When I first heard about meditation, I had zero interest in it. I wasn't even curious. It sounded like a waste of time.

What got me interested, though, was the phrase "true happiness lies within". At first, I thought it sounded kind of mean because it doesn't tell you where the "within" is, or how to get there. But, still, it had a ring of truth. And I began to think that maybe meditation was a way to go within.

I looked into meditation, asked some questions, and started contemplating different forms. During my research, my sister called and said she had been doing Transcendental Meditation for six months. There was something in her voice. A change. A quality of happiness. And I thought: "That's what I want."

So, in July 1973, I went to the Transcendental Meditation centre in Los Angeles and met an instructor. I liked her. She looked like Doris Day. She taught me this technique. She gave me a mantra, which is a sound-vibration-thought. You don't meditate on the meaning of it, but it's a very specific sound-vibration-thought. She took me into a little room to have my first meditation. I sat down, closed my eyes, started this mantra, and it was like I was in an elevator and they cut the cable. Boom! I fell into bliss - pure bliss. And I was just in there.

Then the teacher said: "It's time to come out; it's been 20 minutes." "IT'S ALREADY BEEN 20 MINUTES?!" I replied, shocked. And she told me to "shhhh!", because there were other people in the centre meditating.

It seemed so familiar, but also so new and powerful. After that, I said the word "unique" should be reserved for this experience. It takes you to an ocean of pure consciousness, pure knowingness. But it's familiar, it's you. And, right away, a sense of happiness emerges - not a goofball happiness but a thick beauty.

I have never missed a meditation in 34 years. I meditate once in the morning and again in the afternoon, for about 20 minutes each time. Then I go about the business of my day. And I find that the joy of doing increases. Intuition increases. The pleasure of life grows. And negativity recedes.

Some forms of meditation are just contemplation or concentration; they'll keep you on the surface. You won't transcend: you won't get that fourth state of consciousness and you won't get that bliss. You'll stay on the surface.

Relaxation techniques can take you a little way in. That's beautiful, but it's not transcending. Transcending is its own unique thing. And why is transcending so easy? Because it's the nature of the mind to go to fields of greater happiness. It naturally wants to go. And the deeper you go, the more there is, until you hit 100% pure bliss. Transcendental Meditation is the vehicle that takes you there. It's the experience that does everything.

One of the main things that got me talking publicly about Transcendental Meditation was seeing the difference it can make to kids. Kids are suffering. Stress is hitting them at a younger and younger age. And there are all these different learning disorders that I never even heard about before.

At the same time, I saw the results of schools where the students and teachers practise transcendental meditation - where the student learns to dive within and unfold the self, that pure consciousness. Grades go up and test scores improve; students and teachers have less stress, less anxiety. The joy of learning and the joy of teaching increase.

My foundation, the David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace, was set up to help more kids get that kind of experience. We've raised money and given it to schools throughout the world to allow tens of thousands of students to learn to meditate. It's amazing to see kids who do this. Stress just doesn't catch them; it's like water off a duck's back.

I am doing this not only for the students' sake, for their own growth of consciousness, but for all of us, because we are like lightbulbs. And like lightbulbs, we can enjoy that brighter light of consciousness within, and also radiate it. I believe that the key to peace is in this.

· Visit davidlynchfoundation.org and askthedoctors.com for information