On the Woodstock Center
for awakening

We want to blaze a trail into and out the heart of the human dilemma by way of “awakening” and how it touches on so much of what we are and do.

This area is blessed with many spiritual centers and healing arts’ groups and practitioners–-healers, past-life regressionists, yogis, therapists, and teachers. It’s also blessed with ecologists, poets, scientists, artists and musicians engaged in all stripe of practice—as well as social-justice advocates, alternative communities and hermits—for whom awakening resonates.

Awakening seems to intersect with so many, and it is our aspiration to open up space for its exploration. All we are doing is holding up a mirror so that the potentiality of this place, hemmed by mountains and water, may recognize itself. Moreover, at this moment of ecological and other imbalances, we want to be a model for community building. That’s what the festivals, the dialogues and gatherings, as well as our proposed “Woodstock Awakening Directory,” are all about.

What distinguishes the Center’s activities from other organizations that might fall within the wellness universe is that we seek to call to us without categorical distinction those area people and groups that self-identify “awakening” as core to their mission and aspiration. Also, utilizing positive, non-violent communication with a conflict-positive approach, we are building an infrastructure to facilitate positive communication between the different and diverse aspects of our town. Centered around myriad forms of healing, resiliency, gatherings and fostering collaboration, we hope our project may bring our community together to face the challenges of the 21st century.

Our story

This all began in the summer of 2022 when Michael Raphael received a cancer diagnosis—a solid reminder of our impermanence. At the time Michael was living in Tel Aviv, safeguarding and advocating for Mediterranean ecological sites. In the fall his friend and collaborator Sam Truitt went to stay with him, and together they roamed the “Holy Land,” with a long stay within the miraculous depth of the Dead Sea, exploring things, including existential precarities.

Later that same November the Woodstock benefactor John Joseph Synan (“Jogger John”) unexpectedly died. His memorial at the Woodstock Community Center was a galvanizing event in our recent cultural life: as folk from all walks came together. The gathering to honor his Woodstock life was heartwarming. Yet at the same time his passing left a void: Who was left to carry on his maverick stride and bring people together the way only he seemed capable? For many it was a wake-up call.

In December Michael called Sam with the news he had enrolled in Eckhart Tolle’s “Teacher of Presence” workshop for the spring and summer of 2023. Sam thought it was a great idea to join that course, and in the train of that conversation they together leapt to the understanding that they would start a Woodstock Center for Awakening, with the predicate that the Center would be open to all people and groups magnetized to the concept of awakening, broadly speaking. They were aware that the town of Woodstock itself could use some awakening. The Center would seek to realize some of Jogger John’s values, including his persistent drive to awake. HIs selflessness and generosity seem exemplary of the Woodstock spirit and is what the Center seeks to be: a diehard giver and lover.

They thought one direct means of gathering that force would be a Woodstock-wide festival in the fall of 2023. They had a first community meeting around this endeavor on May 6th. In that and subsequent meetings, the proposition was met with a groundswell of interest, including the signing of many volunteers from whom formed a Festival steering committee, consisting of: Avinash, Paul McMahon, Urana Kinlen, Emma Leigh and Kimber Truitt. Corinne Mol joined Michael and Sam to form a Board of Directors, and through the benefaction and support of Michael Hassan, we incorporated in July 2023: The Woodstock Center for Awakening, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization “dedicated to the exploration of awakening in all its forms and to be a place where people and groups may find each other and learn and prosper together.” With the generosity of community support, we have mounted two festivals, with our third Woodstock Festival of Awakening, happening August 8-10, 2025. We are continuing to work on the inauguration of “Woodstock Awakening Directory.”

The rest is now.