One year ago Margaret Jensen*, a 56-year old businesswoman could not climb even a half flight of stairs without becoming severely short of breath. Her doctors had diagnosed a serious chronic lung-immune system disease known as sarcoidosis, and found her condition to be deteriorating.
Six months later, she was able to exercise vigorously and today says she feels completely healthy. Margaret is one of many patients who have found relief from difficult-to-treat chronic diseases by participating in Maharishi Vedic Approach to Health program for chronic disease.

According to the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), 100 million Americans suffer from at least one chronic ailment, such as arthritis, asthma, multiple sclerosis, or heart disease. There is no dispute about the limitations of conventional treatment because a disease becomes 'chronic' only when therapies are not wholly successful. Moreover, drugs, surgery and other conventional treatments often cause serious side effects. Recently front-page headlines reported another distressing JAMA study showing that fatal reactions to prescription drugs are one of the leading causes of death in the United States, ranking just behind such serious disorders a heart disease, cancer and stroke.  These numbers did not take into consideration fatalities from drug-prescribing errors or from surgery and other invasive procedures.

Such alarming statistics make clear the urgency for new knowledge— for a new approach to health care. We need to treat the root cause of disease, emphasize prevention, and have therapies that are safe as well as effective.

Fortunately, the knowledge and practical programs brought to light by Maharishi over the last 40 years form the basis for a more complete system of health care—Maharishi Vedic Approach to Health. Because it is Vedic, this comprehensive system has its basis in the total knowledge of Natural Law, and provides elements missing in conventional medicine that influence health. The most important of these elements is the most fundamental—the ability to enliven the body’s own inner intelligence which has now been made possible with the landmark discovery of Professor Tony Nader, M.D., Ph.D. (see the article by Professor Nader in this issue of Enlightenment).

The practical significance of Dr. Nader's discovery is that we can treat the body from the level of its own inner intelligence and thereby treat disease from its root cause. The principle is to awaken health from within, just as darkness is dispelled by the onset of light.

One of the most remarkable applications of Dr. Nader's discovery is the therapeutic use of Vedic sounds. According to doctors and patients alike, this is a most profound and effective component of the chronic disease program. The use of Vedic sounds also forms the basis of the new Maharishi Vedic Instant Relief program which has been shown by controlled double-blind random assignment studies to bring instantaneous relief, including relief from chronic pain. (Visit www.VedicVibration.com on the Internet for more details.)

Sample Case Histories
At age 55, Edward Thomas had been battling three chronic health problems—hypertension, Type II diabetes (non-insulin dependent), and depression. He was taking medications for all three disorders, and was experiencing debilitating side-effects that included fatigue and a worsening of depression. During his treatment at one of the centers offering the chronic disease program, he was able, under medical supervision, to stop taking the antidepressants and blood pressure medication.

Five months after completing the program, Mr. Thomas continues to be free of depression and high blood pressure, even though he no longer takes any medication for these problems. Control of his diabetes has dramatically improved using just half the previous dose of medication.

When she was 17, Sandra Phillips underwent surgery to relieve an obstruction in her right kidney. Because of kidney damage, her doctors told her that she could expect to have high blood pressure for the rest of her life. After living with this problem for 30 years, she came for a 3-week intensive program. Her treatment included the newly-introduced Vedic Sound Therapy based on Professor Nader’s discovery, which she felt played a central role in her dramatic improvement. Since returning home, her blood pressure readings have stayed in the normal range—a level she has not experienced since adolescence.

Stuart Rothenberg, M.D. is board certified in family medicine, and has been practicing for over twenty years. He is now medical director of the Center for Chronic Disorders in Dallas. During the past year, like the doctors who direct all the other clinics that offer this program, he has treated many patients with diseases that are considered to be irreversible. The doctors have been extremely gratified by the results.

"Every day for someone who is sick is a terrible burden. It is so satisfying to see my patients who had so little hope experience such dramatic turn-around in their health," Dr. Rothenberg said. "You can only imagine what this means to me as a doctor, and to someone who has been suffering for so long. It is clear that this program works and that it is a powerful medical breakthrough. Dr. Nader truly deserves his Weight-In-Gold Award."

*In the interest of privacy, the names of the patients have been changed.

Enlivening the Inner Intelligence of the Body through Maharishi Vedic Approach to Health:

• Techniques for managing health from its foundation—the field of consciousness: the TM and TM-Sidhi programs, including Yogic Flying
• The use of Vedic sounds
• A unique system of pulse diagnosis
• Vedic physiological purification treatments
• Special Maharishi Vedic herbal food supplements
• Vedic exercise and personalized diet adjusted according to pulse
• Instruction in health-promoting daily and seasonal routines
• Proper design and orientation of homes and buildings based on the knowledge of Maharishi Sthapatya Veda
• Maharishi Jyotish and Maharishi Yagya programs to neutralize negative influences and enhance positive influences from the cosmic counterparts of human physiology—the sun, moon, planets and star