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In the Fall 2014, the new batch of doctoral students embarked upon their research journey. In the first year of the program they dive deep into the MVS knowledge under the guidance of the professors. In the second year, the individual research begins. We’d like to present the PhD in Vedic Science program through the new students and their impressions of the program.


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Isabelle teaching music

I had the opportunity to be Isabelle’s classmate during the first-year coursework of the PhD program. It was a great joy to watch her class presentations, which always combined creative expression with deep insights into the deep mechanics of the topic at hand. Isabelle radiates elegance, grace, sweetness and subtlety, but don’t let her fragile looks deceive you — she has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do!

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Receiving an award for excellence in teaching, presented by two MIU students

Isabelle has always been fascinated by the human mind and its ability to understand, experience, reflect, learn, and create. At the age of 19, she came to study at MIU. She recalls, “I was searching for answers to the big questions in life: What does it mean to be a human being? Where do thoughts come from? What is the purpose of life? Can creativity or compassion be learned? etc. The deep knowledge and transformative experiences I gained in one year at MIU have not only allowed me to answer my big questions, but provided a strong foundation for my personal and professional life. I’ll always be grateful for that.”

Born and raised in Luxembourg, Europe, Isabelle is fluent in Luxembourgish, French and German. But her impeccable English gives the impression that she was born somewhere in the United States.

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Isabelle with her family

As a certified instructor, Isabelle taught for several years in Luxembourg primary schools and a school for hearing and speech impaired children. She also studied at the Conservatory of Luxembourg, and holds an undergraduate and graduate degree in music from the University of Iowa. Eventually, she returned to MIU to earn a master’s degree in Maharishi Vedic Science.

Isabelle and her husband chose to live and raise their two children in the Fairfield community. She joined MIU faculty, where she taught Maharishi Vedic Science and served as the Chairperson of the music program for several years.  “Everyone has an unlimited reservoir of creative potential inside,” she says, “The Transcendental Meditation technique allows one to gain direct access to that reservoir. This is something I wanted to share with the students.”

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Working with Isabelle on a project at a local coffee shop

Now that her children are grown up, Isabelle wants to dive deeper into Maharishi Vedic Science, so that she will have even more to offer to her students. She reflects on the first academic year in the PhD program: “This program is profound and rigorous — a perfect environment for me to explore the deepest levels of the mind, critical thinking, creativity, refined experience, and transcending.”

About the faculty she says, “The professors are quite demanding, but they’re also supportive of each student and bring out the best in us. And somehow all of them have been able to combine their exquisite depth and professionalism with a good dose of humor. So, the classroom is usually alive with deep discussions, but the atmosphere is relaxed and we burst into laughter quite frequently. It’s delightful.”

In the next academic year, Isabelle will embark upon her research. Judging from her performance in the classroom, we can expect a brilliant dissertation that will contribute significantly to our understanding of the depths of the human mind.