Update from Basma Abu Sway – National Director of Palestine and ARO Ambassador

• TM PRACTITIONERS
  TM instructions: 14 people learned TM at Al Najjah University Hospital in Nablus after Basma was invited by the Mental Health Department to give a talk there.

TM IN THE AL JALAZOON REFUGEE CAMP
I am continuing to teach TM in the Al Jalazoon refugee camp. Thanks to the Palestine Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) there is a positive public awareness of the Transcendental Meditation program and its beneficial effects for the individual and society.

REACHING OUT IN PALESTINE
I am continuing to work with my contacts in In-ash Al Usra Charitable society, Friends of the Islamic Orphanage Association and Massar International to introduce TM which will help them address the daily challenges that we face here in Palestine.

GOALS
For 2023, I will work with our International Donors to raise the $25,000 needed to keep my TM Center open and operational. This TM Center has given me the opportunity to continue to offer TM to 100’s of people every year.
Wishing health, happiness, and a prosperous 2023 to all.
Jai Guru Dev
Basma and all our TM Meditators in Palestine
 
 

1. We organized a one-day strategic planning and brainstorming session in February to expand our program and to reach more people. Fourteen beautiful Meditators and Sidhas with very rich professional experiences and backgrounds participated actively with much devotion and interest to support the development and sustainability of our program. The idea was the importance of utilizing our extensive network of meditators and their resources. This session was facilitated by a meditator who works as a strategic planning freelance consultant. There were wonderful discussions on the constraints we face and opportunities, and at the end we developed recommendations for the coming two years with the aim of being more established and reaching our goal of an enlightened and invincible Palestine.
2. We organized a two-day residence course with visiting TM teachers Shirley O’leary and Kevin Blair from Ireland. Ten Meditators and one Sidha attended. It was held in a very beautiful newly renovated hostel of the old city quarters of Dahrieh, south of the West Bank area, which gave a special atmosphere. It was a very blissful and satisfying experience for all the participants.

Testimonials
This is what Shirley wrote: “Our residence course in Ad-Dhahiriya was absolutely wonderful. The course participants were very happy. The meditations were deep and profound. That was the best part of the course. Also, Basma did a marvelous job doing asanas with the students every programme. They will have no problem continuing asanas at home should they wish. And I was really impressed to find that pranayama is always part of their home programme.

The location was unforgettable for all of us. Our accommodation, meeting rooms etc. were in the old city. You will see from the photos how beautiful, how ancient it is. We felt privileged to have such a special course venue that gave a sense of Palestine and the long history of its people. The Palestinian course participants loved being there and were delighted to share their heritage with us.

Last, but not least, the food was delicious. My strongest impression is of the meditators we met. They are so welcoming, so genuine. You feel part of a family. They have an innocence and huge appreciation of TM and the knowledge that comes with it. They are really loveable, bright, intelligent, creative, and very well educated.

I can only wish with all my heart for peace, harmony and enlightenment for these lovely people and their country. A big thank you to Basma for making it all happen! Jai Guru Dev.” – Shirley

Another testimony by Aisha Odeh, Meditator: “These were two beautiful days, full of sweet energy, something like a pure water in the bottom of a mountain. I personally feel as if this fountain is permanent. I will continue to drink from its pure and sweet water. How do we get these things? I don’t know! Still, I touch it consciously as I touch the fixed things around me. I feel with everyone here in the course as my own family that I belong to. Let this waterfall of light always flowing in our hearts.”

Another participant, Huda, wrote: “Thanks for giving me the chance to join and to experience such a blissful time, this was one of the most fabulous and comforting trips in a long time. You all gave me a positive and beautiful energy that I will keep for the rest of the year in my residence abroad away from the warmth of my homeland. Much Love to all of you.”

3. I joined the Global Women’s Organization for Transcendental Meditation for a special one-day course for Arabic-speaking women on the 19th of March 2022.

The theme was “The Joy of Maharishi Vedic Astrology” with Dr. Ann Crowell as the special honored guest. In addition, we are continuing with our other activities such as the weekly book club readings and discussion, weekly introductory lectures, frequent personal and group checking, reaching out to different organizations such as banks, youth organizations, community centers etc.

“My wish is that Palestine can soon have a beautiful Maharishi Peace Palace for everyone to come and learn TM.” —Basma

PALESTINE TM ACTIVITIES Read full report
Read the beautiful long article CLICK HERE

Initiations
70 people learned TM in 2021—This year more TM Meditators attended both group and personal checking, including those who learned TM many years ago and stopped their TM practice.

TM in the media
I was invited to talk about TM on “Palestine Public Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) Morning Show” and many other radio and online stations.
Knowledge Courses, Webinars, WPA’s

• 15 TM Meditators enjoyed Dr. Tony Nader’s Weekly Book Club where we read and discussed his new book, One Unbounded Ocean of Consciousness.

• In August 2021, Palestinian ladies joined an online WPA organized by Raj Rajeshwari Nancy Diamond and Mother of the Domain Susan Hamza. Women from Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, and Kuwait joined together online to enjoy the WPA. Dr. Tony Nader was the honored speaker and addressed the group—everyone enjoyed and appreciated his inspiring presentation.
• Several Women’s Webinars were held online including: Maharishi Ayurveda, the TM-Sidhis program including Yogic Flying, and Women’s Health.
• Online Knowledge courses were enjoyed by many Palestinians including: the Science of Creative Intelligence (SCI) course led by Dr Bevan Morris and Dr Ashly Deans, Total Knowledge No.1, 2 and 3 with Raja Peter Warburton, and the Bhagavad Gita course with Raja John Bright.

Future plans
I am planning a TM-Sidhis Course course in the Dead Sea/Jordan area mainly for Palestinians and Jordanians—TM Meditators from other Arab countries are most welcome. The first block is planned for 14 January 2022 (two weeks) followed by the Yogic Flying block on 14 February 2022. (Course dates may be changed due to Covid restrictions.)

“My wish is that Palestine can soon have a beautiful Maharishi Peace Palace for everyone to come and learn TM.” —Basma

Progress in our Palestine TM centre in the City of Ramallah:
Last month, August 2021, we had the opportunity to join the online WPA with Mother Divine, organised and led by our dear RR Nancy. This special WPA was organised mainly for the Arabic-speaking countries, including Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Kuwait, and others. All women practicing TM and the Sidhi program in addition to governors were invited to join this WPA.

MAHARAJA ADHIRAJ RAJARAAM (Dr. Tony Nader, MD, PhD) was the special honoured guest, who spoke to us in Arabic. This was very much appreciated and enjoyed by the ladies.

• SCI course completed successfully
• Continuing with TM teaching
• Spreading the word about TM, as I have been invited to talk in the media

After a long absence due to injuries, I have returned to our TM centre, resuming what I like and enjoy the most: teaching TM and group meditations.

SOME LOVELY EXPERIENCES
Dr. Hanan, an educator, (2 years meditating) said: “I am grateful to this technique very much, it saved my life and helped me to get to know myself and appreciate it. Before learning TM, I rarely slept more than 2 hours a night for many years, and 72 hours after learning, I was able to sleep at least 6 hours a night. I believe that I am in my way to enlightenment. A lot of transformation is taking place in my life, and I am a much happier and satisfied person. I talk about my experience with TM to everyone, my friends and colleagues and encourage them to come to the centre and learn”.

Aysheh, a well-known and respected writer, with several international awards, learned TM about 5 years ago. “From the first moment that I leaned TM, I felt transformation and change to a great degree. Before that I was living a very difficult situation, almost “tragic”, and the moment I learned and started practicing, I left that almost depressive situation, and moved on to a new status. I can say that I am now active, writing again, doing creative work and enjoying a social life. I could say that all my life, since I was a child, I always searched for self-empowerment, internal peace and happiness”.

Amal learned TM about 4 years ago. She is very much into knowledge, has taken SCI and Total Knowledge courses and is joining the weekly Bhagavad-Gita course: “TM is a turning point in my life, I just enjoy my program and look forward to it. During meditation and afterwards I feel the flow of loving energy between and among those around me. I also enjoy the knowledge and find myself more and more into it. I look forward to the TM-Sidhi course. Hopefully we can have one soon in Palestine or the region”.

Noor, a young meditator who learned TM a year ago, has amazing and happy experiences: “I would like to say, as I always say to my friends, how much I am benefiting from TM, how beautiful it is. It brings much happiness to my life. I feel grace and the responsibility to tell everyone about it and to encourage them to learn. I really wish that everyone learns TM, it is a precious and blissful gift. I am a naturally happy person, and TM helps balancing my moods. It gives me a feeling of lightness as if I am flying”.

Ahmad, a young meditator who learned TM a year ago, said: “All I want to say is that I am grateful to you and to TM in every moment and in every meditation. I am very regular in my program and lately TM helped me a lot, as I feel that I might helped it (TM)”.

Gaza Strip: There is interest in TM from the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip, but unfortunately due to travel restrictions they cannot attend our courses. We hope that in the future there will be possibilities to do so.

Referrals: Referrals continue to be the number one source of inspiration for people to start learning TM. Soon I will be teaching 5 people, all of them referred by meditating friends.

WPA with Mother Divine: By invitation from Mother Divine, through our dearest RR Nancy, and in coordination with Susan Hamza MoD, and Nada Haidar, Sidhi Administrator, we are organizing a WPA on the 6 & 7 of August for women from Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Arab Emirates, and other countries. Maharaja Dr. Tony Nader will be our special honoured guest speaker and will address the WPA in Arabic.

Courses and group meditation: We are enjoying presential and online group meditations, TM knowledge courses as organized by ICO, and weekly international knowledge meetings hosted by the Lebanese TM organization.

Guru Purnima And finally, we have enjoyed the Guru Purnima celebrations and have watched the International Symposium on the role of Consciousness in solving the World’s problems: Making life work for everyone.

Dr. Basma Abu Sway – Ambassador and National Director of Palestine reports on TM activities

Taste of Utopia 2.0 stabilizes and sets the direction
Our TM group here joined the TOU event, although it came in the middle of an exceedingly difficult time, which made it a little challenging, transforming change into the path of enlightenment. We believe we are much closer than ever before in our recent history to achieving our full integrity as a society and nation.

Its effect will be different from 1.0 as it will contribute to a shift in awareness on a global level, and this will bring change and peace around the world.

Some testimonials:
Amal – a lady who learned TM around 4 years ago wrote:
‘I felt that the energy flowing through the meditation sessions had an impact on the collective consciousness, meaning that we would soon feel the change on a personal level. During and after meditation, I notice a flow of loving energy between those around me, and an energy of activity.’

‘Despite the current events in the Palestinian arena and the world, I have noticed a change in how we deal with events, even by our people in Gaza and Jerusalem, as they deal with these events as an approach to change and influence in the world instead of presenting themselves as victims. This in itself is a path of changing individual awareness.’

Hiba and Fairous, relatively new meditators working in the same organization said:
‘We have been going through a very difficult situation in our office in addition to the general situation in Palestine. So, I and my colleagues agreed to start practicing our TM program together in the office first thing in the morning. This was a very uplifting experience. Work after that seemed much easier.’

1. Online super-radiance group continues along with other ME and GMT+2 countries.
2. Despite the Covid 19 situation (3rd and most aggressive phase in terms of infections and deaths) we continue with our TM activities – initiations and follow-up meetings (about 20 people learned the TM technique in the last 2 months).

3. Knowledge courses:

• 6 people (2 sidhas and 4 meditators) joined and completed the Total Knowledge and Higher States of Consciousness Course part 1, and plan to join part 2 with Raja Peter Warburton.
• Continuing with the Bhagavad Gita course with Raja John Bright.
• Joining the weekly meetings and lectures given by International TM experts and hosted by our dear Raja Omar and Susan Ma of Lebanon.

Dr. Basma Abu Sway – National Director of Palestine

We want to teach the Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique to more people in Palestine to increase coherence, establish peace, and bring enlightenment to Palestine, the Middle East region, and the world.

• To reach out and provide TM scholarships to the at-risk population, i.e: people with PTSD such as prisoners who were imprisoned for seeking freedom for themselves and their country, medical staff, social workers, women victims of domestic violence, in addition to young professionals.
• To organize a TM-Sidhi program course including yogic flying.
• To delve deeply into knowledge.

January 2020

TM-initiations continuously increasing in Palestine. Read a report from National Director Basma Abu Sway

• First time teaching 20 persons who are employees at an IT company, between the age 23 to 40 and who are mostly young computer science Engineers, in addition to other administrative jobs. We hope more employees will join the training in 2020, as they are asking about it.
• New doors are opening in front of us, such as UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Work Agency). Some of the managers attended an earlier seminar with Raja Kingsley and Leslie, this stimulated the following:
• I gave an introductory talk to 25 social workers and mental health workers in Dec 2019. All of them signed up for the course. Now we wait for the training Unit at UNRWA to decide to contribute to the the training cost, if not we will offer special scholarships for those who are keen.

• We join the online group meditation twice daily since it started with Lebanon and other ME countries, in addition to joining the monthly ME Coherence days.
• Thanks dear Lenanon for your support

This picture shows Basma teaching in Palestine.