Justin Langer: How a man called Derek D’Cruz and the power of transcendental meditation changed my life

The other day, a LinkedIn message popped up on my phone and the name stopped me in my tracks. Derek D’Cruz. Over the years, I have spoken about Derek in podcasts, newspaper articles, interviews and keynote addresses and yet it has been the first time we have had contact since the day I met him 33 years ago. All those years ago, Derek was the man who taught me transcendental meditation, and last Sunday afternoon we re-acquainted at the TM Centre in Subiaco. After shaking hands, Derek smiled and said something that made me smile back. “Every time you publicly mention TM, our phones light up again,” he told me. “It gives people permission or encouragement to think about meditation — not as something weird, or crazy — but as something normal.” Meditation can carry a stigma, although the concept of ‘mindfulness’ today wouldn’t be as foreign as the first time I heard the words “transcendental meditation”. When I was introduced to it, my natural reaction was “transcendental what?”, as I shook my head and nearly fell off my seat. Once upon a time, if you mentioned meditation you may picture a robed monk on a mountain, a long beard, dreadlocks, a silly grin and a set of white pyjamas. I certainly did. Meditation sounded like something only hippies did, after a spliff or two. That is until New Zealand’s veteran opener John Wright sat next to me in an Auckland changing room at the end of a Test match. On the brink of being dropped from the Australian cricket team, ‘Wrighty’ — with a cigarette in one hand and a stubbie in the other — looked at me empathetically. “Test cricket is tough mate, and for what it’s worth, I have found that transcendental meditation has helped me a lot, not just in cricket, but in life,” he said. “Maybe you should check it out.” Until that moment I had genuinely never heard of TM. A week later, dropped for the 1993 Ashes tour and back in Perth, an advertisement in The West Australian newspaper burst from the page: ”Learn Transcendental Meditation. Call Derek. Smyth Rd, Claremont.” Twice in a week. The Universe must have been talking to me, I thought. Three decades later, having meditated most days since, I can tell you it is one of the best things I have ever done in my life. And I am in good company. These days the people who talk most openly about meditation aren’t monks. They are some of the most driven, high-performing people on the planet. The western world first fell for meditation back in 1968, when The Beatles famously decamped to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s ashram in Rishikesh. In the foothills of the Himalayas, they learned transcendental meditation and came home with a swag of songs for the White Album. Almost overnight, TM was on the map. Nearly 60 years on the list of devotees reads like a who’s who. Filmmaker David Lynch has meditated twice a day since the 1970s and built a foundation teaching TM to veterans with PTSD and kids in struggling schools. Jerry Seinfeld has practised it for more than 40 years and credits it for his energy and creativity. And our own Hugh Jackman is a passionate advocate. Novak Djokovic, the most mentally and physically durable tennis player I have ever watched describes meditation as “one of the main points in my day to day”. He practises meditation for around 15 minutes a day and rates it as important as his physical training. “Conscious breathing is a big part,” he says. “Especially in the moments when you’re under tension.” Anyone who has watched him claw his way back from being two sets down — in front of a hostile crowd — understands he isn’t talking theory. Golfing great Rory McIlroy is the same. He meditates regularly, talks beautifully about keeping perspective, and is always quick to puncture the stigma of meditation. “I’m not going to live with the monks for a couple of months in Nepal,” he laughs. “It’s just about being able to get your mind in the right place, to focus, to centre yourself.” He says that some weeks he makes more time to practise his mindset than to hit balls on the range. Then there is Academy Award-winning actor Denzel Washington. I saw a recent clip where he described his morning ritual. Rather than reaching straight for the phone or the screen the moment he wakes, he sits, feet on the floor, no lights, no noise. He closes his eyes, takes a few deep breaths and simply says, “thank you”. A few quiet minutes of gratitude to win the first hour of the morning, before the world starts making demands. No robes, no mountain. Just a few quiet minutes a day. While anecdotes tell one story, the science has well and truly caught up with the wisdom. Meditation is no longer a fringe idea backed by good vibes. Researchers at Johns Hopkins reviewed close to 19,000 meditation studies and found strong, well-designed evidence that mindful meditation eases anxiety, depression and pain. A 2022 trial published in JAMA Psychiatry went further, finding that an eight-week mindfulness program was as effective as a leading anti-anxiety medication for treating anxiety disorders. Beyond the mind, regular practice has been linked to lower blood pressure, reduced levels of the stress hormone cortisol, better sleep and a stronger immune system. In other words, the very thing some still dismiss as “weird hippy stuff” is now one of the most studied and validated tools we have for staying well under pressure. It helps people living with PTSD, anxiety and depression. It helps corporates, parents, children, athletes, actors and musicians. It helps anyone who performs under the spotlight and needs a way to stay calm through the chaos. But the stigma is stubborn. No matter what people say about how cool and beneficial mediation is, I am used to the raised eyebrows and curious questions. At a Leadership Matters breakfast a while back, former AFL boss Gillon McLachlan was asked how he handled the relentless pressure of his job. Gil laughed and said something like: “I hear about people who have morning rituals and meditate and do all that weird stuff, but I just get on with it and go with the flow”. For a second, I felt a bit uncomfortable in my seat, but then I smiled, because I knew Gil was being completely honest, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with his answer. “Getting on with it and going with the flow” is his thing. It works for him. We all have our thing. Some people run. Some pray. Some surf, or garden, or walk the dog, or sit quietly with a coffee before the house wakes up. Some, like Gil, simply roll up their sleeves and crack on. While I like to do that as well, I also like to meditate. I have never pushed it on anyone, but I am happy to tell others of the benefits. I sit for 20 minutes, usually with my back against the wall, or on a chair, eyes closed, and I focus on my TM mantra and my breathing. Like all human minds, my mind wanders endlessly, but every time I notice it drifting, I simply and gently bring my attention back to my mantra and breath. That’s it. That’s the whole secret. There are no winners or losers, no scoreboard, no medals. It is an exercise in simplicity. Some days I find meditating is a quiet escape from the noise. Other times it is genuine peace in the eye of a storm. Meditation benefitted me — as an opening batsman facing the fastest of bowlers, in front of 90,000 screaming people — to control what I could control and let the rest go. If I came back to one thing, in my case seeing the ball out of the bowler’s hand, I would generally be OK. It has taught me that when I get busy, the easiest thing to sacrifice is my 20 minutes of meditation, when in fact the busier I get, the last thing I should neglect is ‘my time’ in the morning or afternoon. It has also taught me how to take a breath and pause when the pressure is at its most intense. So, if you have ever rolled your eyes at the word ‘meditation’, I get it. I was there too. But I would gently suggest the same thing Derek suggested to me three decades ago. Give it a go. Start with five minutes. Sit still, breathe, and bring your mind back to your breath, every time you notice your mind wandering. I am deeply thankful I learned how to meditate, through wonderful teachers like Derek D’Cruz and many others over the years. The lessons it has taught me have stayed with me through every storm life and cricket have thrown my way. As another mantra reminds me: “Amidst the chaos, calm.”