An Open Mind

HAVEN’T FOUND A MEDITATION PRACTICE THAT’S RIGHT FOR YOU? THE ULTRA-RELAXING TECHNIQUE OF TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION MIGHT BE WORTH A TRY

What do Russell Brand, Gwyneth Paltrow and Oprah have in common?

They’ve all been taught Transcendental Meditation (TM) by the American practitioner and teacher Bob Roth. As have many professional athletes, CEOs, war veterans, and victims of sexual abuse and domestic violence. He is one of the most sought after and experienced meditation teachers in the world and a passionate advocate for this particular style and its unique ability to transform not just lives but the physiology of the people who commit to regular practice. He has a new book out on the topic, Strength in Stillness, and here he explains why TM might be the answer you’ve been searching for.

There has been an explosion of interest in meditation recently; why do we seem to need it more than ever before? 

I think stress is worse now than ever before. It’s not just imaginary.

Our 24/7 plugged-in world means there’s not a moment to get away – there’s nowhere you can go. And we know the devastating effect that stress has on people.

I work with some of the world’s greatest athletes, people who are in top physical shape; they eat as healthily as possible and they are still anxious. They can’t sleep at night, they are worrying about their kids, and they feel stressed. I think that’s because we’ve been missing a key component in how to be healthy and well and that is that we exercise from the neck down. The science is quite clear that mind and body are connected and you can’t ignore the mind when you’re trying to keep the body healthy.

The second reason I think is that modern medicine has no magic pill you can take to prevent or cure stress. We can mask it with alcohol and caffeine or manage it with sleeping pills and antidepressant medications, but the tumour of stress inside of us continues to metastasise.