Sir Paul McCartney's meditation journey
Reflecting on the Early Days
Sir Paul McCartney and all the Beatles learned Transcendental Meditation from Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in the 1960's.
In this first clip of a two-part interview in 2009, filmmaker David Lynch and Sir Paul reminisce about their forty-plus year Transcendental Meditation practice. It was the first time in decades that Paul had spoken of those early days in the Swinging Sixties - an era of radical cultural, polical and social revolution.They candidly discuss the first time Paul and his bandmates met Maharishi and learned the TM technique.
David opens the interview by asking Paul when he first heard the word 'meditation' and what he made of it. Paul responds and went on to talk about the blissful and giggly Maharishi with his infectious laugh:
"It was actually George Harrisons wife, Pattie, who had heard that Maharishi was coming to town. And she said we should all go. It was one of those things. And I was personally not in a good place. I think you know just over doing it in the sixties. So I was just not very--sort of --centered and I was looking for something. I think we all were. So we heard that Maharishi was going to have a meeting and give a lecture. So that was the first time Id heard about meditation. But we'd actually seen him when we were kids growing up in Liverpool. Because as you know he went around the world seven times to spread his message. And he was on TV. And we remembered this giggling little guy and we thought, we loved him. We just said he's so cool! you know. And he was just on TV, and he was giving an interview and he would giggle--that fabulous laugh of his. And he was very entertaining and very attractive. So we all said that's that guy! But then I say, he was giving a lecture."
In part 2 of this fascinating interview series with David Lynch, Sir Paul reveals his first experiences with Maharishi who personally taught him Transcendental Meditation and expands on more stories about travelling to Rishikesh, India with Maharishi.
David asks Paul what was the routine and experience was like in the ashram when he got to Rishikesh.
"It was great it was very straight forward, very simple. The whole place was very simple, there was nothing fancy about it. You would wake up, then go for breakfast in the morning, a light breakfast. You socialize a bit with the other members, and get to know each other. And then you would go back for your morning meditation... go back to your room. We had little chalets kind of thing. Each of us had little rooms, which were very simple but adequate. And, you would just sit, and you would meditate. And, then was lunch and again you would socialize and chat and stuff. Then you would meditate in the afternoons. Sometimes Maharishi would have a meeting every so often with you, and you could talk to him about your experiences and he would help guide you," Paul replied.
Benefits in Recent Years - The Positive Influence of Maharishi and Meditation on Sir Paul's Life
“Transcendental Meditation gives me an island of calm in the midst of so much turbulence.” In the last five years, Paul still has positive reviews when speaking about his TM program and the impact it has had on his life: