Health News: Top Stories

What meditation did for me: A war vet's story
by Leila Levinson and Jerry Yellin

The Huffington Post Translate This Article
30 October 2011

On 30 October 2011 The Huffington Post reported: Staggering numbers of military veterans will need mental health care, writes journalist Leila Levinson. With the Veterans Administration already overwhelmed, 'our society needs to step up to the plate to make available the expertise and wisdom we have amongst us to help these women and men,' she says. 'An example of such a resource is the community of practitioners of Transcendental Meditation, which has enabled many veterans to heal from their invisible wounds.' It is a joy for Global Good News service to feature this news, which indicates the success of the life-supporting programmes Maharishi has designed to bring fulfilment to the field of health.

Ms Levinson presents in her Huffington Post article an account written by World War II veteran Jerry Yellin, 'which much more eloquently than I could describes how Transcendental Meditation provided the relief from his trauma and the recovery of his spirit'.

Mr Yellin, now 87, was trained as a fighter pilot and witnessed the horrors of war in Iwo Jima. After the war, he came home and struggled for the next 30 years with the effects of traumatic stress. 'My wife suffered terribly, and I never thought there was anything wrong with me. I was told I had battle fatigue, shell shock; forget it, the war is over. I couldn't forget it.

'Then in 1975 I learned Transcendental Meditation, and my life changed dramatically. In just a few months I became comfortable with myself, more settled, more responsible, more successful as a person and a wage earner. Our lives changed, all for the better.'

Today, with 'hundreds of thousands' of returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan who need relief from post-traumatic stress, but with insufficient VA psychologists and mainly expensive drug treatments being offered, 'We can do better,' he says.

'All of us have the ability to sit quietly for 20 minutes a day, twice a day,' Mr Yellin says, allowing 'our brain to settle into a deeper level of consciousness, our bodies into a quiet rest that relieves stress. And our veterans are stressed out.

'To that end we have started Operation Warrior Wellness, a division of the David Lynch Foundation.' The foundation is holding a benefit Dec. 3 at The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, featuring Ellen DeGeneres, Russell Brand, Russell Simmons and David Lynch, 'all whom use TM in their lives. The funds raised will be used to teach Transcendental Meditation to veterans and their families and deserving young people. With the help of our fellow citizens, we can teach TM to thousands of veterans and help them to help themselves return to a normal life.'

Click here to read the full article on HuffingtonPost.com.

© Copyright 2011 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
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