Sri Swami Satchidananda
THE WOODSTOCK GURU
Sri Swami Satchidananda opened the 1969 Woodstock Music Festival addressing a crowd of over 500,000 people. While it has been over 50 years since the Woodstock Music Festival and while most people remember the event as an embodiment of the values of the sixties counter culture, the impact of Woodstock still reverberates for baby boomers and later generations.
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Swami Satchidananda
Sri Swami Satchidananda was one of the great Yoga masters to bring the classical Yoga tradition to the West in the 1960s. He taught Yoga postures and meditation, and introduced students to a vegetarian diet and a more compassionate lifestyle. During this period of cultural awakening, iconic pop artist Peter Max and a small circle of his artist friends invited Swamiji to extend an intended two-day visit to New York City, so they could learn from him the secret of finding physical health, mental peace, and spiritual enlightenment.
Three years later, he led some half a million American youth in chanting “OM,” when he delivered the official opening remarks at the 1969 Woodstock Music and Art Festival and became known as the “Woodstock Guru.”
The distinctive Integral Yoga teachings he brought with him blend the physical discipline of Yoga, the spiritual philosophy of India, and the interfaith ideals he pioneered.
These techniques and concepts influenced a generation and spawned a Yoga culture that is flourishing. Today, millions of people practice Yoga as a means for managing stress, promoting health, slowing down the aging process, and creating a more meaningful life.
Yoga trailblazer milestones:
- Created one of the first Yoga Teacher Training and certification programs
- Initiated one of the first Yoga programs in prisons and drug rehab centers
- Founded the first Yoga magazine in America
- Established one of the first residential Yoga ashrams
- Created translation and commentary on The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, which became the top-selling edition of this Yoga classic
Wellness pioneer milestones:
- Lectured widely, including at medical schools and conferences, on the healing power of Yoga
- Inspired integrative health pioneers like Dr. Dean Ornish and Dr. Michael Lerner
- Advanced our understanding of the mind-body connection
- Opened the first vegetarian health food store in New York City, and later in Virginia.
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Apostle of Peace
Swami Satchidananda Biography
“How can we find peace and joy in the middle of a chaotic world?
First, find your peace within. If you have peace, you have everything; if you lose your peace, you lose everything. So whatever happens, don’t lose your peace. Treasure your peace of mind so much that you allow nothing to disturb it.
And when something does come along to disturb your peace, that is the most important time to practice being peaceful.”
— Swami Satchidananda
“Everyone is searching for inner peace and joy. Some people want to be happy quickly, so they take shortcuts and get temporary happiness. But borrowed joy comes and goes. The happiness that we seem to be getting by our daily efforts is fleeting and mixed with a lot of troubles, worries, and unhappiness. We keep trying to find that happiness and we keep missing it. When we finally tire of searching for happiness outside, we sit quietly and wonder, What is this? Why am I unhappy? Why do I lose the happiness that I have? If we’re sincere and analyze well, we find, ultimately, that happiness never comes from outside. Happiness simply is. Our true nature is peace and joy—if only we don’t disturb it.”
—Swami Satchidananda
“Everyone is searching for inner peace and joy. Some people want to be happy quickly, so they take shortcuts and get temporary happiness. But borrowed joy comes and goes. The happiness that we seem to be getting by our daily efforts is fleeting and mixed with a lot of troubles, worries, and unhappiness. We keep trying to find that happiness and we keep missing it. When we finally tire of searching for happiness outside, we sit quietly and wonder, “What is this? Why am I unhappy? Why do I lose the happiness that I have?” If we’re sincere and analyze well, we find, ultimately, that happiness never comes from outside. Happiness simply is. Our true nature is peace and joy—if only we don’t disturb it.”