DOCUMENTING THE KUNDALINI YOGA AND THE 3HO COMMUNITY IN CALGARY

Abstract

With a few recent exceptions, scholarly work dealing with Sikhism in Canada has largely been limited to the geographic areas of the lower mainland British Columbia and the greater Toronto area. Even less has been done on Sikh groups that might be considered non-normative or outside the mainstream (i.e. Punjabi, Khalsa-oriented) tradition. This paper makes a preliminary attempt to address both of these gaps by exploring the kundalini yoga (KY)/3HO communities in Calgary. Drawing from online sources, personal interviews, and participant observation, the paper chronicles the history and development of KY/3HO groups in Calgary, documents their constituencies and demographics, and seeks to sketch their associations with mainstream, normative Sikh groups. In the process, the paper points to larger questions for future consideration about the nature of religious identity, power, and authority among Calgary's Sikh/KY/3HO community.

Notes

Earlier versions of this paper were presented at Transnational Panjabis in the 21st Century at the University of the Frazer Valley in Abbotsford, British Columbia in May 2011, at the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences (‘Congress’) in Fredericton, New Brunswick in May 2011, and at the Pacific Northwest Regional Meeting of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) in May 2012. The author is indebted to the many comments and feedback he has received at these fora.

This is the official teacher training programme offered through the 3HO.

Spiritual names are given whenever possible. In some cases names have been altered at the request of the individual. In the later case, such individuals are referenced as Kaur 1, Kaur 2, etc. in the case of females, and Singh 1, Singh 2, etc. in the case of males.

According to Kaur 1, at least one of the members from the surrounding community was female.

‘Serving the Master’ in Aquarian Times 6/6, 2007, 4. This account was also related to the author in a personal conversation with Harjot Kaur Singh, 5 April 2011.

Memory differs on the frequency of Yogi Bhajan's visits to the city. Seva Simran recalls that Yogi Bhajan visited twice per year. Harjot Kaur Singh remembers annual visits.

Kaur 2, personal conversation, 6 April 2011.

Kaur 2, personal conversation, 6 April  2011.

Singh 1, personal conversation, 17 March 2011.

These local politics were tied to the broader political maneuverings in the mid-1980s on the Khalistan issue. Two broad groups emerged. On the one hand there was Yogi Bhajan and the Sikh Youth Federation who did not see Khalistan as necessary, and on the other, the supporters of a free and independent Khalistan. The majority of the Calgary Sikh community it seemed wanted neither Yogi Bhajan nor the Khalistanis. In the end, the Martindale Dashmesh Cultural Centre was constructed and is the largest of Calgary's three gurdwaras.

Singh 1, personal conversation, 17 March 2011.

Indeed, Seva Simran is the only active teacher during this time known to the author.

Kaur 4, one of Lisanne's students, who worked at Talisman Energy brought Lisanne in. Lisanne's kuindalini yoga sessions were held over the noon hour in a board room that had been cleared for the purpose. Kaur 5 recalls playing mantras and practicing ‘Lion's Breath’ (personal conversation, 6 April 2011). All who participated in these sessions were women. Kaur 5 recalls that all were contract employees, and no one from management participated.

It should be noted that the author located online an individual with whom he neither spoke nor is familiar with his background. Brad C. Carrigan – a self-described ‘visionary author, teacher and recording artist’ who shares his time between Vancouver and Calgary – claims to offer KY through his online ‘Meet Up’ group he calls ‘Children of the Light’. Comments on Mr. Carrigan's website from would-be students seem to suggest that some meetings fail to materialize and requests from the author for information about possible meetings and their locations have gone unanswered by Mr. Carrigan. Moreover, Brad Carrigan is not known by anyone I have spoken with in the kundalini community in Calgary, nor is he listed as an accredited teacher by the 3HO. Because of his elusiveness, Mr. Carrigan has not been counted in this study.

Seva Simran, Kaur 1 and Lisanne Watchell

There are also at least two individuals in Calgary who are teaching KY in private sessions who have not been certified through the IKYTA program. Both the individuals have been excluded from these calculations as they are currently undergoing formal certification and will thus be counted in the future.

http://www.kundaliniyoga-calgary.com/