Kundalini Kriya Yoga

As Yogi Bhajan brought it West in 1969

The teaching

Yogi Bhajan brought this style of Kundalini Yoga to the West in 1969, founding the organization now called 3HO. In 2020, an investigation commissioned by the Siri Singh Sahib Corporation, part of the organizations he founded, found sexual abuse allegations against him credible. Many practitioners continue the practice today; some teachers have since reorganized how it's taught and led.

Why this is hard

Kundalini Yoga combines postures, chanting, and controlled breath, taught as a way to move energy the tradition calls kundalini up through the body. Yogi Bhajan taught it publicly in Los Angeles from 1969, and the organization he founded, 3HO, spread it worldwide. In 2020, an independent investigation commissioned by his organizations concluded that sexual abuse allegations against him were credible.

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Yogi Bhajan taught it publicly from 1969.

Because he began teaching it openly in Los Angeles that year, and presented it as long kept secret.

A class taught in public, framed by him as a break with secrecy.

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3HO grew into a worldwide organization.

Because Bhajan's students carried the practice into centers and communities across many countries.

Kundalini classes now taught far from where Bhajan first offered them.

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A 2020 investigation found the allegations credible.

Because the inquiry his own organizations commissioned concluded the abuse reports were more likely true than not.

A hard finding, from an inquiry his organizations asked for themselves.

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Many practitioners still practice, knowing this history.

Because people can value a teaching's effect on them while holding its founder's record as real.

A student's steady practice, and a founder's record, held as two separate true things.

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Some teachers have reorganized how it's taught.

Because parts of the community have worked to separate the practice from Bhajan's authority and abuses.

A class taught today, structured to answer to more than one person's word.

The practice

If you're drawn to Kundalini Yoga, look into who teaches it and how the studio or teacher relates to this history before you sign up. The practice and the record of its founder are both real, and worth knowing separately.

A widely practiced teaching, carrying a documented, credible record of harm. Both are true at once.

Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan; 3HO, founded 1969; independent investigation commissioned by Siri Singh Sahib Corporation, 2020