“Nashville has a special place in my heart,” Sadhguru said, opening his talk on October 9, 2016 at the Music City Center in Nashville, TN. He explained to the rapt crowd of 1,500 that Nashville had been the site of the first-ever Isha Yoga program in the U.S., 19 years ago. “Thank you for helping to make this movement happen,” he said.
Audience members had come from all over Tennessee and neighboring states to hear Sadhguru speak. As they entered the Music City Center, Nashville’s new convention center in the heart of downtown, they were greeted and helped to their seats by nearly 80 smiling volunteers, some having traveled several hours just to be there to support the event.
Sadhguru explained that when he first came to Nashville, everyone was asking him about stress management, and he couldn’t quite understand why. He soon realized that most people see stress as a part of life that they must deal with, but he explained that it doesn’t have to be. “If you could choose,” he asked the crowd,” would you choose stress or joy?” The audience members responded that they would choose joy. Sadhguru explained to them that they must create joy for themselves. “Being peaceful, joyful, and loving is your quality, not a divine quality,” he said.
After speaking for two hours about the nature of joy and love, stress and suffering, and discussing his own childhood and enlightenment experience, Sadhguru asked if the audience would like to go through a guided meditation. Although it was now 5:00 and time for the talk to end, everyone responded with an enthusiastic yes. The meditation itself lasted only 12 minutes, yet a profound stillness settled on the room.
After the meditation, Sadhguru answered a couple of questions and then stayed on the stage for over an hour, signing books for everyone who approached him. While Sadhguru was signing books several of the people danced as “Sounds of Isha” continued to play vibrant songs. Occasionally, Sadhguru himself would encourage the guests to dance as they waited for his signature.
After Sadhguru left, many of the guests lingered to talk with the volunteers about Isha Foundation, Inner Engineering, and the nearby Isha Institute of Inner Sciences. Attendees were clearly deeply touched.
After everyone else had gone home and the event hall had been cleaned up, the 15 or so volunteers who still remained gathered to say goodbye to Sadhguru. After greeting those volunteers and opening his arms for a group hug, he again expressed how glad he was that we were able to do an event in Nashville. Then he said, “The Inner Engineering book is like a program in itself,” and encouraged the volunteers to keep spreading the word about the book so that they could touch as many lives as possible.
Experiences and Expressions:
“For me, this was my third encounter with Sadhguru, and it’s always… well, you can feel his energy when he first comes on stage…. When he starts the meditation, you can just feel it, it encompasses everything, it’s just amazing. I initially found out about him from my massage therapist and healer, who was one of Sadhguru’s first students in this area.”
“It was awesome… we learned that death is a part of life, and to use your time wisely, otherwise your last scene will be your death. –also learned that water has feelings, because of where it came from.”
“Sadhguru is from Mysore, my native place, and to hear him end the program with a special song, that was immense pleasure and joyful. And most of the questions that I had in mind, he kind of answered all of them thoroughly… so it was great!”
“This was my first opportunity to meet Sadhguru. It was very eye-opening, and you could feel the energy as soon as you walked in. It was a wonderful first encounter.”
“It made me more in touch with what’s going on, surrounding me.”
“It was very insightful. It gives you a very different way of working to improve yourself: the whole idea of working from within as opposed to reacting to everything that’s around you. He’s very humorous, and he puts his ideas in a way that are very relatable.”
“We have to learn how to live. It starts with us, from inside. From then on, we can share with everybody the same thing that we want.”
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