Tim Burgess, lead singer of The Charlatans, first heard about Transcendental Meditation at a party drinking Diet Coke: "A friend said I looked bored. I wasn’t, I was having a great time, but she said I should try Transcendental Meditation. The words went into my ear like honey. I don’t know why, but I knew she was right. I looked into it, read up on Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and also the David Lynch Foundation, and it just all made sense. I meditate for 20 minutes twice a day now. It’s part of my life.”
Asked why he finds it useful, he replies, “At the minimum it de-stresses you. You get thoughts – it’s not psychedelic – but things pop into your brain. John Lennon used to stop and write his ideas down; I choose not to. I’m enjoying myself so much I don’t want to stop. Lou Reed started doing it before Transformer and I thought that’s a great record; John Lennon wrote Happiness is a Warm Gun and Across the Universe — all his great records — on it. I’m a big fan of David Lynch too and I’ve always known he’s done it for over 25 years. The first time I did it, I understood a lot of his films more.” Asked how Transcendental Meditation felt, he said, “You know the very first chord of How Soon is Now by The Smiths — it’s kind of a tremolo effect? It’s kind of that sensation, but inside your mind. It’s a wobble and it goes deeper and deeper and I can only explain it as being cosmic consciousness. It’s an incredible release of stress.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUMh8GQnDW8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUMh8GQnDW8
