Abstract

To provide equal opportunities for total human development is part of the vision of ASEAN. Traditionally, the field of education has had responsibility for achieving this goal. Few educational institutions around the world would claim success. This article reviews the principles, practice and research of an innovative educational approach—Consciousness-Based^SM education—that gives central importance to developing the consciousness of the student as a means to foster total human development. Consciousness-Based education includes the Transcendental Meditation® technique, which has increasingly been used by educational institutions over the past five decades as a method that serves to unfold the innate creative intelligence in the student through the unique experience of pure consciousness. Research on this approach is reviewed from the perspective of brain functioning and developmental psychology. This perspective indicates that coherent brain functioning, advanced self-actualization, ego development, and improved academic performance are associated with the practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique. It is suggested that Consciousness-Based education offers an evidence-based approach to providing opportunities for total human development through education in ASEAN countries and around the world.