Breath of Fire tells a complex story stretching back decades. At the center are two leaders of the Kundalini yoga movement: Yogi Bhajan and Guru Jagat. Both captivated many seeking spiritual answers, yet their motives drew much criticism.
We learn Bhajan introduced Kundalini yoga to America in the 1960s. A Sikh from Pakistan, he blended its teachings with his faith in ways displeasing to some. Through his 3HO organization and associated businesses, Bhajan amassed wealth while facing accusations—from imposing strict rules on students to mistreating children at his school in India.
The documentary shed light on Bhajan’s enduring impact. It revealed how a young woman named Katie Griggs came to follow in his largest footsteps. After starting her own LA yoga studio in 2012, Griggs took the name Guru Jagat. She presented herself as Bhajan’s rightful successor, though holes emerged in her story of time spent with him.
As Guru Jagat, Katie attracted a celebrity clientele and built a lucrative wellness empire through her charismatic persona. Yet former employees and others questioned the circumstances behind her rising status. They recalled experiences that contradicted the empowering image cultivated online.
We come to see both leaders style themselves as spiritual authorities, but definitions of purity and intention become blurred. Through its examination of multiple viewpoints, Breath of Fire prompts reflections on the mixed legacies surrounding these two pivotal figures of Kundalini yoga. It sets the stage for deeper revelations across subsequent episodes about practices, personalities, and the commercial realities that often shape spiritual movements.
The Man Behind the Movement
In the late 1960s, a man named Harbhajan Singh Puri arrived in America from India with a vision. Better known as Yogi Bhajan, he was a Punjabi Sikh who had trained in a practice called Kundalini yoga. Bhajan saw potential to spread this discipline among Westerners seeking alternative paths.
Soon he established sets of movements, breathing exercises, dietary rules, and lifestyle standards that made up his interpretation of Kundalini. Followers were expected to adhere strictly to this regimen Bhajan dubbed the “Technology of the Eastern Mind.” Those devoting fully found structure and meaning, but others saw it as oppressive mind control.
Bhajan showed innate skill in marketing mysticism and spiritual pursuits to Americans during that era of cultural awakening. He painted Kundalini as a secret tradition now revealed. Drawn by promises of empowerment and transformation, people joined his ashrams and communities across states like New Mexico and Los Angeles.
Through it all, Bhajan demanded absolute obedience. He took cuts from businesses like modeling agencies and food companies founded by followers. Harsh treatment of children at his school in India came to light. While some found guidance, corruption and abuse were there from the start, according to scholars.
Bhajan also blended Sikh references into Kundalini in controversial ways. Syncretism added prestige but diluted sacred practices for critics. By his death in 2004, this man who had brought yoga underground was a millionaire. His messy legacy still shapes the movement to this day.
A Seeker’s Journey
As a young woman searching for answers, Katie Griggs found herself drawn to alternative paths of wellness and spirituality. Born in California, she carried childhood wounds that left traditional options unfulfilling.
Griggs’ early years online as an astrologer yielded little satisfaction. Then she discovered Kundalini yoga, said to heal struggles with depression and addiction through dedicated practice. Under the guidance of Harijiwan Khalsa, a student of movement founder Yogi Bhajan, her skills advanced.
In 2012, equipped with a new medium in videos shared widely, Griggs took a step toward her destiny. Renaming herself Guru Jagat, she opened the RA MA Institute in Los Angeles. There, the charismatic instructor began attracting A-list clients to her blend of mysticism and physical discipline.
Portraying herself as Bhajan’s rightful inheritor and living guru, Jagat promised devotees a direct conduit to sacred wisdom. As followers multiplied online, major renown followed. While some questioned her qualifications, Jagat’s magnetic presence held sway.
Behind closed doors, darker intricacies would later emerge about those depicted as carrying the torch. But for the ardent new devotees swept up in Jagat’s world, here was a figure exuding empowerment through ancient secrets unlocked. Her journey had culminated in an unlikely rise to the helm of a global movement, where the deepest human needs so often find fertile ground.
Revelations from Within
As Breath of Fire delves deeper into Guru Jagat’s world, unsettling accounts emerge from those who witnessed her rule from up close. Former staffers like Nicole recount conditions at the RA MA compound where student laborers virtually lived to serve the guru’s demands.
Long hours and personal sacrifices were expected as tokens of devotion, even as money tightened under Jagat’s volatile directives. Cries of burnout were dismissed. Dissent disappeared behind smiles and nodded agreement until people could take no more.
Behind closed doors, Jagat seemed to unravel. In teachings meant to guide lost souls, her erratic behavior instead confused and drained those dependent on her stability. As one follower described, an awakening surfaced—the unsettling realization their leader was lost in her own illusions of grandeur.
The disconnect between Jagat’s public radiance and private volatility grew harder to reconcile. While new recruits remained enthralled by her charisma, those who had given themselves over fully to her whims began sharing harrowing tales with the filmmakers. Their emotional scars hinted at manipulations echoing Yogi Bhajan’s toxic treatment that first enabled this movement’s dark underbelly to fester.
For many survivors, pulling back the curtain on the whole saga brought relief in exposing what they’d preferred to forget. By affording them a platform, Breath of Fire ensured those who prospered from others’ harms could do so no more in the shadows. Such revelations lent greater understanding to those still learning to see beyond spiritual glitz into the human hearts and agendas that truly drive such endeavors.
Questioning the Appropriation
Breath of Fire took a sensitive look at cultural issues surrounding the movement. Activists like Sundeep shed light on valid tensions regarding the iconography embraced by some Kundalini leaders.
Adopting religious symbols is a complex topic, but appearances matter greatly to the traditions being represented. Turbans and other markers held meanings for Sikhs that went beyond cheap costumes for outsiders. When teachings fused with faiths not their own, legitimately angered some.
According to scholars in the film, Yogi Bhajan blended Sikh beliefs into Kundalini yoga in questionable ways. By quoting scripture and styles of dress, he aligned himself with a rich religion not fully his own. Critics argued the syncretism propagated confusion while strategically enhancing prestige and access to benefits.
These appropriations underscored larger societal problems. As with other colonized communities, Sikh heritage faced distortion and reimagining by outside powers. Cultural signifiers became diluted or repackaged for the consumption of others.
Breath of Fire handled such sensitive issues thoughtfully. By airing critiques of appropriation alongside praise for inclusion, it prompted discussion on blurry lines between sharing and taking without consent regarding identities. Questions still linger on separating spiritual wells from those who seek to own or redefine them.
When the Façade Faded
As Breath of Fire unfolded, cracks emerged in Guru Jagat’s charmed world. Embracing far-fetched theories didn’t help her image. When COVID-19 hit, paranoid directives strained remaining devotees’ loyalty.
Online discourse turned as disenchanted followers shared harrowing experiences. Jagat’s well-crafted image lay in ruins as truths surfaced. Her erratic conduct proved prophetic of charlatans who flourished until the final curtain.
Isolated and disturbed, Jagat’s conspiracy rants seemed desperate bids to maintain sway. But allegiance dissolved where once stood rapt audiences. With loyal subscribers abandoning her teachings, the empire rapidly collapsed.
Jagat’s health deteriorated as reality dismantled the reality she peddled others. Though her final days remain shrouded, their somber tone hinted at how completely fantasies can consume even their creators at humanity’s expense.
By chronicling her dizzying rise and fall, Breath of Fire illuminated the eternal allure of charisma closely followed by disillusionment. In showing leadership’s capacity for harm, the series left legacies to ponder and lessons for those who’d shield the vulnerable from exploitation under guises of enlightenment-seeking. Above all, it proved prophetic voices rarely sway true believers until harsher tutors like experience intervene.
Illuminating the Shadows
Breath of Fire shone a light on dark corners that spiritual movements often hide. By vividly portraying Yogi Bhajan and Guru Jagat’s compelling rises and falls, the series kept viewers engaged in a complex tale spanning decades.
We saw how both leaders embraced the trappings of reverence while obscuring darker acts below. Their appropriation of symbols important to others stirred legitimate criticisms about respecting traditions not one’s own.
The documentary effectively spotlighted such issues through multiple viewpoints. It prompted thought about separating the good some seekers find from the flaws in those elevated above them. Whether guru or yoga history, all individuals remain imperfect vessels for wisdom.
By pulling backlayers on controversial pasts, Breath of Fire performed a service. It reminded viewers of society’s harms when skepticism yields to charisma alone. Though spiritual paths aim higher, human fallibility finds room even within. Only open eyes safeguard against toxicity festering in movements’ shadows.
The series left legacies worth reflecting on long after final credits. It illuminated how transparency and questioning establish truth over illusion. And in truth lie the building blocks for communities, upholding the dignity and welfare of all people within them.
The Review
Breath of Fire
Breath of Fire took viewers on a riveting four-part journey through the rise and fall of Kundalini yoga's most prominent figures. Directed with nuance, it balanced multiple viewpoints to probe both the appeal and exploitation within spiritual movements. By peeling back layers of mystique to realities less flattering, the series performed a service by encouraging skepticism and consideration of the real individuals behind revered roles. While some answers remain elusive, the documentary stirred important reflections on leadership, appropriation, and humanity's timeless capacity for influence over others.
PROS
- Engrossing storytelling that kept viewers invested across 4 episodes
- Presented a nuanced, multi-dimensional exploration of the subject
- Provided historical and cultural context around the movements and issues
- Featuring a diverse range of insightful perspectives and experts
- Stirred reflection on important topics like spiritual leadership and appropriation
CONS
- Some questions around the movements and individuals remained unresolved.
- could have examined psychological aspects of leadership abuse in more depth.
- Early episodes took some time to shift perspectives beyond initial glowing portraits.
