There were major and minor influencers in San Francisco whose legacy continues today. I was fortunate to encounter many of them there.
Acid Rock Music and Peace Marches
Returning from Europe in July 1966, after almost a year of travel, I was immersed in the San Francisco vibe. This was the period of acid rock, Be-ins, the Oracle, Big Brother and the Holding Company, and Jefferson Airplane. The venue was the Avalon Ballroom. Our friend, Woody, had a gig as the Master of Ceremonies at the Avalon. Mentioning his name at the box office gave us free entry. During the fall of 1966 through the spring of 1967, we went to the rock concerts weekly, seeing the above mentioned groups and many more.
Besides the rock concerts at the Avalon, there were anti-war demonstrations, marches and celebrations. We attended many of them, mostly by chance, simply by walking into Golden Gate Park or taking the bus to the Panhandle.
I wasn’t in the best of health then, having contracted amoebic dysentery in Egypt. The antibiotics had stopped the virulence of it, but my body wasn’t dealing with food very well yet.
I Made Healing My Focus
My greatest desire was to have good health. So on my “trips” I focused on my body, looking inward, asking what it needed to be well.
My internal and external exploration for healing my body bore fruit. By the the summer of 1967, we were completely living a new lifestyle. Early morning and late evening yoga practice, eating vegetarian food, mantra meditation, and walks to the ocean became a daily routine. The beach below Lincoln Park was relatively deserted in those days. On the beach we often sat patiently to watch barnacles catch their prey in the tide pools.
Our path was brightened by the luminaries who lived in San Francisco during that seminal period. Influencers and teachers included A.C.Bhativadanta Swami, Richard Hittleman, Suzuki Roshi, Eknath Easwaran and Sivaram. Many swamis from India taught classes or gave lectures. Timothy Leary was there from time to time. Standing next to him in line one day, I sensed his energy to be nervous and scattered, quite unlike the disciplined energy of the teachers of yogic meditation that were sharing their wisdom with us.
Master Subramuniya’s Influence
There, too, was the relatively unknown yogi, Master Subramuniya, whose ashram was a few blocks from our apartment. While we experienced many in-person classes with several of the important spiritual influencers, we never met Master Subramuniya, though we attempted to attend events at his ashram on more than one occasion.
His influence, though, was through his guest appearances on a nighttime talk show. People called in to ask him questions about their experiences opening the doorways of perception with LSD or mescaline. I remember one of Subramuniya Swami’s calm responses. He explained to the caller, based on the caller’s description of his experience, which chakra was being activated. He explained the psychedelic experience through the lens of yogic states of consciousness.
Explorers in a Strange Land
It’s probably hard to fathom that, in the 1960s, the effects of psychedelic drugs were little known to most people. Like travelers in a land that hasn’t been mapped yet, we were all explorers.
And, while Timothy Leary made the news, others were quietly planting seeds of world views that would bear various kinds of fruit.
Though Subramuniya Swami did not introduce me to yoga, nor was he my guru, I want to acknowledge him in this blog as someone who made reasonable sense out of the chaos of experiences during that tumultuous time. You can learn more about him at the link below.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sivaya_Subramuniyaswami
