A lot has been in the news recently about Transcendental Meditation, a practice first introduced to the world in the 1950′s by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and further popularized by film director David Lynch and his TM foundation.
With celebrities and other well known individuals jumping on the meditation bandwagon, the meditation practice which makes use of the mantra to help people journey within, has shown great benefit in settings such as schools, prisons, homeless shelters, and the military. And in case you haven’t heard, The David Lynch Foundation recently teamed up with 30+ well-known artists to launch Download For Good, a musical compilation intended to raise awareness and support for this invaluable practice.
Brandon Deroche recently interviewed Download For Good collaborator Amanda Palmer in this latest Huffington Post. An informative piece that highlights not only the benefits of TM, but also the artist’s motivation for the practice, Palmer attributes her creative support to Transcendental Meditation and its ability to help her to stay in the present moment.
BD: Would you say then that meditation has impacted your creativity?
AP: It’s been a huge support for me. Lynch talked about this in the book — mindfulness and creativity are just undetachable bedfellows.
The ability to tap into a creative impulse is directly tied to the ability to focus on the present moment. That isn’t to say there aren’t some artists out there who some of the most distracted and distractable people I’ve ever met, but just in terms of controlling your access to the creative buffet that is your own imagination, meditation is one of the key tools.