Meditation Retreats
Jared Leto Was Completely Unaware the World Was in a Pandemic Because He Was At a Meditation Retreat — ‘It Was Like Coming Out To the Zombie Apocalypse’
Jared Leto is known as one of the coolest, most laid-back artists in the entertainment industry. The Oscar-winning actor and musician usually has a zen-like outlook on life, but even he was shocked when the Covid-19 pandemic began in March 2020.
When the pandemic started, Leto was actually in a distant silent meditation retreat with no idea what was going on. The retreat instructors chose not to tell the participants what was happening in the outside world, but rather to let them continue to meditate in peace.
When Leto returned to Los Angeles, he was shocked to see how the whole world had been closed.
Jared Leto was on a silent meditation retreat at the beginning of the pandemic
Jared Leto attends the LACMA Art + Film Gala 2019 | David Crotty / Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
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Leto recently explained how silent meditation retreats work in an interview with Jimmy Fallon.
“It’s like a two-week, roughly two-week, silent meditation,” Leto said. “The idea is that you go away. You get rid of your phone, you get rid of distractions. You get rid of everything. And you just meditate. “
The retreat instructors didn’t tell anyone that a pandemic was afoot
Although there were already cases of Covid-19 showing up in America when Leto entered the retreat, there were no lockdown restrictions. However, within two weeks, things changed quickly.
“When I left there were about 150 cases,” Leto said. “And just in that short time when I came out, it was turned off, a state of emergency. And the whole world had changed. “
Although many changes occurred in the outside world while Leto was on the retreat, the retreat instructors decided not to tell him or anyone else what was going on.
“When we were in there, they didn’t tell us,” said Leto. “So we didn’t have our phones, of course there was no talk. No eye contact, no television. And the teachers didn’t actually do it – they made a decision. Let’s not disturb the attendees. ‘And I didn’t turn my phone on until I got back to LA. So I drove all the way trying to be peaceful and zen and keep the feeling up. And I came back feeling kind of shocked. It was like Rip Van Winkle’s. ”
Jared Leto was shocked by the state of the world after leaving the retreat
Although Leto is known to be fairly relaxed, even he was surprised by the state of the world when the lockdown began.
“Yeah, it was shocking,” said Leto. “It was great – I had this great tool for dealing with stress and things in life, but I don’t think anything can prepare any of us for what we all went through in the beginning.”
Leto still can’t believe how abandoned the nation looked when he returned home.
“It was like entering the zombie apocalypse,” Leto said.