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Letters | Could Hong Kong students take a leaf out of The Beatles’ book?
Readers discuss the benefits of meditative practice, and teen mental health
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I refer to “How Transcendental Meditation transformed my life, as it did for The Beatles” (PostMag, January 11).
In 1960, four young men – John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr – formed a band called The Beatles in Liverpool, that became a massive hit on both sides of the Atlantic. There were deafening screams wherever they went, evidence of a social phenomenon that came to be known as Beatlemania.
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Songs like “I Want To Hold Your hand” and “I Saw Her Standing There” were openly flirtatious and appealed to many young women.
Eventually, in 1968, the band travelled to India where they learned Transcendental Meditation from Indian spiritual leader Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. McCartney, Lennon and Harrison had attended a lecture given by the sage in 1967. This moment would prove to be transformational for them, and their careers.
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Their subsequent songs were not as conventional or shallow, and appealed to a wider social spectrum, especially amid the social revolutions of the era. The band’s lyrics were steeped in wisdom and went beyond romance.
Transcendental Meditation is derived from ancient meditative and yogic practices. It eventually caught on in the West as a secular path towards wellness.
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