Filmmaker David Lynch to Speak on Transcendental Meditation at Yale

Award-winning writer, director and producer David Lynch will speak at Yale University on “Consciousness, Creativity and the Brain,” September 30 at 7:30 p.m.

Lynch’s talk, which is free and open to the public, will be held in Battell Chapel (corner of Elm and College streets).

Prior to the talk at Battell Chapel, there will be a screening of the Lynch film “Lost Highway” at 4 p.m. in the Whitney Humanities Center, 53 Wall St.

Lynch will speak about his films and about the David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace—a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing the benefits of stress-reducing meditation to students.

The David Lynch Foundation recently partnered with other foundations in a $1.2 million research grant to study the effects of Transcendental Meditation on brain functioning, academic performance, learning disorders, anxiety, depression and substance abuse among students in nine schools and colleges.

“Students experience fear, anxiety, depression—their life is not what it should be,” Lynch says. “I know from my own 30 years of experience that meditation can work. I am coming to Yale to tell students that my foundation is available to help them develop their consciousness, creativity and brain through meditation.”

Lynch’s filmmaking honors include Academy Award nominations for Best Director for “Mulholland Drive” in 2001, “Blue Velvet” in 1986 and “Elephant Man” in 1980. He won Best Director for “Mulholland Drive” at the Cannes International Film Festival. His other works include “Eraserhead,” “The Straight Story” and the television series “Twin Peaks.” He is currently directing a new film, “Inland Empire.”

Lynch will be joined at the talk by John Hagelin, professor of physics and director of the Institute of Science, Technology and Public Policy at Maharishi University of Management, who was recently featured in the hit documentary “What the Bleep Do We Know?” and by neuroscientist Fred Travis, director of the Center for Brain, Consciousness and Cognition at Maharishi University of Management.

Lynch’s talk is sponsored by the Yale Film Studies Program, Cinema at the Whitney, the Yale Film Society and the University Chaplain’s Office. For more information, call 203-436-4668.