"If I had not been already been meditating, I would certainly have had to start. I've treated my own depression for many years with exercise and meditation, and I've found that to be a tremendous help"
About this Quote
Meditation shows up here not as a lifestyle accessory, but as a survival reflex: something you do the way you brace yourself before a hard note. Judy Collins folds humor into that urgency - the line about having to start anyway lands like a dry aside from someone who’s lived long enough to distrust sudden epiphanies. She’s saying the world doesn’t politely wait for you to get your coping tools in order; if you don’t already have a practice, life will draft you into one.
The intent is quietly radical in pop-culture terms. Collins isn’t selling a miracle cure or a brandable breakthrough. She frames depression as ongoing maintenance, not a narrative arc that ends with a neat chorus. That matters coming from a musician whose work has always trafficked in heightened feeling. The subtext is: sensitivity isn’t the enemy; untreated overwhelm is. Exercise and meditation aren’t presented as moral virtues, but as practical technologies for staying inside your own life.
Context sharpens the stakes. Collins came up in an era when artists were expected to translate pain into art and then pretend the pain didn’t have a day job. Her candor pushes back on the romantic myth that suffering is the engine of authenticity. She’s also careful with her claim: “tremendous help” is persuasive because it’s proportional, almost modest. No salvation, no stigma, just a working method - repeated, private, and earned over many years.
The intent is quietly radical in pop-culture terms. Collins isn’t selling a miracle cure or a brandable breakthrough. She frames depression as ongoing maintenance, not a narrative arc that ends with a neat chorus. That matters coming from a musician whose work has always trafficked in heightened feeling. The subtext is: sensitivity isn’t the enemy; untreated overwhelm is. Exercise and meditation aren’t presented as moral virtues, but as practical technologies for staying inside your own life.
Context sharpens the stakes. Collins came up in an era when artists were expected to translate pain into art and then pretend the pain didn’t have a day job. Her candor pushes back on the romantic myth that suffering is the engine of authenticity. She’s also careful with her claim: “tremendous help” is persuasive because it’s proportional, almost modest. No salvation, no stigma, just a working method - repeated, private, and earned over many years.
Quote Details
| Topic | Meditation |
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