A MEDITATION expert who teaches in Colchester and Essex has travelled across the world to help have an "influence on world events".

Barry Spivack, a transcendental meditation teacher who has been helping people in Colchester learn the technique since 2015, flew to India in December to participate in an assembly for world peace.

The assembly started on Friday, December 29 and finished on Saturday, January 13.

It is believed by the 10,000 people who attended the assembly it will have helped create a calming presence across the globe.

Mr Spivack, who had formerly worked in the furniture business, said there have been about 50 transcendental meditation demonstrations in the past.

He said: “When they are together as a group, it’s a calming influence on the collective consensus – we have got a group of 10,000, and that, from previous experience, should be enough to have an influence on world events.

“The 10,000 people won’t be talking about peace and discussing peace – they will be transcending space and time.

"When you transcend it creates a sense of harmony in the whole environment.”

Mr Spivack continued by saying the transcendental meditation he teaches people in Colchester can collectively change what world leaders say and do, adding he was once part of a meditation seminar with former Prime Minister Edward Heath.

He said: “I remember we had a seminar with Ted Heath when I had been meditating for 18 months.

“He said he wanted to be a radical Prime Minister, but said it was inertia in the country that stopped him from doing what he wanted.

“What we are doing here is creating more harmony and that will change what the leaders say and do.”

Mr Spivack continued: “I’ve taught several hundred people in Colchester in the last few years – I have always been interested in how we can make the world a better place to live in.

“When I learnt transcendental meditation and saw this stuff about the effects on the world, I was very sceptical.

"But we don't close our eyes and meditate – we take action."