The p value stands for “probability”. It is a statistical calculation of the chance of coincidence

TM researches have p values that are often 50 to one million times smaller (=better) than the norm

In physics it’s generally easy to determine cause and effect. In human sciences this is much more difficult because people are always exposed to many different influences. This is why “probability”, the statistical calculation of the chance that the result was due to coincidence instead of the cause, is crucial to determine the reliability of any effect. In general the “p-value” is considered as important, if not more, than the effect itself.

This sounds logical. When a scientist gives a drug to somebody and claims it will make him happier, and the next day the person does feel a little happier, he still can’t say for certain that it was the drug that caused it. Perhaps he got a promotion at work, perhaps he fell in love, perhaps it was a placebo effect. But if we administer the drug to 100 subjects and on average there’s a small increase in happiness with all 100 subjects (=consistent effect), then the chance that it was a coincidence will be much lower. If we then see that all 100 subjects feel happier than they ever felt before (=large effect), we can say with a very high degree of certainty that it probably was not a coincidence.

The norm in science is that scientist have to be at least 95% sure that it was not a coincidence, this is indicated as p<.05, the probability is smaller than 5 in hundred. The stronger and more consistent (= more reliable) the effect, the smaller the chance that it was a coincidence, and the smaller the p value.

Transcending is described by the ancient texts as the highest human experience, essential for our full human development. But for centuries mankind hasn’t known this experience, because the way to get there (meditation) has been completely misinterpreted. If it is true that Transcendental Meditation is really a rediscovery of the effective method to transcend, and develop our full human potential, then it should also give quite extraordinary results, or even results that have never been seen before. The exceptionally small p values that appear with a large number of TM studies, which are often 50 to 1 million times smaller (=better) than the norm (p<.001 to p<.000000001) do seem to confirm that the effects are often truly extraordinary.