September 2000

Opening the Door to Life
By Paul Schaefer

Jackie Kettleman’s smile and infectious energy light up a room. It’s amazing to think she’s recovering from cancer. She’s convinced that her daily practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique is helping her in a big way

Jackie and 34 others are learning the TM technique as part of a study examining its effects on cancer patients’ longevity and quality of life. The research is taking place at The Wellness Community of Kenwood, a cancer support group.

As a local TV reporter and anchorman, I had interviewed The Wellness Community’s Executive Director Chris Conlan for television news stories in the past. Chris knew I taught the TM technique and that I used Maharishi Vedic Medicine. As it turned out, she took a special interest in the Maharishi Rejuvenation program and decided to try it for herself at The Raj, an in-residence health center in Fairfield, Iowa.

Chris was profoundly moved by the balance and purification she experienced at The Raj and was convinced the TM technique could provide benefit to patients at The Wellness Community. When Chris returned to Cincinnati, she applied for and received a generous research grant from the Sisters of Charity Ministries Foundation to study the effects of TM on cancer patients.

The only glitch in implementing the study came when we created the control group—people who wouldn’t be learning the TM technique. In the face of overwhelming scientific evidence that Transcendental Meditation would improve their mental and physical health, not one person was willing to be part of the control group!

Cancer patients live with a huge burden of stress in their life. They not only have the disease, but they also have the anxiety that comes with the diagnosis. Jackie says that since learning the TM technique she’s sleeping better, her memory has improved and she’s more focused. She feels less angry and less worried. And she is not alone. Many people have reported a greater sense of well being, more optimism and less stress. More than one person has told me they wish they’d learned TM much earlier.

Even at this early stage in the study, the TM program has been a shining star. Everybody wants to be a part of what we are doing. It’s as if we’ve given these people a glimmer of hope—more than a glimmer—it’s like we have opened a door back to life for them.

Paul Schaefer, who is a Governor of the Age of Enlightenment, owns a television syndication company and lives in Cincinnati, Ohio.