June 2023
Dear Friend,
We hope you enjoy the June issue of our monthly emails with stories and news about TM, women, and information relating to the benefits of the development of consciousness. Feel free to share the content with other women. The topics this month are:
- Last month’s blog posts by women for women
- TM for Women Abroad
- Good news for Canada’s survivors of military sexual trauma
- New study on TM for Australian women affected by domestic violence
- TM can help new mothers survive
- What is Maharishi Gandharva Veda? Description, scientific findings, upcoming concerts
- What women say: A cardiologist on what today’s women need to feel complete
Did you miss our May blog posts? Below are links to those articles. To see previous posts on a wide range of subjects, please visit or search our archives at tm-women.org/blog/
Pilates, Anyone? A Pilates Master Teacher on How Pilates Works and How Transcendental Meditation Helps
Joseph Pilates was born in Germany in 1883 to a father who was a gymnast and a mother who adhered to naturopathy. With these influences, Joseph grew up with the understanding that the body can heal itself and that exercise is a powerful force in achieving that goal.
How to Let Your Creativity Soar
“Creativity is Intelligence Having Fun.” – Albert Einstein
Psychologist Rollo May once defined creativity as the act of actualizing oneself. Expressing ourselves in an authentic unique way can take any form. Every one of us has creative potential—it just needs to be unlocked.
Canadian Government Awards Grants for TM courses for Military Sexual Abuse Survivors
Based on the success of the Veterans Affairs Canada-funded grants that allowed veterans to learn Transcendental Meditation, Canada’s Department of National Defence (DND) has now fully funded a new grant for Canadian Women’s Wellness Inititative (CWWI) to teach the TM technique to survivors of Military Sexual Trauma who are currently serving, or who have served, in the Canadian Armed Forces or the Department of National Defence: Community Support for Sexual Misconduct Survivors Grant Program.
This program brings the Transcendental Meditation technique to individuals and their families in eight Canadian cities. Certified TM teachers have taken additional training in order to serve this population.
Because of exposure to sexual misconduct, these individuals suffer trauma and negative emotions, placing them at risk for prolonged mental health debilitation including depression, anxiety, PTS, low self-esteem, and addiction. Published scientific research has shown that regular practice of the TM technique significantly reduces these issues.
One veteran who had been diagnosed with military sexual trauma and then learned the TM technique in the USA said, “Shortly after my navy career I began to experience…an onset of paranoia that escalated to full-blown PTSD. I would drink alcohol to excess to numb the pain of loneliness I felt from isolation. I was afraid to venture out of my house or drive or do anything that included interaction with people. Through TM I began to trust, blossom, and most of all, I began to heal…. This program has given me my life back.”
Research Shows Australian Program Helps Survivors of Domestic Abuse
A Pilot Randomized Control Trial conducted in Australia was recently published in the Journal for Family Violence. The study, on women affected by domestic and family violence, found a significantly greater decrease in anxiety, depression, and stress in the TM group compared to controls.
Here is the link to the full report and a summary of findings. The project was conducted through TM for Women in Australia and it is anticipated that these findings will lead to a further, larger study.
The TM technique provides relief from deep-rooted fear, stress, anxiety, insomnia and fatigue while it improves resilience, psychophysiological health, and emotional wellbeing.
There have been programs for survivors in other countries as well. Through the NYC Justice Center, TM for Women in the USA has partnered with the David Lynch Foundation to offer TM to hundreds of women who have suffered abuse. After learning the TM practice in the USA, a domestic abuse survivor wrote: “I’ve never felt this good in life. It’s given me ‘me’ back.”
TM Can Reduce Recently Revealed Risks to New Mothers
An article in the May 28th issue of the NY Times stated:
Most people think of labor and birth as the most dangerous part of pregnancy. But new scientific research is challenging this assumption, finding that substantial risks persist for a full year after birth itself. The deadliest time for mothers is actually after the baby is born.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) collected statistics on 1,018 pregnancy-related deaths from 2017 to 2019, concluding that a third occurred between delivery and six weeks later. Another 30 percent occurred between six weeks and one year, a period that has unfortunately not been a focus of research on maternal mortality.
The leading causes of maternal mortality include mental health conditions and postpartum depression that can lead to suicide or overdoses. Pre-existing anxiety or depression or a difficult pregnancy also can lead to serious postpartum depression. Pre-existing heart conditions are leading causes of early motherhood mortality, especially because pregnancy and delivery tax a woman’s cardiac and circulatory health. For those with pre-existing hypertension, one concern is that the uterus will shrink after giving birth, and blood pressure may rise, which can cause a stroke.
According to the results of previously published studies, the issues listed above that can put a new mother at risk are preventable or reducible by the twice-daily practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique. See our pages on depression, heart health, and high blood pressure.
Music that Supports Health, Harmony and Enlightenment
“Gandharva music…sets forth those very natural melodies which match with the process of evolution. It provides a powerful harmonizing influence in the whole atmosphere to balance imbalances in nature.“
Maharishi
Scientific research now objectively documents the beneficial effects of Maharishi Gandharva Veda ragas (melodies) on the mind, body, and environment. A paper recently published in the journal Music and Medicine presents the results of three studies. One study showed that 1,800 subjects who attended Maharishi Gandharva Veda in-person concerts experienced significant decreases in negative emotions (feeling tense, angry, fatigued, depressed, or confused) and significant increases in positive emotions, such as greater self-esteem and vigor.
Concerts are broadcast in the evening of the rising of the full moon each month and always start at 8:30 pm Eastern time for North America. The next concert will be Sunday, July 2nd in American time zones. The link stays the same each month.
Join the concert with this link: Music for Balance in Nature and World Peace
“The challenge for a woman in today’s society is that of being an integral woman: productive, dignified, loving, unifying, complete and nourishing, while at the same time serene, calm, healthy and happy. This is impossible to reach if an integration process does not exist at various levels: cellular, mental, emotional, psychological, cerebral and spiritual, among others. This process of integration is benefited, facilitated and created through the Transcendental Meditation program.”
Dr. Lourdes Garcia Mollinedo, Cardiologist
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
