Global Good News: Excellence in Action

The practice of Transcendental Meditation has benefits for people of all ages and all walks of life. Lynn Lass, an educator and writer, learnt Transcendental Meditation when she was very young. She was a teenager, which was an emotionally confusing and difficult time in her life.

What she found was that with her regular practice of Transcendental Meditation, 'inner stability, clarity, and happiness began to increase in my life.' She began as a skeptic and after a year of meditating she ‘was sold out, because I enjoyed the results. I needed the results at that time in my life.'

Her practice just continued to add to her personal growth, to her inner stability, to her ability to handle all the challenges, up and downs, and opportunities in life. 'And that's why I continue meditating,’ she says in a video presentation. ‘Now that I'm older, and my children are grown, and I'm facing the challenges that we all face in the boomer generation of aging, I value it even more because in my opinion, the best defence against aging is a rich inner life and inner strength. That's the reason I continue to value the practice of Transcendental Meditation now at this time in my life.'

Springli Johnson, mother of six, talks about the value of Transcendental Meditation in her life. ‘I think as the mother of six, the greatest gift that Transcendental Meditation gives me is balance. It gives me a good sense of humour. It gives me a way to connect intimately with each child, with their unique personality.

‘It’s a lot of fun to raise them. Instead of a stress, it’s a lot of fun, very interesting, and entertaining, and a great pleasure. They’re just amazing children. It’s a terrific thing to do.’

For Jim Shrosbee, sculptor and professor at Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa, USA. Transcendental Meditation changed his life. He started the practice as a senior in college ‘and everything turned around. At that time I was alright, a B student, but when I started meditating I felt like a scrim was pulled away. I had so much energy; I started to see things more clearly, and what I was trying to say was able to come across.’

Jim will not forget what happened to him when this contrast began—‘If I'm not awake, I noticed in my own practice, then I'm not taking advantage of opportunities as they come up. It's an essential thing for an artist.

‘Being awake means being in the creative process,’ Jim continues, when speaking in a video about his art and his creative process. ‘It means seeing free things that are happening in relation to something that is determined.

‘It's knowing yourself. It's knowing about what your strengths are, what your weaknesses are on that day or at that moment. It may be a better time if you're not feeling so well, to be sweeping the studio, and it's good to know that, rather than bumping your head against the wall.’

David Lynch, renowned film director and Founder of the David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace, has this to say about his practice of Transcendental Meditation: ‘I have never missed a meditation in 34 years. I meditate once in the morning and once in the afternoon for about 20 minutes each time. Then I go about the business of my day.

‘I find the joy of the ‘doing’ increases. Creativity increases. Intuition increases. The pleasure of life grows.’

"The potential of every student is infinite. The time of student life should serve to unfold that infinite potential so that every individual becomes a vibrant centre of Total Knowledge."—Maharishi