How do we choose to change our lives? What part of us makes that choice that leads us closer to the center of our own heart? Who do we become when we become the best version of ourselves? This is the story of my journey through the Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training Program. As I glided past the closed door on my way from a Hot Yoga class to change out of my hot sweat-drenched clothes, I was stopped short by the strange yet somehow familiar sounds that were emanating from inside. Others pushed past me in their rush to the…

By Teresa Blasi Martí aka Har Anand Kaur, Lima, Peru In November 2009 a group of young prisoners at Lurigancho Prison began practicing Kundalini Yoga. Lurigancho Prison is the most overpopulated prison on the South American continent and one of the most overpopulated in the world. In block number16 there are approximately 120 young men between 18 and 24 years of age who have been imprisoned for the first time. A multidisciplinary team is working with them to develop capacities which will allow them to return to society through the C.R.E.O. program, a penitentiary treatment program. The main focus of…

“It’s very important that you should know you and it’s most important that everybody should know you as trustworthy, honorable, graceful, steadfast, serviceful, kind and compassionate. These are a few faculties of a Teacher.” —Yogi Bhajan, April 23, 1997 Yogi Bhajan’s teachings are astounding. He was given to long lectures at times and lengthy discourse about any and every subject and sometimes, many times, my head was in a spin listening to him or reading a passage. I needed them translated into down-to-earth language. Therefore, I appreciate those Kundalini masters such as Gurcharan, Guruatma and Mehtab that can interpret and bring them to me in a way that…

Yogi Bhajan described two styles of spiritual teachers, the Saturn teacher and the Jupiter teacher. Both look to the soul of the student, but each uses a different mode to evoke results. Saturn Teacher: The planet Saturn is the only planet with rings. The rings provide limitation and constriction. The Saturn teacher is all about discipline. He specializes in always doing the unexpected and he “carries a stick” so he can suddenly “whack” any student who gets out of line. His role is to give the discipline and the limits.  It is through limitation that we gather our strength and become potent…

Q: Is it permissible to chant Ong Namo Guru Dev Namo silently before teaching a Kundalini Yoga class? Yogi Bhajan: No. Sound purifies the inner and outer environments. Chanting it on one breath is preferred.   Q: Is there anytime one would teach a Kundalini Yoga class and NOT tune in with Ong Namo aloud? Yogi Bhajan: Is there anytime when a pipe is not fitted with the gas tank and you can fill the car? This mantra is for tuning the flow of personal energy with universal energy. That’s a fact. Do it with the group to tune them in too.   Q: Is…

By Shanti Shanti Kaur Khalsa Dr. Michael Gottlieb together with Dr. Joel Weisman wrote a report that appeared in the June 5, 1981 issue of the Centers for Disease Control’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report identifying Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome as a new disease. That report signaled the official start of the AIDS epidemic. Under the guidance of Yogi Bhajan, I started the first Kundalini Yoga classes for people living with HIV in 1986. The health and fitness industry was booming; Jane Fonda’s Workout studio was just up the street from Guru Ram Das Ashram in Los Angeles. From the beginning…

How Kundalini Yoga (Literally) Saved my Life in Graduate School It’s August 26, 2014 at 4:15am and I’m taking the old-fashioned elevator up to the 5th floor where my former yoga home is located. As the gate of the elevator closes and the man sitting inside presses a button, I feel like I’m in a time machine that’s taking me back to 2006.  Eight long years have passed since I stepped foot in this magical place, Kundalini Yoga in the Loop, situated between artist shops in the Fine Arts Building on South Michigan Avenue.  My last memories of practicing Kundalini…

The Kundalini Co-op is the first California worker owned yoga cooperative.  We designed the cooperative to create and support community through yoga classes and events in a sustainable manner for ALL individuals.  It is our hopes that more worker-owned yoga cooperatives follow across the world to make the TRUE art of yoga affordable and accessible to ALL individuals. In 2009 I moved from Los Angeles to San Francisco. The change of cities was welcome and what an incredible city to move to! Yet there was something most definitely lacking…… a thriving Kundalini community such as the one I had been a part of in Los Angeles….

Teachers Together in ExcellenceGuru Ram Das Puri, New Mexico Friday, June 20th IKTYA Teachers Conference: 8 Elements of Excellence Course – Knowledge Come early to Solstice and join us for this exciting conference to experience transformation, growth and expansion. Coming together to present and learn together as students, teachers and trainers of Yogi Bhajan. An opportunity to co-create as a group of multi-generational yogis where every voice has a chance to be heard to build a culture of mutuality, collaboration and prosperity. Bring your mat/sheepskin, journal/pen, snacks and water bottle “It is very fortunate you have this Association. When I’ll be physically gone,…

By DukhNiwaran Kaur Khalsa Creativity and collaboration. These two Aquarian qualities guide Urban Yoga Chicago as we strive to make Kundalini Yoga a household name in Chicago. Founded by three yogis with different levels of experience and a shared passion for Kundalini Yoga, our roots are collaboration. Knowing that the model of a one-owner yoga studio would not work for us or for the coming Aquarian Age, we were looking outside the box to find a new way of bringing Kundalini Yoga out into the world. Our way of doing business needed to match our experience of Kundalini Yoga—empowering, life-changing,…