MEDITATE LA
TM SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE
MEDITATE LA
TM SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE
To honor our founder David Lynch in these perilous times for Los Angeles we are partnering with MFUSA to establish the
In the wake of the horrific LA wildfires, more than one hundred thousand Angelenos have been displaced and are desperately seeking help to rebuild their lives.
In addition to rebuilding homes, schools and communities, we must address the epidemic of toxic stress and trauma before the far more dangerous PTSD sets in for these adults and children. This is crucial to the resilience and recovery of Los Angeles.
The day after the Eaton fire destroyed our house and everything we owned, I woke up and meditated. My heart was broken. My mind was in shock. But my body knew what I needed (TM). I’m in deep grief, but I feel grounded. My body is steady. My mornings feel calm, and that helps me be present—for myself, for my family, and for my community. I’m just grateful to have this bit of peace to hold on to.”
-Carola Secada, LA Resident
For more than 20 years, the Institute for Mental Health and Resilience of the David Lynch Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, has successfully delivered the evidence-based, trauma-healing Transcendental Meditation ® (TM) technique to several targeted populations in Los Angeles, including Firefighters, Police Officers, EMTs, Healthcare Workers, Domestic Violence Survivors and Familes in need during natural disasters. Extensive research, including numerous randomized controlled trials, has documented the benefits of TM for reducing symptoms of PTS, stress, anxiety, depression, substance use disorder and hypertension.
If we can identify major risk factors that cause PTSD and treat them before they have the chance to develop into full-blown posttraumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, we can improve the quality of life for police officers and perhaps other emergency responders, and better help them deal with the stressors of their work," according to researcher Charles Marmar, MD, the Lucius N. Littauer Professor of Psychiatry
atNYU Grossman School of Medicine.
In a city that had already been experiencing epidemic levels of stress, Los Angeles is now staggering under the weight of the trauma resulting from the 2025 wildfires.
Even prior to thousands of LA community members being displaced by the fires, the city of Los Angeles was dealing with an unprecedented mental health crises in the wake of the Covid epidemic. The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) hired more mental health counselors, as students and staff grappled with toxic stress. Today that crisis is even worse and the effects can last for years to come. Early-age trauma scars the brain and fuels poor academic performance, sickness, substance use disorder (SUD) and violent behavior.
America’s first responders experience traumatic incidents on the job everyday and the results are devastating. We lose more first responders to suicide than we do in the line of duty. In California where first responders are responding to unprecedented wildfires the mental health strain is even worse, increasing rates of PTSD, addiction, suicide and attrition.
According to the National Institute of Health (NIH) the psychological impact of a natural disaster like the LA fires begins immediately after the event and may persist for years – nearly one-third of disaster-affected people may experience serious negative mental health consequences such as PTSD, anxiety, depression and addiction.
More than 400 peer-reviewed published studies on TM have demonstrated TM to be a highly effective intervention for addressing PTSD, anxiety, depression and addiction.
TM is a simple, easy-to-learn, effortless technique, which allows the body to gain a unique state of profound rest and relaxation while the mind simultaneously settles down to a state of inner calm and wakefulness—without concentration or effort. The TM technique is practiced sitting comfortably for 15 to 20 minutes twice a day. To date, more than ten million people of all ages, nationalities, and religions have learned the technique.
The National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense have awarded nearly $35 million in grants to research the benefits of TM on posttraumatic stress, anxiety, burnout, and resilience.
PTSD
Anxiety
Depression
Insomnia
Addiction
Suicidality
Mental Health
Resilience
Performance
Focus
Energy
Memory
A sustained commitment for addressing our national crisis of posttraumatic stress (PTS), substance use disorder, and suicide among law enforcement officers, firefighters, and other first responders
America's first responders experience traumatic incidents on the job everyday and the results are devastating. In California where first responders were already dealing with year-after-year unprecedented wildfires, the recent catastrophic fires in Los Angeles have pushed the mental health strain to a tipping point.
We now lose more first responders in the U.S. to suicide than we do in the line of duty.
After a disaster, healing work needs to be focused on the here and now. Transcendental Meditation takes place in the here and now and fosters increased presence and grounding, decreasing stress responses. Practices like TM that reduce anxiety lessen overwhelming stress responses that might make us more at risk of developing PTSD or other long-term psychological problems."
Nicola S. Persky, LMFT
LA Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
Tens of thousands of LA families have been traumatized by being displaced from their homes.
Healing the traumatized brain is a key element of individual and community healing and must be woven into public health efforts to interrupt violence, build strong neighborhoods and recover from natural disasters like the LA fires.
For 20 years, the David Lynch Foundation has partnered with LA government and civic organizations to bring the evidence-based Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique at no cost to under-resourced adults and children to reduce stress, heal trauma, improve cognitive functioning, and help prevent crime and violence. Extensive published research has documented these wide-ranging benefits to mental and physical health.
"As a school psychologist I have used TM to help me stay clear, focused and centered while counseling students in this time of quarantine. It’s helped me let go of the overwhelming feelings that can emotionally engulf me during my sessions with students and families during these trying times."
Hundreds of peer-reviewed studies have been conducted on the benefits of TM at over 100 independent universities and medical schools during the past 50 years. The National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense have provided nearly $35 million to fund research on TM and stress, heart health, and PTSD. The most recent third-party validation of this research came in January 2020 when the Journal of the American Medical Association published an article on the current state of VA treatments noting that TM is as effective as the VA’s first line recommended treatments for PTSD. This was based, in part, on the findings of a $2.4 million DoD-funded randomized control trial at the San Diego VA which the New England Journal of Medicine’s “Journal Watch” listed as one of 2019’s top 10 psychiatry publications. This study of 203 veterans with PTSD compared TM with Prolonged Exposure (PE), one of the VAs first line treatments for PTS, and a PTSD education active control. The study was published in The Lancet Psychiatry in November 2018 and found TM to be at least as effective as PE and significantly more effective than a PTSD education control group.
Nidich S, et al. Non-trauma-focused meditation versus exposure therapy in veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder: a randomized controlled trial. The Lancet Psychiatry 2018 5:975-986.
TM decreased multiple features of post-traumatic stress disorder in US war veterans, with reductions indepression, anxiety, insomnia, severity of delayed stress syndrome, emotional numbness, alcohol consumption, family problems, and difficulty in obtaining employment.
Rosenthal JZ, et al. Effects of Transcendental Meditation in veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom with posttraumatic stress disorder: a pilot study. Military Medicine 2011; 176:626-630.
TM practice decreased PTSD symptoms in war veterans to below clinical levels after one month, withfurther reductions after three months. The study found those veterans who practiced TM twice a day (recommended schedule) had a 30% greater decline in symptoms of PTSD than veterans who practiced TM only once a day, a dose-response effect that suggests causality.
Herron RE and Rees B. The Transcendental Meditation Program's Impact on the Symptoms of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder of Veterans: An Uncontrolled Pilot Study. Military Medicine 2017;1:1-7.
Active duty military service members with PTSD or anxiety who learned TM showed reduced medication usage and an overall decrease in severity of psychological symptoms.
Barnes VA, et al. Transcendental Meditation and psychotropic medication use among active duty military service members with anxiety and PTSD. Military Medicine 2016; 181:56-63.
Peer-reviewed published studies have documented that TM practice ameliorates the symptoms of burnout as well as the following effects:
Meta-analyses have shown that TM reduces anxiety and PTSD to a significantly greater degree than other forms of meditation or relaxation. Studies have also shown that TM produces clinically meaningful results often within a few days to two weeks.
A 3-Month Randomized Controlled Trial
at Duke University Medical Center
Joshi SP, et al. Efficacy of Transcendental Meditation to Reduce Stress Among Health Care Workers: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Network Open. 2022;5(9):e2231917. JACEP Open 2021;2(6):e12619. 2
A 3-Month Trial at Brigham & Women’s Hospital,
Harvard Medical School
Azizoddin D, et al. Heal the Healers: A pilot study evaluating the feasibility, acceptability, and exploratory efficacy of a Transcendental Meditation intervention for emergency clinicians during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. JACEP Open 2021;2(6):e12619. 2
This session provides an introduction to the evidence-based TM technique and an overview of the structure and content of the First Responders Program.
The participant is instructed by a certified TM instructor in how to meditate correctly for maximum benefit in daily life. TM instructions will be carried out in partnership with affiliated institutions.
These seminars help stabilize correct practice of the TM technique and deepen participants’ intellectual understanding of its mechanics and effects.
Deeper knowledge on a range of topics, including:
Following the three phases of the First Responders Program, a lifetime of individual and group refresher courses is available for free, remotely or in-person, through more than 200 TM Teaching Centers within the United States.