Institute Fellows and Staff Spearhead Global Peace, Health, Educational, and Agricultural Initiatives

Robert Oates

Robert Oates, Senior Policy Fellow, recently published an important new book entitled Permanent Peace: How to Stop Terrorism and War—Now and Forever. The book describes the scientific research validating a new approach to peace—one that can diffuse the ethnic, religious, and social tensions that fuel terrorism and conflict. This approach, which is the foundation of the Institute’s global peace initiatives, involves the creation of large groups of peace-creating experts to create an influence of coherence and harmony throughout society.

Mr. Oates, author of a dozen books, has spent the past decade focusing on conflict resolution and health care, and he also works closely with the Institute media team (see below). Permanent Peace has already been distributed to over 100,000 philanthropists across the United States. One reviewer commented, “Permanent Peace does a spectacular job of laying out profound, world-transforming ideas in a lively, easy-to-read way. Once you start reading, it's hard to put down, and I don’t think any book has ever discussed a more important topic.” For more information, please see the website www.createpermanentpeace.com.

Colonel Brian Rees, M.D.

Brian Rees, M.D., a family physician and a colonel in the medical corps of the U.S. Army Reserves with over 26 years of commissioned service, is currently commander of the 349th General Hospital headquartered in Los Angeles, a definitive care facility with 496 beds and 800 personnel. He has extensive peacekeeping experience; in 1996, for example, he was sent to Europe to help support peacekeeping efforts in the former Yugoslavia, and he is currently a California representative of the U.S. Peace Government. Along with Institute director Dr. John Hagelin, Dr. Rees will be a featured speaker at the September 2003 symposium “Creating Permanent World Peace: A Proven New Approach” in Pasadena, sponsored by Rotary.

Dr. Rees has recently published a new book entitled Terrorism, Retaliation, and Victory: Awaken the Soul of America to Defeat Terrorism without Casualties that draws upon his wide-ranging medical and military experience. The book provides a comprehensive overview of weapons of mass destruction, U.S. military strategies to combat terrorism, and the need to implement proven approaches to create peace while restructuring government to eliminate corporate control of U.S. policy. The book also provides an in-depth analysis of the mechanics of creating peace through collective meditation groups. Look for it in your bookstores soon.

Robert E. Herron, Ph.D.

Robert E. Herron, Ph.D., the Institute’s Director of Policy Research, recently coauthored a paper published in Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine (Sept./Oct. 2002) showing that several toxic, fat-soluble agricultural and occupational chemicals stored in the body can be reduced by approximately 50% through an ancient purification procedure derived from the Ayurvedic medical system of India. “This is one of the first published studies on humans to demonstrate that a specific detoxification regimen can significantly reduce levels of toxicants in the blood that are associated with many types of disease," Dr. Herron said.

An alarming finding of the study was that levels of PCBs, PBDE, DDE (a byproduct of DDT), and other chemicals appear to be unexpectedly high in the general population, and may be increasing. However, Dr. Herron’s study showed that blood levels of these toxicants were significantly lower in those who used Ayurvedic detoxification than in those who did not.

"Given that the half-lives of these toxicants are all several years in duration, our findings were quite striking, because this comprehensive detoxification procedure removed these dangerous chemicals in a few days,” Dr. Herron said.

Sarina J. Grosswald, Ed.D.

Sarina J. Grosswald, Ed.D., recently published an influential article on the future of healthcare in the medical journal Global Healthcare 2002. This journal is the official publication of the World Medical Association, whose 8 million members include the national associations of physicians from 70 countries around the world. Dr. Grosswald’s article, “Meeting the Healthcare Challenges of the Future—Moving from Disease Care to Healthcare,” describes how the Transcendental Meditation technique can effectively reduce or eliminate the global disease burden predicted for the year 2020 by the World Health Organization.

Dr. Grosswald is Director of Continuing Medical Education for InforMED, Director of CME at the American Medical Women’s Association, and president of SJ Grosswald & Associates. She has 25 years of experience in medical education and is also a Virginia representative of the U.S. Peace Government.

Dr. Grosswald recently created the Continuing Medical Education program on the Transcendental Meditation program and Maharishi Vedic Medicine, whose first course (“Stress and Cardiovascular Disease: Research and Applicability of the Transcendental Meditation Technique for Managing Cardiovascular Risk”) is now available online at www.tm.cme.edu. Another new online program concerning the management of anxiety and post traumatic stress disorder will be added soon.

Jane Roman Pitt is currently spearheading a pioneering educational project at the Nataki Talibah Schoolhouse in Detroit. Over the past six years, she and her colleague Carol Lubetkin have taught Transcendental Meditation to well over 200 students, faculty, and staff of Nataki under partial grant support from the DaimlerChrysler Fund and the General Motors Foundation, as well as contributions from private donors.

The project’s outstanding success has led to extensive media coverage. On June 5, NBC’s Today Show, the top-rated morning news show in America with a daily audience of 10 million, aired an excellent five-minute report on the project, and on June 9 the Chicago Tribune ran a front-page story about the school’s achievements.

Nataki students meditate together

At present, 120 students and 40 faculty (plus 25 parents) practice TM at Nataki. Twice a day, as part of the academic curriculum, the students gather in the Nataki school gym to meditate together (see photo). Results of a University of Michigan pilot study at Nataki, presented at a national conference held at National Institutes of Health headquarters in Washington, D.C., this April, found that students practicing TM were happier, more peaceful, and calmer than the nonmeditating control group and rated themselves higher in positive emotional and mood states and better at stress management and interpersonal relationships. This coming year, the University of Michigan will expand its pilot research into another controlled study with 44 student participants in Nataki.

Although partial grant funding from DaimlerChryler and General Motors continues, this project needs more funds to cover instruction costs for all the students ready to begin TM. “The next few years are crucial for this program,” says Ms. Pitt. “Our project has already shown that TM can create effective change even in a city school. But continuation of the scientific research will help confirm these findings—and show that this program can be successfully implemented anywhere.”

Dr. John Konhaus, director of the newly established Maharishi Vedic Organic Agriculture Institute (MVOAI), has good news for everyone interested in food safety and purity and natural, sustainable agriculture.

MVOAI (see www.mvoai.org) has recently been accredited by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as an organic certifier under the new National Organic Program. As of October 21, 2002, only USDA-certified farmers and processors are allowed to use the word organic on any food product. MVOAI is now accredited to offer two options for any organic products sold in the U.S. or in Japan: standard USDA Organic certification, and the “additional label claim” of Maharishi Vedic Organic, which combines the best of traditional organic agriculture with natural law-based agriculture—Vedic agriculture. Both options allow for the use of the new USDA Organic seal on organic products. And, since MVOAI is also ISO 65 accredited and has affiliated organizations in Europe, it can also offer certification for the EU.

Maharishi Vedic Organic Agriculture will produce healthy, locally grown, fresh, nutritious food for all consumers.

If you have a need for organic certification or have friends who do, or if you want to know more about MVOAI, its educational programs—including a promising new initiative to alleviate poverty in third-world countries through sustainable agriculture—and how you can get involved, please visit the MVOAI website at www.mvoai.org.

Robert Stowe, Ph.D.

Robert Stowe, Ph.D., organic agriculture project manager for Maharishi Vedic City in Iowa and a Massachusetts representative of the U.S. Peace Government, is currently evaluating suppliers for a 100-acre greenhouse project—Maharishi Vedic Organic Farms—planned for Maharishi Vedic City. This project is part of a larger Vedic organic agriculture initiative planned for the United States and Canada by Maharishi World Peace Vedic Organics. Under the leadership of The Honorable Dr. Robert Wynne, mayor of Maharishi Vedic City, Dr. Stowe and others are working to establish this municipal project.

“The project in Maharishi Vedic City will be a great step forward for Maharishi Vedic Organic Agriculture,” Dr. Stowe said. “Not only will it provide healthy, locally grown, fresh, nutritious food that has been grown in a sustainable, environmentally friendly manner for the City and the entire surrounding area, but also net revenues will go to support world peace. The project will be a model for other Vedic Organic Agriculture projects around the country that are supporting peace initiatives including the establishment of a permanent group of 8000 peace-creating experts for North America and the creation of 192 Peace Palaces in America’s largest cities. This model will also be used in other countries to support similar peace initiatives. The project includes an educational and research component utilizing Vedic approaches to agriculture that further enhance the quality of the produce.”

For more information, or to help support the project, please contact Dr. Stowe by phone at 617-876-0936 or by email at rstowe@maharishivediccity.net.