The David Lynch Foundation announced on September 11th that it has received a $500,000 matching grant to be used to teach the Transcendental Meditation technique to 10,000 veterans with post-traumatic stress (PTS) and their families.

David Lynch, founder of the David Lynch Foundation, is inviting philanthropists and foundations to match the offer by Veterans Day, November 11th, 2011.

Hollywood directors Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorsese, and George Lucas, as well as Dr. Mehmet Oz, Paul McCartney, Jerry Seinfeld, and Russell Brand have joined Lynch in support of the outreach.

Lynch’s veteran’s initiative comes from Operation Warrior Wellness (OWW), a division of the David Lynch Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit established in 2005 to bring Transcendental Meditation to at-risk populations.

Dr. Norman Rosenthal

According to Norman Rosenthal, M.D., psychiatrist and medical researcher at Georgetown University Medical School and author of the New York Times bestseller, Transcendence: Health and Transformation through Transcendental Meditation, research on the TM technique on the veterans who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and in Vietnam, has shown daily TM practice to be an effective means for reducing symptoms of PTS–and treating disorders associated with the illness. Findings include:

• Reduced PTS: 40 to 50 percent reduction in PTS symptoms, including depression, anxiety, flashbacks, and insomnia (More on TM & PTSD)

• Greater resiliency: Reduced stress levels and quicker recovery from stress (More on TM & reducing stress)

• Decreased substance abuse: Decreased smoking, alcohol, and drug abuse (More on TM & reducing substance abuse)

• Reduced cardiovascular disease: Decreased blood pressure, harmful cholesterol, and atherosclerosis; and a 47 percent reduction in cardiovascular-related mortality (More on TM & improved cardiovascular health)

• Decreased medical expenditures: 14 percent reduction in annual medical expenditures, as compared to the norm (More on TM & decreased healthcare utilization)

David Lynch

“Operation Warrior Wellness is giving our dedicated service men and women a meditation technique that is a traumatic stress buster,” said David Lynch. “When they get this simple, effortless technique they will get their lives back.”

Operation Warrior Wellness is working with veterans’ service organizations, army bases, and military colleges to bring the Transcendental Meditation technique to active duty personnel and veterans and their families.

Veterans of four wars, from WWII to the present, launched the Operation Warrior Wellness initiative in December 2010. Researchers and celebrities joined founding veterans Jerry Yellin, Ed Schloeman, and Col. Brian Rees, MD, at a press conference and inaugural gala event at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

In June 2011, CNN anchor Candy Crowley hosted an event in Washington, D.C. honoring this initiative. Crowley concluded: “The initial research offers so much hope: reduced anxiety, depression, hypervigilance, and insomnia, as well as reductions in substance abuse, violent behavior, and suicidal tendencies—better than many things being tried and at far less a cost.”

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Heather Hartnett

For more information on how to contribute to the matching grant campaign of Operation Warrior Wellness, please contact Heather Hartnett at 212-644-9880, or email.