10 Famous Creatives Who Practice Meditation
Meditation has a long list of benefits, especially for the creative mind. Here are 10 famous creatives who practice meditation and the lessons they’ve learned.
Meditation has been around for thousands of years and across many cultures. Studies continue to find benefits. So it’s no wonder that so many famous creative minds and successful people have picked up the healthy habit.
To learn more, here are 10 reasons why creative should mediate.
Hugh Jackman - “Meditation Has Changed My Life”
In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, Hugh Jackman discussed the benefits of meditation in his personal and professional life.
Thoughts & Lessons
Meditation Teaches Us Our True Nature
- “Through meditation, I started to find what I call home, or a sense of my true nature…I get to strip away the masks that we build—that I build for myself, small and large—to reach more of a feeling of my true self.”
- “In meditation, I can let go of everything. I’m not Hugh Jackman. I’m not a dad. I’m not a husband. I’m just dipping into that powerful source that creates everything. I take a little bath in it.”
Meditation Calms the Mind
- “I found that with meditation, my anxiety levels dropped considerably. It seems to me that the mind is fuel to the fire of fear. The mind can make us worry about things beyond their measure. And the great thing about meditation is that twice a day, the monkey mind just calms down.”
Meditation Is a Discipline and a Habit to Be Practiced Regularly
- “Everyone takes a shower every day, and we don’t complain about it. We do it out of discipline. There will always be an excuse not to meditate…. The ego says, ‘You don’t need to meditate, man. You’re really busy. What about the kids?’ But do I say, ‘I can’t shower today because I have to make time for the kids?’ No.”
Sir Paul McCartney - "Meditation Is a Lifelong Gift"
Sir Paul McCartney, the founding member of the Beatles, has been practicing meditation for more than 50 years.
Thoughts & Lessons
It Just Takes a Moment to Find Serenity
- “In moments of madness, meditation has helped me find moments of serenity — and I would like to think that it would help provide young people a quiet haven in a not-so-quiet world.”
- “Whenever I have a chance in a busy schedule, I’ll do it. If I’m not rushing out the door with some crazy stuff to do. I always like to take a moment and just meditate.”
Meditation Can Stabilize the Mind and Support Creativity
- “It was a great gift that Maharishi gave us… For me, it came at a time when we were looking for something to kind of stabilize us toward the end of the crazy ‘60s.”
- “It’s a lifelong gift. It’s something you can call on at any time.”
Madonna - "Personalize Your Meditation"
She might be a material girl, but this singer, songwriter, and actress practices Transcendental Meditation and other techniques to balance her mind-body connection and find moments of zen.
Thoughts & Lessons
Personalize Your Meditation
- During the pandemic, she posted a video showing her own approach to meditation and creating a meditation space.
Appreciate the Stillness and Learn From Silence
- “Meditation showed me how much energy silence has.”
Unite the Body, Mind, and Spirit Through Movement Meditation
- “Yoga is a metaphor for life. You have to take it really slowly. You can’t rush. You can’t skip to the next position. You find yourself in very humiliating situations, but you can’t judge yourself. You just have to breathe, and let go. It is a workout for your mind, your body, and your soul.”
Steve Jobs - “I Want to Know Who I Am Through Enlightenment”
American business magnate, industrial designer, investor, and media proprietor, Steve Jobs, changed the world with his creativity. Behind his innovation lies zen mindfulness training that he felt was most important to care for and improve the creative mind.
Thoughts & Lessons
Meditation Teaches Us to Simplify to Be More Productive
- “Simplicity is harder than complication. To make your thinking clear and simple requires a lot of effort. When you reach the level of being able to think simply, you can move mountains.”
Calm the Restless Mind With Mindfulness and Awareness
- “If you just sit and observe, you will see how restless your mind is. If you try to calm it, it only makes it worse, but over time it does calm, and when it does, there’s room to hear more subtle things – that’s when your intuition starts to blossom and you start to see things more clearly and be in the present more. Your mind just slows down, and you see a tremendous expanse in the moment. You see so much more than you could see before.”
Find Your Voice and Learn to Follow Intuition Through Meditation
- “Everybody’s time is limited. Don’t waste your time trying to live somebody else’s life. The noise from someone else’s voice, make sure it does not cover/overturn your own inner voice. What is most important is that you need to have courage to follow your mind and intuition. You already know what your mind and intuition want. Everything outside of that is secondary.”
Everything Is a Process. Meditation Teaches Us to Be in the Moment to Face Failure and Continue to Evolve
- “If you sit still and look within, you will see our minds are unstable and restless. But as time passes, the waves crashing in the mind will calm down. Then this creates a margin that can detect something more subtle. At that moment, our intuition kicks in and one can see the world more clearly and become more faithful to the present. This is the cultivation of the heart which needs to be constantly trained.”
Jack Kerouac - "Let Go"
American novelist and pioneer of the beat generation, Jack Kerouac, saw meditation as a way to experience the world. His writing method were the ideas of breath (borrowed from jazz and Buddhist meditation breathing), improvising words over the inherent structures of mind and language, and limited revision. He even wrote a poem about how to meditate.
Thoughts & Lessons
Practice Meditation in All Your Actions
- “Try the meditation of the trail, just walk along looking at the trail at your feet and don’t look about and just fall into a trance as the ground zips by. Trails are like that: you’re floating along in a Shakespearean Arden paradise and expect to see nymphs and fluteboys, then suddenly you’re struggling in a hot broiling sun of hell in dust and nettles and poison oak… just like life.” ― The Dharma Bums
Find Stillness by Letting Go of Attachment With the Outside and Inner World
- “One night I was meditating in such perfect stillness that two mosquitoes came and sat on each of my cheekbones and stayed there a long time without biting and then went away.” ― Big Sur
David Lynch - "Happiness Comes From Within"
David Lynch is an American filmmaker, writer, actor, painter, visual artist, musician, and surrealist who is also an avid meditator. He even launched a foundation in 2005 to bring meditation to the masses including, 1 million students in underserved schools in 35 countries. Meditation is a crucial part of his creative process and well-being.
Thoughts & Lessons
Meditation Cultivates Energy, Creativity, and Happiness
- “I started Transcendental Meditation in 1973 and have not missed a single meditation ever since. Twice a day, every day. It has given me effortless access to unlimited reserves of energy, creativity and happiness deep within.”
Happiness comes from within, and meditation is the guide
- “Transcendental meditation for me brings more and more happiness. And this happiness comes from within, but then, as a result of the inner happiness growing, the outside seems to be happier also. Thinking of the United States of America and the many absurdities that this country produces could make one sad because so many of these absurdities cause much suffering. If these absurdities didn’t cause so much suffering, they could really be seen as being funny. And politicians would be known as some of the greatest comedians.”
- “The mantra that you’re given in Transcendental Meditation you keep to yourself. The reason being, true happiness is not out there, true happiness lies within.”
Meditation Is a Journey to Find Who You Really Are
- “The thing about meditation is you become more and more you.”
- “Meditation is not a selfish thing. Even though you’re diving in and experiencing the Self, you’re not closing yourself off from the world. You’re strengthening yourself so that you can be more effective when you go back into the world.”
Oprah Winfrey ― "Breathe Consciously"
Oprah Winfrey, American talk show host, actress, author, and philanthropist, has lived an incredible life. Not only does meditation and other wellness habits play an important role in her well-being and creative practices, but she’s dedicated her life to connecting with spiritual teachers to spread ideas that inspire health, wellness, and creativity.
Thoughts & Lessons
Meditation Is About Building Habits of Awareness
- “Meditate. Breathe consciously. Listen. Pay attention. Treasure every moment. Make the connection.”
Live Your Best Life by Living in the Moment
- “Meditation is about getting still enough to know the difference between the voice and you. It’s a heightened state of being that lets whatever you’re doing be your best life, from moment to astonishing moment.”
Breath Anchors Us in the Moment
- “Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure.”
Bruce Lee - "Empty Your Mind, Be Formless, Shapeless - Like Water"
Bruce Lee, a martial artist, actor, director, teacher, and philosopher, was an artist of life. He saw the importance of expressing oneself in every action and the mindfulness needed to flow in the total openness of the living moment. He practiced many different styles of meditation and was always open to trying new ways to meditate to get in touch with one’s true nature.
Thoughts & Lessons
Meditation Is a Practice, Not a Means to an End
- “Do not separate meditation as a means from enlightenment as an end.”
Learn From Nature
- “Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow, or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”
Truth Comes From Letting Go and Sitting in Stillness
- “Truth comes when your mind and heart are purged of all sense of striving and you are no longer trying to become somebody; it is there when the mind is very quiet, listening timelessly to everything.”
Marcus Aurelius - "You Have Power Over Your Mind — Not Outside Events."
Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher saw meditative practices in all his actions and even wrote out his thoughts in the book, meditations. He saw mindfulness practices as necessary and crucial to mastering the mind. After all, we only have control over our mind
Thoughts & Lessons
Go Inwards When the Outer World Brings Challenges
- “Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul.”
Meditation Is a Way to Train Your Perceptions. Reality Is Shaped By Your Opinion
- “You have the power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this and you will find strength.”
- “The things you think about determine the quality of your mind. Your soul takes on the color of your thoughts.”
- “External things are not the problem. It’s your assessment of them. Which you can erase right now.”
- “The mind in itself has no needs, except for those it creates itself. Is undisturbed, except for its own disturbances. Knows no obstructions, except those from within.”
Master Your Own Mind to Find Happiness
- “You have power over your mind — not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”
- “Through not observing what is in the mind of another a man has seldom been seen to be unhappy; but those who do not observe the movements of their own minds must of necessity be unhappy.”
- “Your mind will be like its habitual thoughts; for the soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts. Soak it then in such trains of thoughts as, for example: Where life is possible at all, a right life is possible.”
Focus On the Present
- “Each of us lives only now, this brief instant. The rest has been lived already, or is impossible to see.”
Voltaire - "Focus"
Voltaire, French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher, was a prolific creative mind who often pondered life and its challenges. He valued focus and awareness as necessary skills to practice for a good and productive life.
Thoughts & Lessons
Awareness Is the Path to Clearing the Mind
- “Meditation is the dissolution of thoughts in eternal awareness or pure consciousness without objectification, knowing without thinking, merging finitude in infinity.”
Focus On What You Have Control Over, Your Mind
- “Think for yourself and let others enjoy the privilege of doing so too.”
Focus the Mind on Progress and Opportunities, Not Misfortune
- “Life is thickly sown with thorns, and I know no other remedy than to pass quickly through them. The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us.”
Zach is an international writer, photographer, filmmaker, martial artist, and creator of Creative Enso, the Zen art of creative living. His goal is to empower and inspire creatives to live healthier, happier, and more creative lifestyles.
