Posts Tagged ‘NIH’

Iowa Senator Tom Harkin inspires M.U.M.’s Class of 2013 with his Top Ten Rules to Live By

June 2, 2013

Iowa Senator Tom Harkin Inspired M.U.M.’s Class of 2013 with his Top Ten Rules To Live By at the University’s largest graduating class.

In true David Letterman-style, Iowa Senator Tom Harkin presented the M.U.M. Class of 2013 with his top-10 list—Harkin’s Top Ten Rules To Live By. Senator Harkin gave the Commencement Address after receiving an honorary doctorate from the University and inspired everyone with his humorous wit and down-to-earth wisdom.

Senator Tom Harkin receives an honorary doctoral degree from M.U.M. President Dr. Bevan Morris.

Senator Tom Harkin receives an honorary doctoral degree from M.U.M. President Dr. Bevan Morris. / Ken West Photography

Iowa Senator Tom Harkin received an honorary Ph.D. from Maharishi University of Management before delivering the Commencement Address at the start of M.U.M.’s Graduation exercises, which took place last Saturday, May 25, 2013, in the Maharishi Patanjali Golden Dome of Pure Knowledge.

The University’s 38th Commencement graduated its largest class ever of 334 students from 54 countries, out of the 88 represented on campus. The Class of 2013 included 251 graduates and 83 undergraduates. Check this link to see a menu of videos from M.U.M.’s Commencement 2013 http://www.mum.edu/commencement-2013. See the full PRWeb press release here bit.ly/17bxT6k for more details.

Senator Harkin was awarded a Doctor of Laws Honoris Causa degree for his extraordinary lifelong service and compassionate and progressive leadership for the state of Iowa and the United States of America. He has served in the Senate since 1985 and also served in the House of Representatives from 1975–1985. He is chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and is the seventh most senior Senator overall.

In his introduction, M.U.M. president Dr. Bevan Morris said, “We honor you for a lifetime of service to the State of Iowa and the United States of America, and your compassionate and progressive leadership. You have recognized that the quality of American life is shaped by the quality of American education.”

He said that Senator Harkin has been a very good friend of the University and greatly enjoyed all his visits here. “He has given us advice and encouragement for all the University’s programs—for natural methods of prevention of disease, organic agriculture, sustainable living, our Sustainable Living Center, as well as to our town, which is rising to being one of the greenest in the nation, under the leadership of Mayor Ed Malloy.”

Senator Harkin began his commencement address on a humorous note. He thanked the University for this distinguished award and said, “I come before you with a measure of humility. I realize I was probably selected to be your speaker today because Oprah wasn’t available.” This elicited a lot of laughter as he was referring to Oprah’s visit to Fairfield last year, which she aired, including a profile of the Maharishi School on the M.U.M. campus.

He then went on to say, “But I do want you to know of my highest respect and admiration that I have for this university, for what you have done, what you have become here, in Iowa, the nation, and the world, and especially for what I consider to be the best holistic approach to education and wellness in life at any university anywhere on the globe.”

He was referring to Maharishi University’s unique system of Consciousness-Based education and leadership role in wellness research and sustainability. M.U.M. was designated as a Center for Natural Medicine and Prevention and has received over $25 million from the NCCAM and NHLBI over the past 20 years to conduct collaborative medical research on the use of Transcendental Meditation as a complementary alternative approach to treat hypertension and cardiovascular disease in underserved minority populations, the results of which have been published in top peer-reviewed scientific journals.

The most recent study was published and publicized by the American Heart Association. Last year the AHA Journal Circulation published a long-term study showing a 48% lower risk of heart attack, stroke and death in a group already afflicted by heart disease that learned the practice of Transcendental Meditation. And this year the AHA published a paper recommending Transcendental Meditation as the only meditation practice that has been shown to lower blood pressure.

“Graduation,” Harkin said, “is one of the five great milestones in life; the others being birth, marriage, death, and the day you finally pay off your student loans.”

“I know exactly what you’re thinking. You’re wondering, ‘How long is that guy gonna talk?’ The answer is not long.”

To answer he quoted advice from Father John Ryan, the Irish priest in his hometown when he was first asked to give a commencement address. The role of a commencement speaker is like the body at an old-fashioned Irish wake: “They need you in order to have the party but they don’t expect you to say very much.”

Senator Harkin said he chose a method for the day’s occasion that has imparted wisdom to millions of people throughout the years—“I speak of course, not of the Ten Commandments, but of David Letterman’s top ten list.” But his were more like suggestions for students to choose, depending on which ones they liked.

Harkin’s Top Ten Rules To Live By

10. Don’t panic. You will find a job. Don’t worry. “My confidence is based on one thing — because you came to the right school. I have nothing, as I said, but admiration for what this university has accomplished in such a short period of time. In a unique way you have put the ‘higher’ in higher education.”

“You folks would agree with William Butler Yeats who said that education is not about filling up a bucket but lighting a fire. And you carry that one step further. At this university education is also about training, focusing, freeing the mind. It’s about raising consciousness. Here you have been beautifully prepared intellectually and spiritually for all the challenges you will face in the world out there, so you should go forth with confidence.” He encouraged students to move to smaller Iowa towns to make a contribution.

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Dr. Norman Rosenthal gives an engaging talk to medical staff at Northern Westchester Hospital

February 22, 2012

Dr. Norman Rosenthal addresses medical staff at NWH

Dr. Norman Rosenthal recently gave a wonderfully engaging talk on the Transcendental Meditation technique to the medical staff of Northern Westchester Hospital as part of their Health Education program.

Norman E. Rosenthal, MD, a world-renowned psychiatrist and author who described seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and pioneered the use of light therapy to treat it has improved the health of millions of people. His latest book Transcendence: Healing and Transformation Through Transcendental Meditation (Tarcher-Penguin, 2011) explores the value of this ancient meditation technique for healing and transformation in today’s modern world.

Dr. Rosenthal began his talk by highlighting the key themes of healing and transformation brought about by TM, and explained how certain parts of the brain are effected by stress and improved by meditation. He humorously described the conflict that exists neurologically in a stressed mind between the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala by using the simple analogy of the CEO of a company and the fire marshall. It made a lot of sense. Everyone got it.

Drawing on anecdotes from his best-selling book, Transcendence, Dr. Rosenthal’s relaxed narrative style held the audience’s attention throughout the presentation. He shared personal stories of how TM had improved the lives of those interviewed for the book, like Hollywood filmmaker David Lynch, actress Laura Dern, Pulitzer-prize-winning journalist Tim Page, neuropsychologist William Stixrud, as well as patients from his own practice.

A former NIH researcher, Dr. Rosenthal had looked into, and was impressed by, the volume of scientific research studies on TM in the fields of mental and physical health, education and social behavior. He cited some of these studies, including more recent ones.

Dr. Rosenthal also mentioned a published pilot study he had conducted on Veterans with PTSD that showed a 50% reduction in symptoms within two months. He posted an article about it on his blog, along with an emotionally-charged video of one of the Veterans and his mother:  The Case for Using Transcendental Meditation to Treat Combat Related PTSD.

He told the amazing story of Jim Dierke, principal of Visitacion Valley Middle School, and how he had transformed violent, stressed under-achieving, low-attending students to motivated harmonious academically successful ones with the highest attendance ever, after he had introduced the TM/Quiet Time program to his staff and students. The program was implemented and funded by the David Lynch Foundation. Here is a recent article, with a video of principal Dierke, posted on the TM Blog: Breaking the “predictive power of demographics”: SF principal talks about how TM helps his students.

Dr. Rosenthal also shared his own story of how he started TM as a college student in South Africa back in the 70’s. “As they say, if you remember the 70’s you probably weren’t there, but I was there,” he quipped, and giggled. Like most of us he was inspired by the Beatles traveling to India to study Transcendental Meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. But, he says, he was overwhelmed with his medical studies and didn’t take the time to meditate regularly. He dropped the meditation, yet returned to it decades later after one of his patients recommended he do it based on his own experiences. He went to the local TM center to refresh his practice. After looking into some of the research studies, and noticing subtle yet lasting changes in his own life, he was convinced that this simple, natural process could really make a difference in people’s lives.

Dr. Rosenthal swore he would never write another book; it takes too much time and energy, but after seeing how much of a difference TM was making in his life, and in the lives of his patients, he just had to write this one last book. He felt as compelled to write about TM as he had been about his earlier medical discovery. He was also pleasantly surprised with how enjoyable the whole process went, compared to earlier experiences. He felt the joy of being in the flow, of being in the moment, totally engaged in the creative process. He said the whole experience was very rewarding, uplifting and fulfilling.

He concluded his talk with the value of groups, organizations, practicing TM together, and the impact that has. As an example he mentioned Oprah and how she chose to give TM to her whole organization, and the amazing transformations that brought about. She wrote about it in her magazine, What I Know for Sure.

You can enjoy watching Dr. Rosenthal’s entertaining and informative presentation here on the Northern Westchester Hospital website: http://www.nwhc.net/home/about-us/video-suite/health-education.

Credit and appreciation goes to Sally Rosenfeld, a Certified Teacher of the Transcendental Meditation program, in Westchester County, NY, for arranging to have Dr. Rosenthal speak at Northern Westchester Hospital. Sally said it was a great event, with around 100 people attending from both the hospital and community. Several of them later came to the TM Center to learn how to meditate. Considering how progressive NWH is with their alternative offerings, adding the TM program to the mix would seem like a natural outcome of the meeting.

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Posted in David Lynch Foundation, Health, Videos, Writing | 2 Comments »

Can meditation save us? Fox News Opinion by Tom McKinley Ball

February 20, 2012

Can meditation save us?

FOX NEWS Opinion by Tom McKinley Ball
Published February 19, 2012 | FoxNews.com

Economic uncertainty, political divisiveness—it seems that our nation and many of us individually are now under more stress than we’re designed to handle.

It’s no surprise that increasing numbers of people are turning to meditation for refuge. And why shouldn’t we? It’s just the natural use of our own minds.

An effective meditation technique allows you to dive deep within and contact reserves of peace, energy and clarity to help you more gracefully accomplish what you wish to achieve in life. It dissolves deep-rooted, accumulated stresses that obstruct your health.

But it’s more than that: meditation can show you who you really are. Not just on the surface but deep within—where reside greater possibilities of creativity and intelligence, untapped potentialities of heart and mind.

Resurgence

“If Transcendental Meditation were a new drug, conferring this many benefits, it would be the biggest, multi-billion dollar blockbuster drug on the market.”—former senior NIH researcher Norman Rosenthal, M.D.

In the 1970s, Transcendental Meditation (“TM”) became a widespread cultural phenomenon. Now there’s a rising new wave of interest in TM, but for different reasons: because there’s so much scientific research verifying its effects.

Doctors and therapists are recommending it in growing numbers.

Business owners offer it as a human resource for employees—such as Oprah Winfrey and her company, Harpo Productions.

Prison systems in the U.S. and abroad are implementing programs for inmates. Hundreds of schools around the world are offering TM-Quiet Time programs for students. But mostly, people are learning it because they notice positive change in someone they know who’s learned.

From a health point of view, meditation can save your life: the deep, restorative rest rejuvenates body and mind and facilitates healing.

Research sponsored by the National Institutes of Health has shown that the TM technique reduces heart attack and stroke by nearly 50%. Clinical trails showed that it reduces cholesterol by 30 milliliters. “If you’re on medication for cholesterol,” says Dr. Mehmet Oz, “we hope you can get 30 milliliters lower. But this happened through Transcendental Meditation alone.”

Besides reducing the major risk factors for heart disease, meditation can also save lives by reducing depression and anxiety, as numerous studies on TM have shown.

“It Saved Me”

I’ve met many people who’ve told me that meditation saved their life. People struggling with high blood pressure who were eventually able to get off their meds after learning TM.

I encountered a Native American woman who said her insulin levels normalized for the first time in years, a few months after learning this meditation. A young woman on the verge of suicide learned the technique, pulled herself out of severe depression and found the wherewithal to return to college for a business degree.

There was the boy with ADHD, who after his first meditation never again needed to wear the Ritalin patch that was stunting his growth.

Hopelessness can be turned into hope when you get to that place within yourself that’s strong enough, resourceful enough to overcome challenges.

Even a person fighting for their life can find solace in meditation: it’s something one can do to help oneself instead of surrendering entirely to the care of others.

Calming the Waters

Here’s the beauty of Transcendental Meditation: it’s a stress-reducing practice that transcends personal opinion, likes and dislikes, beliefs and ideologies. It works on the basis of something deeper and more universal—the mind’s natural tendency.

Our minds naturally seek greater freedom and happiness, greater knowledge. The TM technique allows you to use that natural attraction to happiness in a special way by turning attention inward and finding greater happiness and peace inside you, satisfying the mind’s quest.

But it’s not a selfish thing. Even though you do it for yourself, it’s one of the best things you can do for the people around you.

The flight attendant tells us, in case of emergency, secure your own oxygen mask first. If you don’t, you’ll be useless to help anyone. Meditation allows us to save ourselves from the undertow of stress so we can be sufficiently calm and fully functional to help others.

Bridging the Differences

The TM technique is a secular, non-religious form of meditation involving no beliefs. Many religious people practice it and find that it deepens their spirituality. A physicist friend tells me it refines his appreciation of nature. All the things that define us in the outer world lose their ability to divide us as we familiarize ourselves with that deeper, universal field of order at the basis of the mind—a transcendental level of life that belongs to all of us.

Transcendental Meditation is not a sect. It’s not foreign to our culture because it’s based on natural principles of mind and body that we all share. It’s an effortless technique that anyone can learn, a tool you can use all your life and it gets better with age—it helps you get better with age and stay younger in body, mind and spirit (and yes, there’s research on that).

Tom McKinley Ball is a writer for the David Lynch Foundation. He attended a Transcendental Meditation teacher training course in 1975-76, where he studied with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and has taught meditation for almost 40 years.

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/02/19/can-meditation-save-us

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Can stress-reducing Transcendental Meditation help CHD patients prevent future heart attacks?

November 6, 2009

EurekAlert! Banner

Public Release: 6-Nov-2009

Can stress-reducing Transcendental Meditation help CHD patients prevent future heart attacks?

The National Institutes of Health’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute will fund a $1 million collaborative study by the Center for Natural Medicine and Prevention at Maharishi University of Management Research Institute and Columbia University Medical Center to determine whether the stress-reducing Transcendental Meditation technique can help patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) prevent future heart attacks, strokes and death.

The 12-week “Randomized Controlled Trial of Stress Reduction in the Secondary Prevention of Coronary Heart Disease in African Americans,” will be conducted at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City. The trial will examine 56 patients who have had a heart attack or bypass surgery, angioplasty, or chronic angina.

“For decades, stress has been implicated in the cause and progression of heart disease,” said Robert Schneider, M.D., F.A.C.C., lead author and director of the NIH-funded Center for Natural Medicine and Prevention. “And while standard cardiac rehabilitation usually includes supervised exercise and lifestyle education, it does not usually include a formal stress reduction program.

“Now, for the first time, this study will evaluate whether adding stress reduction through the Transcendental Meditation technique to conventional cardiac rehabilitation will aid in the treatment of serious CHD compared to conventional cardiac rehabilitation alone,” Dr. Schneider said.

Patients will be carefully evaluated before and after the study for changes in their coronary artery disease with the most advanced noninvasive methods for measuring cardiac function—PET or positron emission tomography. According to Sabahat Bokhari, MD, Director of Nuclear Cardiology at Columbia University Medical Center and study co-director, “PET is an innovative imaging technology that allows us to visually and non-invasively study blood flow to the heart. With this state-of-the-art technology, doctors can now measure the blood flow to the heart and thus quantify the full impact of stress reduction on CHD.”

The NIH funding allocation is part of the Obama Administration’s American Reinvestment and Recovery Act—or economic stimulus bill. Competition for the funding was fierce with more than 20,000 applications for the Challenge Grants category and only 840 awarded. “In the current climate of health care reform, the purpose of this grant is to find more effective treatments for heart disease and thereby find more effective ways to reduce health care costs,” Dr. Schneider said.

“The NHLBI’s Recovery Act funds will make it possible to evaluate Transcendental Meditation as a promising tool in helping to prevent heart attacks, strokes, and death related to coronary events. This is worthwhile research since we know that strong emotional stress can lead to conditions such as arrhythmia and hypertension,” said NHLBI Director Elizabeth Nabel, M.D.

Results from several earlier trials on the Transcendental Meditation program found reductions in risk factors for heart disease, such as hypertension, psychological stress, insulin resistance, and build-up of atherosclerosis in the arteries, with indications of reduced mortality from heart disease. This newly funded study will directly evaluate coronary artery disease and continue to examine the potential of meditation for improvements in cardiovascular health.

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Fast Facts on Coronary Heart Disease:

  • Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the leading cause of death in the United States
  • There are nearly 1.5 million heart attacks per year in the US, according the American Heart Association
  • An American will suffer a heart attack every 34 seconds
  • Coronary heart disease is also the leading cause of soaring health care costs; more than $475 billion spent annually on treating CHD, including
    • $100,000 for each coronary bypass surgery
    • $50,000 for each angioplasty
    • $30,000 for each diagnostic cardiac catheterization
  • There are nearly 500,000 coronary artery bypass grafts and 1.3 million angioplasties performed every year
  • Stress is thought to contribute to development of CHD

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KTVO 3: M.U.M. Gets $1 Million Research Grant

September 26, 2009

MUM gets $1 million research grant

Friday, September 25, 2009 at 6:37 p.m.

FAIRFIELD, IOWA — University Receives $1 Million NIH Grant for Mind-Body Medicine Research

The National Institutes of Health recently awarded a grant of $500,000 per year for two years for research on the Transcendental Meditation® technique in the treatment of coronary heart disease in African Americans.

The research is a collaboration between Maharishi University of Management Research Institute’s Center for Natural Medicine and Prevention and Columbia University Medical School in New York.

The funding comes from the American Recovery and Investment Act, via the NIH-National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

About 21,000 applications were submitted to NIH for these specific funds, with just 3% receiving grants.

“This recent achievement continues to place MUM Research Institute and its research on the Transcendental Meditation technique and Maharishi Vedic MedicineSM programs in an elite category in academic medicine,” said project director Robert Schneider, M.D., F.A.C.C., and dean of the Maharishi College of Perfect Health.

The research will compare the effectiveness of cardiac rehabilitation with and without the Transcendental Meditation program, especially after a heart attack. The study will utilize positron emission tomography (PET) to image and quantify changes in heart disease in the patients.

The Center for Natural Medicine and Prevention team includes Sanford Nidich, EdD, Carolyn King, PhD, Maxwell Rainforth, PhD, John Salerno, PhD, Marilyn Ungaro, Laura Alcorn, and Linda Heaton.

See video: http://bit.ly/13D7d4

KTVO Medical News

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