Alumni Couple Supports Consciousness-Based Education in Bali

Adam and Natalie Delfiner met at MUM in 2009. Since then, they completed the Transcendental Meditation (TM) Teacher Training Course, got married, and began working as full-time teachers of the TM technique in Perth, Australia, as well as the island of Bali, Indonesia.

Adam at the graduation awards ceremony (photo by Ken West)

Adam hails from Philadelphia and studied communication and advertising at Boston University. He earned an MA and a PhD in Maharishi Vedic Science from MUM and graduated this year, receiving the Veda Vyasa Award given to the most outstanding PhD student.

His dissertation on the effects of the TM technique on obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) was based on a case study of his own experience overcoming OCD and a study of 11 other people with OCD, who also benefited greatly from the practice of the TM technique. “I decided to choose this topic because of my own personal experience struggling with OCD,” said Adam,“Once I came back to my regular TM practice, it completely transformed my life.”

Natalie came to MUM from Perth, Australia, because she was working on her PhD in “Art and Consciousness in Light of Maharishi Vedic Science” at Edith Cowan University. After taking one class in the Science of Creative Intelligence, she enrolled in the Maharishi Vedic Science master’s program, which helped her complete her PhD dissertation.

The Delfiners now live in Perth, Australia, where they teach the Transcendental Meditation technique and participate in the Enlightened Leadership International program. Last summer they held the first Experience the Self course in Bali with 47 participants, and they hope to continue this tradition.

Participants of the 2015 Bali Experience the Self course

They have also organized several conferences in Bali on Consciousness-Based education featuring faculty members from MUM and Maharishi School. Government and education officials, school principals, teachers, and students attended these conferences, many of whom learned the TM technique and decided to introduce it in their schools.

“The best part of sharing Maharishi’s Consciousness-Based programs in Bali is working with our family of TM teachers there: Wayan, Hengki, Ayu, and Anita,” said Natalie. “Everything we do for the World Peace Bali Schools Project (WPBSP) is under their direction. They are leading the way, and with their blessings we are there to support them however we can.”

In the future, Adam and Natalie would like to offer the knowledge of Maharishi AyurVeda to people in Australia. “We have a strong desire to help bring TM and Maharishi’s technologies to people who are struggling with mental and physical health,” said Adam.