MIU student David Ford is a paramedic who moved to Fairfield five years ago with his wife and three children. Last year, after 20 years in the health care field, he decided to make a career change and study sustainable living. When he learned that MIU had a degree program in sustainable living, he visited campus, talked to some of the students, and two weeks later enrolled.

David is a man of many talents and interests. He enjoys woodworking and metalworking and makes custom knives, axes, and jewelry, as well as homeopathic skin care products for men, which he sells on his website Mad Man Essentials.

In addition to studying full time, David runs the MIU MakerSpace workshop and helps maintain a local greenhouse, which he and his classmates restored and began operating during a three-month class in global solutions.

As a combat veteran of the US Navy, David had learned a form of guided meditation to help with his insomnia. Learning the Transcendental Meditation^® technique has stabilized his life and changed the atmosphere of his home. “One of the first things I noticed was how TM affected my family life,” he said. “My kids can pick up on my anxiety, but with TM I don’t bring it home. My house is more tranquil and my kids are more relaxed.”

David doesn’t like to let limitations discourage him from taking on new challenges. Even though he describes himself as overweight and having a bad knee, last October he finished the Chicago Marathon with only five months of training. “You can always find a way of doing something,” he said.

Among David’s many interests are off-grid building, solar and wind energy, and tiny homes. He is considering a business idea for building small, sustainable homes for the local community.

Two MIU students won all-expenses-paid trips to the Women of Vision Awards 2019 in New York City on December 3, hosted by the David Lynch Foundation. The event celebrated four women with vision who are transforming lives through their wisdom and compassion and helping to bring the Transcendental Meditation^® program to vulnerable adults and children.

Students Jessica Mauro and Angel Thordsen were selected by MIU’s ChangeMakers committee, based on their participation in ChangeMakers events. Jessica is one of the most active students on Team ChangeMakers and has a work-study position handling marketing and graphic design. Angel is vice-president of MIU Student Government and served as a judge during a previous ChangeMakers essay contest.

The two students participated in the awards luncheon and afterwards had the opportunity to talk to the awardees. They also connected with multiple Grammy Award winner classical guitarist Sharon Isbin, who was the featured performer at the beginning of the event. The students invited her to visit MIU for a concert and residency in May 2020.

“Attending the Women of Vision event and meeting with young meditators helped me connect to deeper aspects of myself, realizing there is a smaller gap between me and my dreams, thus bringing my grand desires for changing the world into a more tangible reality,” said Jessica.

During their stay in New York City, Angel and Jessica visited a David Lynch Foundation Quiet Time program school in the Bronx and joined the students for a group practice of the TM^® technique. In addition, they spoke to several seniors about their experiences at MIU and the value of Consciousness-Based^SM education.

“The Bronx high school students inspired me to make it a point for MIU to start reaching out to students and giving them the option and opportunity to come to our campus,” said Angel. She has already talked to MIU Admissions and the Board of Trustees about her plan to create a strong connection between MIU and the Bronx High School for Law and Community Service.

A week after they returned, Jessica and Angel shared the transformative impact of their experiences with fellow MIU students during a special recap celebration.

Melanie Telego served two years in the US Army in the 1990s and spent a large part of her life around military installations, following her career soldier husband. She worked as a substitute teacher in public schools as well as in a Department of Defense school in Germany.

Most recently, Melanie ran the US Army’s Career Skills Program for the Fort Drum Army Education Center in New York, where she helped establish civilian employment skill training programs for soldiers who had completed their military service.

Melanie has always been interested in holistic health, but couldn’t find a university that offered a suitable program. She attended college three different times and studied psychology, but between working full time and raising two children she never had the chance to graduate. She became a certified yoga teacher, completed a yoga training course for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and studied yoga philosophy and Ayurveda in her free time.

In 2018 Melanie saw an ad for MIU on Instagram and was excited to discover a degree program in Maharishi AyurVeda and Integrative Medicine. She originally applied for the online program, but decided to move to Fairfield and study on campus in August 2019.

“MIU has been a life-changing experience for me,” said Melanie. “MIU offers a very unique learning opportunity. I have found a safe, supportive, and nurturing environment where I can rediscover myself and who I really am at my deepest foundation.”

Melanie soon realized that many former military service members and their families would enjoy the same benefits she has experienced. “Soldiers are often looking for a rural location, a supportive community, and degree programs in agriculture, sustainability, health, business, and entrepreneurship,” she said.

Using her connections in the military, Melanie would like to facilitate collaboration between MIU and the US Army so that more soldiers can learn about MIU. Her dream is to promote the incorporation of the Transcendental Meditation^® program into basic military training in order to reduce stress and PTSD.

MIU student Henry Gonzales Ortiz hails from Bogota, Colombia, where he studied classical music at Juan N. Corpas University. While in college, one of his classmates introduced him to the Transcendental Meditation^® technique, which he learned in 2015.

Henry’s parents have struggled with health issues, and in 2018 Henry lost his father to cancer. He decided to change direction and pursue training in natural health and prevention. “I realized that life is about healing and learning, and the TM and TM-Sidhi programs have sped up the process,” he said. “When you have access to your inner peace, the learning gets done more easily. I am very grateful for the deep transformation I have experienced.”

He heard about MIU’s online MS in Maharishi AyurVeda and Integrative Medicine program from his TM-Sidhi^® administrators and enrolled in February 2019. Henry is motivated by the desire to improve his health and help those around him.

“Ayurveda is such an ancient concept, yet it’s also current,” said Henry. “It’s a very profound knowledge that helps you connect with yourself in a way that allows you to be in harmony without much effort.”

Henry has incorporated many of the daily ayurvedic preventative measures in his life, such as the daily oil massage, and has experienced great improvements. He enjoys the weekly structure of his classes and the focus on understanding the material, while at the same time maintaining a stress-free learning process.

In addition to pursuing the online program at MIU, Henry is exploring other forms of preventative therapies, such as energy medicine, yoga, and local medicinal herbs. Once he graduates he would like to have a practice integrating Maharishi AyurVeda^SM and local herbalism. In his free time, he contributes to a music blog by compiling a playlist of songs.