Yoga for Peace

The second annual Yoga for Peace event will take place on Sunday, July 23, 2006 at Ford Field in Dearborn. The event will include an open to the public yoga class for all levels, and a group meditation for peace, along with music, food and local vendors supporting peaceful alternatives for a healthy environment, organic food sources, nutrition and peaceful life styles. Children's activities will be available so bring the whole family to a peaceful day in the park. The event planners are hoping to get at least 500 people to meditate for peace during this event - let’s help them exceed their goal! HGJ had a chance to speak to one of Yoga for Peace founders Chris Briney and ask him some questions about the event.

HGJ: What was your inspiration for Yoga for Peace?
CB: The fact that an alternative exists to the suffering and conflict that seems to grip so many people in the world and the possibility that true and lasting worldwide peace is within reach.

HGJ: Some studies have found that when a group of people get together to meditate on peace, crime rates in surrounding areas lower.  Any comments on that? 
CB: That’s another inspiration for this year’s event!  The Transcendental Meditation Community has conducted and documented numerous experiments in group meditation and found that not only do crime rates lower, but it can also affect things like suicide, traffic fatalities, even unemployment rates and cigarette consumption. That is very inspiring to me.  Last year’s slogan for the event was Gandhi’s admonition to “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”  We are committed to being the ones to make the change, and not waiting for someone else to do it for us; we are committed to showing others that this is something all of us can do.

HGJ: How do you think these types of events change the world? 
CB: In this case, we want to draw on and contribute to the power each individual has to create an inspiring reality.  We are doing that in two ways: first, through the music, yoga, meditation and prayer events, we are calling upon people’s innate connection to their own highest nature - their divine nature - and asking for its manifestation as love and goodwill at the level of consciousness, which is very powerful.  Second, we are designing the event to support people in taking concrete actions to create peace by hosting booths and vendors featuring various organizations that work to create peace and promote harmony on a personal, social or environmental level.

HGJ: What do you think the average person can do to create a more peaceful world?
CB: First and foremost, understand and know, to the very marrow of your bones, that a peaceful world is absolutely possible.  Like a work of art create that point of view, that way of being, and give yourself to it.  Discover for yourself the reality that peace, harmony and happiness are part of the deepest nature of your being.  Become a 24/7 peacemaker, someone who makes peace out of every circumstance, every situation. 

On a more concrete level, as Nobel Laureate Jody Williams said: “Do something.  Seize your power and create the world you want to live in.  For starters, pick one cause that inspires you - one you feel passionate about.  Then, find an organization working on that cause and volunteer at least one hour a month for that organization.”

For more information on this year's Yoga for Peace event please visit them on their website www.risingsunyoga.com/yoga4peace.htm