Newspapers & Documentaries & Blogs

2023

Russell Brand has long followed Kundalini yoga, which has been linked to brainwashing tactics, rape, and abuse

Septemer 19, 2023 - Insider - Haven Orecchio-Egresitz - Link

What Spiritual Bypassing Looks Like - A very tempting path that leads nowhere.

April 19, 2023 - Medium - Kimberly Fosu - Link

The surprising afterlife of a '70s L.A. cult: How the Source Family became Hot IP in 2023

April 12, 2023 - Los Angeles Times - Erin Osmon - Link

The Disturbing History of Yogi Tea's Founder

Apr 10, 2023 - Tasting Table - Automn Swiers - Link

4 psychological techniques cults use to recruit member

Feb 27, 2023 - BigThink - Matt Davis - Link

When Misseeing Is Believing: The Self-Reflected Image and Kundalini Yoga

Feb 7, 2023 - the revealer - Philip Deslippe - Feb 7, 2023 - Link

2022

The Scandalous Celebrity Cult Leader From Suburbia | Guru Jagat and Yogi Bhajan Documentary

Dec 27, 2022 - YouTube Not the Good Girl - Link

My Experience With a False Guru

Dec 14, 2022 - Yoga Journal - Jennifer Davis-Flynn - Link

Review:Premka: White Bird in a Golden Cage. My Life with Yogi Bhajan, by Pamela Saharah Dyson; The Inner Circle—Book One: My Seventeen Years in the Cult of the American Sikhs, by Peter Macdonald Blachly

Nov 2022 - University of California Press - Nova Religio - Vol 26, Issue 2 - Link - Full version

Un-silencing of the Lamb: Interview with MahanKirn Khalsa

Aug 17, 2022 - Inmag.com - Link

How "Siri Singh Sahib" Yogi Bhajan Created An Empire

Jul 19, 2022 - Baaz - Deslippe & Stukin - Link

Memorial highway in northern New Mexico should be renamed

Jul 2, 2022 - Rosswell Daily Record - Link

Inside The Dubious World Of A Cult That Turned 550-year-old Religion Into A Commodity

Jul 2, 2022 - Indiatimes.com - Gurcharan Bhalla- Link

A Sustained Crisis for Local Sikhs

Jun 23, 2022 - Rio Grande - Vol 65 Nr 37 - Espanola New Mexico 87532 - Link

What are cults and why do people join them?

Apr 26, 2022 - BBC documentary - Link

True Believers - Empire of Yoga

Apr 11, 2022 - Vice Documentary - Link US version - Link 47 min version

Sikh leader gets restraining order against critic

Apr 14, 2022 - Santa Fe New Mexican - Phaedra Haywood - Link

Sexual Abuse in Buddhism: An Interview with Carol Merchasin

Mar 22, 2022 - Shambala Report - The Bad Buddhist Podcast - Link

Bath musician opens up about ‘cult’ experience in new memoir

Peter Macdonald Blachly tells his story, decades later, in 'The Inner Circle.'

Jan 9, 2022 - PressHerald - Bob Keyes - Link

2021

Legacy of Yogi Bhajan swirls in controversy years after his death

Dec 20, 2021 - Santa Fe New Mexican - Phaedra Haywood - Link

Bhajan’s Yoga: The Roots and Context of Kundalini Yoga As Taught By Yogi Bhajan (2021)

2021 - www.academia.edu - Rob Zabel - Link

When meditation turns toxic: the woman exposing spiritual sexism (Tara Brach)

Dec 8, 2021 - The Guardian - Rachel Mabe - Link

Kundalini yoga guru who was accused of running a 'cult within a cult' and defending controversial founder amid sexual assault accusations is the focus of new docuseries following her death.

Dec 6, 2021 - MailOnline - Erica Tempesta for Dailymail - Link

Before the sudden death of its leader, Ra Ma Yoga Institute was accused by some former members of being a cult. What happens now?

Oct 30, 2021 - Insider - Haven Orecchio-Egresitz - Link

How to Respond to Sexual Abuse Within a Yoga or Spiritual Community

Oct 2021 - Yoga International - Karen Rain and Jubilee Q.Cooke - Link

Getting Real with East-West Spirituality Part 4: A New Approach to Wisdom Traditions

Aug 19, 2021 - The Profuturist - Medium - Link

The Long Reach of Gaslighting's ToxicityGaslighting plays a role in social schisms, even when we see through it.

Aug 17, 2021 - Psychology Today - Terry Apter PhD - Link

What a Cult Steals from You - Money. Time. Bodily integrity. Relationships. Opportunity. Altruism.

Aug 13, 2021 - Medium - Matthew Remski - Link

MahanKirn Kaur Khalsa testifies about how she was groomed to be in a sex harem

Aug 11, 2021 - Instagram - Link

Before Krishna Kaur, there was Thelma Oliver - She’s been a yoga teacher for the past half century, but in the 1960s she was a busy triple threat in New York.

Aug 11, 2021 - American Theatre - Link

Getting Real with East-West Spirituality Part 3: The Big Bang

Aug 9, 2021 - The Profuturist - Medium - Link

Getting Real with East-West Spirituality Part 2: The War of the Dharmas

Jul 21, 2021 - The Profuturist - Medium - Link

Guru - Yoga - Power Abuse

Jul 15, 2021 - BBC News World Service - Link

Inside the Dubious World of RA MA Yoga, and Its Girl Boss Guru to the Stars

Jul 13, 2021 - Vice - Link

The Goodness of a Cult Comes from Those it Abuses. That ideal façade is often built by people trying to survive.

Jul 6, 2021 - Medium - Matthew Remski - Link

Getting Real with East-West Spirituality Part 1: Our 150 Year Experiment

Jul 2, 2021 - Medium - The Protofuturist - Link

'Coercian and rape': Investigating my yoga school.

Jul 1, 2021 - BBC News - Ishleen Kaur - Link

THE PAINFUL PROCESS OF AWAKENING: HARM AND HEALING IN THE HEALTHY HAPPY HOLY KUNDALINI YOGA COMMUNITY

May 9, 2021 - Nirinjan Kaur Khalsa-Baker, Ph.D. - Sacred Matters Magazine - Link

How the Model of Money Laundering Can Help Us Understand Abuse within 3HO

May 2, 2021 - Philip Deslippe - Sacred Matters Magazine - Link

Lessons from fall of rockstar evangelists Ravi Zacharias and Yogi Bhajan – Part 2

Mar 22, 2021 - Asia Samachar - Link

Lessons from fall of rockstar evangelists Ravi Zacharias and Yogi Bhajan – Part 1

Mar 6, 2021 - Asia Samachar - Link

Spiritual Bypassing: The Misuse of Spiritual Tools.

Jan 23, 2021 - The Elephant Journal - Ian Faulkner - Link

Spirituality is all very well but don't let it turn you into a smug monster

Jan 2, 2021 - The Guardian - Barbara Ellen - Link

2020

The Five Qualities and Attributes of the Mahan Tantric

Nov 17, 2020 - Students of Yogi Bhajan - Guru Hans Singh Khalsa Douqué - Link

An exploration of spiritual superiority: The paradox of self-enhancement

Oct 20, 2020 - Radboud University Nijmegen - Roos Vonk, Anouk Visser - Link

New Study Finds That Kundalini Yoga Can Help Treat Symptoms of Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Aug 26, 2020 - Yoga Journal - Andrea Rice - Link

A Statement from Krishna Kaur

Aug 26, 2020 - Krishna Kaur - Link

Yogi Bhajan, yoga guru and founder of 3HO, 'more likely than not' sexually abused followerrs, says report

Aug 18, 2020 - RNS - Philip Deslippe - Stacie Stukin - Link

Yogi Bhajan ‘more likely than not’ raped his followers

Aug 15, 2020 - Asia Samachar - Link

A New Report Details Decades of Abuse at the Hands of Yogi Bhajan

Aug 15, 2020 - Yoga Journal - Jennifer Davis-Flynn - Link

An Olive Branch' Shocking Report on Yogi Bhajan Revealed

Aug 14, 2020 - The Guru Magazine - Be Scofield - Link

Yogi Bhajan Turned and L.A.Yoga Studio into a Juggernaut, and Left Two Generations of Followers Reeling from Alleged Abuse

July 15, 2020 - Stacie Stukin - Los Angeles Magazine - Link

PREMKA: ON KUNDALINI YOGA, SEXUAL ASSAULT, AND SPIRITUAL BYPASSING

Mar 29, 2020 - Blog Hip Sobriety - Link

“Rape is always invited. It never happens.” Say what? - Updates from Collaborative Response Team into Yogi Bhajan sexual abuse investigation

Mar 24, 2020 - Asia Samarach - Link

Yogi Bhajan investigation: What are they telling us - Updates from Collaborative Response Team into Yogi Bhajan sexual abuse investigation

Mar 23, 2020 - Asia Samarach - Link

“But Kundalini Yoga Works!” | Some Considerations

Mar 9, 2020 - Matthew Remski - Link

Master of Deceit: How Yogi Bhajan Used Kundalini Yoga for Money, Sex and Power

Mar 5, 2020 - The Guru Magazine - Be Scolfield - Link

Yogi Bhajan and the Kundalini Community: Premka’s Own Your Self Journey

2020 - Kelly Brogan MD - Link

2019

Why our fast-paced society loves yoga - This ancient practice is not only a fitness regimen, but science shows it's also an antidote to modern stress.

Dec 17, 2019 - National Geographic Fran Smith - Link

Yoga Reconsiders the Role of the Guru in the Age of #MeToo

The NewYorker - Eliza Griswold - Jul 23, 2019 - Link

The Guru Syndrome - When spirituality turns sour.

Apr 16, 2019 - Psychology Today - Steve Taylor Ph.D. - Link

American yogis distort Sikh scripture. Part I: Bhajan's yogic theories from framework of Englisch translation of Sri Guru Granth Sahib

Sikh Free Press - March 27, 2019 by Anju Kaur, April 14, 2015 - LINK

Bikram - Yogi - Guru - Predator

2019 - Netflix docu on Bikram Choudhury - Link

2018

Questions about Akal Security - Should a non-profit, tax-exempt church oversee a for-profit security contractor tasked with enforcing ICE-policies?

Aug 27, 2018 - Medium - Philip Tanzer - Link

Judge dismises lawsuit over rulership of Sikh business empire

Apr 26, 2018 - Oregon Live - The Oregonion - Maxine Bernstein - Link

Netflix - Wild Wild Country

2018 - Netflix docu on Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh - Osho - Link

2017

A phenomenology of spiritual bypass: Causes, consequenses, and implications.

Dec 28, 2017 - Gabriela Picciotto - Taylor&Francis Online - Journal of Spirituality in Mental Health Vol 20, 2018 - Issue 4 - Link

30 Ways An Empath Can Identify A Narcissist & Take Your Power Back

May 15, 2017 - Ajna Mantra - Link

Long court battle over Sikh business empire takes another turn

Jan 9, 2017 - The Oregon Live - Maxine Bernstein - Link

2016

Troubled Akal Security loses Federal Courts contracts after federal fraud settlement

Aug 17, 2016 - Stand for Security - Link

2015

American yogis distort Sikh scripture - Part 1: Bhajan's yogic theories form framework of English translation of Sri Guru Granth Sahib 

Apr 14, 2015 - Sikh Free Press (published March 27, 2019) - Anju Kaur - Link

2014

Beware of the Charismatic Leader - Cultic leaders do not liberate their followers but entrap them.

Aug 22, 2014 - Tricycle The Buddhist Review - republication of a 1982 article of John Snelling - Link

Using Jailed Migrants as a Pool of Cheap Labor

May 24, 2015 - New York Times - Ian Urbina -  Link

2013

The Troubling Background of Yogi Tea

Sep 23, 2013 - Women of Grace - Susan Brinkmann - Link

Punjabi Sikhs and Gora Sikhs

July 1, 2013 - Verne A.Dusenbery - Chapter in the Oxford Handbook of Sikh Studies -  Link

3HO/Sikh Dharma - Some issues for consideration

March 14, 2013 - Verne A.Dusenbery - Sikh Formations, Vol. 8, 2012 - Issue 3:The 3HO Sikh Community - p 335-349 - Link

3HO Kundalini Yoga and Sikh Dharma

March 14, 2013 - Michael Stoeber - Sikh Formations, Vol. 8, 2012 - Issue 3: The 3HO Sikh Community - p 351 - 368 - Link

Yogi Bhajan and the Emergence of Sikh Dharma International

March 14, 2013 -  Shanti Kaur Khalsa - Sikh Formations, Vol. 8, 2012 - Issue 3: The 3HO Sikh Community - p 389-401 - Link

2012

From Maharaj to Mahan Tantric: The Construction of Yogi Bhajan's Kundalini Yoga

2012, Dec - Sikh Formations - Philip Deslippe - Link

2011

"Strong as Steel, Steady as Stone": Skirting Pitfalls in 3HO/Sikh Dharma

March, 11, 2011 - Constance Elsberg - Oxford Academic - Violence and New Religious Movements, p 325-350 - Link

2010

Yogi’s legacy in question - Former followers say he abused his position for power, money and sex

May 9, 2010 - The Register-Guard - Sherri Buri McDonald - Link

Khalsa vs Khalsa

Jul 7, 2010 - Santa Fe Reporter - Corey Pein - Link

The Disturbing Mainstream Connections of Yogi Bhajan

Aug 10, 2010 - HuffPost - Steven Hassan - Link

2009

SDI Legal Action Summaries

Oct 10, 2009 - Mukhtiarsingh's Blog - Link

American Sikhs Run Billion-Dollar Security Firm

Jun 13, 2009 - NPR - John Burnett - Link

2008

3HO/Sikh Dharma of the Western Hemisphere: The Forgotten New Religious Movement

Oct 23, 2008 - Academia Religion Compass - Doris Jakobsh- Link

Appeal For Info-Murders of Dylan Ellis + Oliver Martin 1800222tips

Jun 19, 2008 - YouTube Toronto Crime Stoppers - Link

2005

Keeping America Secure - Interview with the founder of Akal Security GuruTej Singh Khalsa

Sep 2005 - The Global Sikh Trail - Stories of Eminent Sikhs - Kushwant Singh - Link

Yogi Bhajan Memorial Highway

Apr 29, 2005 - Sikhnet - Gurumustuk Singh - Link

Yogi Bhajan - Recognition

Apr 6, 2005 - US Congress Concurrent Resolutions 119 Stat.3630 - Link

2004

A yogi’s requiem

Oct 23, 2004 - Los Angeles Times - Link header - Link

Clouded, and Clear, Legacy - Link

Oct 23, 2004 - Los Angeles Times

Yogi Bhajan, 75. Sikh Leader Taught Kundalini Yoga

Oct 10, 2004 - Los Angeles Times - Link

2002

"My soul still feels abused and raped"

May 2002, Terry Michelle Kurtz, MA - Cult Education - Link

1998

Second Generation Sikhs in the US: Conscensus and Differences

1998 - Academia Edu - Karen Leonard - Link

Press Release FTC: Gemstone Telemarketers Agree to Pay Monetary Judgment to Settle FTC Charges

Aug 18, 1998 - Federal Trade Commission (Protecting America's Consumers) - Link

1993

Khalsa Financial Services, Inc., Gurujot Khalsa and Darshan Khalsa Sanctioned

Oct 1, 1993 - News Digest page 2 - Link

1988

Gurujot Singh Khalsa v. United States of America

Feb 19, 1988 - Link

1987

Legal Confrontation Sunders U.S. Sikhs - Link

Albuquerque Journal (New Mexico) July 19, 1987

1986

Women Claim Yogi Brainwashed them - Link

Rio Grande Sun (Espanola, New Mexico) July 31, 1986

Sikh Leader sued for Sexual, Psychological Abuse - Link

Santa Fe (New Mexico) - Local News July 24, 1986

1985

Former Sikhs Tell Why They Left New Mexico Religious Community

Santa Fe Journal, 1985 - Mary Frei - Link is not working anymore - text on this website

1981

Article about Fraud by YB followers - The New Mexican Aug 18, 1981

1977

Religion: Yogi Bhajan's Synthetic Sikhism

Sep 5, 1977 - TIME Magazine - Link

Woman gives Sikhs 1.3 million, mother asks sanity hearing

The New Mexican - Bill Garland - Oct 7, 1977 - Link

Sought Sikh woman 'in India'

The New Mexican - Bill Garland - Oct 9, 1977 - Link

1970

World Must Purify Self Soon, Yoga Warns

The Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, Florida) - May 31, 1970 - Newspapers.com - LINK

2021

The Bone Mother: A Memoir Paperback

by Rose Khalsa (Author) - Link

The Inner Circle - Book One: My Seventeen Years in the Cult of the American Sikhs

by Peter Blachly - LINK (including audiobook version)

Terror, Love & Brainwashing - Attachment in Cults and Totalitarian Systems

Alexandra Stein - www.alexandrastein.com

2020 - The year the Kundalini Yoga World was invited to Wake Up - starting with this book:

Premka - White Bird in a Golden Cage - My Life with Yogi Bhajan

by Pamela Saharah Dyson - pamelasaharahdyson.com

See No Stranger - A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love

Valarie Kaur - valariekaur.com/see-no-stranger/

TED Talk on Revolutionary Love Valarie Kaur

Sikhism and Tantric Yoga (the original version of 1999 reviewed and completed by the son of Trilochan Singh)

by Trilochan Singh and Anurag Singh - Nov 2, 2020 - Link

2019

Practice and all is coming - Abuse, Cult Dynamics, and healing in Yoga and beyond.

Matthew Remski - matthewremski.com

2018

Messenger from the Guru's House - Biography of Yogi Bhajan

Guru Fatha Singh - link

2016

3HO in the Light of Experience - A Study of Experiences in the Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization.

Juan Francisco Lafontaine - Link

2012

Confessions of an American Sikh - Locked up in India, corrupt cops & my escape from a "New Age" Tantric Yoga Cult

GurSant Singh - Link

2004

Bounded Choice - True Believers and Charismatic Cults

University of California Press Ltd. - Jajna Lalich - Link

1999

C.G.Jung - The Psychology of Kundalini Yoga - Notes of the Seminar Given in 1932 by C.G.Jung

carljungdepthpsychologysite.blog/2020/04/18/carl-jung-and-kundalini-yoga-quotations

1993

The Guru Papers - Masks of authoritarian power

by Joel Kramer and Diana Alstad - Link to free pdf version

1977

Sikhism and Tantric Yoga

by Dr.Trilochan Singh - SikhismAndTantricYoga

1919

The Serpent Power - The Secrets of Tantric and Shaktic Yoga

Arthur Avalon - Sir John Woodroffe