Oprah's Next Chapter

America's Most Unusual Town (1x13)

Air date: Mar 25, 2012

Oprah spends the day in Fairfield, Iowa—one of the safest, greenest and most unusual communities in America. In the middle of corn country, it's probably the last place you'd expect to find a dome and an evening traffic jam where thousands of the local population of 9,400 are headed to meditate. Oprah's journey begins at a unique Fairfield school where twice-daily Transcendental Meditation (TM) is a mandatory part of the curriculum. Next, she visits the neighboring community of Maharishi Vedic City—named after the Indian guru who founded the TM movement. Here, nonorganic food is banned, and all houses face east, adhering to an ancient Indian architectural style that is said to bring peace and harmony to one's surroundings. Maharishi Vedic City is also home to a top secret, 80-acre compound where 800 men from India live and spend eight hours a day meditating, chanting and studying. Cameras have never been allowed inside their community—until now. Later, Oprah joins housewives, engineers, waitresses, lawyers, moms and single ladies at the Golden Dome of Pure Knowledge for evening meditation—a powerful, energizing yet calming experience. Of that experience, Oprah says, "I walked away feeling fuller than when I came in, full of hope and a sense of contentment and deep joy, knowing for sure that in the craziness of the world that seems to bombard us at every angle, there is always the consistency of stillness."