Hanging Out With Oprah, Deepak and Sue

One of the many large screens set up inside Radio City.

As I mentioned in my last post, I was the lucky winner of some tickets to see a live taping of Oprah's Lifeclass at Radio City Music Hall in New York City and I took my sister Sue along as my guest. It wasn't until the warm up crew came out to greet the audience and prepare us for the show that I found out that Oprah's guest for this taping was none other than the incomparable Deepak Chopra. Not only had I hit the spiritual jackpot, I got to see it all from an aisle seat! For free! It doesn't get much better than that.

Oprah on the stage at Radio City Music Hall.

For those of you who have not seen any of Oprah's Lifeclass broadcasts, it is an interactive experience. Participants are invited to ask  questions and make comments using their web-enabled smart phones and tablet computers and their responses are transmitted to Oprah live while the taping is in progress. From time to time Oprah would glance at the boards and pick out a comment or two from those sent Facebook or Twitter and respond to it. In addition, selected viewers in different parts of the country are connected to the taping via Skype, a computer application that allows video conferencing so they could see and hear the discussions as well as be seen and heard by everyone in the audience.

My sister, Sue, in the audience at Oprah's Lifeclass taping.

The topic of discussion was, of course, spirituality -- what it is, what it isn't and how it impacts our lives on a daily basis. It would be impossible to recap the entire two hour taping. Instead, here are a few golden nuggets of wisdom that I gleaned during that time:
- Spirituality: living your life with an open heart.
- We are not humans having spiritual experiences. We are spiritual beings having human experiences.
- You are not your thoughts -- you are an observer of your thoughts. You have the power to consciously turn off negative thoughts and let them go. Not to do so makes you a prisoner of your thoughts.

There was more, so much more, but it would be better for you to see it for yourself. The taping I attended will be aired on Oprah's OWN network on Monday, April 23 at 8 PM EST. Check the website for your local channel and time. While you're there, catch up on Season 1 of Lifeclass and get a sense of what the class is all about.

Hope to see you there!

Ballo ergo sum,
- Gitana, the Creative Diva