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Mitakuye Oyasin: We are all related (American Indian Lakota tradition); Vasudhaiva kutumbakam: The world is my family (Vedic tradition) When I was a little girl, even from within the safe cocoon of my family and friends, it was deeply distressing to overhear the news about negative world events. Raised in…

What peace can we hope to find elsewhere…if we have none within us? – Saint Teresa of Avila A hunter is outside tracking his prey when he hears a tiger roar behind him. He can either run away or stand his ground and fight. His very survival depends upon his…

My Mother in Law passed recently. She was 100 years old. We had lived together as family for the last 20 years; having lived with my own mother for only 18 years, my mother-in-law was like a second mother. At first I felt totally lost as I moved around the…

Numerous studies have shown that the Transcendental Meditation technique is an effective way for women to manage stress, to develop a greater sense of fulfillment and inner peace, and improve overall quality of life. Stress can take a serious toll on both body and mind. It can inhibit the flow…

When ancient traditions talk about liberation, what do they mean? Liberation from parents? From an oppressive government? From school or our marriage? At the most fundamental level of a human’s experience, liberation denotes the fullest development of a person’s consciousness, which gives us eternal freedom from all suffering. Our intellect…

Everything is going along just fine and then you get mugged. Afterward, the world seems different—and you find that you are anxious all the time, maybe desolate, maybe unable to focus. You may struggle with edginess and insomnia and with helplessness and vulnerability or their opposite—numbness. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)…

I am one of those people who knew by age five that I wanted to be a nurse. My idol was my aunt — a 1950s registered nurse, looking crisp and competent in her white uniform, going off to work in a large, brick, city hospital. She was confident and…

Admittedly, the last place I expected to gain a new insight into the “beyond” was at a fashion exhibit. Yet, when I toured the Charles James: Beyond Fashioni exhibit at the Met in New York City, I was struck with another example of how satisfying it is to explore the…

From my current perspective I was very young–22 years old–when I was trained in an intensive five month program to be a teacher of the Transcendental Meditation technique. The first person I taught upon returning home was a middle-aged sophisticated architect–to me, an actual grown-up. I was worried about how…

For a writer, finding your personal voice is one of the most important parts of mastering the craft. It turns out that this is also important for visual artists such as Mindy Weisel. An oil painter who in recent years has turned to glass as a medium, Mindy Weisel has…