John Corcoran from Ireland had a double life as a child. A single child born into a marriage in tatters, he enjoyed his time outside the house. Yet since his teenage years, he felt the darker side get the upper hand, slowly but inexorably.
John Corcoran. Photo credit: Patrick Browne, The Irish TimesMeditation: A path back to inner sunshine
He started suffering from insomnia, then from panic attacks. Overweight and miserable, he toured Europe as a professional musician with several bands – and the rock ‘n’ roll life did not help in setting up stable relationships. At the age of 32, John felt like he had hit a wall.
“So, I decided to take out a Credit Union loan as my last chance option and learn Transcendental Meditation,” he says, recalling the turning point. “In the first lesson, I spent the first whole hour crying. I spent the next three hours giggling which I now know was a way of letting go of the high levels of stress in my body. Then, over the next few days, I found this beautiful space inside my head. I started to get scared of losing the feeling and getting a panic attack but instead, I found this extremely deep peaceful feeling.”
Since taking up a regular practice of Transcendental Meditation, many things have changed in John Corcoran’s life. Animosity and hatred have been overwhelmed by the love and caring. Depression is gone. His relationships are healthier than ever. And he does not hate winter – and Christmas, for that matter – anymore.
Even the things which have remained the same are somehow different in their quality. “I still work as a musician,” John says, “and I do a form of stand-up comedy and I teach kickboxing. The challenges don’t change but what has changed is my ability to meet those challenges.”
Read John Corcoran’s first-hand account of the turnaround in his life:
“Meditation brought an inner sunshine back into my life,”
The Irish Times
