Stores selling exotic goods popped up, TM followers built odd-looking homes that modeled the guru's rules for peace-inspiring architecture, and the new university knocked down a historic chapel, even as it erected massive golden-domed buildings for meditators. Some newcomers got elected--and others were defeated--when they ran for local and statewide offices. At times, thousands from across the globe visited the small town. Yet Transcendental Meditation did not always achieve its aims of personal and social tranquility. Suicides and a murder unsettled the meditating community over the years, and some followers were fleeced by con men from their own ranks. Some battled a local farmer over land use and one another over doctrine. Notably, the world has not gotten more peaceful. Today the guru is dead. His followers are graying, and few of their children are moving into leadership roles.

In this engrossing, provocative, and intimate memoir, a young journalist reflects on her childhood in the heartland, growing up in an increasingly isolated meditation community in the 1980s and ’90s—a fascinating, disturbing look at a fringe culture and its true believers. When Claire Hoffman’s alcoholic father abandons his family, his desperate wife, Liz, tells five-year-old Claire and her seven-year-old brother, Stacey, that they are going to heaven—Iowa—to live in Maharishi’s national headquarters for Heaven on Earth. For Claire’s mother, Transcendental Meditation—the Maharishi’s method of meditation and his approach to living the fullest possible life—was a salvo that promised world peace and enlightenment just as their family fell apart. At first this secluded utopia offers warmth and support, and makes these outsiders feel calm, secure, and connected to the world. At the Maharishi School, Claire learns Maharishi’s philosophy for living and meditates with her class. With the promise of peace and enlightenment constantly on the horizon, every day is infused with magic and meaning. But as Claire and Stacey mature, their adolescent skepticism kicks in, drawing them away from the community and into delinquency and drugs. To save herself, Claire moves to California with her father and breaks from Maharishi completely. After a decade of working in journalism and academia, the challenges of adulthood propel her back to Iowa, where she reexamines her spiritual upbringing and tries to reconnect with the magic of her childhood. Greetings from Utopia Park takes us deep into this complex, unusual world, illuminating its joys and comforts, and its disturbing problems. While there is no utopia on earth, Hoffman reveals, there are noble goals worth striving for: believing in belief, inner peace, and a firm understanding that there is a larger fabric of the universe to which we all belong.

Transcendental Meditation (TM) is a simple, natural method of allowing the mind to go beyond thoughts and gain access to the silent inner field of creativity, energy, peace, and happiness that is our own essential nature, our Self. Widely known and prescribed by physicians for its powerful stress-reducing effects, TM is much more than that. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (1918–2008), who brought TM to the West, said that TM offers any individual not only a gateway to the highest spiritual unfoldment (Enlightenment), but also "sound physical and mental health, greater ability in action, a greater capacity to think clearly, increased efficiency in work, and more loving and rewarding relationships with others." Five million TM practitioners around the world and more than 360 published, peer-reviewed scientific studies have consistently corroborated these lofty claims. Described as "a great book, by far the most comprehensive on the TM Program" when it was a bestseller in its original version, Jack Forem’s study of TM became a much-loved classic. This updated edition contains all the features of the original plus much more. Clear, easy-to-read diagrams explain scientific research showing TM’s beneficial effect on the brain and a broad spectrum of contemporary concerns, from health, self-actualization, and development of intelligence to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and much more. In these pages: · Oprah Winfrey tells how she has offered TM to everyone on her staff. · Dr. Mehmet Oz explains the benefits of TM for heart health. · School principals describe the dramatically positive effect on their students when TM is introduced in the classroom. Interviews with celebrities as well as men and women of every age, background, and religion provide a lively testimonial to the efficacy of TM in making anyone’s life happier, healthier, and more creative.

Yoga, karma, meditation, guru—these terms, once obscure, are now a part of the American lexicon. Combining Hinduism with Western concepts and values, a new hybrid form of religion has developed in the United States over the past century. In Transcendent in America, Lola Williamson traces the history of various Hindu-inspired movements in America, and argues that together they constitute a discrete category of religious practice, a distinct and identifiable form of new religion. Williamson provides an overview of the emergence of these movements through examining exchanges between Indian Hindus and American intellectuals such as Thomas Jefferson and Ralph Waldo Emerson, and illuminates how Protestant traditions of inner experience paved the way for Hindu-style movements’ acceptance in the West. Williamson focuses on three movements—Self-Realization Fellowship, Transcendental Meditation, and Siddha Yoga—as representative of the larger of phenomenon of Hindu-inspired meditation movements. She provides a window into the beliefs and practices of followers of these movements by offering concrete examples from their words and experiences that shed light on their world view, lifestyle, and relationship with their gurus. Drawing on scholarly research, numerous interviews, and decades of personal experience with Hindu-style practices, Williamson makes a convincing case that Hindu-inspired meditation movements are distinct from both immigrant Hinduism and other forms of Asian-influenced or “New Age” groups.

Former TM insider inundated with publicity about TM being a scientific relaxation technology that is a cure for just about everything and, since non-religious, should be in our public schools. It was a false narrative. Someone needed to set the record straight, and with his background in public health and behavioral science, he decided to do it.

How can we rethink teaching practices to include and engage the whole student? What would student experience look like if we integrated silence and feeling with empirical analysis? Tuning the Student Mind is the story of one teacher's attempt to answer these questions by creating an innovative college course that marries the spiritual and the theoretical, integrating meditation and self-reflection with more conventional academic curriculum. The book follows Molly Beauregard and her students on their intellectual and spiritual journey over the course of a semester in her class, "Consciousness, Creativity, and Identity." Interweaving personal stories, student writing, and Beauregard's responses, along with recommendations for further reading and a research appendix, it makes the case for the transformative power of consciousness-centered education. Written in a warm, engaging voice that reflects Beauregard's teaching style, Tuning the Student Mind provides an accessible, step-by-step template for other educators, while inviting readers more broadly to reconnect with the joy of learning in and beyond the classroom.

Setbacks and obstacles can get in the way of reaching your goals. But some see those challenges as opportunities, and turn them into stepping stones for great accomplishments.PROJECT BOLD LIFE will show you how they do it!With inspirational stories, insightful research, worksheets that break down the Bold Life Formula, and an illustrated character named "Boldy" to accompany you on your journey, PROJECT BOLD LIFE will give you the tools you need to succeed. It is an essential book for these times!

'Roots of TM' is intended to enable readers to better understand how and why Maharishi Mahesh Yogi spread the teaching of Transcendental Meditation around the world. 'Roots of TM' provides background information on Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and his master, Guru Dev, Swami Brahmanand Saraswati, and provides a source book of information about their teachings and techniques. 'Roots of TM' is not intended as a general guide to Indian philosophy, or as a study of the many ancient spiritual practices of India, nor as a mantra handbook. 'Roots of TM' offers information about Maharishi's 'missing years', from the time when his master passed away through to the gradual build up of his stated mission to spiritually regenerate the world; 'Why can't we spiritually regenerate the world through this technique?' he asked. 'Roots of TM' contains numerous quotations and rare transcripts of lectures by Guru Dev and by Maharishi. Furthermore, it details the course of events that would eventually find Maharishi lecturing at the Masquers Club, an actor's social club in Hollywood. It also tells how Maharishi came to adopt quite a businesslike attitude to money matters, and how he planned to create a headquarters high in the Himalayas where he intended to train others to teach transcendental meditation. 'Roots of TM' digs deeply into rare materials in order to give detailed profiles of the teachings of both master and disciple, thus affording readers an opportunity to make informed comparisons of both these teachers' methods and their objectives. Author Paul Mason explains: - "By the mid-1960's the term 'Transcendental Meditation' became fixed after Maharishi Mahesh Yogi spread the message of meditation far and wide across the free world. Maharishi then became very famous himself, largely due to his public association with celebrities, and in particular the world famous pop group The Beatles who in 1968 attended an advanced training course with him in India. When I traveled to India in 1970 I did so by hitch hiking from Britain, across many countries of the Middle East before finally finding myself in North India. Possibly because The Beatles had done so before me, I decided to visit the ashram of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, just for 'a cup of cocoa and a chat about philosophy', and therefore made my way to the pilgrimage town of Rishikesh, surrounded by jungle. Having crossed the River Ganges and climbed up to Maharishi Ashram, I was introduced there to a practice referred to as 'transcendental' meditation. The teaching of this 'Transcendental Meditation' or 'TM' is preceded by a short ceremony called a puja, conducted before a portrait of an Indian teacher, an ascetic called Swami Brahmananda Saraswati, known to TM meditators as 'Guru Dev'. Surprisingly, despite the fact that Swami Brahmanand Saraswati was a prominent and influential public speaker, Maharishi's organisations share but scant information about Guru Dev's life story and disclose nothing about his teachings. Little was then known about the early life of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, or about the origins and history of the teaching of Transcendental Meditation, so I set myself to uncover as much information as I could find. In the 1990's I was commissioned by Element Books to write the biography of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, which was published as 'The Maharishi: The Biography of the Man Who Gave Transcendental Meditation to the World'. Later, in 2007 an ambition was fulfilled when a 3-volume set of books on Guru Dev was published, all based on my translations of Hindi works on Swami Brahmananda. 'Roots of TM' is really the distillation of decades of research into the teachings of Maharishi, Guru Dev, and the Shankaracharya tradition."

A fascinating look at India’s remarkable impact on Western culture, this eye-opening popular history shows how the ancient philosophy of Vedanta and the mind-body methods of Yoga have profoundly affected the worldview of millions of Americans and radically altered the religious landscape. What exploded in the 1960s, following the Beatles trip to India for an extended stay with their new guru, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, actually began more than two hundred years earlier, when the United States started importing knowledge--as well as tangy spices and colorful fabrics--from Asia. The first translations of Hindu texts found their way into the libraries of John Adams and Ralph Waldo Emerson. From there the ideas spread to Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, and succeeding generations of receptive Americans, who absorbed India’s “science of consciousness” and wove it into the fabric of their lives. Charismatic teachers like Swami Vivekananda and Paramahansa Yogananda came west in waves, prompting leading intellectuals, artists, and scientists such as Aldous Huxley, Joseph Campbell, Allen Ginsberg, J. D. Salinger, John Coltrane, Dean Ornish, and Richard Alpert, aka Ram Dass, to adapt and disseminate what they learned from them. The impact has been enormous, enlarging our current understanding of the mind and body and dramatically changing how we view ourselves and our place in the cosmos. Goldberg paints a compelling picture of this remarkable East-to-West transmission, showing how it accelerated through the decades and eventually moved from the counterculture into our laboratories, libraries, and living rooms. Now physicians and therapists routinely recommend meditation, words like karma and mantra are part of our everyday vocabulary, and Yoga studios are as ubiquitous as Starbuckses. The insights of India’s sages permeate so much of what we think, believe, and do that they have redefined the meaning of life for millions of Americans—and continue to do so every day. Rich in detail and expansive in scope, American Veda shows how we have come to accept and live by the central teaching of Vedic wisdom: “Truth is one, the wise call it by many names.”

Bob Roth is one of the world's most sought-after teachers of Transcendental Meditation – a highly effective form of meditation that goes beyond mindfulness to produce a deeper and long-lasting sense of peace. Praise for Bob Roth and Strength in Stillness: 'A masterclass. I love meditation, and I love this book.' ARIANNA HUFFINGTON 'Bob Roth taught me to meditate. This book will guide you to peace.' RUSSELL BRAND 'Bob Roth's Strength in Stillness is so needed right now. It will enhance our lives.' STELLA MCCARTNEY 'I am one-thousand per cent better when I do it. Meditation Bob: He's got it!' OPRAH WINFREY 'The most engaging guide to a technique I have come to rely on.' GWYNETH PALTROW 'It is the only time I have that stillness. I just love it so much.' ELLEN DEGENERES Every day we face a growing epidemic of stress. People of every race, age and income all make the same confession: 'I am so stressed'. There is a simple practice that dramatically changes how we respond to life's stresses: the Transcendental Meditation technique. With scientifically proven benefits, improved focus, sleep, resilience, creativity and memory, this method has a direct impact. For nearly five decades, Bob Roth has helped bring Transcendental Meditation to millions of people around the world – in 35 countries across Europe, North and South America, Asia and Africa. Once a sceptic, he learned the art from Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the foremost scientist of consciousness and meditation. As Co-Founder and Executive Director of the David Lynch Foundation, Bob teaches frequently at inner-city schools, veterans' hospitals, battered women's shelters, homeless shelters and prisons. Bob is also the go-to meditation teacher for leading figures in the worlds of media and business. Beautifully presented, Strength in Stillness is a simple, classic guide to calming your mind and body. Further praise for Strength in Stillness: 'Bob's really helped us and our son, who was a stressed, anxious kid' HUGH JACKMAN 'I can't say enough about Bob Roth and TM. Stillness, true stillness, of both mind and body, is a gift.' MICHAEL J. FOX 'Transcendental Meditation is the single most important reason for any success I have had in my life. Strength in Stillness masterfully distills the essence of this technique.' RAY DALIO