About Us

Our Mission

The mission of TM® for Veterans is to heal the effects of military-related stress and to promote resilience and peak performance among service personnel and their families so they are better able to thrive and unfold their full potential through practice of the Transcendental Meditation® (TM) technique.

Activities

  1. Work with the Veterans Administration, Department of Defense and non-profits serving veterans, to design and deliver programs that empower and strengthen veterans and active-duty military personnel.
  2. Promote awareness of the value of the Transcendental Meditation technique as a program to develop resilience and higher level functioning as well as reduce post-traumatic stress (PTS), depression, insomnia and other stress-related ailments that afflict veterans and active-duty military personnel in their personal and professional lives.
  3. Encourage and support research on the effectiveness of TM as a treatment for PTS and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and as a program to develop resilience and higher level functioning.
  4. Identify and train teachers of TM to service military-related programs.

Background

TM for Veterans is the branch of the national TM organization (Maharishi Foundation, USA) focused specifically on providing Transcendental Meditation to the military community. TM for Veterans was created in 2013 and, since that time, has provided instruction to more than 1500 veterans and military personnel, most with PTSD. TM for Veterans works closely with the David Lynch Foundation (DLF), which raises money to provide scholarships for wounded warriors to learn TM and advocates for the use of TM with the military and at-risk populations. TM for Veterans provides the teachers to conduct DLF programs.

Staff

Brian Rees, MD, Colonel (ret), Executive Director

Dr. Rees received his medical degree and master’s degree in public health from Tulane University and is a board-certified family physician. He retired from the US Army Reserve as a colonel after 37 years of commissioned service. A graduate of the US Army War College, Dr. Rees is a veteran of five tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, and spent eight years in hospital commands. He has also researched and written about the promotion of soldier resilience and resolution of PTSD, most recently as lead author of two published studies about the effects of Transcendental Meditation practice in resolving post-traumatic stress in Congolese refugees. Dr. Rees directs all operations of TM for Veterans, promotes visibility and acceptability of the application of TM for PTSD and resilience, and cultivates, implements and expands partnerships with VSOs, the VA, DoD and others for both TM programs and research. He can be reached at 805-781-0525 or brees@tm.org.

 

James Grant, Ed.D., Director of Programs

Dr. Grant has a doctorate in education from Harvard University and has been a TM teacher for more than 40 years. He taught on a Fulbright in China for a year and a half and has been professor of education and dean at Maharishi University of Management for sixteen years. Over the last 12 years he has focused on implementation, oversight, and evaluation of institutional programs implementing Transcendental Meditation for the Center for Wellness and Achievement in Education, the David Lynch Foundation, and TM for Veterans. He is responsible for setting up and overseeing all institutional programs for veterans, as well as supporting evaluation and research efforts. He can be reached at 831-325-7637 or jgrant@tm.org.

 

June Norton, Administrative Director

Ms. Norton has been a TM teacher for more than 40 years and has held numerous administrative leadership positions in the TM organization. As Administrative Director of TM for Veterans, she connects individual veterans and active duty personnel seeking to learn Transcendental Meditation with the appropriate TM teacher, serves as a liaison to TM teachers working with veterans, ensuring they have appropriate training and access to latest best practices and materials, and provides administrative support for all TM for Veterans activities. She can be reached at 973-727-2055 or TMforVeterans@tm.org.

“Nothing worked—psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, nothing. The first time I did the Transcendental Meditation session, it felt like a rock had been lifted off of me….With TM my life changed instantly for the better.”
—OEF Vet

“TM is not changing who I am. It is bringing that person back to who I was. It’s like you’re hitting a reset button on your mind. You’re bringing all the turbulence, all the stress, all that anxiety we wake up feeling. You hit a reset button and everything gets back down to where it is supposed to be.”
—EOF Vet