Jan 1, 2026

January 2026

Happy 2026! This year, let’s bring out the best of ourselves–our vision, focus, kindness, confidence and strength—and shine as we never have before.

  • Last month’s blog written by women for women
  • Articles
    • The Transcendental Meditation 2026 playbook
    • Commentary on TM-related AHA guidelines in prestigious peer-reviewed journal
    • Most recent meta-analysis on the TM technique and PTSD
  • Q&A: What constricts our hearts and minds and hampers relationships?
  • What Women Say: Dr. Pamela Peeke

Blog posts

Have you had a few minutes to read our December 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 Preventing Depression Through Spiritual Growth from 2015 and For Women Who Play Pickleball from 2024.

Advice You Can Rely On: How to Leverage Your Body’s Innate Healing Ability

More than ever before, there are unending and changing opinions and advice on what is best for us medically: what to do, what not to do, when to do something, how much to do it, who should do it. From family, the government, the medical profession, friends and strangers, from endless sources—both scientific and non-scientific—opinions are coming at us; it can be confusing, frustrating, and exhausting.

Read MOre

Five Fundamentals of Progress: A Scientific Path to Self-Improvement 

It’s the threshold of a new year. It’s time to gear up once again to better ourselves mentally, physically and spiritually. How? Maharishi Vedic Science includes five fundamentals of progress: 

Stability
Adaptability
Integration
Purification 
Growth

Read MOre

Articles

The Transcendental Meditation 2026 Playbook

As we enter a new year, we are presented with a beautiful opportunity: the chance to enliven our inner being, and thereby align ourselves more deeply with the evolutionary power of Natural Law. The new year is not merely a change in calendar; it’s a reminder that renewal is the nature of life.

Renewal begins within

Every day, every moment, the universe is recreating itself. The waves rise and fall, the cells of the body transform, the seasons cycle endlessly. Renewal is the natural rhythm of the cosmos.

To start fresh, we do not need to force change. We only need to enliven the field of Pure Consciousness within ourselves—that silent, infinite reservoir of intelligence at the basis of our mind and of all creation. When consciousness is lively, life is renewed automatically.

Through effortless transcending, the mind rests in its own unbounded nature. And in that deep silence, stress dissolves, clarity dawns, and the fullness of our potential begins to rise with Nature’s organizing power within it.

Discarding old stress without struggle

Some people believe that we must wrestle with emotional or mental stress from the past in order to be free of it. But in truth, that stress dissolves naturally when the light of inner awareness becomes bright, just as the darkness in a room disappears when you bring in a lamp. Endless analysis and discussion of problems are not required; only take recourse to the simple, natural enlivenment of the field of all possibilities in the Self—this happens naturally during the Transcendental Meditation technique.

Intention in accord with nature

When we speak of resolutions, we must understand that intention is powerful only when aligned with the evolutionary flow of Nature.

When the mind is rested and the awareness expanded, right action spontaneously aligns with the laws of nature that govern harmony and progress. Women who practice the TM technique discover that their decisions become more effortless, and success comes more naturally.

Acting from the level of Being

A new year invites and inspires us to act, and the most effective action begins in silence. Action supported by Being is like an arrow launched from a fully drawn bow: it flies straight, true, and with great power. Inner silence is the basis of dynamic performance.

Therefore, to begin the year rightly, we first establish ourselves in Being—the silent, unbounded Self. From there, thoughts arising are more creative, emotions more balanced, and actions more successful and nourishing for ourselves and for others.

  • Relationships soften and deepen.
  • Work becomes more successful and more enjoyable.
  • Health improves naturally.
  • The environment reflects back greater harmony.

The practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique is a blessing. When you are fully established in the Self and unshakably aligned with Natural Law, every step is evolutionary and every day is lively with promise.

Commentary on TM in Prestigious Peer-Reviewed Journal

Nature Reviews Cardiology is the world’s highest-impact journal in cardiovascular medicine. At the end of last year, this top-tiered journal featured a commentary on 2025 guidelines from the American Heart Association (AHA) and the American College of Cardiology (ACC) that stated:

“In adults with or without hypertension, stress reduction through Transcendental Meditation may be reasonable to prevent or treat elevated blood pressure and hypertension, as an adjunct to lifestyle or medication interventions.”

The commentary in Nature Reviews Cardiology explains the importance of the guideline:

“Recognizing Transcendental Meditation within prevention frameworks could transform stress management from a lifestyle option into a core strategy for cardiovascular protection.”

The article explains the scientific research behind the AHA’s recommendation, offering deeper insight into how TM produces significant cardiovascular benefits. Research shows that chronic stress nearly doubles the risk of heart attack and stroke—and that TM is a proven, low-risk method for reducing that stress.

This recognition may mark a new era of precision public health—one where inner coherence leads to measurable reductions in hypertension, cardiometabolic risk, and cardiovascular mortality. Such integration could shift cardiovascular prevention away from disease management and toward promoting resilience, recovery, and long-term health.

The article states that this is a major shift in the field of heart health: For the first time, the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology have officially recognized in their guidelines that the Transcendental Meditation technique is a science-supported way to help lower blood pressure.

Hypertension is the leading preventable cause of heart disease and stroke. Stress plays a huge role, yet stress-reduction tools have rarely been included in national guideline, so this marks a new moment in public health—one where reducing stress is treated as essential, not optional.

Why this is so important for women

Nearly half of all women in the United States have some form of cardiovascular disease, which is more fatal than all forms of cancer combined and is the number one cause of mortality in women over age 25.

This recognition helps make stress reduction a standard part of heart-health care, opening the door for millions to benefit.

Latest Look at the Benefits of TM for PTSD

Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Transcendental Meditation for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

(April 3, 2025 Medicina)

Researchers studied whether Transcendental Meditation (TM) helps women and others with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). Across many studies, TM was linked to large and meaningful reductions in PTSD symptoms.

For example, those practicing TM had noticeably fewer flashbacks, anxiety, poor sleep, and stress after learning the practice.

Comparing Results

  • Most meditation types helped a little to moderately
  • TM helped more than the other meditation types
  • In controlled studies, people practicing TM improved by 10 points or more on standard PTSD symptom scales—a change doctors consider clinically meaningful. Many women felt improvement within a few weeks, and sometimes within the first month.
  • TM worked about the same as support groups, patient-centered therapy, and prolonged Exposure Therapy (a well-known trauma therapy).

This means TM was at least as effective as leading PTSD treatments in the short term.

Many women reported improvements in their sleep, mental clarity, stress levels and ability to cope. Because TM settles the body into a state that is the opposite of a stressed state, research studies show that stress hormones such as cortisol are reduced, galvanic skin response (indicating stress) is reduced, and the nervous system is not over-activated.

Brain studies show TM helps different parts of the brain work more smoothly together. These brain functions correlate with:

When people learn the TM technique, they engage in a process that is non-trauma focused, meaning they do not have to relive painful memories—something unpleasant and unavoidable in certain therapies for PTSD. With the TM program, they do not have to change their beliefs or lifestyle

Bottom Line for Women

Current research suggests TM can help women with PTSD by:

  • Reducing overwhelming stress
  • Improving sleep and clarity
  • Helping the nervous system feel safer and calmer
  • Doing this without needing to retell or relive trauma stories

As a treatment for PTSD, Transcendental Meditation is safe, widely usable, and culturally adaptable. The broad range of benefits goes way beyond healing to the realization of full potential in all aspects of life.

Q and A

Q: What constricts our hearts and minds, hampering our relationships?

What restricts our hearts and minds, thwarting happiness and harmony in our relationships?

Maharishi said that it is stresses, deep rooted stresses, that keep the mind and heart bound,

keeping them functioning within small areas of experience and expression.

He said that when the heart is small, it’s like a small pond, so that even if a powerful wind affects it, it can’t create much of an effect. After all, what can a great wind accomplish on a small pond? Slightly bigger ripples – that’s all. It takes an ocean for a wind to create its full influence. A fully developed heart is like the ocean, in which we can experience full waves of joyfulness. Life floats in bliss.

Relationships are fruitful on this level of awareness. Otherwise, a friend says something from her level of consciousness, hampered by stress, and another friend receives it in some different light from her level of unenlightened consciousness. Maybe one has 50 stresses and another has 70 stresses. The one with greater stress takes the words differently than intended and the result is chaos.

Ideal relationships are lived in a state of life free from stress. The TM technique is the way to relieve the nervous system of stress, leaving a more expanded heart and mind.

What women say

Dr. Pamela Peeke is a physician, scientist, best-selling author, and expert in integrative and preventive medicine. She is a Pew Foundation Scholar in Nutrition and Metabolism, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Maryland, and is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians. She is a regular commentator on Good Morning America, ABC Nightline, Today Show, CNN, Fox News, the BBC and Huffington Post Live. Dr. Peeke has been named one of America’s top physicians by the Consumers Research Council of America. She says:

“The research on Transcendental Meditation is excellent. There is a strong connection between TM and reductions in everything from depression and PTSD symptoms to high blood pressure and heart mortality….

“This is the most optimal way to rest.”

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