By EPS – Office of Ethics and Professional Standards A yoga culture that encourages participation through seva is  a way for students to enjoy meaningful time together, build community and most importantly develop the depth of giving without thoughts for the self. Seva is one of the cornerstones of many yoga traditions. Giving within a community context has been shown in research to support wellness and long term happiness.¹ Volunteer work, while different in some ways from seva, when done from a place of genuine giving, contributes to a sense of connection and life purpose.  When offering seva opportunities to students…

By Karta Purkh Singh Khalsa, Oregon, USA If you practice yoga and live a healthy, happy, and holy lifestyle, you’re pretty well covered. Yoga is without doubt the ultimate system for helping you stay balanced and joyful throughout your life. Sure, there are a lot of rules and guidelines, but it all comes down to four things to concentrate on. In the yoga world, the big four are Bana (personal behaviors), Bani (prayer), Simran (meditation), and Seva (selfless service). Our lineage of teachers has consistently ranked serving others right up there with our most important personal spiritual practices. The ten Sikh gurus were all appointed to their positions…

SEVA CORPS was envisioned at Khalsa Council and was born in April 2020 with the purpose of serving those who serve. That is why our motto is Serving Together. Through digital platforms we seek to value, nurture and inspire those in service through the technology of Kundalini Yoga and the legacy of Sikh Dharma in an elevated environment of listening and sharing. We also want to produce content about the path of service, give relevance to ongoing SEVA PROJECTS, and inspire new projects. Above all, we want to offer spaces for dialogue and inclusion. We are committed to sustaining our service through…

By Deg Ajeet Kaur (Janet Howard) I keep it moving. Get it done. Onto the next thing. In Kundalini Yoga and meditation, I’m learning the power of stillness. In stillness, the message finds us. The path is revealed. It doesn’t feel natural to me. I want to search for, run to and push through for the answers, for the path, for the next thing in my journey. I’m impatient. But lately, it isn’t working. I push, I run, I take control of forward movement and I feel lost—I can’t find my way. I give up. Sit down. Cry. And when all…

By Vladislav Loginov, Estonia My main students are teenagers, kids, and youth with physical and psychological disabilities and their parents. I teach at the studio and on-line. Young people with disabilities who practice Kundalini Yoga regularly over the years show excellent results in their development. One of them is Matvey Smirnov www.beu-fund.com/matvey-smirnov  Matvey has been practicing Kundalini Yoga for 2.5 years. He is 17 now. He was diagnosed with Down's syndrome. Matvey could not crawl, sit or talk for a while. His physiatrist said “as if there were no muscles in his body.” Nevertheless, he was on his feet when he…

By Ram Krishan Singh “Dharma is when you consciously put yourself together to work for others, for their happiness, for their benefit, for taking away their pain, giving them a life, serving them.” -Yogi Bhajan The Seva Sadhana Program at the Mother Ashram (Hacienda de Guru Ram Das Ashram) in Espanola, New Mexico offers the opportunity for participants of all backgrounds to become immersed in the healthy, happy, holy lifestyle. We live together in spiritual community, rise in the early morning hours to practice Kundalini Yoga and meditation, and experience the power of living a life of service. Whether it’s working…

By Michael Jaidev Singh When I began my level 1 Kundalini Yoga teacher training, the phrase “Start Now” rang in my mind like a choir of church bells. I was 22 at the time and teaching full time math and science at an inner city middle school in Los Angeles. In the first few days of training I approached my teacher, Gurmukh, for a meditation to share with my students. I was nervous that my enthusiasm to share this science would be frowned upon since I was not yet ‘certified to teach.’ Yet I received the opposite reaction. Gurmukh smiled…

I’m almost two weeks back from my trip to Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast, in Engligh), Africa. This is a place that doesn’t leave my soul easily. I just went to see Marvel’s ‘Black Panther’ last night with my family, here in Espanola, and it brought back all of the reasons that I love this continent so much. There is a deep-rooted love for the land and the family unit, and an intense spiritual strength there. I also felt this on my first trip to Africa this past September, 2017.  Let me back up just a bit. Somehow I landed in…

Several years ago in Chicago’s Southside Englewood neighborhood, often portrayed in the press for its violence rather than the good people who live there, we began teaching Kundalini Yoga and training teachers from the community. We helped create I Grow, Chicago’s Peace House. I Grow offers an oasis of calm as a non-profit organization that combines yoga, urban gardening, and art to help encourage community members to become empowered and connected. Although community organizations like I Grow have helped reduce the shootings in Englewood by 40% this year, one day there was an incident of domestic violence a few doors…

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…