Tom Hanks on why he took up Transcendental Meditation

It is no wonder that if Tom Hanks would take anyone’s advice on how to keep going in the whirlwind of showbiz world, it would be Jerry Seinfeld’s.

After all, Seinfeld has always been the perfect poster boy for Transcendental Meditation (TM). Powered by the technique, he starred, produced and wrote the iconic Seinfeld sitcom for nine years in a row without dropping dead or losing his spark.

Speaking to Phoebe Robinson on Sooo Many White Guys podcast, Tom Hanks recalled:

“I meet Jerry Seinfeld and he says to me, „So, what are you up to now?”

I said, “Actually, I’ve just finished a job and I’m going to take a year off.”

At the time, Hanks had been working a lot for the previous six years and felt the need to stay off the clock for a while.

Seinfeld was puzzled by Hanks’ plan for a sabbatical so one of America’s favorite movie stars felt the need to explain.

“I have to tell you I’m fatigued. I’m spent, I’m tired. I need to be quiet for a while. I need to rest.”

Seinfeld responded, “So you’re tired? Well why don’t you do TM?”

“If anybody other than a guy like him had said to me, “Why don’t you try TM?” Like, if Goldie Hawn had said, “Babe, you gotta try TM!” I’d have said, “Honey, listen, you enjoy your little floral pants and times in the forest and you commune with the wood sprites all you want. I don’t know anything about it.”

But to Hanks’ luck it was Jerry Seinfeld not Goldie Hawn who brought up the topic of meditation and so in two days, the famous actor and filmmaker was learning TM.

Turned out that fatigue was not the only thing Transcendental Meditation can help ward off. According to Hanks, TM also keeps socially awkward conversations at bay.

“Now I have answers to that question: ‘What else do you do in your spare time?’

I didn’t have anything other than “wait for a dental appointment”. Now I can say “Actually, I took up that classic version of Transcendental Meditation,”” Hanks quipped.