Alliance of Women Scientists and scholars for a Better World

Fifth International Conference
Maharishi European Research University (MERU)
Seelisberg, Switzerland
9–13 August 2015

Theme of the Conference
Women's Excellence in Action—
Intuition, Inspiration, and Innovation:
Examining ultra-modern solutions to transform global living

Ultra-modern solutions means identifying knowledge and harnessing technologies that are fully life-supporting. During the conference experts from a variety of fields and many countries, including scientists familiar with Maharishi's Vedic Science and Technology of Consciousness, will shed light on this theme from their professional perspective and in discussions will explore the synergies and connections among their work. The conference provides an opportunity for women to work together across disciplines to inspire one another and together have a positive impact on our world.

Conference Speakers

Day 1
Opening Session
Monday 10 August, 11:00 a.m. (Swiss time)

Kesang Tshomo, BSc Appl (Agri), MSc (Hort)
Ms Kesang Tshomo coordinates the development of the master plan for the conversion of Bhutan to an organic country. She links production, processing, and marketing of organic products for local markets and is preparing for the export market. She has a BSc. Appl (Agriculture) from the University of Adelaide, South Australia, a MSc (Hort) from Lincoln University, New Zealand, and over nineteen years of experience in the agriculture sector.

The UNO's call to adopt low-cost Ecological Agriculture Systems in each area is a testimony to her insistence that organic is most suitable for developing countries, if they are to reduce hunger, malnutrition, poverty, suicides, and the effects of climate change, while improving livelihoods, purchasing power, and net incomes.

Title of her talk: Organic, a Way of Life in Bhutan—Women as the Custodians of Life

Claudette Maurin, BA (Botany), MA, Maharishi Aroma Therapy Consultant, France
Claudette Maurin received a BA in Biology (Botany), then continued to an MA, having a 20-year gap for raising her four children. She continued for two more years at the university and has been a school teacher for twenty years. She is now retired. Ms Maurin learnt the Transcendental Meditation technique in 1971, became a teacher of Transcendental Meditation in 1973, in Seelisberg, Switzerland. She participated in the first Maharishi Aroma Therapy course in Turkey in August 2012, and the recent Advanced Maharishi Aroma Therapy course at MERU, presided over by Dr Rosie Geelvink in April-May 2015. She has given consultations in seven French cities, and also in Oslo, Norway. Ms Maurin is also a Consultant in Maharishi Vedic Architecture.

Title of her talk: Presenting Maharishi Aroma Therapy: Consultations, Treatments and a Few Testimonials

Session 2
Monday 10 August, 1:30 p.m.

Dr Cynthia Arenander, BA (Journalism), BS (Physiology), DSCI (MERU Switzerland)
Dr Cynthia Arenander travels in Latin America and Europe giving presentations including live EEG Brainwave demonstrations and courses on developing total brain potential with the Consciousness-Based Programmes as developed by Maharishi, including the Model of the Vedic Physiology.
Dr Arenander has a B.A. in journalism from the California State University at Chico, a B.S. in Physiology at Maharishi University of Management, a Doctorate in the Science of Creative Intelligence from Maharishi European Research University in Switzerland. She is a Certified Teacher of the Transcendental Meditation programme, and for seven years has been on the Invincible America Assembly in Fairfield, Iowa, USA. She works closely with her husband, Dr Alarik Arenander, and they are past Directors of Maharishi Vedic University in San Diego, Orange County, and Pacific Palisades, in California, USA.

Title of her talk: Developing Better Brains for a Better World through Maharishi Technologies of Consciousness

Ashley Fargnoli, MA Dance/movement therapist and dance activist
Ashley Fargnoli, MA, R-DMT, LPC is a dance/movement therapist and dance activist who promotes the use of dance for post-conflict reconciliation and marginalized populations. Ms Fargnoli currently works as a dance/movement therapist with refugees in Chicago, USA. Ashley has implemented numerous dance reconciliation projects in the Balkan countries, as well as integration projects for Roma youth in Mostar, Bosnia, and Herzegovina. Ashley has also worked with survivors of human trafficking in India, Nepal, and Bangladesh. Her current research focuses on the self-care practices of survivor-therapists working in trauma recovery. Ashley has an MA in Dance/Movement Therapy and Counseling from Columbia College, Chicago, USA, and holds an MA in Cultural Project Management from the Institute of Political Studies (Grenoble, France).

Title of her talk: Moving through Trauma: Dance/Movement Therapy for Refugees and Trafficking Survivors

France Fournet, MA
France Fournet, originally from France, is a professional classical singer, permanent member of classical, renaissance, and baroque groups, operas orchestras, and the Choir of the Orchestra of Paris. She has three Masters degrees: in the Science of Creative Intelligence, in Music Pedagogy, and Lyrical Arts. She was also a PhD candidate in Lyrical Arts. France worked for seven years in Switzerland to upgrade the Fribourg High School of Music until it was accredited to offer a Master of Arts in Sacred Music recognized throughout Europe.

Presently, she has resumed her activities in Basel, giving concerts and teaching singing. France is a teacher of Transcendental Meditation. The Tomatis programme improves sensory and cognitive processes involved in listening. Listening is the ability to use one’s hearing intentionally and attentively for the purpose of learning and communicating. So the Tomatis programme uses the sound of music to re-structure the brain, by reorganizing its neurochemistry.

Title of her talk: Dynamizing our Brain through Audiovocal Training

Dr Rachel Goodman, PhD
Dr Rachel Goodman has completed several studies in time series trends analysis examining the influence of  Maharishi Technologies of Consciousness with government and quality of life variables, including Congressional Bipartisanship, International Relations, and Approval Ratings toward the President, as well as changes in Quality of Life in Washington, D.C. She has written articles in her field of research and has edited three books of research and theoretical papers, one each on Government, World Peace, and Offender Rehabilitation. She lives in Fairfield, Iowa, USA with her husband David, also a professor. 

Title of her talk: Global Sustainability through Development of Consciousness

Day 2
Session 4
Tuesday 11 August, 11:00 a.m. (Swiss time)

Dr Amanda Weltman, PhD
MPhil (Social and Developmental Psychology), University of Cambridge, 2010–2011; University of Leeds, BSc (Psychology) 2003–2006; Maharishi School, 1988–2001. Currently teaching at Ruamrudee International School, Bangkok. Arabella has collaborated with UNESCO to research Thai female students’ perceived competency to become entrepreneurs with regard to socio-economic status. She has produced customized sustainable leadership programs for global business executives, such as Asian Development Bank, the World Bank, and the San Francisco Unified School District inner-city schools (with a David Lynch Foundation wellness non-profit—CWAE) . A member of Partners for World Peace, she is dedicated to bringing opportunities for education and growth to girls and women around the world.

Title of her talk: Why Science needs more love and tears

Prof Dr Enkhtuya Bavuudorj, PhD

Prof Dr Enkhtuya Bavuudorj is a professor in the Business Administration Department, and Head of the Economics and Management Department in the Mongolian University of Science and Technologies in Ulan Batar. Prof Dr Bavuudorj has thirty years experience of working for the state. She trained in English in 1995, and then in 2001 trained in Business Management in Taiwan. Her doctorate on ‘A Model of portfolio management’ was awarded in 2003. She is an expert in sharemarkets, and has written many scientific and research papers. She has guided 160 students through their Masters degrees, and supervised 5 doctoral candidates. Prof Dr Bavuudorj is introducing the idea of social responsibility to the management of companies in Mongolia.

Title of her talk: Social Responsibility in Mongolian Companies

Day 2
Session 5

Tuesday August 11, 1:30 p.m. (Swiss time)

Dr Snehalatha SN Dornala,
Associate Professor at VYDS Ayurved Mahavidyalay, Khurja, Uttar Pradesh, introduced Oil Birthing to Pediayutrics (Ayurvedic Pediatrics); introduced Ghrita Dhara into clinical practice in the cases of Autism Spectrum Disorder, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation, etc.; was awarded Ayurvisharada for meritorious performance at BAMS level. She has done clinical research on the application of Panchakarma to the treatment of disease and is a Life Member of the National Academy of Panchakarma and Research (NAPAR) in India. Dr Snehalatha Dornala has participated in many national and international seminars, summits, symposia, workshops, etc., and has many publications in the field of Ayur-Veda. She has made significant contributions to the Healthy, Happy Mother-Baby Programme. (Ayur-Veda is the traditional Vedic Science of Medicine.)

Title of her talk: Attaining a Healthy, Happy Mother and Baby, through the Programmes of Maharishi Ayur-Veda; Translating Vedic Knowledge for the Transformation of Global Living

Prof Dr Swati Mohite, BAMS, MS (Ayu), BA (Sanskrit)
Professor Dr Swati Mohite leads the Department of Ayurvedic Obstetrics and Gynecology at the BVDU College of Ayurveda, Pune. She received the best research paper award for a case study: ‘Complete heart block with pregnancy – managed by Ayurvedic treatment.’ She has received accolades for contributions in the field of Ayurveda by Baidyanath, a renowned Ayurvedic pharmaceutical company.

Dr Mohite practices integrated medicine and uses various gynaecological and obstetrics surgical procedures. She specializes in using Ayurvedic medicines to treat pregnancy induced complications, such as intrauterine growth retardation, oligohydramnios, etc., and has modified the process of Uttarbasti (Intrauterine instillation of medicated oils and ghrutas), for the treatment of infertility, failure of IVF/IUI, fibroids, etc.

Dr Mohite is improving birth weight in the low socio-economic and malnourished Indian population. She has presented Ayurvedic Management of Infertility to national and international conferences, and guided many postgraduate and PhD theses. She has also been instrumental in structuring the syllabus for Ayurvedic courses of the Central Council of Indian Medicine.

Title of her talk: Women's Lifestyle According to Veda—Application in the Modern Era

Dr Saskia Kersenboom, PhD,
Research Scholar at Amsterdam University in Linguistic Anthropology, Musicology and Theatre Studies
Dr Saskia Kersenboom obtained her PhD in Indian languages (Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu) and Cultures at Utrecht University, The Netherlands (1984). Her dissertation, Nityasumangali – Devadasi Tradition in South India deals with female ritual specialists who sang and danced in Hindu temples in Tamilnadu until 1947. This academic trajectory ran parallel with her training in the performing arts of music and dance in South India. Dr Kersenboon has been Associate Professor at Amsterdam University in Linguistic Anthropology, Musicology and Theatre Studies where she is at present an affiliated Research Scholar. She is Guest Curator at Museum Rietberg, Zürich, where she co-curated a major exhibition on the Dancing Shiva (Nataraja, 2008) and now prepares an exhibition on the Indian goddess Kali. Her artistic legacy is shared through the NGO Paramparai Foundation, Hungary (www.paramparai.eu). She holds residencies, workshops, and performances in India, Hungary, and abroad. ‘Songs for Kali’ as displayed in the Nava-avarana kirtana by Muthuswami Dikshitar, is part of the auspicious Shri Vidya tradition of knowledge: dynamics of the universal Mother.

Title of her talk: Songs for Kali – transformations of the Goddess during the Festival of the Nine Nights. From the cyclical processes of the earth 'KALI - the Dark Lady' returns to her golden state of beauty, victory and bliss. 'Songs for Kali' follows this trail guided by the Navavarana Kirtana that were composed by Muttusvami Dikshitar (1775-1835) to celebrate the Goddess as 'Auspicious Wisdom'. Even today women sing these hymns during the nine nights of Navaratri as we will hear and see in this presentation.

Day 3
Session 7
Wednesday, 12 August, 11:30-4:00 p.m.

Ride the world’s first open-air double-decker cable car up Stanserhorn mountain, enjoying “the best views in the entire world” and a picnic with round table discussion in the Alpine meadows
Group Photo Coming

Day 3
Session 8
Wednesday, 12 August 2015, Evening, 8:15 p.m.

Concluding Celebration Video Lecture: Maharishi Meets with Dr David Lynch: Interview 10 March 2007, MERU, Holland, 53 minutes

Thursday, 13 August 2015:

Blissful Departure