Stress in the individual affects the way the brain functions and can change behavior. Stress has been shown to reduce activity in the prefrontal cortex, the “higher brain”, resulting in more aggressive, fear-based, and violent behavior. As stress grows in a society, the collective impact can manifest as conflict and war. As early as 1962, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of Transcendental Meditation, predicted that “even if only one percent of the world’s population meditated it would be sufficient to do away with the hatred that causes war”. That theory, known as the “Maharishi Effect”, has since been shown to require only the square root of 1% of a population to practice TM along with the advanced TM-Sidhis program, together as a group. The Maharishi Effect has been put to the test in over 50 demonstrations, resulting in 23 scientific studies that documented positive changes in society and the reduction of the impact of war, correlating with the size of groups practicing the TM and the TM-Sidhi program. This effect was produced not by thinking about or wishing for peace, but as a consequence of the group practice of the TM consciousness-based techniques.