Celebrities Who Meditate
Categories: Metaphysics & Unexplained Phenomena
Over 20 million adults in the US meditate. Meditation has been a focus of scientific research for years now, with studies linking regular meditation to changes in metabolism, blood pressure, brain activation, and other mind and bodily functions. The benefits of meditation have been proven time and time again, and some celebrities have spoken out about the positive effects meditation has had on their lives. Here are just a few famous names that are associated with meditation:
Jeff Bridges: the 61 year-old actor and singer meditates nearly every day. He says he enjoys meditation because “it’s good to block out external stimulus for a set amount of time because, for one thing, it enhances the experience when you are stimulated by something. It brings dynamics into your life. If you allow yourself to stop, you also realize how much stimulus is coming from within you.”
Paul McCartney: this Beatle strongly believes in the benefits of Transcendental Meditation, or TM. He even headlined the benefit concert titled “Change Beings Within,” which promoted this particular meditation technique for the David Lynch Foundation at Radio City Music Hall in New York. Fellow Beatle Ringo Starr is also a fan of TM. They have both met with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of TM, and believe meditation has strongly influenced their lives in a positive way. Paul remembers his first time meeting Maharishi and meditating: “It was great. We [the four Beatles] all went into a room one by one, while Maharishi was there.” About a month later, the Beatles traveled to Rishikesh, India to continue their meditation experience: “The times when we weren’t meditating we had our guitars with us, so we did quite a bit of writing. It was inspirational. It wasn’t all about meditation, it’s just you were focused—but yeah, there were very blissful moments.”
Clint Eastwood: now 79 years old, this Academy-Award winning actor meditates twice a day, every day. He says “I believe in whatever self-help you can give yourself…so meditation with me was just a self-reliant thing. I’ve been doing it almost forty years.” His impressive career accomplishments, including the 15 movies he has made since his first Oscar at 62 years old and his four nominations for Best Director/Best Actor, speak strongly to the benefits of regular meditation.
David Lynch: this American filmmaker, television director, visual artist, musician, and occasional actor launched the David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and Peace in 2005. This foundation helps finance scholarships for students who are interested in learning the Transcendental Meditation technique. He has been practicing this meditation technique since 1975, and strongly advocates for the use of meditation techniques to bring peace to the world.
Russell Simmons: Hip-hop and meditation may not appear to have too much in common, but this father of the Hip-hop movement defies traditional stereotypes. Simmons has been meditating for about 14 years, and says “It has given me energy, strength, health, wisdom, and access to my own inner stillness, inner silence, inner bliss. It is my connection to myself; it is my connection to the universe.” He is a strong supporter of the David Lynch Foundation, and is on the Foundation board of advisors, helping to bring meditation to people in need.
Tina Turner: Meditation can truly help you find your inner strength. This iconic singer says her strong Buddhist beliefs and consistent practice of meditation gave her the courage to leave her abusive marriage to Ike Turner in the 1970s.
Orlando Bloom: This heartthrob Hollywood actor praises meditation for keeping him away from the frequented path of self-destruction that many celebrities travel down at some point. He says, “Meditation is about studying what is going on in my daily life and using that as fuel to go and live a bigger life.”
Supermodels Elle Macpherson and Gisele Bundchen credit meditation for keeping them healthy and beautiful. Bundchen has raved about the benefits of meditation during pregnancy, and Macpherson traded her intensive cardio fitness routine for daily meditation, yoga, and healthy eating. She says, “Beauty comes from within.”
Richard Gere: Richard Gere is a devout Buddhist and meditator. In an interview with Melvin McLeod, Gere says, “I remember when I was just starting to practice meditation—24 years old, trying to come to grips with my life. I was holed up in my shitty little apartment for months at a time, just doing tai chi and doing my best to do sitting practice. I had a very clear feeling that I’d always been in meditation, that I’d never left meditation. That it was a much more substantial reality than what we normally take to be reality. That was very clear to me even then, but it’s taken me this long in my life to bring it out into the world more, through more time practicing, watching my mind, trying to generate bodhicitta.”
Eva Mendes: Actress Eva Mendes meditates to stay grounded and peaceful. She claims that meditating “really helps create not only a sense of balance, but all the other stuff — this is gonna sound cliché, but, serenity and kind of a calm state of mind. And not that I’m like that all the time, but it helps me deal with life’s ups and downs, coming from more of a centered place.”
Albert Einstein: If Einstein believed in the power of meditation, you know there’s got to be something to it. The famous scientist was known to take meditation naps during the day, and said, “The really valuable thing is intuition. Through meditation I found answers before I even asked the question.”
Other notable names: Steven Seagal, Sheryl Crow, Ben Harper, Sting, Russell Brand, Moby, Dr. Oz
Tags: Yoga
About the Author
Katherine Sziraczky
Katherine is an intern for North Atlantic Books. She is currently a third year student at UC Berkeley, studying Business Administration and Public Health. She enjoys swimming, hiking, reading, going to concerts, cooking, and traveling.
