Blog

NYC Ballet Principal Megan Fairchild On Dance, Stress and TM

Being a professional ballerina can be hard on your health, mentally and physically.

For Megan Fairchild, age 30, a principal at the New York City Ballet who danced the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy in PBS’ telecast of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, stress almost derailed her career. On the fast track since joining the corps de ballet at age eighteen, becoming a soloist at nineteen and a principal by age twenty, she was suffering from debilitating panic attacks that put her out of work for days at a time.

Tolerance as a State of Being

As tensions rose in Paris and demonstrations swept Western Europe last January, people around the world wondered how to stop religious intolerance and promote peace and goodwill among all people.

Yet with racial and religious hostilities worldwide reaching a six-year high, as reported in the Pew Research Center’s Religion & Public Life Project, intolerance is a global issue that affects us no matter where we live.

Fault Lines: Whose Fault is it When Relationships Quake

Fault lines in the earth are lines that trace boundaries between Earth’s tectonic plates. In an active fault, the pieces of the Earth’s crust along the fault move over time and can cause earthquakes. Fault

Embrace Your Moods

“Women are moody.” We’ve heard this all our lives, usually as a criticism, and it’s a sure bet that if you’re a woman and a professional, you’ve spent a fair amount of effort trying to act the opposite of moody in order to succeed in the workplace.

It’s time to stop trying to be like a man and embrace the full range of your emotions. That is the advice of psychiatrist Julie Holland, who points out that being “sensitive to our environments, empathic to our children’s needs and intuitive of our partners’ intentions is not only hardwired into your feminine brain, but is basic to your survival and your children’s.”

Our Daughters, Our Granddaughters, Ourselves

I don’t know how old you are, but I’m guessing that if you aren’t a female between 13 and 25 years of age, you know one. I certainly know a few and am, in fact,

Overcoming the Stress of ADHD, Dyslexia and Other Learning Challenges

Stress is now thought to be a major factor in learning disorders such as ADHD. Now researchers are finding that the Transcendental Meditation technique—which has been shown in dozens of peer- reviewed studies to reduce stress, depression and anxiety—is helping students overcome ADHD and other learning challenges.

Sarina Grosswald, EdD, was one of the first researchers to study the connection between stress and ADHD.

Renewed Research into Psychedelics: A Wise Choice?

A psychedelic is described as a drug that produces radical changes in consciousness, often including hallucinations. The word ‘psychedelic’—meaning mind-manifesting— was coined by English psychiatrist Humphry Osmond in 1957. From the early 1950s through the

Classical Guitarist Sharon Isbin on Creativity and TM

When you hear a musician play who stirs your soul and at the same time is so in command of her craft that she makes it look simple, you know you are in the presence of a true artist.

Sharon Isbin has made the intricate art of performing classical guitar look simple. Considered the leading classical guitarist of our time, she was named “Best Classical Guitarist” by Guitar Player magazine and is the first guitarist in over 43 years to receive two classical GRAMMY Awards (in 2001 and 2010). A former student of Andrès Segovia and a graduate of Yale University, she has played at the White House and Carnegie Hall. Her rise to stardom as a woman playing an instrument that is usually played by men was chronicled in Sharon Isbin: Troubador, a recent documentary on her creative performances and collaborations with artists in a variety of genres that was released last fall by American Public Television.

Behind the Scenes at TM for Women

Often women want to know more about our organization and history so here is some information that I hope you will find interesting. The Transcendental Meditation technique is a specific form of meditation that was

Multitasking and the Transcendental Meditation Technique

Have you ever noticed that when you really focus on something—writing, cooking, creating a work of art, playing a musical instrument, reading a great book—you end up feeling refreshed, renewed, revitalized? Yet when you do the same task while also texting your kids, talking on the phone, listening to the radio and keeping up with each email that comes in, you end up feeling exhausted?

Neuroscientist Daniel Levitin says there’s a reason for this: multitasking takes a toll on our brains. Not only does it wear us out, it basically doesn’t work.