Oct 12, 2026

The Story of Hurricane Helene and the Relief From Within Project: An Interview with Jeanne Ball

Late in September of 2024, Hurricane Helene created calamitous damage in Asheville, North Carolina.

Swollen by record-breaking rainfall, the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers—cresting at up to 30 feet and 27 feet deep respectively—overflowed, ravaging historic Biltmore Village and submerging the River Arts District. Infrastructural damage from landslides, mudslides, and washed-out roads, along with hurricane-force winds, caused virtually all roadways to close, including the major interstates, completely cutting off physical access to Western North Carolina for days. As a result of extensive damage to water lines, the city and much of the region was cut off from running water—it took more than fifty days to restore basic potable water. In the days after the storm, hundreds of thousands of residents lost electricity, and 50,000 were without electricity for weeks. The hurricane also destroyed thousands of structures and cut off cell service and the internet, blocking communication. Countless streets were blocked by downed trees and power lines, trapping people in their homes. Towns and neighborhoods disappeared. Asheville and the surrounding region was isolated.

Jeanne Ball and her husband Tom have been teaching the Transcendental Meditation program in Asheville for 21 years. In this interview, Jeanne shares her experience of Hurricane Helene, the city’s devastation, and helping people recover their wellbeing in the aftermath.

Q- When did you realize the scale of what was happening and what was your reaction?

A- When Hurricane Helen hit, no one anticipated the devastation. We’d had hurricanes before, but they were always mild and fizzled out before they reached the mountains. No one felt the need to be prepared because the wall of mountains typically protects the area from approaching storms coming inland from the coast. It was three days after the hurricane hit before we even knew how bad it was. Since the hurricane had deprived us of phone, wifi, radio, and news services, we unsuspectingly thought everything would be back to normal in a day or two.

Our house was not damaged even though neighbors had trees that had fallen on their roofs and roads were blocked with fallen trees. It wasn’t until we ventured out to a hotel that reportedly had cell reception, that we saw CNN on a TV in their lobby—the videos of the flooding and destruction in Asheville were apocalyptic, making national news.

There was the constant sound of sirens and helicopters flying overhead on rescue missions and long lines of people waiting to get drinking water and food. We realized then that the damage was very bad. Asheville was supposed to be a climate haven—people had always moved here to avoid extreme weather. This category 5 hurricane was reported to be a one-in-5000 years event. And somehow it was our destiny to be in it.

Q- Did your home lose basic services and how did you cope?

A- Much of the region lost power for several weeks and water for three months. We used our camping stove to cook and we filled bottles of water from distribution centers. We sourced water from the creeks just to flush our toilets. We were stunned that we were in the midst of a horrible disaster, yet we found that we were calm in the midst of chaos.

Q- Did you have ways of helping neighbors? Were you a creator or participant in any organized effort?

A- Everyone was providing whatever service they could to help each other. There was an outpouring of kindness and generous donations of provisions. As teachers of the Transcendental Meditation program, we realized we had something that would help people in a way that nothing else could. Apart from water, food, shelter, and other basics, another form of disaster relief is vitally important: relief from residual stress, anxiety, and trauma.

Generous donors helped us reopen the TM Center and supported our teaching expenses. Scholarships were provided for those who wished to learn TM. We put a small announcement in a local online event calendar, offering to waive the TM course fee for anyone impacted by the storm. We anticipated that maybe 30-50 people would register. Over 500 people responded!

The Asheville TM Center ended up teaching classes in Transcendental Meditation at no cost to hundreds of people in our area impacted by the disaster. TM teachers came to Asheville from other cities, volunteering their time to help us teach the high numbers of those seeking the benefits of TM. The TM technique is shown by hundreds of published studies to reduce stress, fatigue, and anxiety, while increasing energy, focus, and resilience. We called the project Relief From Within.

Q- Did you find yourself geared for action despite what must have been an emotionally demanding situation?

A- We found ourselves acutely aware that we had to get organized to provide personal instruction to the hundreds of people wanting to learn TM. Our little TM Center turned into a powerful hub of calm, happiness and nourishment. People would remark how good they felt just walking in the door.

Everyone took to it quickly and felt immediate relief from their anxiety and fear. Several remarked that they had previously practiced mindfulness or Vipassana meditation before coming to learn TM, and were flabbergasted by how effortlessly and quickly they settled into a state much deeper than anything they ever experienced before.

“The losses for me personally were huge—financially, hundreds of thousands of dollars. But the thing that was hardest actually was the (loss of the) home for my soul here; it was like my safe place. I feel so much better because this is actually healing. With TM, I just feel more safe in my life, I feel calmer. I actually feel a kind of happiness that just bubbles up.“ — Ruth Greer

Q- What lasting impressions do you retain from this experience?

A- Everyone deserves to transcend. It is our human birthright, and even though it is very worthwhile to pay to learn TM, offering it for free was a great gift to be able to give and receive at this time. It was obvious to us that the increase in numbers of people learning TM during this time helped to provide an underlying field of order and calm despite the disaster. Many of the relief volunteers from out of town commented on how cooperative and kind the citizens were, far more than they had experienced in other disaster stricken areas.

Past sociological studies show that when one percent of a population has learned the TM technique, a measurable influence of coherence is typically produced and the trends of society become more positive and orderly. We were already close to having one percent (950 people) of Asheville’s population practicing TM; teaching 500 more during the months after the storm certainly brought us to one-percent.

While we cannot know how local events would have unfolded had we not offered our Relief From Within program, it’s interesting to note that the municipal water was predicted to take six months before it would be flowing through our taps again. Suddenly, it was back on after only three months. A large amount of FEMA funds were approved much sooner than expected. Relief workers who came here reported that they had never seen a community rise to help each other to the extent they witnessed here. Perhaps the waves of coherence created by so many new meditators had something to do with this.

After the TM courses, many participants commented on an expanded benefit to the community that they had perceived. For example, women participants said:

“TM could bring a sense of overall resilience to the community, hope.”

“Not only are you healing yourself, you’re healing your community.”

“It’s truly life-changing.”

“We will be okay as a community.”