a> technique may provide an important addition to the promoting of resilience among military men and women to prevent the trauma in the first place.   <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tm.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Soldiers2.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"Soldiers2\" width=\"160\" height=\"151\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-6640\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Norwich is the birthplace of the <a href=\"http:\/\/admissions.rpi.edu\/undergraduate\/academics\/rotc.html\">Reserve Officer Training Corps<\/a> (ROTC), and was the first military school in the nation to accept women. <\/p>\n<p>Click on the orange play button below to listen to a report by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vpr.net\/\">Vermont Public Radio\u2019s<\/a> Steve Zind on the progress of this important research.   <\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" src=\"http:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F44443576&#038;show_artwork=true\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Here are excerpts from Steve Zind\u2019s VPR report:<\/p>\n<p>It is not easy being a \u201cRook.\u201d Freshman cadets at the nation\u2019s oldest military college are overworked, sleep-deprived, and are way, way down in the campus pecking order. <\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_6639\" style=\"width: 170px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6639\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tm.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Ray-Witkowski.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"Ray Witkowski\" width=\"160\" height=\"162\" class=\"size-full wp-image-6639\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-6639\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ray Witkowski<\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cI would kind of like freak out every day\u2014\u2018Oh man, what\u2019s going to happen. I have to deal with the cadre, be around all the upper classmen\u2014I have to go to classes\u2014I have to do homework.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>That\u2019s how Ray Witkowski felt until he started meditating. <\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cPracticing TM, it\u2019s made me calmer. It\u2019s made me better able to deal with the everyday stress here.\u201d\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Witkowski\u2019s platoon of freshmen cadets spends twenty minutes twice a day meditating. They\u2019re part of a research project to measure the effects of Transcendental Meditation. TM has been around for years. It generated a pop culture buzz when the Beatles went to India in 1968 to study with the Movement\u2019s founder, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tm.org\/maharishi\">Maharishi Mahesh Yogi<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Over the decades there have been scores of studies showing TM\u2019s ability to reduce stress and improve performance. That appears to be true for the Norwich cadets too. <\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_6638\" style=\"width: 170px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6638\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tm.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Carole-Bandy.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"Carole Bandy\" width=\"160\" height=\"137\" class=\"size-full wp-image-6638\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-6638\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Carole Bandy<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Associate Professor of Psychology, Carole Bandy, is one of the Norwich researchers:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cBasically we\u2019ve found that negative kinds of affect or feelings like anxiety or depression, perceived stress or bad moods, all of that decreased significantly for the TM group but not the control group.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Bandy is surprised though by what she calls positive growth indicators that show a level of personal development among the TM users.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cI expected that this would be something that would show up after a year of practice. It showed up after only nine weeks, and very strongly at that.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The Norwich study is using electronic imaging to quantify the changes that TM brings about in the brain. To do that, cadets don what looks like a black bathing cap bristling with wires. Their brain activity is measured as they respond to audio stimuli and images, like a photo of a car accident. In the coming months the brain patterns of the meditating cadets will be compared to a control group to chart the differences. <\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_6637\" style=\"width: 520px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6637\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tm.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Brain-Testing.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"Brain Testing\" width=\"510\" height=\"384\" class=\"size-full wp-image-6637\" srcset=\"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Brain-Testing.jpg 510w, https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Brain-Testing-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 510px) 100vw, 510px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-6637\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Norwich University cadet wearing a cap designed to monitor brain activity.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>TM has already been studied as a way to treat <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmedhealth\/PMH0001923\/\">post-traumatic stress disorder<\/a>. In the 1980\u2019s, one study concluded that it reduced depression, anxiety and substance abuse in a group of Vietnam vets. <\/p>\n<p>Last year a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.eurekalert.org\/pub_releases\/2011-06\/muom-vsa053111.php\">pilot study showed a reduction in PTSD symptoms among veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars<\/a>. Bandy says that the Norwich University study will break new ground by following these cadets into their military careers as officers. Tracking the students for seven or eight years might provide clues whether TM can used as preventative medicine, essentially inoculating soldiers to protect them from the most severe effects of combat stress. <\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cIf it can prevent combat trauma, or if it can help veterans get over it more quickly, it\u2019s big, very big.\u201d\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div id=\"attachment_6636\" style=\"width: 170px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6636\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tm.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Richard-Shneider.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"Richard Schneider \" width=\"160\" height=\"127\" class=\"size-full wp-image-6636\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-6636\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Richard Schneider <\/p><\/div>\n<p>Before signing  on to the study, Norwich University president Richard Schneider says he took some convincing. <\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cYou know, I thought it was a little hocus-pocus, but the more I read about it, and got to talk with other people, I thought there was something there.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Schneider says he went through the TM training himself. He acknowledges that the technique conjures up stereotypes of some kind of magical mystery tour in the minds of people his age. <\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThey think it\u2019s \u2018feel good, smoke something, and love everybody.\u2019 That\u2019s not where I am. I\u2019m all about performance-based, evidenced-based outcomes.\u201d\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The experiment has aroused some curiosity at Norwich. When word got around that his platoon was practicing TM, cadet Ray Witkowski said he took some ribbing. <\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_6635\" style=\"width: 195px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6635\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tm.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Sam-Lieber.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"Sam Lieber\" width=\"185\" height=\"192\" class=\"size-full wp-image-6635\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-6635\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sam Lieber<\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cWe hear a lot about it. They call us the \u2018Omm Platoon\u2019 or they call us \u2018The men who stare at goats.\u2019\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The platoon sergeant is Sam Lieber. He sees a difference in how his group of freshmen handle the rigors of cadet life in comparison to the Rooks that aren\u2019t doing TM. <\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cMy cadets were much more professional in how they dealt with the day-to-day activities of a recruit at Norwich University.\u201d\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Freshman Richard Wells is also a member of the meditating platoon. He says that TM has helped him with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder which has hampered him all his life.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cIt\u2019s like I feel myself being more calm. I can sit down and study. I\u2019ve never felt I could just sit down and study before, but now I feel like a different person.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The potential benefits of TM to blunt the trauma of combat are a central part of the Norwich study. Researchers are also interested in determining if these young will perform better when they\u2019re active duty military. Norwich President Richard Schneider quotes one Army general who speculated how TM might benefit them in combat.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cIf you\u2019re a sniper and you\u2019re hyperventilating, that is not a good place to be in. You are not going to be a good sniper.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>And this is where you might imagine some tension between the military\u2019s goals and the ideals of those who teach Transcendental Meditation, which has long been touted as a path to both inner tranquility and world peace.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_6634\" style=\"width: 170px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6634\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tm.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Bob-Roth.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"Bob Roth\" width=\"160\" height=\"166\" class=\"size-full wp-image-6634\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-6634\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bob Roth<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Bob Roth is vice president of a foundation established by filmmaker David Lynch who is a long-time TM practitioner. The David Lynch Foundation is providing training and financial support for the Norwich study. Roth says that there is no conflict between TM\u2019s ideals and using the technique to make better soldiers.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cA better soldier is a soldier that doesn\u2019t act out of anger, revenge, violence, fear. If an individual\u2019s job, their duty\u2014their \u2018dharma,\u2019 as they say\u2014is to safeguard the country, then we want people who are going to behave prudently. So I don\u2019t think that there is any discrepancy.\u201d\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Roth points out that TM\u2019s origins go back thousands of years to a time when it was used by warriors to prepare for the rigors of battle long before the Beatles helped bring Transcendental Meditation to the attention of the western world.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For VPR News, this is Steve Zind.<\/strong><br \/>\n________________________________________________________________<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The military allocates untold monies and resources to treating post-combat stress. Now, for the first time, research is being conducted at the nation\u2019s oldest, private military college, Norwich University in Northfield, Vermont, to determine whether the Transcendental Meditation&#8230; <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/JdkSI1 \">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_excerpt -->","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[81,66],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6633\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}