Australian_Yoga_Journal_2016_08_09_downmagaz.com

giving something of yourself back to the
world or back to the community or your
family.
That sense of giving is what gives us a
feeling of purpose … if there’s some hours
that we can find in a week so that we can
give back to the greater good, then we feel
that sense of wholeness.
AYJ How can music help people who are
suffering and how is it a healer, spiritually
and politically?
MICHAEL Music opens the window to our
soul. Sometimes we have these emotions
that are locked up inside us that we didn’t
even realise were there, and we’re feeling
all this pain and anger and stress and
frustration and then we go out and we
dance and we let it all go. Or we’re sitting in
our car alone and we hear a song come on
the radio and we break into tears and we
cry and cry and we just let it all out.
And that is the power of music. It touches
a core belief, our deepest most honest
belief, and that is what moves people to
want to create a different world … whether
it’s through politics or entrepreneurship
and starting a new business that’s doing
great things or reaching out to someone in
your family who is sick. It’s the thing that
gives us the fuel to keep going, that lights
the fire.
AYJ What is your yoga practice like?
MICHAEL I started practicing yoga in 2001,
right after the September 11 attacks
occurred. I started on September 12;
that was my first yoga class. From that
time, yoga has become a part of my life.
The reason I go to my mat every day is
because it’s like I’m remixing my life.
If I’m frustrated, tired, or anxious, I get on
my mat and I hear all these voices in my
head going, “You’re not good enough, you
haven’t tried hard enough, you didn’t work
enough today …” and slowly I start to quiet
those voices and I get into my body.
I stretch and I pull and I bend my body. By
the time I’m done, it’s like hitting the reset
button for me. I get off my mat and I have
that yoga glow, and you really feel it. You
never walk away from yoga saying, “Oh, I
wish I hadn’t done that. No-one has ever
said that in the history of yoga!”
I founded a yoga hotel in Bali, Soulshine
Bali, and that’s why I did it because I want
people to have that feeling of the remix of
their life. It’s like one day life is going a
certain way and then you remix it and you
come up with a cooler beat for it and a
different way of experiencing it and you
leave feeling that sense of renewal.
AYJ Can yoga help us have some hope when
the world does seem so crazy?
MICHAEL Yoga has its set of values that
include non-judgement towards yourself
and others, non-violence, giving back, and
challenging yourself, and the sweetness of
getting to your growing edge and growing
from taking yourself to that new place,
every day. I see yoga as becoming really like
a powerful energy that’s moving in the
world and changing people’s lives and
making people feel differently about their
connection to the world. I see it as a really
positive force in the
world today.
Michael Franti and
Spearhead’s new
album, Soulrocker,
is out now. For more
details about Soulshine
Bali yoga retreat, check www.soulshinebali.com