Roy Masters

Roy Masters (1928–2021) was an English-born American author, radio counselor and teacher of a mindfulness-style meditation exercise. Born in London, he trained as a diamond cutter before turning to the study of hypnosis in the 1950s. He came to reject hypnotherapy, and said he "unhypnotised" his clients instead. He came to see hypnosis as a "duplication of life's errors," a view that shaped his later teaching on stress and self-observation.

In 1963 he founded the Foundation of Human Understanding, a non-profit church organization in Oregon. It is dedicated to helping people perfect their spiritual nature through the principles of Judeo-Christianity, using counseling, books, lectures, radio and the Internet. The Foundation also runs a prison ministry that provides free books, materials and counseling to inmates. Its meditation exercise, known as "Coping Strategies," is made available to military service members and veterans.

Masters began his talk radio counseling show in the early 1960s. It continues today as Advice Line, and the Foundation describes him as America's first radio counselor. He wrote more than 20 books on subjects including health, parenting, stress, religion and Christianity, among them Your Mind Can Keep You Well and How Your Mind Can Keep You Well. He also founded Brighton Academy. Late in his life he passed the hosting duties to his sons David and Alan. Alan Masters now hosts Perilous World Radio and leads the Foundation. Roy Masters died in Oregon at age 93.

His Insight Timer teacher page sums up his message in his own words: "Learn to endure cruelty and injustice without resentment and after the stress has passed you will find the fulfillment you have been seeking."