Advertisement
Opinion

Tim Burgess: “Transcendental Meditation is like rebooting your computer”

Tim Burgess from The Charlatans knows the real deal when he sees it. Here’s his basic guide to Transcendental Meditation

In 2008, I was at a party in my own flat and I was the only one who wasn’t drinking. I sat down on my own in a corner, keeping myself to myself, then a friend of mine called Amy came over to me and she asked if I’d ever thought of doing Transcendental Meditation. She was a very good friend of mine and I didn’t know that she did it.

I remembered watching videos of The Beatles with Rob Collins, our first keyboard player [who died in a car accident in 1996], and we’d always really enjoyed the moment where the Maharishi teaches The Beatles how to meditate. It all clicked into place. I made a phone call and was meditating within a week. I’ve been doing it every day, twice a day since. I haven’t missed a session.

Do I think that Transcendental Meditation can help with mental health issues? I absolutely do

I don’t have clocks in my house but I know when it’s time to meditate. People say I don’t know where I’d get the time from, but you make that time. You’ve got more energy and you get more things done. It’s almost like messing around with time.

It’s a very simple technique. You have to be taught by the right people but I’ve never had any difficulties with it at all. You have an initiation and you’re given a mantra. You’re not allowed to say the mantra to anybody because what stays within is powerful and what comes out… it reduces its power.

Without giving too much away, the mantra is not really a word it’s a kind of sound. Almost like a hum within your body. I can’t describe it but it’s not unfamiliar. When you have the mantra you say it in your head as loud or as quiet as you want. The idea is to refine it over time.

When you come out of the meditation for some reason the world seems brighter. It’s almost like when you reboot your computer. I’ve had issues in the past with drinking and taking drugs and stuff like that. After deciding I didn’t want to do that any more there was a gap in my life, an emptiness that meditation filled.

Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
Advertisement

Do I think that TM can help with mental health issues? I absolutely do. It helps everybody without a doubt but I think there’s increasing mental health issues, increasing homelessness – the world is becoming wilder and more extreme and TM definitely can help.

Tim Burgess is taking part in David Lynch: The Power of Transcendental Mediation at Manchester International Festival on July 13 mif.co.uk

Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty

Never miss an issue

Take advantage of our special subscription offer. Subscribe from just £9.99 and never miss an issue.

Recommended for you

Read All
Pulp! Oasis! Robbie Williams! Why it feels like we're back in 1995
Alan Woodhouse

Pulp! Oasis! Robbie Williams! Why it feels like we're back in 1995

Inside another week of peril for Thames Water while England drowns in raw sewage
Cat Hobbs

Inside another week of peril for Thames Water while England drowns in raw sewage

Rachel Reeves must seize the opportunity to finally scrap the two-child benefit cap
Rachel Reeves
Moazzam Malik

Rachel Reeves must seize the opportunity to finally scrap the two-child benefit cap

Reform councillor describing some children in care as 'evil' proves how broken the system really is
Reform UK's Andy Osborn during a Cambridgeshire County Council meeting. Credit: Youtube / Terry Galloway
Sophia Alexandra Hall

Reform councillor describing some children in care as 'evil' proves how broken the system really is

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over

Citroën Ami: the tiny electric vehicle driving change with The Big Issue
4.

Citroën Ami: the tiny electric vehicle driving change with The Big Issue