Yogi Bhajan, the man who risked everything to bring Kundalini Yoga out of its guarded and secretive tradition in India to teach it openly in the west, was a being of rare calibre. He was a large and powerful figure both in body and in personality. Those who met him physically, even for a moment, selden emerged unscathed and unchanged, and even those who've only known through the 6000 hours of recorded video classes he has left behind, have kindled an intimate connection and been inspired with the courage to live their lives consciously. He was "cool" in the most true sense of the word - the kinda of guy you can't wait to tell your friends about - with an uncompromising way of conveying the reality of life with an inspring, yet precise and unsentimental language, and a wicked sense of humour.
His birthday is coming up on 25th August and though he passed away in 2004, we'll be celebrating, as many people still do, with a special meditation (see this post). For those who've not seen him before here's a video clip from one of his classes. Unfortunately there is none of him teaching the meditation we'll be doing for his birthday but it will give you a good idea of the nature of the man and teacher that he was...
The video talks about the role of the pituitary gland in the brain (more on this in this Guardian article recently). You'll also get a sneak peak at a meditation which Guru Kaur will be teaching in September called Sodharshan Chakra Kriya. He also discusses how chanting works and why we all love to do so much kissing ;)
