Evolution of a Yogi

Duration: 12:00

Year Published: 1970

Creator: Hartley Productions

Complete Record: Shows the transformation of Richard Alpert, former professor of psychology at Harvard who was removed for LSD experimentation, from scientist to yoga disciple to holy man. Opens with the word OM scratched onto film, panning shot of students/disciples on lawn by a tree under which sits Ram Dass. Montage of newspaper headlines and other print media covering Timothy Leary and Alpert at Harvard experimenting with psychedelics. Montage of Northern India, including temple- like structures. Further montage of student disciplines outdoors, constructing a simple wooden- frame structure that will become a meeting hall. Students encircling Ram Dass having a communal meal, seated on ground as if around a long dining- hall table, later playing sitars. Extended footage of Ram Dass delivering a slowly- paced talk on altered states of consciousness, meditation and yoga. Students doing yoga in a large grove, then chanting in a large circle holding hands while taking turns to dance alone in the center. Montage of faces in MCU sitting looking at a candle positioned directly in front of camera. Last face blurs into a montage of surfaces of water, then sky ending with a zoom onto the sun with narration about altering one’s state of consciousness. ominous tones on soundtrack. Flipped and inverted doubled- image montage of students (ie. footage upside down and backwards at half- dissolve with normal frame) with long slow hypnotic prayer narration.