A war veteran mother was able to let go of anger and stress after learning TM and can finally sleep again


who arrived at school with red paint splattered all over her dress. The teacher told her she had to go home and change – until it transpired that the little girl had just witnessed the shooting of her uncle and those red stains were his blood. She’d run to school for a safe haven, and because she didn’t want to miss her TM class. Then there’s the war veteran mother


who returned to her family from active service and was unable to sleep for three months. All she was offered was a handful of pills that didn’t work. She learned TM and within a few days she was able to sleep through the night – and she still continues to sleep through the night now, four months after learning to meditate. And the best thing, she says, is that her children got a loving mother back.


Has meditation and mindfulness now entered the mainstream? Yes, for sure. I speak regularly about TM at business and medical conferences including the Google Zeitgeist Conference, which is attended by the


For health club operators who want to know more about TM and how they can work with the foundation, email Bob Roth via: • The David Lynch Foundation website, which can be found at: www.davidlynchfoundation.org • The non-profi t Center for Leadership Performance website – www.tmbusinessnyc.org


May 2015 © Cybertrek 2015


top innovative thinkers. We’re also offering the technique at Wall Street companies. In the 40 years of my practising and teaching TM, it’s really only in the last one to two years that I’ve seen a huge spike in interest. There could be many reasons for


this, but ultimately I think it’s the huge amount of scientifi c research which shows that meditation benefi ts the mind and body. People today are plagued by anxiety, depression and insomnia. Their lives are simply unsustainable. Until now, the answer has mostly been medication like anti-depressants, which only mask the symptoms. We want people to self- meditate, not self-medicate.


What are the foundation’s goals? We have ambitious, but very do-able, plans to bring TM to 100 million people around the world in the next 10 years. It’s a huge task but we think we can do it. We’re in discussions with the UN and are talking to NGOs all over the world. TM is already taught in over 100


countries, so all the channels and systems are in place. The foundation also has a branch in the UK. We want to reach more at-risk populations and work with international thought leaders to spread the teaching of meditation. We’re actively recruiting new TM


teachers at college job fairs and we’re particularly interested in graduates with a masters in education or public health.


How do you see TM developing? More companies are switching on to its value for their employees and their


health. It can save them so much by reducing their healthcare costs as well as lowering absenteeism. We’ve taught 400 employees at


Oprah Winfrey’s company and all 200 employees at Dr Oz’s TV production company and, as I said, top Wall Street fi rms. Some companies are even installing meditation rooms. In the schools where we deliver


TM, it’s been shown to improve both academic performance and behaviour. It’s even had an impact on obesity levels as children reduce stress-related eating.


How could health and fitness clubs latch onto this? Of course, exercise and good nutrition are obvious essential aspects of a healthy regimen, but it’s also clear that there’s a key mental component that must not be overlooked. Increasingly, health-conscious people


are starting to turn to transcendental meditation as an effective way to not only calm their anxious thoughts, but also to clear their minds and to literally wake up their brains. Health clubs that want to capture this


fast-growing segment of the population would be wise to incorporate legitimate stress-reducing meditation practices, such as TM, in conjunction with their physical exercise offerings. ●


This feature fi rst appeared in Spa Business magazine, issue 1 2015


Read Health Club Management online at healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital 71


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92