Denise Cagley-Jefferson Bringing Regenerative Farming to Jamaica

Denise Cagley-Jefferson Bringing Regenerative Farming to Jamaica

by | Feb 7, 2022 | Achievements, Excluded from search, MIU News

February 7, 2022 • ISSUE 609

Denise Cagley-Jefferson

Bringing Regenerative Farming to Jamaica

MIU student Denise Cagley-Jefferson got her first taste of volunteering when she accompanied her mother to the local soup kitchen in Waterloo, Iowa. That experience, Denise said, shaped her future and led her on a service-oriented career path.
 
For 25 years she has worked in non-profit management, international development, and humanitarian assistance with organizations such as Volunteers of America and the Peace Corps. For the past five years, she has coordinated international humanitarian efforts for USAID in war-torn and disaster areas, including Syria and Venezuela.

In Samoa in 2011 at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Peace Corps with staff and former Samoan Prime Minister Malielegaoi (center) and former US ambassador David Huebner (third from right)

In 2004 Denise founded an NGO in the rural mountains of Jamaica and established two health and educational resource centers, serving five villages. In 2020 she purchased a small farm in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica and now splits her time between her farm and her home in Atlanta, Georgia.

With counselors of the Blue Mountain Project’s summer camp in 2019

Denise is also a yoga teacher and has known about MIU and its Consciousness-Based℠ approach to education for a long time. After purchasing her land, she wanted to learn about becoming a farmer. When searching online, she discovered MIU’s new online master’s in Regenerative Organic Agriculture Program and applied the same day.
 
She learned the Transcendental Meditation® technique in Jamaica and found it helpful in her sometimes stressful job. “I have noticed that I have more calmness in conflict and in tense situations,” she said. “I am not getting emotionally affected.”
 
Through her classes at MIU, Denise has had the opportunity to learn more about the tropical fruits in her orchard, and met a farmer in Florida who volunteered to mentor her. She has also applied for a fall internship with the Rodale Institute.

Planting fruit trees on her farm in Jamaica

Her orchard already has a variety of fruits and vegetables, including avocados, plantains, papayas, mangos, and bananas. She hopes to transition into full-time farming in the future and help educate local farmers about regenerative organic practices.

Sanaa Sayani—Pursuing the Science of Everything

Sanaa Sayani—Pursuing the Science of Everything

by | Feb 2, 2022 | Achievements, MIU News

February 1, 2022 • ISSUE 608

Sanaa Sayani

Pursuing the Science of Everything

MIU student Sanaa Sayani, from Atlanta, Georgia, graduated from Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in geography and a minor in anthropology. She has a keen interest in science, including neuroscience, physiology, and physics.
 
Sanaa began studying astrology while in college and is fascinated by the patterns and connections she sees between the movement of the planets and the events in people’s lives. She hopes to apply the scientific method to astrology and discover its mechanics.
 
While researching astrology, she found a talk by Dr. John Hagelin on consciousness and unified field theory. She wanted to know more and enrolled in the MA in Maharishi Vedic Science℠ Program.

On a TM retreat with her classmates

“I had mostly academic goals when I came here, but now I see that TM is the root of everything,” she said. Sanaa recently completed the Transcendental Meditation Sidhi Program℠ and has been observing the benefits of her practice with a scientific approach. “My life is on a smooth transition,” she said. “It has been easier with the regular TM practice and my physiology is more energized.”
 
She is currently taking an online course on Maharishi Jyotish and would like to research the connection of unified field theory to Jyotish. Sanaa envisions herself a researcher and wants to stay in academia, starting by pursuing a PhD in Maharishi Vedic Science. “I want to help support this paradigm shift of full consciousness being available to everyone,” she said.

With her sister in Colorado

Her latest research interest involves the effect of the TM® technique on the gut microbiome and the gut-nervous system connection. She also wants to publish creative science books for children written in rhyme.
 
In addition to reading astrology charts, Sanaa enjoys sports and outdoor activities and works as a swim instructor in the Fairfield Recreation Center.

Sanaa enjoying the water in Lake Lucerne, Switzerland

Karena Jones—Pursuing Self-Fulfillment to Support Others

Karena Jones—Pursuing Self-Fulfillment to Support Others

by | Jan 24, 2022 | Achievements, MIU News

January 24, 2022 • ISSUE 607

Karena Jones

Pursuing Self-Fulfillment to Support Others

Karena Jones is a childcare specialist from Colorado who is pursuing a master’s degree in Maharishi Vedic Science℠ at MIU. Karena earned an undergraduate degree in contemplative psychology from Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, and a master’s degree in educational psychology from the University of Colorado Denver.
 
She has spent 18 years in private childcare, specializing in the care of infants and children under three. She also has experience in parent education regarding the development of young children. In 2012 she spent a year volunteering in a Tanzanian orphanage, where she supervised the care of infants.
 
Karena has a passion for supporting families and making an impact on children’s development during their most receptive years. But she wanted to shift her career so that she is not limited to working with families only.

With MIU friends Sanaa Sayani and Sarah Bozann

In 2021 she began looking for higher education that would facilitate the development of her consciousness and personal growth. In June she found MIU and in August she arrived on campus. Within a few months she completed the Transcendental Meditation Sidhi Program℠.
 
“This has been one of my most profound and beautiful experiences,” she said. “What a blessing to receive this technology and be able to rise to my full potential.”

With children in the Cradle of Love Baby Home in Arusha, Tanzania

She currently works as a residential advisor in the women’s dorm and enjoys interacting with others and supporting them in the fulfillment of their goals.
 
“The more self-care I do by maintaining my regular TM practice, the more I can offer to the world at large,” she said.
 
Karena’s new calling is to integrate her experience of the TM® technique and the knowledge of Maharishi Vedic Science with her education in psychology and background in energy healing in order to reach a wider audience through coaching and education.

Performing a devotional dance in 2019 celebrating the life of innovative speaker, futurist, and author Barbara Marx Hubbard at her memorial

High-Risk Black Adults Benefit from TM Practice

High-Risk Black Adults Benefit from TM Practice

by | Jan 17, 2022 | Achievements, MIU News

January 17, 2022 • ISSUE 606

High-Risk Black Adults

Benefit from TM Practice

Dr. Robert Schneider

The latest NIH-sponsored study led by Dr. Robert Schneider and collaborators at the Medical College of Wisconsin was published in the December 2021 issue of the American Journal of Preventative Cardiology. The study found that the Transcendental Meditation® technique reduces risk for cardiovascular disease and potentially related co-morbidities, such as COVID, in Black adults with high normal blood pressure.

 
In 2022 Black men and women continue to suffer from disproportionately high rates of death and hospitalization due to heart attack, stroke, heart failure and, over the past two years, COVID. High blood pressure poses the greatest risk for many of these conditions, accounting for 50 percent of the disparities between Black and white adults.
 
These disparities in cardiovascular health are associated with social determinants of health, including racism, which lead to psychosocial stress. Stress in turn contributes to high blood pressure and inflammation, which predispose to life-threatening diseases.

There was a significantly greater systolic blood pressure reduction in the TM group compared to the health education group for participants with high normal blood pressure

“High blood pressure contributes to severe illness and death from COVID as well as heart attack and stroke,” said Dr. Schneider. “Black Americans who suffer from health inequalities and all at-risk adults would benefit from naturally lowering their BP through the Transcendental Meditation program.”
 
Although prior studies have shown the benefits of the TM® technique on hypertension in Black Americans, this is the first published clinical trial studying the long-term effects of stress reduction for at-risk individuals with high normal blood pressure, also called pre-hypertension. More than half of Black adults suffer from either pre-hypertension or hypertension.
 
The study followed 304 Black man and women who were randomized to either the TM program or a health education group. Their blood pressure was measured regularly for up to 36 months.

Co-authors Drs. Komal Marwaha, John Salerno, Carolyn King, Sanford Nidich, and Charles Alexander

The study showed a significant reduction in systolic blood pressure in the high normal group assigned to practice the TM technique over an average of 20 months. In the normal blood pressure group, there were no significant changes in blood pressure.
 
These results suggest that the practice of the TM technique in patients with high normal blood pressure can contribute to the prevention of hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and related health disparities in high-risk Black populations.
 
The study was a collaboration between MIU’s College of Integrative Medicine, the Institute for Prevention Research, and the Department of Medicine of the Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Co-authors of the study were Dr. Komal Marwaha, Dr. John Salerno, Dr. Carolyn King, and Dr. Sanford Nidich. The study was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

Francesca Redlich—The Magic of Writing Fiction

Francesca Redlich—The Magic of Writing Fiction

by | Jan 11, 2022 | Achievements, MIU News

January 11, 2022 • ISSUE 605

Francesca Redlich

The Magic of Writing Fiction

Francesca Redlich is a student from California who has served on MIU Student Government since her enrollment in August 2019. She has acted as LGBTQ+ as well as diversity, equity, and inclusivity representative and is now the Student Body president.
 
Francesca was looking for an alternative university seven years ago when she found MIU, but wasn’t ready to leave sunny California. Five years later, when she decided to finish her degree, she chose MIU.
 
Her outgoing nature and desire to support her peers motivated her to join Student Government right away. She enjoys her role of listening to students and sharing their concerns with the administration.

Hosting the Winter Celebration and Maharishi Awards

Taking on extra responsibilities can be overwhelming, but Francesca feels more comfortable with it since she began practicing the Transcendental Meditation® technique. “I am a very anxious person,” she said. “Being able to quiet my mind is an invaluable feat this school has allowed me to accomplish.”
 
Francesca loves singing, reciting poetry, and public speaking, but her passion is writing fantasy fiction. She wrote and illustrated her first story at age four and has wanted to become an author ever since. Prior to coming to MIU, she studied cultural anthropology and acquired the skill of researching and writing about civilizations.

With Student Government vice president, Jonathan Looney

She is a certified teacher of the TM® technique, taught at Maharishi School for 11 years, and is currently the director of MIU’s Evaluations and Assessments, which conducts the student surveys used in her study. Her research interests also include the effect of the TM technique on burnout in educators, health care workers, and professionals in other high-stress jobs.
 
Her goal is to write stories incorporating history, mythology, and religion while traveling the world and gathering inspiration and material. She is especially fond of the magical realism genre, which combines real world settings with magical and supernatural phenomena.

 
Francesca is completing her BFA in creative and professional writing next spring, and during the upcoming semester she will be working on several chapters of her first novel. “I am very excited to work on something so important to me and also be in a class with my peers and professors,” she said.