Recently, I’ve seen a lot of articles talking about Clint Eastwood and transcendental meditation. My first thought was, “What the hell is transcendental meditation?” and my second thought was to decide to jump on that bandwagon. So here’s my article on that very topic in the hopes of gaining some of those sweet, sweet clicks, while educating you, of course.
Who Is Clint Eastwood?
It’s possible that many of my readers might not know who Clint Eastwood is, given his age and the demographic most likely to care about self-care and mental health. So just to be sure we’re all on the same page, Clint Eastwood is an American actor and director, who started his career in Westerns but might be most remembered for Dirty Harry. I remember watching him in Rawhide repeats as a kid.
Clint Eastwood starred in an eye-watering amount of tough-guy roles throughout his career, but what you might not know is that he has a spiritual side (Bennett, 2023). He’s referred to as being spiritual, as Clint Eastwood doesn’t believe in a god, but he does like his spiritual practices, such as transcendental meditation. This has been something he’s done daily for around 40 years.
Speaking to Michael Hainey for GQ (Hainey, 2009), Clint Eastwood said he meditates twice a day because he finds it helps him collect his thoughts. He also stated that he believes in any self-care you can give yourself, which is an important comment. Too often we neglect self-care until it’s too late, and then we wonder why we’re always burning out. Self-care works best when you engage in it regularly.
So What Is Transcendental Meditation?
According to the Cleveland Clinic (2022), an Indian guru named Maharishi Mahesh Yogi created transcendental meditation in the 1950s. It’s a form of meditation that is meant to be free from religious and philosophical connections.
The Meditation Trust (2020) states that it’s a common mistake for people to see all meditation as being the same. They state that most meditation is used to control or train the mind, whereas transcendental meditation doesn’t involve concentration, control, or training. They believe it’s counterproductive to try to force the mind to go somewhere it doesn’t want to go naturally.
Transcendental meditation is one of several meditation techniques that exist. So what’s the difference between transcendental meditation and other forms of meditation, such as mindfulness meditation? Well, according to Calm (2024), mindfulness meditation uses anchors, and transcendental meditation uses mantras. The mantra is meant to help shift your focus, so the mantra is a way to distract yourself from your usual brain chatter. Whereas, in mindfulness meditation, the anchor is meant to help you stay present in the moment.
The basic transcendental meditation technique involves sitting comfortably with your eyes closed, allowing your mind to dwell on a series of words (mantra) and repeating that mantra (Balaji, Varne, and Ali, 2012). This is often a word or sound that’s given to each person by the instructor if they’re in a transcendental meditation group. But nothing is stopping you from creating your own sound or words, changing them each time you meditate. What’s important is that if your mind drifts, then you allow it to drift.
The Benefits Of Transcendental Meditation
Self-reflection
In a study conducted by Rosaen and Benn (2006), they sought to identify the benefits of using transcendental meditation, following 10 middle school child participants over the course of a year. One of their findings was that it helped with improving their capacity for self-reflection. This is what Clint Eastwood liked about this form of meditation as well.
Stress
Like pretty much all meditation practices that I’m aware of, they can help with managing stress, and transcendental meditation is no different (Cleveland Clinic, 2022).
Reduced distress
A study by Elder, Nidich, Moriarty, and Nidich (2014) on 40 teachers and support staff participants found that the transcendental meditation programme used in the study was effective in reducing psychological distress. These were teachers and support staff from a school for students with behavioural problems, just to add further context.
Self-control
The study by Rosaen and Benn (2006) also found that transcendental meditation could help people develop better self-control, or at least it did with the children participants in this study. Hopefully, that means it’ll work for us adults as well.
Productivity
Transcendental meditation is said to help with productivity, especially with productivity skills like problem-solving and creativity (Cleveland Clinic, 2022).
Improved mental health
A study by Yunesian, Aslani, Vash, and Yazdi (2008) found that transcendental meditation might help improve the mental health of young adults. They believe this was most prominent in areas of anxiety and the tendency to experience psychological distress when they experience physical sensations linked to their mental health issues.
Physical health
According to the Cleveland Clinic (2022), transcendental meditation can help with pain management, as well as with lower blood pressure. The latter is supported by the eight systematic reviews and meta-analyses conducted by Ooi, Giovino, and Pak (2017). However, they also admit that there was potential bias within some of the studies they analysed.
Sleep
Another useful benefit of this form of meditation is its ability to help with sleep (Cleveland Clinic, 2022). Although, I believe that’s also the case with other forms of meditation as well.
Summary
When it comes to looking after ourselves, meditation can play a useful role in our self-care, and transcendental meditation is no different. This form of meditation might even be easier to use than other meditation techniques because you don’t have to try to force your mind to be clear, which a lot of people struggle with. The fact that you’re allowed to let your mind wander when it does is useful for finding areas in your life that you might need to work on. Making this form of meditation a useful thing to do before journaling.
As always, leave your feedback in the comments section below. Also, please share your experiences with this or any other form of meditation in the comments section below. Don’t forget, if you want to stay up-to-date with my blog, you can sign up for my newsletter below. Alternatively, click the red bell icon in the bottom right corner to get push notifications for new articles.
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References
Balaji, P. A., Varne, S. R., & Ali, S. S. (2012). Physiological effects of yogic practices and transcendental meditation in health and disease. North American Journal of Medical Sciences, 4(10), 442. Retrieved from https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3482773.
Bennett, A. (2023, May). Clint Eastwood: The Untold Story of the Hollywood legend. Grunge. Retrieved from https://www.grunge.com/1285351/clint-eastwood-untold-story-hollywood-legend.
Calm Editorial Team. (2024, February). Transcendental Meditation® versus mindfulness meditation — Calm Blog. Calm. Retrieved from https://www.calm.com/blog/transcendental-meditation.
Cleveland Clinic. (2024, May 1). Transcendental Meditation(R). Cleveland Clinic. Retrieved from https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/22292-transcendental-meditation.
Elder, C., Nidich, S., Moriarty, F., & Nidich, R. (2014). Effect of transcendental meditation on employee stress, depression, and burnout: a randomized controlled study. The Permanente Journal, 18(1), 19. Retrieved from https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3951026.
Ooi, S. L., Giovino, M., & Pak, S. C. (2017). Transcendental meditation for lowering blood pressure: An overview of systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Complementary therapies in medicine, 34, 26-34. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ctim.2017.07.008.
Schoeller, M. (2009, November). Icon: Clint Eastwood. GQ. Retrieved from https://www.gq.com/story/clint-eastwood-legend-invictus-director.
The Meditation Trust. (2020, September). How is TM different?. The Meditation Trust. https://meditationtrust.com/what-is-transcendental-meditation/different.
Yunesian, M., Aslani, A., Vash, J. H., & Yazdi, A. B. (2008). Effects of transcendental meditation on mental health: a before-after study. Clinical Practice and Epidemiology in Mental Health, 4, 1-5. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/1745-0179-4-25.pdf.
It is interesting to think of him doing this. Good outline.
It’s not something you expect given the roles he’s played
This is an interesting topic to ponder. When I hear the word transcendental, it means shifting the mind away to a parallel world. But this article clarifies my thoughts in a much better way. I think I would like to focus on the present because sometimes the solution to many problems lies around us which we are unable to see and seek it elsewhere.
Thanks for commenting
Firstly, Happy New Year, I hope 2025 has got off to a great start for you.
Secondly, wow! I have never heard of transcendental meditation before, but it is definitely something I will try. I’ve done other types of meditation before, and whilst I’ve experienced some benefits, I’ve often found I’ve had to keep reminding myself to be in the moment.
The fact that this allows our mind to wander feels like it will be much easier for me to engage with and stick with.
Amazing to think Clint does it!
Thanks as always for sharing.
Sally
Happy New Year to you too. I was certainly surprised to hear that this was something Clint Eastwood did as well. Thanks for commenting
I’m always a little skeptical of transcendental meditation, but the idea of Clint Eastwood being invested in the practice does make me laugh!
For anyone who didn’t know who Clint Eastwood was. Be better. I am a cabinet painter who hardly ever watches tv, but I know everything there is to know about Eastwood.