1950-1998
Charles "Skip" Alexander (deceased) was the author/editor of four books including the groundbreaking Higher Stages of Human Development: Perspectives on Adult Growth. His research areas focused on the development of consciousness through the practice of Transcendental Meditation.
Dr. Charles N. (Skip) Alexander (Ph.D. Harvard ,1982, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa), co-authored more than 80 landmark articles and four books on consciousness and the unfreezing of human potential. He theoretically integrated developmental psychology with higher states of consciousness described in the Vedic psychology of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
Critical tests of his model demonstrated that the Transcendental Meditation program (TM) unfreezes development and reduces recidivism in maximum security prisoners; increases longevity, decreases blood pressure, and improves mental and physical health in institutionalized elderly; cultures advanced cognitive development in adults to higher levels than any sample reported in the literature; accelerates development in children; and reduces stress, and increases cognitive efficiency and job productivity in business and industry.
He won $7 million in competitive grants for cardiovascular disease, including funding for a major study on TM, which the sixth report of the Joint National Committee on the Detection, Evaluation and Treatment of High Blood Pressure specifically cited as the only recent properly controlled trial of stress reduction that has been effective in lowering blood pressure among hypertensives.
His meta-analyses showed that TM produces a unique psychophysiological state, and that it is the most effective means of treating cigarette, alcohol, and drug addiction and for increasing self actualization, and he guided ground-breaking research on the EEG of cosmic consciousness, the first stabilized state of enlightenment.
He is survived by his wife Victoria K. Alexander, JD, who currently holds the Charles N. Alexander Chair of Maharishi Vedic Psychology.
