—INNER PEACE for OUTER PEACE for WORLD PEACE—
WORLD MEDITATION DAY PROCLAIMED
BY THE ENTIRE UNITED NATIONS
ALL MEDITATORS WORLDWIDE INVITED TO JOIN
MEDIA CONTACT: Bob Roth—+1-212-809-7000; rroth@tm.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: New York City, 18 December 2024.
All 193 member states of the UN General Assembly have unanimously proclaimed Saturday, 21 December as World Meditation Day.
Tony Nader, MD, PhD, MARR, president of Maharishi International University and a globally recognized Vedic scholar and successor to the renowned Maharishi Mahesh Yogi as world head of the Transcendental Meditation® organizations, has been invited by the core group of organizing UN member states to be the only keynote speaker at the UN’s official celebratory event in New York City on Friday, 20 December 2024.
To celebrate the UN’s timely initiative, Dr. Nader will lead a non-stop program of meditation that will circle the Earth on World Meditation Day.
Dr. Nader says, “We expect that millions of meditators will participate.”
AN INVITATION FROM DR. NADER TO ALL MEDITATORS WORLDWIDE
“Let’s all celebrate this historic World Meditation Day! Find out what it’s like to meditate together with millions of others! Be an important part of a powerful, joyful wave of coherence and harmony in world consciousness!”
ALL MEDITATORS INVITED TO BEGIN MEDITATING AT
8:00 AM AND 5:00 PM LOCAL TIME ON 21 DECEMBER
Dr. Nader explains how this very first global meditation will work:
“I invite meditators in all parts of the world to begin your morning meditation at 8:00 AM local time. As the globe turns, hour by hour, time zone by time zone, each of us will start our morning meditation at 8:00 AM. And, later the same day, each of us will start our evening meditation at 5:00 PM local time.
“This first global meditation will begin in New Zealand at 8:00 AM on 21 December, which corresponds to 2:00 PM on 20 December in New York City—exactly the time when World Meditation Day will be celebrated at the special UN event. An hour later, in the next time zone to the west of New Zealand, others will begin their morning meditation; and so on all around the world. Then, at 5:00 PM local time, the world’s meditators will begin their afternoon meditation. By including both morning and afternoon meditations and moving westward hour by hour with the sun, World Meditation Day will actually last for about 32 hours, concluding after 5:00 PM on 21 December in Hawaii.
“Whatever meditation you practice, I urge you to join. Governments, spiritual leaders, practitioners of any meditation—all are invited to participate. And please share this with your friends and on your social media: WorldMeditationDay.world.
“In this simple way, a wave of harmony and positivity will circle our planet as together we all celebrate World Meditation Day.”
SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH CONFIRMS THE POWER OF COLLECTIVE TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION TO CREATE PEACE
Dr. Nader is a Harvard- and MIT-trained medical doctor and neuroscientist. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller, Consciousness Is All There Is.
Dr. Nader says, “It is very well known that Transcendental Meditation brings peace to the individual by enlivening individual consciousness from its very basis in pure consciousness at the source of thought. 750 rigorously scientific studies over more than 50 years, conducted at over 200 universities and independent research institutions in more that 100 countries, have repeatedly shown dramatic and lasting improvements in both physical and mental health from regular TM practice. Of these, 118 studies—54 of which have been published in peer-reviewed scholarly journals or professional conference proceedings—have confirmed the power of Transcendental Meditation and the advanced TM-Sidhi® program, including Yogic Flying®, to reduce negative, destructive tendencies such as crime, violence, accidents, and war and strengthen positive trends in societies ranging from small towns to the entire globe.
“The research tells us that collective practice of the TM and the TM-Sidhi program is the quickest, most effective, and most easily sustained way to bring peace to entire societies and even to the whole world,” Dr. Nader says.
SPECIAL WEBSITES CREATED FOR WORLD MEDITATION DAY
As World Meditation Day unfolds, all meditators are also encouraged to go to https://WorldMeditationDay.world and https://youtube.com/@WorldMeditationDay to see video of groups meditating in many parts of the world, learn about the scientific research on Transcendental Meditation, and hear personal stories of the remarkable transformations that meditation brings to individuals and entire societies.
—ENDS—
BACKGROUNDER
WORLD MEDITATION DAY, 21 DECEMBER 2024
Media Contact: Bob Roth—+1-212-809-7000; rroth@tm.org
WHY AND HOW “WORLD MEDITATION DAY” IS HAPPENING
Recognizing that meditation is now practiced worldwide for the many benefits it brings to individuals and societies, a core group of six member states of the United Nations—Liechtenstein, Andorra, Mexico, Nepal, India, and Sri Lanka—tabled a resolution and on 6 December 2024 the entire General Assembly unanimously proclaimed 21 December as World Meditation Day, with 73 co-sponsoring member states “from all regions of the world, underlining the relevance and universality of meditation in the 21st century.”
The core group decided to celebrate the initiative at a special event in the early afternoon of Friday, 20 December 2024, open only to UN diplomats.
Tony Nader, MD, PhD, MARR, was invited as the only official, non-diplomat speaker to deliver the keynote address at the UN’s celebratory event. Senior diplomats from the core group will also deliver statements; and Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, will address the event via video message.
Dr. Nader has invited all meditators in the world to celebrate the UN’s bold initiative by joining in a global meditation on 21 December, “so people are meditating throughout World Meditation Day.”
FULFILLING THE CENTRAL PURPOSE OF THE UNITED NATIONS
Dr. Nader says, “At the very beginning of its preamble, the Constitution of UNESCO famously states, ‘Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be established.’ Now, the 193 nations of the UN have resolved to use the power of meditation to do this. I invite every meditator in the world to take a first step in establishing world peace at 8:00 AM in your local time and again at 5:00 PM on 21 December 2024, World Meditation Day.”
THE MOST RECENT DEMONSTRATION OF THE POWER
OF COLLECTIVE MEDITATION
In January 2024, Dr. Nader led a group of more than 10,000 practitioners of Transcendental Meditation® in Hyderabad, southcentral India. Those experts in the TM and TM-Sidhi® program came from more than 140 countries. They meditated and practiced Yogic Flying® together for two weeks. Their initiative has now inspired groups of 10,000 to begin training in this program and be established permanently in several locations in India, two places in Mexico, and more locations in other countries as well.
THE GOAL: TO HAVE PERMANENT GROUPS
AND FINALLY ACHIEVE WORLD PEACE
Dr. Nader says, “Our goal is to have large, permanent groups of experts in the TM and TM-Sidhi program, including Yogic Flying, in many locations—in schools, colleges, and universities; in workplaces; in the military—wherever people routinely come together. This will produce enough coherence in our collective world consciousness that violence of all kinds will subside. Then, collective meditation will not be for just one day but will be happening 365 days every year, and our world will at last be at peace.”
Media Contact: Bob Roth—+1-212-809-7000; rroth@tm.org