March 2025
Dear Friend,
Amnesty International estimates that there are approximately 450 million indigenous people, about half of whom are women, residing in 90 countries worldwide. Indigenous peoples are the descendants of the original peoples of a region who lived there before colonization by outsiders. They usually retain distinct social, political and cultural characteristics and share lineage ties to the lands and natural resources where they live or from which they’ve been displaced.
With the observance of International Women’s Day on March 8th, we are happy to report that the Transcendental Meditation program has been brought to Indigenous Women internationally. Although Indigenous Women and Girls have learned TM individually and in group programs on five continents, in this issue we focus in on recent programs in East Africa and North America.
- Last month’s blog written by women for women
- Articles
- Indigenous Women, laws of nature, and modern society
- TM Abroad: News from Africa
- The TM program for Indigenous Women in the USA
- Transcendental Meditation courses for Canada’s First Nation
- Q&A: Interview with an American Indian TM teacher
- What women say: I am whole at all times
If you missed our February blog posts, the links are below. You can also visit our blog homepage at any time to use our search feature for previous topics such as Part One and Part Two of Demystifying Happiness: Why Being Happy is the Best Way to Help Others from 2019.
How to Make Your Relationship Soar and What to do if it Doesn’t
Let’s start out with some basic pointers for better relationships.
Be open-minded—don’t assume their perceptions are the same as yours.
Exemplify the behavior you want to see in others. For example, don’t pretend or act in a way that isn’t authentic. Express your emotions openly, be patient, kind and empathetic, and always apologize for your mistakes.
How Transcendental Meditation Helps Relieve the “Fight-or-Flight” Response in PTSD Patients
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a condition a person may develop after experiencing or witnessing a distressing or terrifying event. The fight-or-flight response of people with PTSD remains overactive, causing them to mentally relive the severe trauma over time and disrupt them for life.
Indigenous Women, Society, and Laws of Nature
A unique culture arises because of the distinctive geographic and climatic conditions in an area. The “local” laws of nature structure the psychophysiology of the inhabitants. They are the living expression of these laws. Their cultural traditions are born from and form an intimate connection with the land. Thus there is a reciprocal relationship between the land and the people indigenous to an area.
In this light, the destiny of the indigenous people of a nation is tied to the destiny of the nation. Native Women are key to enlivening wholeness in national consciousness and progress in our society because it’s the mothers of the indigenous population who set the focus for the family and community.
In 1975 Maharishi said that what makes a culture thrive is tradition which is structured in five elements: stability, adaptability, integration, purification and growth. As long as these values are preserved in the life of individuals of any land, so long the cultural values will be lively and will be able to preserve basic traditions but promote maximum progress at the same time.
As TM has been shown to enliven these five values, it is vital that all people, particularly those belonging to the ancient traditions, learn the Transcendental Meditation technique. In this modern day of stress and strain that cause a breakdown in the ability to be attuned with the fundamental laws of nature of the land, TM will re-enliven those fundamentals, reduce stress and create resilience to further stress..
Every single member of the Native Community is the custodian of the ancient tradition of life that reflects the laws of nature and has the potential to significantly refine and remodel many of today’s unnatural themes of life, which are responsible for growing stress, strain, and suffering in today’s society. It is vital that Native Women—who are the mothers of the population and first teachers of children—embrace the TM practice to better reflect these fundamental laws and to reduce stress, strain, and suffering.
The alignment of human nature with deep laws of nature through the TM technique and the observance of the wisdom of life extolled by the ancient traditions of the Indigenous peoples can together evolve our societies to their full potential.
TM and Native Populations of East Africa
In East Africa, Indigenous Women are vital to their communities, creating cottage industries, helping with food security, preserving biodiversity, upholding family health, and passing down traditional knowledge. They are also community leaders and human rights defenders.
More than 7,800 Maasai, mostly women, learned the Transcendental Meditation technique in 2024. Among this number, 272 Maasai women learned TM in the violent conflict area near Mt. Kilimanjaro to help settle the atmosphere and bring coherence to the troubled area—a program underwritten by a legacy from a French TM meditator.
The project’s TM teachers now work with more than 50 local NGOs to bring TM to their beneficiaries and help roll out initiatives like TM for the Maasai.
Other success in East African countries:
In Uganda, there are now six Consciousness-Based Education schools educating students with the TM technique and expansion of consciousness as their foundation.
The total number of Sudanese refugees in Kenya practicing TM at the UN’s sprawling Kakuma Camp increased to over 1,000.
An additional 460 indigenous tribes people in remote northern Namibia have now learned TM.
The largest number of people learning in 2024 was in Tanzania with 7,845 new meditators, predominantly mothers, wives and grandmothers. The next highest number was in the Democratic Republic of Congo which added 6,003 new TMers.
Altogether, a total of 19,720 East Africans across five nations learned the TM technique in 2024 with support from donors to the The East Africa Fund.
Offering the TM program to Native American Women
In 2010, TM for Women (aka Global Mother Divine Organization) a national non-profit, educational organization, hosted a conference with American Indian women elders from across the U.S. and Canada. All participants were taught the Transcendental Meditation technique, and many went on to invite us to share TM within their communities.
Since 2010, TM for Women has offered programs focused on supporting American Indian women to address the unique stressors they face, including historical trauma, poverty, discrimination, and a lack of access to education and healthcare. TM has been introduced to women in need within several American Indian communities as a tool for mental health and stress reduction.
Our approach is tailored to be culturally sensitive and is used to help participants reduce anxiety, depression, substance abuse, domestic violence, trauma, and health conditions such as diabetes, atherosclerosis, and high cholesterol. All of these various benefits have been scientifically researched and published in leading peer-reviewed journals.
One of our Native American certified TM teachers serves on the leadership council for the American Indian Cultural District in San Francisco and teaches the TM technique in California and New Mexico. (See our Q&A with her below.)
Please contribute your tax-deductible donation to the success of this initiative on GoFundMe at https://gofund.me/0bc4966b
Maharishi said, “The greatness of a nation is measured by how it treats its original people.”
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TM with the Qutekcak in Alaska
The aboriginal Qutekcak (pronounced K’toochek) Native Tribe was located in and around Seward, Alaska, on the northern tip of Resurrection Bay. Qutekcak translates from the Alutiiq language as “Big Beach.” Qutekcak was a prehistoric Alaska Native mixing area, serving as a crossroads for the various Alutiiq and Sugpiaq groups.
Their website states, “The Qutekcak, now a blend of Alaska’s Native peoples from all corners of the state, promote the unity, self-determination, and empowerment of its members and other Native people residing in the Eastern Kenai Peninsula. Qutekcak provides services that strengthen the people by increasing opportunities, and enhancing their mental, physical, and spiritual well being, in harmony with our land, and heritage.”
In 2021 and 2022, with the help of donated scholarship funds, a large group of Qutekcak learned the Transcendental Meditation technique, scientifically shown to reduce typical Native Alaskan concerns including alcoholism, abuse, depression, and emotions related to the loss of their culture.
Participant Joanne Mark, the Tribal clerk, said, “I’m more calm inside, releasing my anger, darkness.… It’s healing rapidly, yeah! And after meditation I feel lighter a lot, both in my shoulders and in my heart. It’s a good experience. And whatever was way down there comes up and releases, you know that heaviness comes up, all the way up, and then it releases. The pain goes away. Yes, that’s how I feel it!”
There are also TM meditators in Alaska’s Tlingit, Kotzebue, and Knik tribes.
Canada’s First Nation Women Learn TM
In Canada, Indigenous peoples are called “First Nation.” They are spread across every province and territory. Here are some highlights of past TM courses involving First Nation Women:
In British Columbia, eighteen women from the W̱SÁNEĆ First Nation learned Transcendental Meditation in 2009. All who learned were professionals in the field of education: school principals, teachers, and Indigenous language experts.
The W̱SÁNEĆ Nation is located on the Saanich Peninsula of Vancouver Island, near Victoria. The name W̱SÁNEĆ refers to the appearance of the ȽÁU, WELṈEW̱ Mountain when viewed from offshore to the east. W̱SÁNEĆ means “emerging people” because of this appearance and has special spiritual significance to their nation.
ȻOSINIYE [Star Woman], an Elder of the W̱SÁNEĆ Nation, along with her family and other Elders, revived the SENĆOŦEN language—the Mother Tongue of the W̱SÁNEĆ People.
She said, “When I first asked if I could learn this form of meditation, I had only heard about it but had never met anyone who actually knew about it. I was very lucky: after many years I met the lady who became my instructor….
“I believe that TM has been a great help to me in many ways: I meditate and then know that I will be in synchrony with the day. I always feel more rested and relaxed and know that everything will go well. I believe it has helped me in my work teaching and documenting my Native Language. I have also encouraged others to learn to meditate and they have benefitted from meditating as well. I do believe that if everyone knew how to meditate, the world would be living in harmony and it would be a happier, healthier place to be. I continue to meditate and I am grateful for all that has come into my path.”
ȻOSINIYE’s lifework has been to revive their Mother Tongue and also teach it to students in the ȽÁU, WELṈEW̱ Tribal School. When ȻOSINIYE first learned TM, she said: “We have to bring this to the children.” She gave presentations to the students with certified TM teachers, speaking about how TM related to their culture and especially to young people their age. Subsequently, Transcendental Meditation was taught to 30 First Nations’ students at the school, who then participated in TM group meditation twice daily in school for a year, 2009–2010.
Around this same time, Marie Frawley-Henry, who attended the 2010 TM for Women’s Indigenous Women’s Conference in Iowa, learned TM. Marie is from the Nipissing First Nation, and is Senior Policy Analyst at the Assembly of First Nations in Ottawa, the national capital of Canada. At Marie’s invitation, a presentation on TM for First Nations’ health and diabetes prevention was given at the 17th Annual Canadian Conference on Global Health, organized by the Assembly of First Nations in Ottawa in 2010.
In 2019, about 30 women from the Kahnawà:ke Mohawk Territory (un-ceded First Nations’ traditional territory in the Province of Québec) learned the Transcendental Meditation technique as part of the Skén:nen Í:ken initiative, which means: “Peace Now” initiative.
Q&A with an American Indian TM Teacher
Helen Pettiford, an American Indian Woman, is a certified TM teacher and a national board member of TM for Women.
Helen serves on the leadership council for the American Indian Cultural District in San Francisco. She offers the TM program to American Indian Women in San Francisco, California, and in New Mexico on the Zuni Reservation.
Helen is successful within the community because she taps into cultural norms, values and approaches.
She has a waiting list of women who want to learn the TM technique when funding is available. https://gofund.me/0bc4966b
Helen answers our questions here:
Q: As a Native American Woman, what has the TM technique meant to you?
TM set the stage for me to be more and more aware of my own thoughts, feelings and actions which creates a platform for better and more fulfilling experiences and relationships with family members and others. This change directly and positively affects the trajectory and harm of generational trauma for my living and future relatives.
TM diminishes anxiety, insecurities, and rumination and clarifies thinking, thereby enhancing mental capacity and strengthening self-esteem. As a Native Woman, I am able to share more of myself and naive systems of knowledge with our non-native relatives.
Q: How do you feel about teaching other native American women the TM technique?
It’s an honor and a joy to teach TM to Native American Women because it increases healing and expands spiritual awareness for our sisters, mothers, grandmothers and daughters.
Q: What unique issues do they have that you feel TM would address significantly?
One of the unique issues related to Native American Women is the deep distrust and insecurities we tend to hold related to mainstream systems that have perpetuated our erasure as people in our own lands. TM builds confidence for Native Women to share their truths and share authentic insights with other native and non-native relatives in our world on the importance of including their voices and experiences
Q: Can you give us some examples of results your meditating students have mentioned?
One woman said “I now have the confidence and courage to address challenges in my life.” Another woman stated, “I have been able to start my own nonprofit since learning to meditate.” Another commented, “TM has helped me with handling the deep grief related to losing my child,” and a fourth woman shared, “I feel the support of the creator more now that I’m meditating.”
“When I meditate, I have the space within myself to be firmly grounded in my awareness. I feel the interconnection between the social, emotional, physical and mental states of myself. Particularly for me, it’s a holistic approach which treats my ADHD and I am able to slow down. TM paired with traditional native teachings reminds me that I am whole at all times and that the world is happening around but not to me. Ultimately through these experiences, my connection to spirit tells me the universe is here for me and not against me”.
— Marlena A., Native American Woman, San Francisco
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
