Imagine May 4th 1973: the world was in the middle of the Cold War, The Watergate Scandal was bringing unwanted attention to the American White House and the signing of the Paris Peace Accord had brought upon the beginning of the end of the Vietnam War. On the historical horizon sat the 73’ Oil Crisis that would quadruple the price of oil per barrel. Guru Raj Singh and Guru Raj Kaur two young students of Yogi Bhajan pulled into Vancouver in their old Red Volvo – Guru Raj already 8 months pregnant with Ong Kar, the two ready to embark on a destiny that would create a community and change all of our lives.
Not one year previous, Guru Raj Kaur and Singh had been leaders in the Toronto Kundalini Yoga community, and when they were returning home through Vancouver from a course with Yogi Bhajan in California, their pioneer spirit ignited. They fell in love with this shining, sea-to-sky city
When these first yogis arrived and taught the first Kundalini Yoga Class on the lawn of the Kitsilano Community Centre, Vancouver had scarcely heard of Yoga, Vegetarianism, and had certainly never seen a pregnant greek girl dressed from her feet to the tip of her turban in white. Nonetheless, the word got out and 26 people came together for that first Kundalini Yoga class as taught by Yogi Bhajan.
Yogi Bhajan arrived three weeks later to teach his first class in Vancouver at the Planetarium (pictured here) and visited several times a year thereafter, helping to build the foundation for our community and connect with the Sikh population in British Columbia.
Not long after, Guru Nam Kaur – 3 months pregnant with Sat Nam Singh, hopped on the train from Toronto to join the 9 others in the Ashram by Queen Elizabeth Park. She recalls travelling to all of the Gurdwaras on Vancouver Island in 1974 and being so many students and sharing many cozy moments along side Yogi Bhajan.
The first World Symposium on Humanity was organized by the community and held in Vancouver in 1976 drawing more than 1200 people to the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Vancouver. Featured were, of course, Yogi Bhajan, Buckminster Fuller, Michio Kushio, Stephen Gaskin, Theodore Rosak, and other pioneers in the avant garde vision of the late ‘70s. We were really ahead of our time!
The next many years saw classes and morning Sadhana in the Ashram, the opening of the New Age Community Centre and a community newspaper, which eventually became a full-fledged magazine called New Directions Magazine. Other “new age” fixtures in Kitsilano were the Naam Restaurant and Banyen books (“new age” now replaced with “old school”) The 3HO Foundation, a charitable society registered in Canada was begun in 1975 (3HO owns Yoga West and Camp Raj Yog.) and like the Naam and Banyen, continue serving Vancouver’s group consciousness today. Other entrepreneurial community businesses such as Singh Foods and Dartar Singh’s lawn clipping adventures that gave him the clever idea of trying to take a lawn mower on a 4th ave. trolly bus (it was a no-go).
Almost a decade and a half later, other familiar faces arrived on the scene – Hari Singh Khalsa, future husband of Guru Raj Kaur, Hari Singh the 8th and his wife Ram Kiran, Dharm Kaur and Dayal Singh, and Kirtan Singh and his family. Kundalini Yoga by this point was ready to have another renaissance and in the early 90’s Yoga West was established.
Now here we are, 35 years later teetering on the cusp of the Aquarian Age with the world still at war, more government corruption and scandal around us and the planet on the brink of another oil crisis. But the Kundalini Yogis keep on keepin’ up! Through all of these 35 years, Kundalini Yoga classes and Sadhana have been consistent. We have ridden the wave of the times, uplifting, inspiring and fulfilling the dream of Yogi Bhajan – creating teachers. We even look rather the same as these folks: bright, shining, doing yoga and serving up Yogi Tea! We hold an Aquarian Sadhana every day (that’s 365 days a year!) at YW, well attended classes, Gurdwara every Sunday, Yantras to India…. And our camps are internationally acclaimed! What’s more, we have just purchased a beautiful 10-acres of Land for our Camps on the Sunshine Coast: Camp Raj Yog!
The foundation built by these early students of YB has stood the test of time. They are sharing with us a legacy that we will continue to hold and grow for many years to come. I am eager to see what we can grow in the fertile soils they have nurtured for the past thirty five years. Thank you Yogi Bhajan for the teachers you created.
Vancouver, BC Sangat 