Veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) who practiced the Transcendental Meditation^® technique showed significant reductions in PTSD symptoms comparable to veterans who utilized a gold standard prolonged exposure therapy, according to a new study published in The Lancet Psychiatry journal. Both Transcendental Meditation and exposure therapy treatments were significantly more effective than the PTSD health education control group.

Major news outlets around the world covered the findings. The Associated Press (AP) story was picked up by The New York Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, and ABC News.

The randomized controlled trial assigned a total of 203 veterans at the VA San Diego Healthcare System to prolonged exposure, Transcendental Meditation, or health education control groups. Each treatment provided 12 sessions over 12 weeks, with daily home practice. The objective of the study was to compare TM to prolonged exposure in a non-inferiority clinical trial, and to compare both to an attention control of health education.

Findings indicated that 61 percent of the veterans assigned to Transcendental Meditation experienced clinically meaningful improvement in PTSD symptoms, compared to 42 percent with prolonged exposure and 32 percent with health education. Results further indicated significant reductions in depression and mood disturbance and improved quality of life for TM^® compared to health education controls.

“PTSD is a complex and difficult-to-treat disorder that affects 10 to 20 percent of veterans,” said Sanford Nidich, EdD, director of the Center for Social-Emotional Health and Consciousness at Maharishi University of Management Research Institute and the study’s principal investigator. “This trial provides evidence that Transcendental Meditation, a non-trauma-focused therapy, is a viable option for decreasing PTSD symptoms in veterans. The availability of an additional evidence-based PTSD therapy will benefit patients both by offering them a greater range of first-line treatment options and by serving as an alternative treatment strategy for those not responding to exposure-based PTSD therapy.”

The Department of Defense, US Army Medical Research, sponsored the study for $2.4 million. The VA San Diego Healthcare System, The University of California San Diego School of Medicine, Georgetown University Medical School, and Maharishi University of Management Research Institute collaborated on the trial. Other MUM coauthors included Maxwell Rainforth, Robert Schneider, John Salerno, and Carolyn Gaylord-King.

MUM alumna Jessica Hernandez recently completed her studies at MUM and published her senior project paper on the medicinal uses of 10 Iowa herbs in the International Journal of Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

Jessica came to MUM from San Antonio, Texas, because she was drawn to learning the Transcendental Meditation^®technique and liked the idea of studying one subject at a time with MUM’s block system. She appreciated the integration of the TM^® technique into the daily routine. “It’s very valuable to sit in silence with other people,” she said. “It is powerful because it gives the physiology and the mind the chance to settle down and alleviate some of the stress.”

As a teenager, Jessica developed a passion for growing healthy food and cooking, so she decided to study sustainable living at MUM. “My favorite part was the hands-on experience because it’s so engaging and interactive that you don’t forget what you have learned, and it makes you want to learn more,” she said.

To get sufficient practice in organic farming, Jessica did internships at the MUM Student Farms greenhouse and a local business called Earth Wisdom. She also took a break from school to manage an almond orchard, work at a fermented food business, and take culinary classes at a community college in California.

For her senior project, she researched the benefits of 10 common culinary herbs, including basil, chamomile, lavender, and mint. Her paper describes the history and origin of each plant as well as their medicinal uses and lists the advantages of cultivating these herbs in Iowa.

Jessica feels confident about the knowledge and skills she gained at MUM and is excited to build her own food business based on her experience in organic agriculture, culinary arts, and the healing properties of foods.

Prior to becoming an MUM student, Rakesh Gupta led a team of 3,000 employees as managing director of Allianz Cornhill Information Services (ACIS) in India. Now he is studying Maharishi Vedic Science^SM to validate his business success with the principles of Vedic knowledge.

Rakesh received his MBA from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad, the leading business school in India. He gained management experience in a variety of key positions at British Telecom in the UK, GE Appliances in the USA, and several companies in India.

In 2003 Rakesh was hired by the international insurance company Allianz to set up their India information services division. After starting the ACIS unit from scratch, Rakesh began growing the company at an unexpected rate, reaching 500 plus employees in five years, vastly surpassing the projected 80. He streamlined processes, broadened employee authority, and increased performance and revenues for the company. In time, he was inducted into the board of directors of Allianz UK.

For his innovative management practices he was recognized as one of the few Great People Leaders in 2014 across the Allianz Group. In 2015 he received the Pioneering Business Leader award from the Shared Services Forum in India.

The leadership principles Rakesh used throughout his career were based on his intuition, but he wanted to find their source in the Vedic literature. He was looking to study Vedic leadership when his former IIM classmate and MUM professor Anil Maheshwari told him about MUM. Rakesh resigned from his position at Allianz and enrolled at MUM in the summer of 2017 to study Maharishi Vedic Science.

“The whole climate at MUM is so nice, the food you eat is healthy, the air you breathe, the whole daily routine, the TM practice, everything is conducive to your high level of consciousness and well-being,” he said. “It’s a wonderful experience.”

After finishing his MA in Maharishi Vedic Science, Rakesh has two ambitions. One is to establish a Vedic university in India in partnership with MUM. His second desire is to help people by promoting the Vedic principles of leadership in the corporate world. “In my last job, I have helped about 10,000 people over the years,” he said. “My next wish is to help a million people improve their lives.”

Jeroen Stok’s stainless steel sculptures of tulips, birds, and abstract objects are on display at dozens of public places as well as private collections in the Netherlands. Throughout his career, he has explored different techniques and materials and their interaction with light. “I always try to find the edge and go to the limit of what’s possible for that material,” he said.

Jeroen attended the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, but when he learned the Transcendental Meditation^® technique at 19 the course of his life changed. He soon learned the TM-Sidhi^® program and applied to MIU. He studied art during the 1983-84 academic year and, in his spare time, he began making light fixtures out of recycled objects which led to his first installation at the MIU student gallery.

After returning home, he continued to make sculptures using paper and bamboo combined with a light source; however, the fragility of the materials presented too many limitations. That’s when he turned to steel. His father owned a steel factory and he was already familiar with the material. Soon commissions for large outdoor sculptures started coming in from municipal governments and businesses.

Since 1989 Jeroen has lived in a small community of Transcendental Meditation practitioners in the town of Lelystad, where he attends group practice of the TM-Sidhi program daily. In describing the influence of his long-time TM^® practice on his art, he said the following.

“I am drawn to the light, the positive, the finer levels of things, the details. One of the themes in my work is flowers, especially the blossoming of a flower from a bud. That moment of transformation symbolizes your own self being expressed into the world.”

In recent years, Jeroen’s art work has included designing steel and glass monuments and memorials. “I enjoy the contact with people, he said. “It’s emotional and rewarding to work for people who lost their loved ones. While I am serving other people, I am also enriching myself instead of doing art for my ego.”