August 2025
It’s August—still time to relax and live our lives gently, as long sun-filled days stretch into each other. August gives us our last pause before we return to our labors in the crisp air of Autumn. It’s a time of rest and rejuvenation in preparation for education or career. We hope you enjoy our August issue.
- Last month’s blog written by women for women
- Articles
- News from Maharishi International University
- World leader in innovative education
- Harvest season begins: women farmers gear up
- Q&A: What was Maharishi’s perspective on women in business
- What women say: from migraines, stress, and challenges, to peaceful
Have you had a few minutes to read our July blog posts? If you haven’t, the links are below. You can also visit our blog homepage at any time to use our search feature for topics as diverse as Women Transcendentalists—What We Have in Common from 2014 and What About Mom Burn-Out? from 2020.
More Free Than the Founding Fathers Knew Possible
The US Constitution, as ratified in 1788, did not mention women at all. The Founding Fathers did not consider women to be full citizens and did not grant us any specific rights. Especially after 1920, the progress of women’s freedom can be tracked to greater and greater levels within society—allowing child custody, voting rights, improved labor conditions, and expanding educational and employment opportunities.
Are Your a Worried Mom?
There is rarely a higher mission for a mother than finding the best ways to raise her children. Moms are eager to learn new ideas about parenting their children—what works and what doesn’t.
As someone who teaches Transcendental Meditation to women, I’ve heard many moms (and grandmas) talk about the joys of parenting, but I’ve also heard them express worries, stress, and heartache.
Commencement News of Maharishi International University
Maharishi International University is a non-profit university with on-campus and online degree programs in undergraduate and graduate studies. MIU is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, the same body that accredits major Midwest universities.
Consciousness-Based Education is MIU’s unique holistic approach to learning; it develops the whole person: mind, body, relationships, and consciousness. It combines traditional academics with an emphasis on personal growth and well-being. All faculty and students practice the evidence-based Transcendental Meditation technique, which successfully unfolds full potential.
Last month, MIU released this joyous announcement:
“This June, we celebrated the achievements of 802 graduates including our international locations—a joyful and inspiring Commencement honoring the incredible diversity, dedication, and determination of our student body.
A total of 434 students participated in the in-person ceremony in Fairfield; 288 of this year’s graduates were online students. Altogether, MIU awarded 163 bachelor’s degrees, 592 master’s degrees, 24 MFAs, and 4 doctoral degrees.
The graduates represented 58 countries, including special cohorts from our global campuses: 9 MBA graduates from Ethiopia, 43 BA in Business graduates from South Africa, and 13 PhD graduates in Management from our China campus—seven of whom traveled to walk at the ceremony.
Among this year’s class were 17 undergraduate honor students who earned 3.98 or higher GPA, with 14 earning Summa Cum Laude distinctions and a perfect 4.00 GPA. The class also ranged widely in life experience—our youngest graduate was 26, and the oldest, 69—a beautiful testament to the lifelong pursuit of knowledge and growth.”
Re-imagining Higher Education
Congratulations to Maharishi Invincibility Institute in Johannesburg, South Africa, for being selected by Stanford University as one of the twelve most innovative schools in the world in its 2025 Guide to Reimagining Higher Education.
Maharishi Invincibility Institute is an accredited registered nonprofit skills-to-work educational institution. Created in 2007 as a registered private college, the institute’s goal is to bring high quality, holistic education to everyone. MII has won 34 local and international awards.
Over 19,000 South Africans have graduated, launching their careers in finance, advertising, technology, management and more since it’s inception.The institute’s students excel on professional examinations, resulting in an average 95% job placement.
Because of the institute’s culture of consciousness-based education, with its foundation in the Transcendental Meditation program, students achieve high academic success and enhanced performance.
Maharishi Invincibility Institute in in the forefront of education, culturing leadership, happiness, courage, and success.
Visit MII’s website: click here
August is the Start of Harvesting Season: Saluting Women in Agriculture
A significant but subtle change is occurring on farms in America: women farmers are increasingly stepping into leadership roles in contributing to local and national food production.
Land, farming and ranching are central to the American narrative, but women are historically missing from the story. Indigenous women had dominated agriculture, but the arrival of European settlers in the 17th century brought a patriarchal order. Whereas the indigenous women taught the newcomers farming, among the settlers it was the men who took over the food production.
Out of necessity caused by the deployment of men during the two world wars, the Women’s Land Army was created to provide the agricultural work and production in America. Between 1943 and 1945, 1.5 million women—mostly college students with no experience of farming—worked on farms, producing a quantity of food 32% above prewar levels.
Because women are naturally good at nourishing, cultivating, growing and multi-tasking, farming is easy for them to adopt. Today’s women farmers find the intimate relationship with the land to be precious and healing. Some say that the growing numbers of women in farming is due to their desire for a healthier and more sustainable life and the satisfaction they enjoy in watching things grow and nurturing them. Although farming is a hard job, taking total dedication, it is valued as an important, noble, helpful, and useful profession.
U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics show that there are now 1.2 million female farmers—more than a third of all U.S. producers. A far cry from when women were not allowed to own land, today in the U.S. women operate about 407 million acres, generating $222 billion in agricultural sales.
Alaska and Arizona lead the nation with almost half their agricultural producers being women. Concurrently, women are taking leadership roles in the agriculture economy, enabling and supporting the success of other women, hand in hand and from generation to generation.
As a woman’s organization, we are happy that our program brings a wide range of benefits to the lives of women farmers and their families: The Transcendental Meditation technique increases energy and stamina, while reducing fatigue and stress. It improves sleep, resilience, focus, decision-making and productivity. TM reduces risk factors for heart disease and decreases burnout and depression.
TM is a simple, natural technique that can be learned easily and practiced anywhere, making it a convenient option for busy farmers.
At TM for Women, we applaud the mission and work of women in agriculture. Those who learn the Transcendental Meditation technique find it supports the realization of their labor and dedication.
Farmer Holly Reichert says, “TM allows me to stay centered and focused on the tasks at hand. TM gives me energy and helps me put in long days of hard and sometimes stressful work. I feel grounded and ready each day to take on whatever is before me: such as unpredictable weather, farm equipment breaking down, and workers not showing up.”
Q: What was Maharishi’s perspective on women in business?
Maharishi said that the secret of success in business is creativity. During the Transcendental Meditation technique the awareness of the individual comes into contact with pure potentiality in the field of consciousness. The mind transcends thinking, which expresses our innate intelligence, energy and creativity, to experience and enliven the source of thought.
Women are naturally hard-wired to create. Whether she be running a business or fulfilling her goals in another career or simply telling a story to her child, a woman naturally flows with creativity in the process. TM can enliven her full potential of creativity, in harmony with her environment.
In essence, Maharishi recognized the inherent potential of women in all spheres of life, encouraging them to enjoy their profession while simultaneously cultivating inner well-being and drawing on their unique strengths to create positive change in the world, including the business landscape.
TM teachers are conducting an important new project with women in Uganda. Most are mothers and are poor refugees. Many have war trauma. One hundred are learning Transcendental Meditation each month, and most of these women are meditating twice a day together in tents of 50 or 100 people.
“Before learning TM, I had constant migraines due to overwhelming stress and challenges of life which include extreme poverty and poor health conditions. I always found myself isolated and unhappy. After learning TM, the migraines have significantly reduced, I feel more relaxed and peaceful. I am now able to relate better with people around me, most specifically my family. — C. N., aged 40 years, Namuwanto, Kampala, Uganda.
To create inner and outer peace in Uganda, please give here: https://ugandaptsdrecovery.gvtls.com/
Thank you for considering helping these mothers in dire need.
Editor’s note: We’d love to hear your comments on the benefits you’ve received from the TM practice. And, with your permission, we’ll publish them here for other women to enjoy. Send your comment to info@tm-women.org
