Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the Indian mystic who has introduced the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Mia Farrow Sinatra, among others, to the joys of contemplation, can also count Nancy Harwood among his followers. When Miss February faces the "altar" in her bachelorette pad in Burbank--it's adorned with artificial flowers of psychedelic intensity from Mexico--she forgets not only the cares of a part-time college student but also the care-nots of a 19-year-old coming of age in Southern California. "It's like getting high without drugs," explains the pharmacist's daughter--who got the message when she and many others, including pop idol Donovan, meditated with Maharishi recently at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium: "You could actually feel your neighbors going up, up and away."
The more conventional side of Nancy's education includes psychology and business courses at Los Angeles City College, a school she likes because of the diverse origins and upbringings of its students. Her ambitions are to model--Vogue's Veruschka is her ideal--and to dance, preferably in films. Like so many of her tuned-in generation, Nancy grooves to the varied sounds of today's many-splendored pop musical world--Hugh Masekela, Wes Montgomery, the Beatles, the Stones and Ravi Shankar. She also enjoys fraternizing with a variety of people at school, at the beach ("I used to go in for a lot of surfing, but paddling out got to be a drag") or on Sunset Strip: "I have a lot of friends with long hair, though I wouldn't necessarily call them hippies." However, Nancy informed us that abrasive contact with the "real" world is taking its toll on the flower children: "The Strip now has a lot in common with skid row--everybody's just milling around and most of them are up tight. Last spring, people were turned on to one another; now, everybody's on his own trip." Nancy is about to embark on a trip herself: She plans to spend her Playmate modeling fee on a tour of Europe this summer. Her Playmate adventure began while she was en route to a party in Glendale; she caught the eye of a Playboy lensman who suggested that she pose for test shots. Nancy readily consented; and we're sure Maharishi would agree that the results are worthy of your prolonged meditation.
