December 2025
Dear friend,
This past year has reminded us, once again, of the power of turning inward. Amid the busyness and uncertainty of life, the Transcendental Meditation technique continues to offer women a sanctuary—a way to return home to ourselves, where peace, clarity, creativity, and balance naturally reside.
Through Transcendental Meditation, we dissolve layers of stress and fatigue, continually uncovering our innate capacity for growth and joy. Each moment spent in transcendence enlivens the intelligence in the body and mind and the gentle strength of the heart, allowing us to meet life’s changes with insight and calm.
As we move into a new year, the value of inner silence and strength continues, with twice-daily meditation, to manifest in our daily lives. It will guide our choices, deepen our connections, and support our growth to fulfillment. The coming year can be one of renewal—in which rest replaces strain, harmony replaces conflict, and our natural vitality shines without obstruction.
Thank you for being part of this community of women committed to nurturing peace—within ourselves and, through that, in the world around us. Through the window of science, we now know that when a woman transcends, she is uplifted, and, in turn, uplifts everyone around her.
With heartfelt gratitude and blessings for the year ahead,
TM for Women
In this issue:
- Last month’s blog written by women for women
- Articles
- Personal TM experiences that gave women optimism for 2026
- What we saw about TM through the window of science in 2025
- TM for Women’s objectives in 2026 to help more women at risk
- Q&A: Why not meditate more often for faster evolution?
Blog posts
Have you checked out our November blog posts? If you haven’t, the links are below. You can also visit our blog homepage to use our archive search feature for topics as diverse as Women’s Risks for Stroke from 2024 and How to Let Your Creativity Soar from 2023.
The Profound Teachings of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) movement, brought ancient Vedic wisdom to the modern world with clarity and accessibility. Vedic wisdom is the complete totality of knowledge of the full range of life, from the cosmic to the individual.
Saving the Ocean from Deadly Noise Pollution: An Interview with Kathy Matara
Kathy Matara PhD is an environmental safety and health policy advocate who has worked on sustainable safe technologies since 2012. She spearheaded an action for Iowans to opt out of high radiation smart meters in favor of zero-radiation analog meters to measure utility usage in front of legislative, regulatory and governing bodies.
Articles
Spotlight on Personal Transformations That Inspire Confidence and Optimism for the New Year
Many women find that the benefits they’ve gained from the Transcendental Meditation program have inspired optimism for the year ahead by shaping the way their mind interprets challenges and possibilities. Their improved mental or physical health allows for a more enthusiastic world view and attitude. It is stress that narrows attention and biases the mind toward negative interpretation, but our meditation reduces stress, allowing us to see the bigger picture. We see possibilities where we once saw obstacles.
Also, Transcendental Meditation strengthens the prefrontal cortex—the area of the brain involved in managing emotions. As imbalances in emotional reactivity decrease, we’re less likely to spiral into pessimistic narratives. The TM practice creates optimism—not by forcing us to “think positively,” but by developing consciousness.
Our perception of the world is shaped by the state of our consciousness. And consciousness is the lens through which we see the future. A foundation in expanded consciousness makes it natural to look at the coming year with hope, confidence, and joy. Here are some reports of development of consciousness and its benefits in their lives that have given women inspiration for 2026:
“I had an experience of overwhelming harmony between and within the huge variety/diversity in the range of my senses. The structure of the abundant diversity was very beautiful, because although all the differences existed, nothing needed to be done or attended to. The differences were all structuring a kind of beauty together where nothing needed to be added/filled in. I experienced that this harmonizing value I was in the grip of was a natural, automatic, spontaneous quality of pure consciousness being awake and flowing and my heart being most open. The harmonizing quality created complete unity—the unity was the harmonizing. This flowing sweet orderliness of everything being different but belonging to the same huge field was the primary experience. It was extremely hugely sweet, blissful. One could rest in it. I felt that if that unity/harmony were fully developed, then there would be a spontaneous experience of peace in every nanosecond and behavior would be brilliantly structured by the presence of that harmonizing value. This experience changed me in a profound permanent way, giving me a better lookout on my future, my life, and all life.” – DB, New York
“With TM, my life has been opened up to some amazing new ways of coping. I no longer have a craving for alcohol on a nightly basis—I have the ability to relax without it. On nights that I have trouble sleeping, I no longer reach for my melatonin. The biggest benefit of all is that I am slowly kicking my stress eating.” – AL, New Jersey
“TM has greatly helped me manage anxiety that arises in the workplace and in my daily life. I look forward to meditating and am more relaxed and confident that TM is helping me transition into a better version of myself.” – GB, Florida
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
Key Studies on the Benefits of TM in 2025
From the 1970s to the present, there have been hundreds of original studies in independent peer-reviewed journals or edited scientific publications on the benefits of the Transcendental Meditation technique.
In 2025, there was significant research published. Here are some of the most notable findings in scientific studies this year:
1. Cardiovascular / Heart Health
A randomized controlled trial published in Frontiers in Medicine (March 2025) looked at Black men and women at high cardiovascular risk, comparing TM to a health education program.
The researchers measured carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) over 12 months and tracked major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) over up to 5 years (and partway to 10 and 14 years). TM practitioners showed a 65% relative risk reduction in MACE at 5 years. Long-term (10-year) follow-up also showed risk reduction with TM, though the effect attenuated by the 14-year exploratory analysis. Authors suggest TM may be a useful lifestyle intervention for reducing cardiovascular risk in high-risk groups.
A scoping review in Frontiers in Public Health (2025) assessed mind–body therapies (MBTs) for cardio-metabolic risk in middle-aged Black adults. It found that MBTs, including TM, are feasible, have good adherence, and show positive trends for reducing blood pressure, BMI, etc. The review specifically notes reduction in cardiovascular events at 5-year follow-up in TM studies. A press release (and coverage in news outlets) highlighted the same release in Frontiers in Medicine, emphasizing a 65% risk reduction in cardiovascular events over 5 years for TM vs health education.
2. Mental Health / Stress, Burnout, PTSD
Systematic Review & Meta-Analysis Medicina, (April 2025): In a meta-analysis of TM for Pt-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), researchers identified 15 controlled trials with a total of 1,248 subjects. The pooled effect size (TM vs controls) was g = –1.01 (95% CI: –1.29 to –0.74), which is a large effect. They also found that TM was “non-inferior to prolonged exposure therapy” in one analysis, and that TM worked faster in reducing PTSD symptoms (significant by week six in some studies).
A pilot study Intervention in Medical Students (BMC Medical Education, April 2025) with Georgetown University medical students (N = 42, 39 completed) looked at the effects of TM (20 min, twice daily) over three months. BioMed Central and found significant reductions in emotional exhaustion (burnout), anxiety, insomnia, depersonalization, and depression. The study also found a significant increase in resilience. More frequent practice correlated with better improvements.
Emotional Intelligence & Well-Being (Frontiers in Education, July 2025): In a longitudinal observational study over 6 months with Ayurvedic medical students in India, the TM practice was associated with improvements in emotional intelligence, reductions in stress and fatigue, and better sleep quality after six months.
3. Aging, Stress Biomarkers, and Gene Expression
A study on anti-aging & stress biomarkers (Biomolecules, Feb 2025) compared long-term TM practitioners (decades of practice) vs non-meditators. The research looked at gene expression (in peripheral blood mononuclear cells), EEG-based cognitive function (event-related potentials), and hair steroids (cortisol, cortisone). The research showed that some “age-related” genes that were more highly expressed in older non-meditators were less expressed in older TM practitioners, suggesting a possible “younger” molecular profile.
TM practitioners had higher Brain Integration Scale scores; older TM practitioners had shorter ERP latencies as compared to older controls, sometimes similar to younger non-meditators. The ratio of cortisol to cortisone was lower in TM practitioners, which might indicate lower chronic stress load. These biomolecular and physiological signatures suggest TM could be linked to lower “biological age” and stress.
TM for Women’s Program Goals for 2026
Our dearest wish at TM for Women is for every girl and woman, and every one they care for, and their communities, towns, states and nations, and the whole world, to live a heavenly life, with all good for everyone. Our mission at TM for Women is to offer a smooth, efficient path to that fulfillment to women and girls through the techniques of the Transcendental Meditation program.
In the upcoming year, we hope to see the funding, implementation, and fulfillment of our programs for Native Americans, nurses, and survivors of abuse. If you wish to contribute to these endeavors, please contribute here: https://tm-women.org/gmdo-contributions/
Thank you for your support, insight, and generosity.
Q and A
Q: Why can’t someone seeking fast growth of consciousness meditate all the time?
Sometimes people ask why the TM technique is done only for about 20 minutes twice each day instead of for as much time as possible.
The profound rest experienced during the Transcendental Meditation technique by adults in just 20 minutes twice daily is perfect to reduce deep-rooted stress and fatigue, which normally keeps the mind busy and restricted. After TM, the meditator is rewarded with a quality of calm and clarity in daily life. Increasingly over time, the inner silence experienced during TM becomes a stable, permanent feature of awareness, providing a broad, calm foundation that supports all activity without being disturbed by it.
This stabilization takes place automatically in the same way that laying a newly dyed cloth in the sun makes the cloth colorfast. Activity is needed to bring the unbounded awareness into and alongside the experience of boundaries. So the formula for evolution of consciousness is an alternation of rest and activity.
