Over 500 scientific studies conducted at 200 independent universities and institutions in 33 countries and published in over 100 leading scientific journals have documented that inner peace improves every area of life: physiological, psychological, sociological, and ecological.



Deeper Level of Relaxation
A comprehensive statistical "meta-analysis" was conducted that compared the findings of

definition how will you feel benefits who's it for history influences proof it works

31 physiological studies on deep relaxation and meditation and on resting with eyes closed. (A meta-analysis is the preferred scientific procedure for drawing definitive conclusions from large bodies of research). The study evaluated three key indicators of relaxation and found that deep relaxation and meditation provides a far deeper state of relaxation than does simple eyes-closed rest. The research showed that breath rate and plasma lactate decrease, the basal skin resistance increases, significantly more during deep relaxation and meditation than during eyes-closed rest. Interestingly, immediately prior to the deep relaxation and meditation sessions, meditating subjects had lower levels of breath rate, plasma lactate, spontaneous skin conductance, and heart rate than did the controls. This deeper level of relaxation before starting the practice suggests that reduced physiological stress through deep relaxation and meditation is cumulative.
American Psychologist, 42: 879-881, 1987



Improved Sleep
A great many studies have reported reduced insomnia and improved quality of sleep as a result of deep relaxation and meditation. In two companies that introduced meditation, managers and employees who regularly practiced reported significantly reduced insomnia and improved quality of sleep.
Anxiety, Stress and Coping International Journal, 6: 245-262, 1993



Decreased Stress and Anxiety
This three-month study of managers and employees who regularly practiced deep relaxation and meditation in a Fortune 100 manufacturing company (Puritan-Bennett Corporation) and a smaller distribution-sales company in Philadelphia showed that deep relaxation and meditation practitioners displayed more relaxed physiological functioning, greater reduction in anxiety, and reduced tension on the job, when compared to control subjects with similar job positions in the same companies.
Anxiety, Stress and Coping International Journal, 6: 245-262, 1993



Increased Creativity
This study used the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking to measure figural and verbal creativity in a control group and in a group that subsequently learned deep relaxation and meditation. On the post test five months later, the deep relaxation and meditation group scored significantly higher on figural originality and flexibility and on verbal fluency.
Journal of Creative Behaviour, 13: 169-190, 1979, and Dissertations Abstracts International, 38: 3372-3373, 1978



Improved Ability to Focus
Field independence has been associated with a greater ability to assimilate and structure experience, greater organization of mind and cognitive clarity, improved memory, greater creative expression, and a stable internal frame of reference. The results show that practice of deep relaxation and meditation techniques develop greater field independence. This improvement in meditators is remarkable because it was previously thought that these basic perceptual abilities do not improve beyond early adulthood.
Perceptual Motor Skills 39: 1031-1034, 1974, and 62: 731-738, 1986



Improved Ability to Focus
Field independence has been associated with a greater ability to assimilate and structure experience, greater organization of mind and cognitive clarity, improved memory, greater creative expression, and a stable internal frame of reference. The results show that practice of deep relaxation and meditation techniques develop greater field independence. This improvement in meditators is remarkable because it was previously thought that these basic perceptual abilities do not improve beyond early adulthood.
Perceptual Motor Skills 39: 1031-1034, 1974, and 62: 731-738, 1986



Increased Productivity
In this study subjects practicing deep relaxation and meditation showed significant improvements at work, compared with members of a control group. Job performance and job satisfaction increased while desire to change jobs decreased. People at every level of the organization benefited from practicing deep relaxation and meditation.
Academy of Management Journal, 17: 362-368, 1974



Improved Relations at Work
This study found significant improvements in relations with supervisors and co-workers after an average of eleven months practicing deep relaxation and meditation, in comparison to control subjects. And while meditators reported that they felt less anxiety about promotion (shown by reduced climb orientation), their fellow employees saw them as moving ahead quickly. People at every level of the organization benefited from practicing deep relaxation and meditation.
Academy of Management Journal, 17: 362-368, 1974



Lower Blood Pressure
In a clinical experiment with elderly African American (mean age 66) dwelling in an inner-city community, deep relaxation and meditation was compared with the most widely used method of producing physiological relaxation. Subjects who had moderately elevated blood pressure levels were randomly assigned deep relaxation and meditation, Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR), or usual care. Over a three-month interval, systolic and diastolic blood pressure dropped by 10.6 and 5.9 mm Hg, respectively, in the deep relaxation and meditation group, and 4.0 and 2.1 mm Hg in the PMR group, with virtually no change in the usual care group. A second random assignment study with the elderly conducted at Harvard found similar blood pressure changes produced by deep relaxation and meditation over three-months (11 mm Hg for systolic blood pressure).
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57: 950-964, 1989



Reduced Cholesterol
A longitudinal study showed that cholesterol levels significantly decreased through deep relaxation and meditation in hypercholesterolemia patients, compared to matched controls, over an eleven-month period.
Journal of Human Stress, 5: 24-27, 1979



Decreased Cigarette, Alcohol, and Drug Abuse
A statistical meta-analysis of 198 independent treatment outcomes found that deep relaxation and meditation produced a significantly larger reduction in tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drug use than either standard substance abuse treatments (including counselling, pharmacological treatments, relaxation training, and Twelve-Step programs) or prevention programs (such as programs to counteract peer-pressure and promote personal development). This meta-analysis controlled for strength of study design and included both heavy and casual users. Whereas, the effects of conventional programs typically decrease sharply by three months, effects of deep relaxation and meditation on total abstinence from tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drug ranged from 50% to 89% over a 18 to 22 month period of study.
Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, 11: 13-87, and International Journal of the Addictions, 26: 293-325, 1991



Decrease in Stress Hormone
Plasma cortisol is a stress hormone. The study shows that plasma cortisol decreased during deep relaxation and meditation, whereas it did not change significantly in controlled subjects during ordinary relaxation.
Hormones and Behaviour, 10: 54-60, 1978



Reversal of Aging Process
Biological age measures how old a person is physiologically. As a group, long-term meditators who had been practicing deep relaxation and meditation for more than five years were physiologically twelve years younger than their chronological age, as measured by reduction of blood pressure, and better near-point version and auditory discrimination. Short-term meditators were physiologically five years younger than their chronological age. The study controlled for the effects of diet and exercise.
International Journal of Neuroscience, 16: 53-58, 1982



Reduced Need for Medical Care
A study of health insurance statistics on over 2,000 people practicing deep relaxation and meditation over a five-year period found that meditators consistently had less than half the hospitalization than did other groups with comparable age, gender, profession, and insurance terms. The difference between the deep relaxation and meditation and non-deep relaxation and meditation groups increased in older-age brackets. In addition, the meditators had fewer incidents of illness in seventeen medical treatment categories, including 87% less hospitalization for heart disease and 55% less for cancer. The meditators consistently had more than 50% fewer doctor visits than did other groups.
Psychosomatic Medicine, 49: 493-507, 1987



Improved Perception and Memory
College students instructed in deep relaxation and meditation displayed significant improvements in performance over a two-week period on a perceptual and short-term memory test involving the identification of familiar letter sequences presented rapidly. They were compared with subjects randomly assigned to a routine of twice-daily rest with eyes closed, and with subjects who made o change in their daily routine.
Memory and Cognition, 10: 207-215, 1982



Greater Orderliness of Brain Functioning
EEG coherence increases between and within the cerebral hemispheres during deep relaxation and meditation. EEG coherence is quantitative index of the degree of long-range spatial ordering of the brain waves. In a new meditator, the EEG coherence increased during the period of deep relaxation and meditation. In a person who had been meditating for 2 years, spreading of coherence occurred even before deep relaxation and meditation began, spreading of coherence to high and lower frequencies about half way through the deep relaxation and meditation period, and continuing high coherence even into the eyes-opened period after deep relaxation and meditation.
Psychosomatic Medicine 46: 267-276, 1984



Development of Intelligence
University students who regularly practiced deep relaxation and meditation increased significantly in intelligences over a two-year period, compared to control subjects. The finding corroborates the results of two other studies showing increased IQ in deep relaxation and meditation students.
Personality and Individual Differences, 12: 1105-1116, 1991, and Perceptual and Motor Skills, 62: 731-738, 1986



Natural Change in Breathing
Subjects were measured for changes in breathing rate during the practice of deep relaxation and meditation. Breath rate fell from 14 breaths per minute to about 11 breaths per minute, indicating deep relaxation and meditation produces a state of rest and relaxation. The change in breath rate is natural, effortless, and comfortable.
American Journal of Physiology, 22: 795-799, 1971



Increased Self-Actualization
Self-actualization refers to realizing more of one's inner potential, expressed in every area of life. A statistical meta-analysis of 42 independent studies indicated the effect of deep relaxation and meditation on increasing self-actualization is markedly greater than that of other forms of relaxation. This analysis statistically controlled the length of treatment and quality of research design.
Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 6: 189-248, 1991



Increased Strength of Self-Concept
One month after beginning deep relaxation and meditation, subjects experienced an improved self-concept in comparison to before learning deep relaxation and meditation. Deep relaxation and meditation participants developed a more strongly defined self-concept and also came to perceive their "actual self" as significantly closer to their "ideal self." No similar changes were observed for matched controls.
Journal of Psychology, 4: 206-218, 1976



Increased Positivity, Decreased Crime
The results show that 24 cities in which 1% of the population had been instructed in deep relaxation and meditation by 1972 displayed decreased crime rates during the next year and decreased crime trends during the subsequent five years (1972-1977) in comparison to the previous five years (1967-1972), in contrast to control cities matched for geographic region, population, college population, and crime rate.
Journal of Crime and Justice, 4: 25-45, 1981



Improved Quality of Life
A prospective study was performed to assess the effects of the group practice of deep relaxation and meditation on the quality of life in Rhode Island. The number of participants was sufficient to create an effect for the entire state. A time-series analysis was performed on a monthly index that assessed the quality of life in Rhode Island in comparison to a demographically matched control state. During the experimental period, an index comprised of the following variables significantly decreased: crime, motor vehicle fatalities, auto accidents, deaths, alcoholic beverage and cigarette consumption, unemployment, and pollution.
The Journal of Mind and Behaviour, 8: 67-103, 1987



Decreased Violent Fatalities
Two studies using time-series impact assessment analysis found a significant reduction in weekly fatalities due to motor vehicle accidents, homicides, and suicides in the United States (1982 - 1985) and Canada (1983 - 1985) when the size of the groups practicing deep relaxation and meditation exceeded the square root of the one percent of the U.S. population, or of the U.S. and Canadian population together for an effect seen in Canada. During periods when the sizes of the groups were smaller than the square root of one percent of the U.S. and Canadian populations, fatality rates were higher. The use of time series methodology ensures that these effects could not be due to random variation, seasonal cycle, or long-term trends in the two countries.
Social Indicators Research, 22: 399-418, 1990.



Improved Quality of Life and Reduced Conflict
This study indicates that group practice of deep relaxation and meditation improved the quality of life in Israel as measured by improvement on an index comprised of crime rate, traffic accidents, fires, and the number of war deaths in Lebanon, and by increases in the national stock market and improvement in national mood.
Journal of Conflict Resolution, 32: 776-812, 1988.



Hong Kong Fuey
Scientific research indicates a moment of utter psychological and physiological calm in the moment before a martial artist performs a superhuman strike on a block of bricks



The Zone
Many elite sportsmen and women say when they are totally relaxed and peaceful they are able to enter a state called The Zone. They describe this as a time of total inner peace, a spiritual experience, a transcendent state, where they can go beyond their expectations, when it is possible to perform exceptional feats of skill, strength and endurance.

They are able to perform extraordinary feats of exceptional energy, extraordinary strength, speed and endurance and there overall level of performance seems impossible, almost superhuman.

One elite cyclist described the feeling during the finishing stage of the Tour de France.

"...I was totally relaxed, peaceful and empty. I was absorbed, 110 percent; that was all that mattered in the whole existence. It just amazed me how I could maintain such high concentration for three hours. I'm used to having my mind wander, especially under pressure. My body felt great. Nothing, you feel like just nothing can go wrong and there's nothing that will be able to stop you or get in your way. And you're ready to tackle anything, and you don't fear any possibility".

If you ever had a chance to ask an athlete after an incredible performance what they were thinking; most have a similar sort of answer, "NOTHING" or "My mind was blank" “I was totally peaceful and empty” "It was like something was instructing me other than my mind." "Whatever that something was I just released myself to it."