43 years ago this month

I spent August, 1971 on the campus of Humboldt State College in Arcata, Calif. on the first half of a course to become a teacher of Transcendental Meditation.

I learned TM in November, 1969 on the first TM course ever offered in Indianapolis and felt drawn to become a teacher.

The course was taught by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of the Transcendental Meditation movement. He lectured at length at least twice daily in the Humboldt State College (now University) Fieldhouse. I was one of about a half-dozen folks from Indiana in attendance and we gathered in the afternoons in one of the student apartments where we were billeted to discuss the content of Maharishi’s lectures. That’s where this photo was shot.

Notice that I had an ashtray and a pack of cigarettes (Viceroy) at my side. It was another six years or so before I quit smoking for good.

I’m sure I reeked of cigarette smoke,

which is probably why Maharishi shot me a disapproving look when I sat down next to him to receive instruction in an advanced TM technique about half-way through the course.

I never made it to the second half of the teacher training program, which was held the following year on Majorca, an island off the coast of Spain.

I did, however, take the TM-Sidhi Course in the late 1970s and learned to “levitate.” You can read about that here.

And I also shot about 300 black-and-white and color images during the course.