Prudence Farrow Bruns, Ph.D., learned the Transcendental Meditation technique in 1966 in Los Angeles. Two years later, she traveled to Rishikesh, India, where she studied with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the Founder of the TM program. She has been teaching the TM technique throughout North America ever since.
Prudence was in India when the Beatles were there to study meditation with Maharishi in 1968. Her dedicated attention to meditation in Rishikesh inspired John Lennon to write the iconic song “Dear Prudence.” In this interview she discusses her time in India studying with Maharishi, including her encounter with the Beatles and the song they wrote about her.
Dr. Bruns also shares her experience establishing one of the first U.S. yoga centers in the 1960s, and provides a personal perspective on the rise of interest in yoga and meditation in the United States over the past 50 years.
Prudence was in India when the Beatles were there to study meditation with Maharishi in 1968. Her dedicated attention to meditation in Rishikesh inspired John Lennon to write the iconic song “Dear Prudence.”
Dr. Bruns is the daughter of film director John Farrow and actress Maureen O’ Sullivan, and the younger sister of actress Mia Farrow. In the 1980s, she also worked as a film producer. During that time, she originated and co-produced the critically acclaimed Irish film Widow’s Peak, starring Mia Farrow, Joan Plowright, and Natasha Richardson.
In 2007 Dr. Bruns completed her doctoral studies at the University of California at Berkeley and received a Ph.D. in Sanskrit. Since then she has published a book and academic papers on Ayurveda, the world’s oldest system of natural medicine.
In 2015 she published her memoir Dear Prudence: The Story Behind the Song. It was named one of the best indie books of that year by Kirkus Reviews, which called the book, “A moving spiritual account of a search for meaning through meditation.”
Mario Orsatti, Executive Director of the Center for Health and Wellness, a division of the David Lynch Foundation, interviewed Dr. Bruns on June 14, 2020.
Watch the interview with Dr. Prudence Farrow Bruns (55:17)
Dr. Bruns also shares her experience establishing one of the first U.S. yoga centers in the 1960s, and provides a personal perspective on the rise of interest in yoga and meditation in the United States over the past 50 years.
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