Seane Corn: Angels Everywhere

Seane Corn’s life story could easily be a movie—but definitely not a Disney film. I first heard Corn’s history when she spoke at the Sounds True Foundation Gathering at 1440 Multiversity in Northern California in 2019. Sounds True had just published her autobiography, Revolution of the Soul: Awaken to Love Through Raw Truth, Radical Healing, and Conscious Action. I was riveted as Corn shared some of her raw truths and radical healing during her talk.

Corn (the subject of this issue’s “Listening in with …”) was raised an agnostic and free spirit and decided at 16 she was an atheist. At 17, she left her parents’ New Jersey home for New York City, where she worked in nightclubs for a living. While bartending at a disco in the late 1980s called the Limelight, she was eventually assigned to pour drinks upstairs in Heaven, the club’s men-only sex bar. That’s where she found God. 

The man who made the introduction was a 58-year-old regular named Billy—known for his tight, red leather pants—who befriended Corn. When Billy developed AIDS and knew he was going to die, this unlikely angel started sharing some of his deep truths. Looking around at the club’s cast of crazy characters, he told Corn, “Ignore the story and see the soul. And remember to love. You will never regret it.” Billy’s words stuck with her. 

“We are pure love, but we think we’re something else,” he explained. “The truth is, we’re on a journey to awaken to what that love is, and that journey looks different for everyone.” The love we’re here to awaken to, he told his young bartender friend, is God, and it’s inside all of us. “There are angels everywhere guiding us, reminding us, and helping us return home,” he added.

“Ignore the story and see the soul. And remember to love. You will never regret it.”

Corn encountered more such angels while waitressing at a restaurant called Life Café, owned by David Life and Sharon Gannon (creators of Jivamukti Yoga). The vegan couple inspired Corn to try yoga in 1987, but it wasn’t instant bliss. Corn—who at 19 smoked, took drugs, and drank to control her anxiety—threw up after her first class. 

Corn later moved to Los Angeles, where yet another angel named Mona taught her deep shadow work designed to release trauma. Corn’s resulting heart opening inspired a strong desire to serve others—the highest calling in yoga. “Your pain is your purpose,” Mona taught her, explaining that we’re each uniquely suited to help others overcome the same pain we’ve battled ourselves. 

Today Corn is an internationally acclaimed yoga teacher known for her impassioned social justice work and activism. Last year, she launched an online program called Revolution Within (see seanecorn.com) that’s a yoga experience designed to promote physical, emotional, and spiritual wellness. Red leather pants optional. 

This article appeared in Unity Magazine®.

This column was a 2022 Folio: Eddie Award finalist and honorable mention.