During the 70's when Arnold Schwarzenegger's professional career rocketed in several areas, he began to feel a bit overwhelmed and ended up practicing Transcendental Meditation for a year, a practice he has since discontinued in exchange for other mind sharpening activities.

As his international celebrity — and bank account — grew, Schwarzenegger realized that despite his signature extreme self-confidence, he was starting to feel overwhelmed, he tells author Tim Ferriss in the latest episode of Ferriss' podcast.

"Eventually it felt like I've got to do something about it because I have such great opportunities here and everything is happening and everything is going my way, but I'm just clustering [it all] into one big problem rather than separating it out and having calm and peace and being happy," Schwarzenegger said.

He told Ferriss that during this time he ran into a friend at the beach who told him that he was teaching Transcendental Meditation (TM), which prompted Schwarzenegger to reveal he had been struggling with anxiety for the first time in his life.

His friend set him up with an instructor who taught him proper TM technique, which entails sitting with your eyes closed for 15 to 20 minutes while breathing deeply and repeating a mantra.

"I did 20 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes at night, and I would say within 14 days or three weeks, I got to the point where I could really disconnect my mind ... and learn how to focus more and calm down," Schwarzenegger says.

Tip: See also my post "Transcendental Meditation and the Alternatives".

Featured image: Arnold trains with Dave Draper. Unknown photographer. Via Bodybuilding.com.

Via @MeditationAVL.