December 2024
Dear Friend,
The year 2024 winds down this month with many holidays and celebrations. December is a month to open our hearts and share our appreciation of the good in the world around us—to honor, respect, love, and uplift all living things. Let’s end the year by developing harmony within ourselves and, through ourselves, within our world family.
- Last month’s blog written by women for women
- Articles
- Giving: How small acts create lasting change
- Join us for women’s online group meditations
- Good Health Through Prevention: women’s 17-meeting online course
- Q&A: How do I keep my resolutions in 2025
- What women say: “valuable lifelong tool”
If you missed our November blog posts, the links are below. You can also visit our blog homepage at any time to use our search feature for previous topics which are as diverse as Utterly exhausted: What to do About Chronic Fatigue and Awakening Spiritual Life.
The Transcendental Meditation Program for Single Mothers in Vancouver, BC
Single-parent families accounted for 28.2 percent of all Canadian households in 2021. For the first time, it is the most common type of household in Canada, surpassing even couples with children (26.5 percent). Today, over one-fifth of Canadian children are being raised by a single parent.
Transcending the Stereotype of the Woman Driver
A commonly held stereotype is that women are poor drivers. Two experiments have confirmed that women made twice as many driving mistakes after hearing that cliché! All women who had heard of the stereotype expected or self-reported to have driven poorly.
The Power of Giving: How Small Acts Create Lasting Change
“It is natural that one receives what he is in a position to give. The mother gives to the child and, in return, receives from the child; the father gives to the son all his love, wealth, strength, and mind, and in return receives his confidence, love, and happiness.
“If you are open with someone, he will be open with you. If you want love from someone, give your love to him. If you want kind and sympathetic behavior from someone, be kind and sympathetic to him. If you want comfort from him, prove yourself comforting to him. If you want admiration from others, do something to show your admiration for them. If you are sincere in giving, you receive it in return many-fold. The teacher learns by teaching; in obeying, the student commands the respect of the teacher. If your son readily is obedient to you, he captures your heart as a natural return of obedience. If you are kind to a child he will be kind to you; if you are harsh to him, he will revolt against you. This is action and reaction.
“That action and reaction are equal is a scientifically established truth. You react to someone in a certain way, he in turn will react to you in a similar way. If he does not react to you, then nature will bring to you a similar type of reaction. If you hurt someone, even if he himself does not react, other agencies of nature will bring the reaction of your behavior to you. It is a law of nature that as you sow, so you shall reap. In whatever way one wants the surroundings to react to him, his behavior toward the surroundings must be in accordance with that. This is the fundamental principle of making the best use of one’s surroundings.”
~ Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Science of Being and Art of Living
Women’s TM online group meditations
We welcome those women who have learned TM to join us for women’s online TM group meditations led by women who are certified TM teachers. We meet every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday at 3PM Pacific time, 4PM Mountain time, 5PM Central, and 6PM Eastern. TM will start promptly at five minutes past the hour.
To register to join the group, please email to Sarah at sgordon@tm-women.org
Join our group of supportive women for a deep dive inward. If you have a few minutes more to spare, the group meditation is followed by a short discussion related to the growth of higher states of consciousness.
“The TM for Women group brings my TM experience to a whole new level. We share knowledge, and are able to ask questions of the teachers. After all these years, I feel a sense of bonding, belonging, with like-minded women. And for some reason, my meditations are deeper than when I meditate alone. I think about it as TM+” — Carol Lange, online group meditation participant.
Popular Program on Good Health Through Prevention
A highly recommended course, offered as a limited series by TM for Women, is the Maharishi Ayurveda Self-Care and Good Health Through Prevention Course. Maharishi Ayurveda presents a new paradigm in healthcare, teaching that imbalances result from disruption of self-repair and immune mechanisms, and that this is the primary factor in the formation of disease.
This new approach to health takes into account the body as an expression of our Consciousness. Students will learn simple and effective mind body modalities that they will be able to incorporate into their daily routine.
This 17 lesson course is open to all women. Each student watches four one-hour lessons per week at home at personally convenient times (lessons are self-directed so you may choose to spend more time watching) and then the class meets together once a week on Zoom with the instructor, who is a certified TM teacher.
More Information / Sign Up: Please email educationdirector@tm-women.org to ask questions, register, and receive course materials.
Q: How Can I keep My Resolutions in the New Year?
If we are resolute come January 1st, will we finally do what we have put off year after year until now? Can we convince ourselves that somehow this year will be different from past years? With grand intentions, we start the new year with an anticipation of renewal, deliverance from past unhealthy habits, and lasting success.
If our goals were easy to fulfill and the means to fulfill them were not going to be stressful, we would have already achieved them. We wouldn’t need to resolve ourselves. So we need a way to reduce stress and maximize our potential. When we practice the Transcendental Meditation technique, we strengthen our brain’s prefrontal cortex, so we become more organized in our thinking naturally. The measurable, tangible deep rest to the mind and body during the TM technique significantly reduces stress and increases our focus, creativity, and energy. Further published research on the TM technique shows a significant decrease in anxiety and depression. So much more is easily achievable.
Dr. Frank Staggers, Director of Berkeley Addiction Treatment Services, states, “When a person practices TM, the effects are pan-systemic—every system of the body is affected from the brain down. It is good for the whole mind-body system.”
Learning the TM technique can be one 2025 resolution that eradicates the need to make a list of others, because the daily practice will support the fulfillment of all your intentions. And if you already learned, resolve to be regular in your TM routine as that will ensure greatest and quickest success.
As author Linda Egenes writes in her post of December 2016, “When we meditate, we directly experience this field of pure consciousness, which could also be described as pure creativity, intelligence, energy and bliss. It’s not that we have to make a mood or repeat over and over, “I am happy. I am creative. I can make changes in my life.” It has nothing to do with thinking affirmations or creating resolutions. Rather, it has to do with going beyond thought to experience the changeless field within us that is by nature blissful, happy and evolutionary.”
“I have found TM to be a valuable, lifelong tool. I’ve experienced many benefits for overall wellness, including reduced anxiety, being more grounded, and increased inner peace. I find I have more presence and patience with my child. I would definitely recommend TM to other single moms.”
— Stephanie, single mother in Vancouver, British Columbia
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
