A few weeks back now the irreplaceable David Lynch left this mortal coil.
"So what does he have to do with music and mental health?" I hear you say… Well, stick with me! David Lynch is one of those people whose name alone evokes a certain mood. He’s the man behind cult classics like Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet, and Mulholland Drive - films that are as much about emotion and atmosphere as they are about story. But beneath all the surrealism, Lynch credits one very grounded practice for keeping him sane: meditation.
Don’t turn the channel! Hear me out! I know the ‘M’ word is a big cliche at times but….
Now, this might come as a surprise if you know anything about Lynch’s work. How does a man who brought us Eraserhead find inner peace? Well, for Lynch, meditation isn’t just about tranquillity. It’s about diving deep into the creative subconscious and pulling up ideas that might not have surfaced otherwise.
Lynch has talked extensively about his love for Transcendental Meditation (TM) - a technique he practised daily since the 1970s. He even wrote a book about it called Catching the Big Fish, where he likens ideas to fish swimming in a vast ocean. If you want to catch the big, beautiful, transformative ideas, you’ve got to go deeper. The surface of the water is noisy and chaotic, filled with small, unremarkable fish darting about. But if you sink into the quiet depths, that’s where the big, mysterious fish are waiting.
Meditation, for Lynch, was the boat that gets him there. It’s not about forcing creativity or waiting for inspiration to strike. Instead, it’s about creating the mental stillness to let those ideas rise to the surface. “You don’t have to meditate to be creative,” Lynch admits, “but meditation expands the container you have to catch ideas.”
Lynch’s approach to art is inseparable from his meditative practice. He believes that creativity is a natural flow state we can all access - if we clear away the mental clutter. During his lifetime he talked about how negative emotions like stress, anger, and anxiety create “suffocating rubber clown suits” that block creativity. Meditation, he said, is like taking those suits off. It allows energy to flow freely, which is why he meditated twice a day without fail. Beyond creativity, Lynch viewed meditation as a way to connect with something larger than ourselves. He described it as “diving into pure consciousness” and finding an infinite field of happiness, love, and energy. It’s not just about making art; it’s about improving life.
He believed that meditation can help heal trauma, reduce stress, and create a more compassionate world... (I’m not entirely convinced, but it might help). This is where I come in, now I don’t want to get all ‘guru’ on you, but meditation, in particular TM is something I dig in and out of. During an incredibly difficult time in my life someone (I can’t remember who?) put me in touch with Tim Burgess of the Charlatans and he pointed me in the direction of TM. I attended the training with a great teacher (who is no longer with us) but it certainly opened something up for me. I can’t pretend to be a fully committed TM-er but I have leaned in and out of the discipline for the past 15 years. For me it’s a fail-safe technique that is always there when I need it. And, without a doubt it serves my creativity.
Like many of us in this fast-paced world, sometimes we just need to stop and look inwards. I know that sounds so cliched but it’s true! So find a way to calm down and meditate, I’m sure there are many ways but TM has helped me. Just be careful not to get ripped off by profiteers!
And of course, the Beatles did it…….so I hear.
Adam Ficek hosts a monthly show 'Tonic Music' on Totally Wired Radio, where he talks to various guests about music and mental health. You can listen again to any of the previous show on the Tonic Music Mixcloud page.
