Psychological distress contributes to the development of hypertension in young adults. This was a randomized controlled trial of 296 university students randomly allocated to either the Transcendental Meditation® program or wait-list control. At baseline and after three months posttest, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, psychological distress (total mood disturbance, anxiety, depression, anger/hostility) and coping ability (global constructive thinking) were measured.