Ashley Deans
Ashley Deans
Nationality	Born in Canada
Occupation	Educator, physicist, researcher, author, politician
Title	Dr.

Ashley Deans is a Canadian physicist, educator, researcher, author and politician. He is Professor of Consciousness-Based Education at Maharishi University of Management, Executive Director of Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment (MSAE) and former president of the Natural Law Party of Ontario.^[1] Deans is on the Board of Advisors of the David Lynch Foundation.^[2]

Education[link]

Deans graduated with a B.Sc. and a ARCS from the Imperial College London in 1969 and has a Ph.D in Upper Atmospheric Physics from York University, Toronto, Canada, where he was a National Research Council of Canada Graduate Fellow. He was awarded a Doctorate of World Peace from Maharishi European Research University (MERU) in 2005.^[3]

Career[link]

Deans served as Headmaster of Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment (MSAE) in Fairfield, Iowa for 15 years. He later became its Executive Director and a member of the Board of Directors.^{[4][3] [5]} Deans undertook a world-wide speaking tour^[when?] to promote MSAE's style of "consciousness-based education" and the practice of the Transcendental_Meditation_technique (TM) for schools. ^[6] He gave presentations in six cities in Canada in 2006.^[7] Deans is a member of the advisory board for the David Lynch Foundation.^[2]

In 1976, while at the Centre for Research in Experimental Space Science, York University, in Ontario, Deans published a paper on aurora emissions (in Journal of Geophysical Research, 1976).^[8] Deans co-authored a paper on supersymmetry theory (in Physics Letters B, 1993) with John Hagelin at Maharishi University of Management in 1993.^[9] As the Associate Professor of Physics at Maharishi University of Management in 1996, he co-authored a paper on the Maharishi Effect that was published in Psychology, Crime, and Law).^[10]

Deans ran in the Trinity Spadina riding for the federal Natural Law Party of Canada in 1993, 1997, and 2000. His best result was in 1993, when he received 1% of the vote.^[11] He promised "heaven on earth" if elected.^[12]Deans was the founding president of the Natural Law Party of Ontario (NLP), which he said championed the Maharishi's policies.^[13] He was also deputy leader of the federal Natural Law Party of Canada,^[14] and was its leader in 2000.^[15]

The main issue for Deans and the NLP was the creation of a group of 7,000 meditators practicing the TM-Sidhi program, also known as "Yogic Flying".^[13] Another issue was the south-facing doors of the parliament building,^[14] and the south-facing border crossings with the United States, both of which were not "auspicious".^[16]

During the 2000 federal election campaign, Deans asserted that "more than 600 scientific studies backed up our claims that meditation activities reduce crime, disease and stress while improving the economy in areas where it is practised".^[17] At an all-parties debate that year, he said of climate change: "All of the outside influences that are damaging Canada today are coming because of incoherence in our collective consciousness. As a physicist, I can speak of the Meisner Effect, where a magnetic field can penetrate a metal, unless the electrons in the metal are highly coherent. Then you have a superconductor and that repels the outside influence."^[18]

He published the book: A Record of Excellence: The Remarkable Success of Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment in 2005.^[19]

Books and Publications[link]

Deans has authored or co-authored several studies in the fields of physics and on the group effect of Transcendental Meditation. According to his bio, his research has been published in the Canadian Journal of Physics, Journal of Geophysical Research, Planetary and Space Science, Track and Field Journal, Medecin Du Quebec, Journal of Crime Psychology and Law, Physics Letters B and Physical Review Letters.^[20]

• A Rocket Measurement of the O2(b¹Σ g +-X³Σ g −)(0-0) Atmospheric Band in Aurora, Journal of Geophysical Research (1976)^[21]
• Chaotic inflation and cold baryosynthesis in a supersymmetric gut, Physics Letters B^[22]
• Supersymmetry mechanism for naturally small density perturbations and baryogenesis, Physical Review Letters (1993) ^[23][24]
• The maharishi effect: A model for social improvement. Time series analysis of a phase transition to reduced crime in merseyside metropolitan area, Psychology, Crime, and Law (1996)^[25]
• A Record of Excellence: The Remarkable Success of Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment (2005)^[19]

References[link]