A brand new documentary, “Ending the Warfare Inside,” brings to life the shifting tales of Armenians who’ve discovered aid from Submit-Traumatic Stress Dysfunction and related circumstances of despair, anxiousness, and insomnia ensuing from the Artsakh conflict.
Award-winning filmmaker Tigran Nersisian was drawn to create the brand new movie when he realized that working towards the Transcendental Meditation method had relieved his personal despair and unleashed his artistic potential.
Impressed by the humanitarian mission ArmeniaRecoveryNow, “Ending the Warfare Inside” is a robust look into the lives of actual individuals who have survived the trauma of conflict by working towards a easy, evidence-based method that may ease struggling and pave the way in which to a more healthy homeland
Since early 2021, ArmeniaRecoveryNow has been instructing Transcendental Meditation to victims of the Artsakh conflict—veterans, displaced individuals, kids, caregivers. The humanitarian program was developed by the U.S. non-profit group Alliance for PTSD Restoration.
The idea ofArmeniaRecoveryNow traces its roots again to 1988, when a workforce of TM lecturers introduced aid to 30,000 individuals in earthquake-ravaged areas and Yerevan from 1989 to 1990. Since then, licensed lecturers have continued to show TM there by an Armenian non-profit instructional basis.
“I had insomnia, problem concentrating, unfavorable pondering, however after I started working towards TM, these points began to vanish. You begin pondering extra successfully. With a transparent thoughts, you’ll find options to quite a lot of issues,” mentioned Nicolay, a veteran of the Artsakh Warfare, in “Ending the Warfare Inside.”
Tigran Nersisian is an award-winning movie director primarily based in Los Angeles. Born in Yerevan in 1995, he moved to Russia on the age of 5. He grew up aspiring to make movies however couldn’t notice his dream in Russia. As soon as he got here to the USA, 17-year-old Tigran discovered English and commenced engaged on initiatives to meet his objectives. He was very lucky to be accepted within the undergraduate movie program on the College of California, Los Angeles.
Tigran’s breakthrough got here together with his thesis movie “Out of Thoughts” (2019), which was featured on the Pomegranate Movie Competition and earned awards in quite a few worldwide festivals. It tells the story of a younger Armenian’s intense wrestle with despair and anxiousness dysfunction, worsened by the stigma of psychological sickness in his household and group. To study extra about this necessary movie, go to the “Out of Mind” Facebook page.
Mental health is a major focus in Tigran’s life and work, having struggled with these same issues, and the film was his way to advocate for better resources. “People would come to me and say that these were the same conversations they’d had with their family,” said Tigran. “As Armenians we have quite a conservative community that is slowly opening up to discussions of mental health and other very difficult topics,” he added.
Since then, Tigran’s creative work has branched out to include narrative films, documentaries, and art films. His company Byulor Films keeps him very busy, yet he still devotes time to work alone on “passion projects,” his more personal and experimental work. Mental health is explored once again in his short film “The Pain,” about the difficulty of expressing one’s feelings about the 2020 Artsakh war while living in the diaspora.
Tigran believes much of his success comes from his Transcendental Meditation practice, which he discovered by reading director David Lynch’s book, “Catching the Big Fish,” about the immense creative benefits that Lynch experienced from the practice of meditation. “What really attracted me was that it made [Lynch] so much more creative, it opened up an unlimited resource of creative energy,” he said. Tigran has practiced TM for two years now.
For Tigran, TM brought immediate relief from anxiety and released his creative energies, enabling him to handle stress, manage multiple projects, and take risks more confidently. He got busier yet life became more enjoyable: “I had more room in my life to think and do big projects. I’m so much more productive now, and I’m naturally more organized,” he noted.
“When you think about these benefits, after everything that has happened in Armenia, where life is getting harder and harder, we can give them this effortless technique that doesn’t require any resources, just taking time to meditate twice a day,” said Tigran. “Thinking long term, what if 10 percent of Armenians there can meditate? Solutions will be easier to see. The powerful and free future of Armenia that we dream of could be realized if we could make people stronger.”
According to Tigran, through centuries of conflict to the current war, “Armenians have experienced cyclic trauma for generations. We are very stressed as a nation. But there is always a way to break the cycle. Not to forget what happened, but we don’t want to let trauma exhaust us. Look at Armenians outside of Armenia, we are very successful, we are flourishing, blooming. So much is determined by the mind – the human mind is very powerful. Despite Armenia’s very difficult geopolitical situation and economics, we can make this mental health change and become healthy as a nation. That is what inspired me to do this project.”
When he learned that ArmeniaRecoveryNow needed to raise funds, Tigran volunteered to help, using his own resources to create the new film. Having tried other therapies, Tigran knew that traditional psychiatry and medications were not the answer, and that TM’s simple technique deserved to be more widely recognized.
The film is comprised of short interviews representing many perspectives—testimonials from ordinary people from different walks of life in Armenia who have seen the benefits of TM in their own lives. Also included are insights from the teachers and translators who have made TM available to the people of Armenia, and a look at the scientific research behind TM. Interviews took place here in the U.S. and via Zoom in Armenia, and the final cut is subtitled to help the diaspora understand the deeply personal impact of this work in Armenia.
“We have sincere emotional videos from real people who have been meditating,” said Tigran. “When you listen to them you see how much they have been dealing with, heavy stuff such as war that we don’t deal with here. My depression was hell for me, but I can’t imagine what PTSD feels like. These individuals do, and if there’s something that can help them, that we can capture on video, then we can show people how their donations can make others feel better about their daily lives.”
“There have been many recent fundraisers for Armenia since the war, but this is one of the most important, because the impact will be long term. TM gives people the ability to become more independent, stronger individuals who can determine how to further improve their lives,” he added.
“A new stage of my life began after I started practicing TM. I could feel it day after day, little by little, to a point where my co-workers would tell me that I became kinder and happier,” said Yura, from Center of the Blind, in “Ending the War Within.”
Transcendental Meditation is a simple, natural, easily learned technique that is practiced by more than ten million people around the world in all walks of life. It is done twice a day for twenty minutes sitting comfortably. It has no religious connotations and does not impose on one’s personal beliefs or lifestyle.
Through the David Lynch Foundation, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization based in the United States, TM has brought relief to more than 500,000 adults and children. Since 2005, the Foundation has focused on teaching at-risk populations: veterans with PTSD and their families, inner city students, and women and children who have survived violence and abuse. The Lynch Foundation is one of several international organizations supporting the program in Armenia.
Transcendental Meditation is quickly becoming the gold standard to reverse the devastating effects of PTSD.
Fourteen peer-reviewed scientific studies attest to TM’s ability to rapidly relieve the symptoms of stress-induced conditions among veterans, displaced persons, first responders, and victims of violence. Studies with military veterans show that TM is at least as effective as the most common traditional therapies, often bringing relief within the first month of practice without the need to revisit one’s trauma or take medication.
Over 400 peer-reviewed studies show a range of benefits in mind, body, and even environmental health. In one unique study in 1975, 900 cities where one percent of the population was meditating experienced a reduction in the rate of crime.
Testimonials to TM’s powerful ability to heal can be found throughout the Alliance for PTSD Recovery web site. The Research web page offers particulars on a number of research and a proof of how TM relieves stress and fatigue within the mind. Included is a meta-analysis that demonstrates consistency in TM’s highly effective results.
Additionally see Girl Speaks for First Time in One Year, the outstanding story of a 10-year-old lady’s restoration after studying TM.
ArmeniaRecoveryNow’s best want is funding. Present circumstances in Armenia intensify the necessity to scale up our efforts. As non-governmental organizations ship housing, meals, and different requirements, ArmeniaRecoveryNowis there to assist relieve the internal trauma Armenians face.
Within the first yr of ArmeniaRecoveryNow, the quantity of people that have been taught TM in Armenia elevated by 890% from the common of the prior 4 years. However that is solely the start.
Please donate as we speak in order that extra individuals in Armenia can have entry to Transcendental Meditation. Your tax-deductible donation will cowl instructing bills and permit these in have to study on a full scholarship.
Assist deliver aid to extra victims of PTSD and create a brighter future for Armenia. Contributions in any quantity are appreciated. People inquisitive about contributing might donate online or with a verify to Alliance for PTSD Restoration, at 1000 Purusha Place, Suite 314, Romney, West Virginia 26757.
To study extra about ArmeniaRecoveryNow, go to the website. Alliance for PTSD Restoration is a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable and analysis group devoted to the examine and remedy of Submit-Traumatic Stress Dysfunction (PTSD).