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Coherence in Motion: Walking the Path to Peace
Rev. Kat Carroll
Last week I shared my reflections on the Buddhist monks’ Walk for Peace. I’d like to follow up on that piece with further observations — and with something harder to quantify, yet no less real: the feelings being projected, even at a distance, simply by watching their journey unfold.
People are feeling the peace when the monks arrive in their hometowns. Members of the public can’t wait to greet them — offering flowers, handmade signs from children, gentle touches, and quiet gratitude. The monks, in turn, appear equally moved, receiving the love and appreciation being reflected back to them on roadsides and in town squares across the country. Any place they stop seems to attract a crowd of gentle, adoring fans.
More than a mascot – Injuries on the path
Even their adopted dog, Aloka, walks with a spring in his step and what looks unmistakably like a happy smile. Sometimes he leads the way; other times he walks closely beside the line of monks, never straying. More than an ambassador, Aloka feels like a signal amplifier — He’s been a furry bodhisattva in his own right. His name says it all. Of Sanskrit origin, Aloka is associated with light, brightness, vision, and illumination.
In numerology, the number linked with Aloka is four, symbolizing stability, grounding, new beginnings, and opportunity. Four legs, four directions, and a steady presence. Whoever named this companion seemed to understand exactly what they were inviting into the journey.
Unfortunately, Aloka had to undergo surgery to repair an injury to his leg and is recovering from something like an ACL tear. He’s unable to continue the journey but resting and recovering over the next 2 months.
Back in December, one of the monks walking on this journey was injured when struck in a crash near Houston, Phra Ajarnh Maha Dam Phommasan returned to his home state of Georgia this week and reunited with a group of fellow Buddhist monks trekking in a “Walk for Peace” from Texas to Washington.
Maha Dam, who said he thought he might die during the crash in Liberty County, had his leg amputated last month in Houston because of his injuries. He has expressed acceptance of his amputation as part of his spiritual mission.
He was released from Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston and is staying at the Wat Phouthasamakhy Lao Temple, where supporters, including the organization Wheelchair for Warriors, have provided mobility assistance.
If you feel inclined to help with the cost of their surgery and recovery, there are links at the end of this article.
The Greater Purpose
Only recently did I learn another layer of this walk’s purpose. The monks are also raising funds — an ambitious $200 million — to build a Buddhist monastery and cultural center in Texas. One could half-jokingly suggest that the adoring crowds might consider offering donations alongside flowers. The love is beautiful and deeply appreciated, but tangible support along the way would help carry this vision forward.
Seen another way, this isn’t fundraising — it’s an energetic exchange. The monks offer time, endurance, humility, and walking meditation to spread peace. In return, those who are moved are invited to respond materially. Comfort is sacrificed to spread harmony, and harmony circulates back as support.
When I watch the many videos shared across social media, my own heart lifts. I see joy. I see people moved to tears by something they may not fully understand — but clearly feel. There is a coherence present that doesn’t ask to be explained.
So, what do I mean by “coherent presence”?
The Heart Math Institute describes it as a state of cooperative alignment between the heart, mind, emotions and physical systems. This expands into personal, social and global coherence. If you are not familiar with who they are and their 30+ years of research, you can navigate to their website. [insert or hyperlink to https://www.heartmath.org/heart-coherence/]
Our personal coherence is communicated through our energetic field; it has an uplifting impact on others. That field around us is expanded when we are thinking positive and uplifting thoughts, feeling love and gratitude. It assists with healing, communication, and most importantly, stress relief and generating a sense of well-being.
The Monks on their journey are spreading that coherent and loving vibration with every step.
Measurable Effects on Individual and Society
There is precedent for measuring collective effects — and I’m actively exploring whether those tools are being applied here.
I’m familiar with the work of Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR). They were part of the team monitoring Global Consciousness from 1979 to 2007. They investigated interactions between human consciousness and physical systems, particularly using Random Event Generators (REGs). When changes in randomness showed up in their computers, they knew something had occurred to effect global consciousness. It was generally noted around emotional events, both positive and negative.
They showed how mind can affect matter, studied psychic abilities, remote viewing, and mind machine interfacing (telekinesis). Click on the link in the resources if you’d like to learn more of their history.
Then there is the Heart Math Institute that also monitors global coherence through a series of sensors placed around the world. They also have handheld devices and now an interesting lamp you can place in your home that changes color when you reach a state of coherence. This short video explains the importance of coherence in a chaotic world.
What is the Global Coherence Initiative?
A couple other variables to consider in their walk are the long-term effects, and what they might be.
The Maharishi effect, a proposed phenomenon suggesting that when a small percentage of a population practices Transcendental Meditation (TM) or the advanced TM-Sidhi program—particularly group meditation, positive, measurable changes occur in societal well-being.
“Where TM practice enables one’s awareness to settle inward into the silence of pure consciousness, the TM-Sidhi techniques culture the ability to think and act from this field, to enliven and activate it, making its power available in everyday life. The result is that one’s thoughts become more purposeful and one’s actions more successful.”
Lastly, the hundredth monkey effect – I’ll circle back to this shortly.
Creating Peace in Society
The inner calm cultivated through practices such as Transcendental Meditation — particularly when practiced in groups — does not appear to remain confined to the individual. Research suggests that when a relatively small percentage of a population engages in deep, coherent meditation together, the effects ripple outward into the larger social environment.
“Just as the coherence of an individual’s consciousness
determines their behavior, so the coherence of the collective consciousness
of many individuals influences social behavior. “
– DR. TONY NADER – The Maharishi Effect
What is especially compelling is the scale at which this appears to occur. Studies have indicated that when the number of participants reaches approximately the square root of one percent of a given population, measurable changes begin to appear across society as a whole. These changes have been observed across a wide range of indicators.
During periods when such group practices were in place, reductions were documented in crime rates, traffic fatalities, accidental deaths, drug-related mortality (including opioid deaths), infectious disease rates, and infant mortality. In regions experiencing active conflict, the intensity of warfare was shown to lessen, and instances of international terrorism declined.
Perhaps most striking is the consistency of these observations. Similar effects have been reported in cities, states, entire nations, and even at the global level. They have appeared across cultures, political systems, and levels of economic development, in both Eastern and Western societies. Across decades of study, this pattern has proven remarkably reliable.
Taken together, these findings suggest that collective states of coherence may influence the social field in ways we are only beginning to understand.
When it comes to daily meditation practice, studies have found, that it leads to more rapid integration of brainwave coherence into daily life, more efficient and responsive nervous systems, and faster growth of creativity, intelligence, field independence, learning ability, moral maturity, and psychological health.
It’s quite possible that 19 monks walking for peace is having such an effect on global coherence that may be measurable.
I wrote to the HeartMath Institute to ask if there were any changes in their sensors in the areas where the Monks were walking. They said they had not considered it but now they will take a look! I have a strong suspicion that data – evidence of the power of their ongoing meditations, and natural state of coherent being, has been affecting their monitoring devices. Stay tuned for an update.
About that 100th Money Effect
In the study of primates, one monkey found that eating fruit that had been sitting in the sand was unpleasant. I don’t recall how it discovered that dropping it in water removed the unpleasant grit, but others began to copy the practice. Soon the entire troop was doing the same. More astoundingly, other monkey troops, who were not even on the same island, also began washing their fruit in water. That’s basically how the term came to be.
If there is to be one profound effect being seen and then emulated by others, I would hope the result would be a similar, and more spiritual 100th monkey effect. One that changes the entire world, simply by walking in peace, for peace and love.
I’ve been feeling a lot of love and bliss over this past week. If you have felt a change, something positive, or a sense of wellbeing that is new, please share it in the comments!
And if you’d like to experience reaching a coherent state, here is a guided meditation that only takes a few minutes.
Guided Heart-Brain Coherence Meditation (5 Minutes to Change Your State)
Would you like to help the monks reach their goal or offset medical expenses?
Donations to the Buddhist monks walking from Texas to Washington, D.C. can be made through the following methods:
- Online Donation: Use the official Zeffyplatform: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/support-the-walk-for-peace-2300-miles-of-hope
- Zelle: Send donations directly via Zelle to [email protected]
- Mail: Send a check or money order payable to HUONG DAO TEMPLE, with “Walk For Peace” in the memo line, to: HUONG DAO TEMPLE
4717 E. Rosedale St.
Fort Worth, TX 76105
Note: The monks are currently not accepting material donations (like food, clothing, or supplies) due to limited space on the journey. However, monetary donations are warmly welcomed and greatly appreciated.
Resource Links
Aloka, the Buddhist Monks’ dog, undergoes surgery in the Lowcountry during the Walk of Peace
Exclusive: Monk whose leg was amputated after vehicle crash near Houston thought he was going to die
Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR)
Coherence Technology from Heart Math
34 people complete advanced TM-Sidhi program training at MIU
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