Leading with the Heart

Today I read the obituary of one of the organizers of the 1969 Woodstock Music & Art Festival, Michael Lang. Included in the obit was this quote from his 2010 book, The Road to Woodstock.

"From the beginning, I believed that if we did our job right and from the heart, prepared the ground and set the right tone, people would reveal their higher selves and create something amazing."

At the festival, Lang saw his vision come to fruition. People actually did reveal their higher selves to create something amazing for the greater good. Nearly half a million people, the size of a mid-sized city, came together with love and peace in their hearts. Yes, there were lots of problems, traffic backed up on the New York State Thruway. The gates were crashed. Drugs were everywhere. It rained and it rained. Three straight days of fabulous music accompanied by mud and rain.

Yet, there were no deaths and no violence. Imagine cities with similar population sizes with no death or violence throughout four days. Cities like Tampa, Orlando or Honolulu with no deaths (think pre-COVID) and no victims of violence. People were there with love in their hearts with the vision set by Michael Lang and his co-organizers.

This is what we try to do with yoga practice and yoga nidra meditation. We journey inward to find the peace in our hearts, our highest selves. It is this highest self that allows us to live more peacefully in this crazy world today. To make change, it starts within.

Like the intense injustices of today's world, 1969 was part of an era when our country was deeply divided from the breakdown of traditional social structures, wars in faraway places, and famine around the world.

Today, tensions mount due to climate change, the continuing COVID crisis, mass shootings, and war threatening the Ukraine/Russia border. We can add to peace and love in this world by finding our highest true selves through yoga. I found that leading with the heart has so many positive ramifications.

Leading with the heart helps to keep oneself calm in an anxious world. Leading with the heart can boost self-confidence. Leading with the heart can boost peace and self-esteem making for a better world. By revealing your highest self through a meditation or yoga practice, you can "create something amazing" for yourself and the world that surrounds you. The lessons of Woodstock continue to resonate today, 52 years later.

Upcoming Classes

Yoga nidra classes continue online at 7:30 ET Monday nights. In mid-January I will begin a regular schedule of online offerings including online Yoga for Strength & Flexibility and an online a Yoga for Healthy Bones class. Learn more by clicking on the links for these classes or register now.
Are you still thinking about the upcoming chakra workshops? The discount chakra package is in effect until this Tuesday 1/11. Classes begin this Wednesday 1/12. Register for single workshop drop-in here.
5 packs and 10 packs for online group classes are still available at a discounted pricing.

I continue my availability for face-to-face or online private lessons. Contact me via the form at the bottom every one of my web pages to set up an appointment.

Resources:

Porter, D. (2022). Sarasota Herald Tribune. Michael Lang, co-creator of Woodstock, dies.