The Racquet has updated this article with a correction as of Wed. Oct. 19, 3:23 p.m.

On Wed. Oct. 12, UWL students and community members filled Valhalla and listened to one of India’s most influential people, Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, talk about his experience as a yogi, mystic and visionary. Sadhguru’s stop in La Crosse during his North American Tour provided audience members a chance to learn about his mission as well as his new book entitled, “Inner Engineering: A Yogi’s Guide to Joy.” At his interactive talk, Meet, Mingle, and Mediate, Sadhguru discussed what it means to be alive, in union and to be joyful. Through stories, analogies and jokes, Sadhguru shared his background and experience with the audience.

Various organizations, including Mayo Clinic, Gundersen Health System, People’s Co-op, Cultural Heritage Association of India (CHAI) and UWL Multicultural Student Services, helped organize this event for about 750 participants which took about 4 months of planning.  In addition to those organizations, a band, Sounds of Isha, provided background music for people taking their seats in Valhalla. They are all Isha Foundation volunteers from Chicago and Madison and have a passion for Indian music.

UWL Lecturer Ayesha Patnaik was the head organizer for the event. After reading a book about Sadhguru, entitled, “Midnights with the Mystic,” she became fascinated on how he described spirituality which became logical to her. Ayesha commented on why she chose to bring Sadhguru to our campus.

She said, “We have such a fabulous university, community, students, professors and staff. Everyone is hungry for spirituality in a way. I thought it would be really nice to bring him (Sadhguru) to our campus and have him give a talk and interact with our students.”

In addition to Ayesha, meditator and core volunteer Benny Benegal helped coordinate the event. He is part of the public relations team that helps plan activities for Isha Foundation, which was founded by Sadhguru. Benny has been a practitioner of yoga for the past 8 ½ years under Saduguru’s guidance, and this has changed his perspective and his ability to perceive life. As a yogi, Sadhguru has provided Benny and millions of others many tools for transformation.

Benny gave an in-depth description of what a yogi is. He said, “A yogi is someone who has gone beyond the physical which is what spirituality really means. Someone who has transcended the physical limitations of the 5 senses of the human being within the context of their body, their mind, their emotions and energies.”

Mr. Benegal also commented on what he believes Sadhguru hopes to achieve by visiting our campus and community. He stated, “He wants to impart a drop of spirituality of what it means for someone to experience it first-hand without reading scriptures or believing in an ideology. This is not a theology, philosophy or concept—it is a technology for well-being.”

La Crosse was Sadhguru’s penultimate stop on his tour. If you would like to learn more about his mission and his new book, “Inner Engineering: A Yogi’s Guide To Joy,” you can visit the Isha Foundation website: http://isha.sadhguru.org.