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WOODSTOCK, NEW YORK, October 18, 2002: Spray-painted on a rock face along Route 28 in the Catskill Mountains is the Hindu sign for Om. It is a subtle suggestion of the energy that vibrates throughout the region, according to this recent article. Some call it the bhajan belt, applying a word derived from Sanskrit for devotional song to the area. The mid-Hudson valley area is home (or second home) to many influential stars of the new New Age. The solitude and energy of the area has attracted many East-leaning academics, musicians and authors who call the bhajan belt home. Robert A. F. Thurman, a Buddhist author and scholar, has had a home in Woodstock for close to 30 years; Sharon Gannon and David Life, the founders of the Jivamukti Yoga Center in Manhattan, purchased a place in Woodstock a few years ago. Sting, one of the early celebrity yogis, has a place in the mid-Hudson Valley, as do a number of Hindu musicians, including the chanter Krishna Das and Baghavan Das. Shyam Dass, a Sanskrit translator, musician and practitioner of bhakti yoga divides his time between northern India and Saugerties, near Woodstock. The bhajan belt is centered around Woodstock, an island of hippie culture in rural Ulster county. Shyam Dass has a theory about why the belt wraps around this town. Along with “the quality of the land,” he said, “there’s a wide breadth of acceptability for all types of people trying to understand the deeper elements of existence.” The Catskills are filled with institutes, ashrams and retreat centers, among them the Sivananda Yoga ranch, in Woodbourne; the Shree Muktananda Ashram in South Fallsburg; the Karma Triyana Dharma Chakra center in Woodstock; a Greek Orthodox monastery; and a number of Buddhist monasteries.

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