Meghan Markle's Former Meditation Coach Says She'll Be An 'Amazing' Royal — Plus His Calming Tips
Meghan Markle hasn’t walked down the aisle yet, but she’s already handling royal life with grace and calm. And for the latter, she has (in part) her former meditation coach Light Watkins to thank.
Watkins, who worked with Markle before her romance with Prince Harry, helped to guide Meghan in meditation. And with her calm confidence, Watkins tells PEOPLE that he has no doubt that Meghan will excel in her new role.
“She’ll do amazing,” he says. “She was just delightful from beginning to end when we were working together. She also has a level of maturity that allows her to have a big change like this and stay level-headed and centered. I’m happy and excited for her.”
One of the keys to success with meditation, says Watkins — whose new book, Bliss More, is out now — is integrating it into your life as a daily practice rather than an emergency treatment.
“I think people wait until a crisis or until a big event like his to start meditating, and I’m delighted that [Meghan] actually started the practice a few years ago,” he says. “When people try to go to meditation at [a crisis] point, they’re putting too much pressure on it. It’s more of a preventative thing than it is an emergency therapy.”
Bliss More walks readers through the stages of meditation — starting with forgetting preconceived expectations of how meditation is supposed to look.
“If you say, ‘I meditate,’ it means you’re probably siting somewhere on a cushion with your legs crossed, with your two fingers together, and back straight and all of that,” he says. “But what I came to find out was that that position was more of a monastic approach and not really the approach that regular people should be taking.”
His approach was different, and involved meditating wherever was most comfortable for an individual.
“I started teaching people this other approach, sitting comfortably with your back supported, not trying to control your mind or your breath or really anything,” he said. “And how much deeper you could get at meditation. And it would always shock people how much bliss that they could access, how rested they became, how much better their sleep became.”
