I Wasn’t in a Good Place”: Paul McCartney on How Pattie Boyd Changed the Beatles Forever

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Beatles are one of the most prominent figures of the 1960s trend toward Eastern philosophy and culture, but as Paul McCartney revealed in an interview with David Lynch, the Fab Four had Pattie Boyd to thank for this career- and life-changing shift. Unsurprisingly, Pattie’s then-husband, George Harrison, would be the Beatle most attuned to Eastern practices like transcendental meditation.

But the rest of the band was incredibly receptive to the process, too, thanks in no small part to their guru’s giggling sense of humor and the sense of experimentation that permeated their decade together as a band.

George Harrison’s Wife Was Seeking Spiritual Awakening

While Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and John Lennon were away on tour, Harrison’s then-wife, Pattie Boyd, was desperate for a spiritual purpose. In her memoir, Wonderful Tonight, Boyd recounted combing through the newspaper for something for her and a friend to do that would be spiritually enlightening. They found what they were looking for in the form of a transcendental meditation class at London’s Caxton Hall. The class covered the foundation of the Indian practice popularized in the West by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a guru who would come to be an important figure in the Beatles’ sonic and personal developments.

“I loved meditating, and I found the effects remarkable,” Boyd wrote. “I really did feel more alert and energetic. It did what it said on the bottle. It was life-changing. I couldn’t wait to tell George. As soon as he came home, I bombarded him with what I had been doing. Then, joy of joys, I discovered that Maharishi was coming to London in August to give a lecture at the Hilton Hotel. I was desperate to go, and George said he would come, too.”