About Stress Free Schools
Stress Free Schools
Stress Free Schools is a New Zealand non-profit educational organisation formed in 2006. Stress Free Schools offers the scientifically validated Transcendental Meditation Quiet Time programme. 35 years of experience utilising the Transcendental Meditation Quiet Time programme in hundreds of schools around the world has shown it to be highly effective in improving learning-readiness, school performance, and in enriching student’s lives.
Executive Board
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John Hodgson
Executive Director of Stress Free Schools New Zealand. Papatoetoe orthodontist in private practice and wind surfing enthusiast who, along with his family, has enjoyed the benefits of Transcendental Meditation in daily life for 35 years. He is passionate about introducing Transcendental Meditation into the daily programme at schools to create stress free, happy, fulfilled students.
“The most striking thing to me about children who practice TM is how peaceful they are. When you walk into a school where every child practices TM you can feel the peace and harmony lively in the school, and see how peacefully the children play with each other. Every school in New Zealand should have this programme of peace and harmony.”
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Gray Treadwell
Teacher of the Transcendental Meditation Programme since 1975. He is an Economics graduate and has been a founder and director of several successful New Zealand technology export companies. He also provides business analysis of Intellectual Property and legal matters.
“Transcendental Meditation brings clarity and freshness to the mind and develops creativity and perceptivity in the students who practice it. It is a simple yet highly effective way of developing full mental potential so that students can achieve all that they would like to in life. It is vital that all students in schools throughout New Zealand should have access to Transcendental Meditation.”
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Marianne MacPherson
Kindergarten Head Teacher in Auckland for the past 15 years and a teacher of Transcendental Meditation.
"I value Stress Free Schools' whole-school approach, supporting not only students learning and well-being, but also improving teacher well-being."
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Martin Davy
New Zealand National Director of Education for the Global Country of World Peace
“The practice of Transcendental Meditation in schools and universities around the world is changing the way we understand and approach education. The potential of human brain physiology to experience and understand the universe is unlimited. Transcendental Meditation as a technique develops the full mental potential of the individual allowing them to enjoy success in any undertaking. Extensive research shows this leads to a peaceful healthy individual and a peaceful healthy society.”
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Lucy Davy, MSc. Env. Sci.
Managing Director of Stress Free Schools in New Zealand. In 2009 she managed the implementation of the first Transcendental Meditation Quiet Time programme in the country at a South Auckland school. Lucy learned to meditate when she was 5 years old.
"There has been a considerable amount of research done on Transcendental Meditaiton and the effect it has on people who practice it. The scientific research that has been done has had significant results and combined with the subjective data that has been collected the research and findings are very compelling. Schools can move ahead confidently knowing that they are putting something in place that will have real, practical, life-long benefits for not only their students, but their staff as well."
Board of Advisors
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Dr Stuart Middleton, O.N.Z.M, Ph.D.
Director External Relations, Manukau Institute of Technology, Former Principal of Aorere College Manukau, Fulbright New Century Scholars Award 2007.
“At a time when schools are increasingly under pressure and both teachers and students face higher levels of stress, it is appropriate for us to consider alternative approaches to addressing these issues. I personally commend the Stress Free Schools organisation and those leading it to you. I know that what they are asking us to consider is valuable and has a very valuable contribution to make to the school system here in New Zealand. It is an additional tool in the educational repertoire. While there are various attitudes and responses towards Transcendental Meditation in the community generally, its impact on schools and education is impressive.”
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Greg Taylor, O.N.Z.M
Former Principal of Mount Albert Grammar School, Government appointee to the Council of the University of Auckland.
“Stress in our students can lead to poor academic achievement, apathy, depression, behavioural problems, substance abuse, violence and consequent teacher burnout. These problems are not going away and often educators are criticised unreasonably for the poor performance of students affected by stress. One answer lies in Transcendental Meditation which has been proven to reduce stress in students with remarkable improvements in their desire both to learn and to take part in school life.”
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Dr Nick Argyle, MRC Psych (London)
Former Clinical Director for Mental Health, Auckland District Health Board
“Good mental health is established in childhood. It is vital to educate our children to achieve this so they can grow up happy, mature, and resilient. The TM Programme is the most effective way of accomplishing this development and school-wide programmes have additional benefits to the whole community.”
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Professor John Cleary, Ph.D.
Professor of Computer Science, University of Waikato - Chief Scientific Officer, Netvalue Ltd. Professor Cleary has had a thirty year career researching and teaching Computer Science in New Zealand, Canada and USA. He has co-founded and worked in three venture capital funded software companies in Canada, USA and now in New Zealand. He has published numerous scientific papers, particularly in the areas of data compression and machine learning. He currently researches software engineering techniques.
“Clarity and freshness of spirit is the most precious thing that a student can bring to learning. Transcendental Meditation is a practical way of uplifting all aspects of students’ performance by giving them the clarity they need to succeed in education. We owe it to all students in New Zealand to give them access to this technique.”
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Dr Guy Hatchard, Ph.D.
Internationally recognised researcher, Former Associate Professor of Management at Maharishi University of Management, Iowa, USA.
“Research is making it increasingly clear that fragmentation of brain development is at the heart of problems faced in schools today. It is heartening to review the research on Transcendental Meditation and see that holistic brain development is easily achieved. The results are impressive: improved concept development, increased IQ and academic achievement, reduced stress and anxiety, improved behaviour, and increased creativity. The Stress Free Schools programme incorporating Transcendental Meditation has now been used in hundreds of schools with great ease and success. These results are urgently needed in New Zealand schools where students’ behaviour and academic attainment is increasingly influenced by high levels of stress and anxiety which the Stress Free Schools approach quickly eliminates.”
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Dr David Lovell-Smith, MBChB
Christchurch medical practitioner in general practice. Author of Perfect Blood Pressure, Naturally (Penguin 2001). Dr Lovell-Smith recently completed a Ph.D. through the Auckland University School of Medicine in the field of food intake regulation.
“Transcendental Meditation is the single most important educational development we are likely to see in our life-times.”
Maharishi and the history of Transcedental Meditation
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Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi introduced the Transcendental Meditation technique to the world in 1957. He trained thousands of teachers worldwide, brought the health benefits of meditation to more than 5 million people, and founded universities, schools, and programmes for health and wellbeing throughout the world.
One of Maharishi’s important contributions has been to subject the Transcendental Meditation programme to scientific scrutiny by inviting scientists to conduct extensive research on the practice, thereby establishing the TM technique’s practical benefits on the objective ground of modern science. More than 600 scientific research studies confirming the benefits of the TM technique for mind, body, behaviour, and society have been conducted in 34 countries and at 250 independent research institutions and universities, including Harvard, Stanford, Yale, UCLA Medical School and Otago Medical School.