Hari Zandler Interview, October 4, 2019

INDEXED CLIP TIME: 00:00:05.640 --> 00:02:30.890 SEGMENT SYNOPSIS: Dan Kerr interviews Hari Zandler on the AU campus during the Golden Eagles Reunion for the class of 1969 on October 4, 2019. In this clip, Hari Zandler discusses his search for inner peace and his introduction to yoga. SUBJECTS: 2019 Golden Eagles Reunion; Class of 1969; Inner peace; Yoga

Okay, hello, it's October 4, 2019. We're on the quad at American University on the 50th anniversary of the Class of 1969 for the reunion. Could you tell us your name?

My name is Hari Zandler.

And could you tell us...there were great changes at AU while you were here. Could you tell us a bit...

There were great changes. And in fact, I was a student at the Sorbonne in 1968. And I was at the Sorbonne when the students took over the Latin Quarter. And it was a great opening for me because I had just gone to the Normandy beaches.

And I was in a existential crisis, trying to find out who I was. So I walked along the Normandy beaches among the dunes. And in this self-searching mode, I started breathing fully. And as I was breathing, the wind was so strong, it forced me to breathe beyond anything I breathed before. And as I was breathing fully, suddenly, I went into bliss, my body sunk into the sand. And all of a sudden, my body was doing yoga. And nobody had taught me yoga up to that point.

Then the following, maybe...six months later, I came back to American University. And I had my first yoga class here. And I had an amazing experience where the breathing exercises they were doing took me back to that feeling of bliss and inner peace. And I was part of the peace movement, but I didn't really know what peace was about because it was more of a philosophical, idealistic thing.

But what I realized later was even though I was marching for peace, demonstrating for peace, I wasn't really that peaceful. And it wasn't until I discovered yoga where I found that peace is not an ideal... Peace is not something that you superimpose. Peaces are very essence.

INDEXED CLIP TIME: 00:02:30.000 --> 00:04:59.260 SEGMENT SYNOPSIS: Dan Kerr interviews Hari Zandler on the AU campus during the Golden Eagles Reunion for the class of 1969 on October 4, 2019. In this clip, Hari Zandler discusses how he and other AU students took action against the war in Vietnam. SUBJECTS: School of International Service (SIS); Peace movements; Anti-war protests; Activism on AU campus; AU Professor Abdul Said; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Cambodia

So I was still searching. And at that time the peace movement was getting very strong. And there was a demonstration right here against the war in Cambodia. And the students were out there on Ward corridor and they actually stopped all traffic. And they were so great and what they did. And I felt that they were getting this courage from a deep inner place because there was no reason for them to go into the middle of the street and challenge the police with so much courage and then get taken away. But they were so fearless because they really not only believed in the cause, but I think they embodied the cause of something better. And what I found was as we came together... there was a zeitgeist... there was a spirit of the times that took over. And we all learned so much but we learned as a matter of practice.

I started a group at SIS School of International Service and we called it Morph and we wanted to change the system. And then Dr. Abdul Said became my mentor and I became his graduate assistant. And I remember coming into his office when they were trying to fire three professors here. And it was time for us to stand up and do something rather than just talk about it. So Dr. Said says, "Well sit down, and we're going to talk about this and we'll sort it out." I said, "The time for talking is over. Now's the time to act." And that was so empowering to move from the sedentary academic to someone who was engaged in something bigger. And when I did that, I felt I was empowered and I felt that St. Francis' prayer of peace was becoming true for me... "Make me an instrument of your peace." Make me an instrument rather than simply fighting in the name of peace.

INDEXED CLIP TIME: 00:04:59.420 --> 00:06:43.350 SEGMENT SYNOPSIS: Dan Kerr interviews Hari Zandler on the AU campus during the Golden Eagles Reunion for the class of 1969 on October 4, 2019. In this clip, Hari Zandler discusses how he came to realize what peace means to him and how he became a yoga instructor. SUBJECTS: Anti-war protests; Inner peace; Yoga

When I got to India, I met my guru. And that's exactly what he told me. He says, "Don't fight in the name of peace. Be peace. And once you are that peace, then it molds its own way." So then yoga became the center of my life.

But in any case, one day when they were having that demonstration here at the corner at Ward's corner, the police chased us back into the campus, and I went to the spiritual life center. And all of a sudden, there was a yoga group in there. So I sat down with the people meditating and doing yoga. The police came in, and they had no clue. Five minutes earlier, I was out on the streets with the demonstrators. So I found peace had me covered. And that was what it was all about. Really, that ongoingly... it was a learning experience. So learning to listen to peace, rather than superimposing peace on the situation really became, for me, what the whole movement was about.

And so later on, I became a yoga instructor. And since then, I have kept following that path. I meditate three times a day, and I still have the same ideals. And I feel that now peace is a reality in my life.

That's it.

Thank you.

Thank you.