To pass the training I wore a white woolie hat in an act of defiance. I didn’t want to become a Sikh – I wanted to learn about Kundalini practices. I quickly became persona non grata on the training – everyone else seemed happy to wear white and took to turban wearing very quickly. Those of you who know me will know that I’m not shy in pointing out discrepancies! Any questions I raised were quickly dismissed and I was referred to the manual, a large, rambling work that was pieced together from the lectures of Yogi Bhajan, clearly by someone who had no knowledge of yoga beyond what he’d been told by his guru. Yogi B was revered as almost a God-like figure – we were not allowed to question his wisdom despite some of it being absurd and not scientifically true. People were expected to wear white robes and turbans to teach (and to practice in some cases). Yogi Bhajan was a Sikh and had tied in a lot of Sikh practice to the original Tantric yoga. He quickly became a really popular teacher and established ashrams, training organisations (such as 3HO) and businesses such as Yogi Tea and Akal Security.īy the time I came to train In Kundalini as taught by Yogi Bhajan it was basically a cult. Yogi Bhajan was a civil servant from India who travelled to the USA in the 60s and started teaching Kundalini to the hippies, people whacked out on drugs and those looking for enlightenment. However, that wasn’t the scenario that greeted me when I signed up for teacher training! Back when I trained, outside of India, the only way to qualify to teach Kundalini Yoga was to learn Kundalini as taught by Yogi Bhajan. I came to Kundalini via Ravi Singh and Ana Brett – anyone who has come across them will know that they are pretty normal in their way of dressing and presenting Kundalini. It took me about 6 months to realise I wanted to learn to teach it. Now here was a practice that did all of this and more, drawing in bioenergetics, psychology and philosophy. Often Hatha practice frustrated me because it didn’t go far enough. I was never interested in using yoga as acrobatics or even for relaxation – for me it was always about using the body to access deeper states of consciousness. From the first moment I was absolutely hooked. Bizarrely it hadn’t come across my radar until then – I had studied Kundalini via Tantra but had not realised that there was a branch of yoga dedicated to it. These two disciplines combined introduced me to the idea of Kundalini energy.īut it took until 2009 for me to encounter Kundalini Yoga. By the time I took my first yoga class I was already practising Tantric meditation via the teachings of Swami Muktananda. I had been on the path for inner knowledge since university where I studied philosophy, Eastern philosophy in particular. I would hound the teacher for books about yoga philosophy in a quest for deeper knowledge. I first took a yoga class in 1993 – it was Hatha yoga and I absolutely loved it. Here is the reason why I’ve stayed away from it recently. Since moving online I haven’t been teaching like this and I know that a few of you have been missing it. Those of you that have practised Kundalini Yoga with me over the years know that traditionally the class starts and ends with chanting. (TCH 25-12 7/29/87) Transcript follows after video.Wondered why I’ve stopped the chanting during the Kundalini sessions? This will explain why. Here’s Yogi Bhajan answering a student’s question about charging money for teaching. The balance is made and exchange is gained. Money is an exchange, a medium of exchange. I never saw an attorney help someone get themselves out of a depression. People are poisoned by the old religious trap of “poverty is equal to piety.” There’s an idea that has been passed down that spiritual teachings should be free.
It’s so interesting to me, the values our society has at this time. He said, “well, it’s somewhere around $400 per hour but you have to understand it’s a specialty practice.” I said, “Me too.” He said, “wow, you guys really charge, huh?” I chuckled to myself and asked him what he charged per hour. I told him it varies on need but generally around $150 for an hour, more or less. We were discussing how I teach yoga now and he happened to ask me how much I charge for private classes. One time, years ago, I was speaking with an old army buddy of mine who is now an attorney.
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