December 2000

Maharishi European Sidhaland Wins National
Development Award
By David Hughs

Each year in Britain, prestigious national awards are given by the British Association for Urban Regeneration (BURA), the country’s leading independent organization for the regeneration of towns, cities and regions. The awards for "best practice in urban regeneration" highlight the most successful approaches so that they can be reproduced throughout the country

This year, one of the winners is the Maharishi European Sidhaland, whose "best practices" include a Maharishi School, Maharishi Sthapatya Veda architecture and design, and a coherence- creating group practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique and the advanced TM-Sidhi program (from which the name "Sidhaland" is derived).

"We’re delighted to receive this award, which guarantees serious attention for Maharishi’s programs in the field of community development," says director John Collins. Out of sixty applicants, there were just six award winners in the "Best Practice" category. The Maharishi European Sidhaland in Skelmersdale shared the limelight with other such recipients as the multi-agency rebuilding of Manchester city center.

BURA, a highly respected organization which brings together a cross-section of members from public, private and community sectors, will send a description of the award-winning projects to every developer and council in Britain.

"An Outstanding Example"
Commenting on the Maharishi European Sidhaland, the judging panel said: "This is a most unusual project and an outstanding example of best practice in many ways which are totally different from any other project submitted for a BURA award. The School is particularly impressive, and the architectural principles of Sthapatya Veda should be more widely disseminated. It represents an unconventional joined-up approach which addresses education, health and crime in a positive and unusual way. It has a qualitative impact on the surrounding area and promotes regeneration by motivating the individual within the community."

Earlier this year, Governor of the Age of Enlightenment Keith Laycock invited representatives of BURA to visit the Maharishi European Sidhaland in Skelmersdale, and they were over-whelmed with what they found.

David Scougall, a senior board member of BURA who has studied urban development projects in Japan, Russia and America, said that what the meditating community had achieved "was one of the most significant things I’ve ever seen. It was so exciting—the Sthapatya Veda, everything to do with orientation of buildings, the new center, the educational attainment. I was very, very impressed with the whole process. It’s really where we need to go."

Mr. Scougall then reported to his awards committee that, yes, it is an unusual project. "But I said to them, ‘just tell me why it’s not best practice, if you can?’ And there wasn’t any answer to that!" After two further visits from equally impressed BURA representatives, the award was granted.

Twenty-Year Success Story
The Maharishi European Sidhaland was set up 20 years ago in response to Maharishi’s desire to increase coherence in world consciousness by establishing permanent groups of Yogic Flyers in every country. "We will make a consolidated effort from one place, but every country must do something," Maharishi said. "The accumulation of coherence from every country is very vital."

Skelmersdale, a small town in the county of Lancashire, is central to Britain as a whole, and is within a half-hour drive of several million people in the nearby cities of Manchester and Liverpool. Yet it is also within easy reach of some of Britain’s most beautiful scenery, in the mountains of Snowdonia, the English Lake District, and the Yorkshire Dales.

Communication and transportation resources are excellent, with a major international airport 40 minutes away. Since 1980, over 350 Governors, Citizen Sidhas and Meditators from all over Britain and Europe have moved to Skelmersdale, with many of them setting up their own businesses.

Creating Coherence, Prosperity and Progress
In 1988, a Maharishi Golden Dome was constructed for group practice of Yogic Flying, modeled on the success already achieved in Fairfield, Iowa. More than 1,100 Yogic Flyers from 24 countries attended the inaugural ceremony for this beautiful 120-ft diameter building. It was opened on behalf of Maharishi by Kenneth Hind, Member of Parliament for West Lancashire. "I have watched with admiration the TM Movement in Skelmersdale grow on a day-to-day basis," said Mr. Hind at the opening ceremony. "They came to a community which, when I was elected, was very much in retreat, but which is now booming."

Local Council leaders echoed Mr. Hind’s praise for the impact of the Maharishi European Sidhaland. Council leader Robert Hodge praised the TM practitioners as having qualities "of reliability, of energy, of honesty and integrity, of service to the community." He thanked them "for what you are doing, for what we know you will continue to do, and for the great contribution that your Movement is already making to the quality of life here in West Lancashire."

Research Documents Rise in Positivity
That contribution was further emphasized seven years later, with the publication of research by Dr. Guy Hatchard in the prestigious, peer-reviewed journal Psychology, Crime and Law. The study revealed that group practice of Yogic Flying in the Maharishi Golden Dome was correlated with an unexpected and dramatic reversal in crime trends in nearby Merseyside. From being the second-most crime-ridden metropolitan area in Britain, Merseyside became one of the safest, with a 60 percent drop in crime compared to national trends. In economic terms alone, this represented a saving of nearly two billion dollars during the five years of the study.

Benefits extended beyond a revitalized economy and reduced crime. A Maharishi Ayurveda Health Center was opened in 1988, which has since treated people from all over the world and attracted much favorable publicity. More recently, the Maharishi European Sidhaland has pioneered the introduction of Maharishi Sthapatya Veda architecture and design into Britain, with the construction of the country’s first public building in accord with Natural Law, a sports and arts center which will be shared by the local community.

Education for Enlightenment The Maharishi School was founded in 1986 by parents at the Maharishi European Sidhaland, and is the first educational institution in Britain to offer Consciousness- Based education. The School is housed in a refurbished eighteenth century stone building a short walk from the Maharishi Golden Dome, on the edge of meadows and villages which stretch to the sea eight miles away.

The great success of the Maharishi School is no secret in British educational circles today. "Everywhere I go, teachers want to talk to me about the Maharishi School and Transcendental Meditation," says Deputy Head Cliff Yates. Cliff has launched a government-funded initiative to improve the teaching of poetry in schools throughout England, and his pupils at the Maharishi School have won a host of major national poetry prizes.

The creativity stimulated by Maharishi’s educational approach and reflected in these poetry successes is carried over to the rest of the curriculum. Four times in recent years, the Maharishi School has been at the top of the academic league tables for examination results in Lancashire, and is one of the most successful schools in Britain as a whole.

A New Model for Community Development
All of these achievements taken together—in business, public safety, health, architecture and education—provide a proven blueprint for genuine regeneration of any community.

On the announcement of the award, Dr. Geoffrey Clements, Chairman of Britain’s Maharishi Foundation, gave congratulations to all members of the community for their achievements, in particular the maintenance of a strong group practice of the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi programs in the Maharishi Golden Dome. This regular group practice, Dr. Clements said, "ensures the coherence that is the foundation-stone for success for all the activities of the community. The BURA representatives must have felt the glow of coherence when they visited, and this is essentially what has led them to make their glowing recommendation."

Glowing recommendations were very much in evidence on October 4th, when Maharishi European Sidhaland directors John Renwick, John Collins and Simon Cohen received the BURA Award from the Rt. Hon. Hilary Armstrong MP, Minister of State at the Department of the Environment. The award has triggered a huge wave of media and professional interest in the Maharishi European Sidhaland, which will lead to further implementation of Maharishi’s programs in Britain during the months to come.

As John Renwick says, "We feel we have an effective approach to community regeneration which includes buildings, business, education, health, and quality of life. The ideas are clearly adaptable to other urban situations and we are ready to offer our help and expertise to anyone wishing to implement them. We hope that this BURA Award will inspire many to take up our offer." David Hughes is editor of Britain’s national Transcendental Meditation program magazine.

David Hughes is editor of Britain's national Transcendental Meditation program magazine.