Tag Archives: 3HO

Sacred Music Tour with Nirinjan Kaur and Guru Ganesha

October 31, 2008 – 3:19 pm

Check out this post from the Spirit Voyage Music Blog

Nirinjan Kaur Khalsa is joining GuruGanesha Singh’s Joy is Now tour, and what an incredible addition to this upcoming tour. One of the great perks of my job is getting to see some of the behind the scenes work that our musicians do. Yesterday, I went to the final day of rehearsal before the band jumped on their tour bus to head up to Toronto for tonight’s first concert on the tour. They set up their entire sound system in the Sterling Yoga Center, so i felt like they were playing a concert just for me, and it was truly pure joy in the here and now!

I had never heard Nirinjan sing in person before, and as they opened their first song, Ong Namo, I felt the sweetest love just pour right into me - she has an unbelievable range, her voice flowing from low harmonies all the way up the scale to angelic frequencies. The entire set was amazing, with GuruGanesha and Nirinjan singing in a call-response style throughout the set, and GuruGanesha’s guitar just genius carrying right along with their incredible vocal interplay. (Sometimes the eloquence of GuruGanesha’s guitar makes my jaw drop - it’s like living, breathing art flowing from his fingers into the air and right up your spine.)

So, I got a chance to ask Nirinjan some questions about herself and this upcoming tour. Here they are:

Nirinjan plays guitar also.Karan: How long have you been singing? What do you like about singing, chanting, and playing music?

Nirinjan: Well, since I was born I’ve been surrounded by sacred music. Chanting, Meditations, classical indian music… My mother sings sacred music (she has made a few albums), and my father is a music producer. I’ve always loved singing, as long as I can remember! When I was little, I used to love singing in the car with windows open and the music turned up super loud. I remember wanting the music so loud that I couldn’t hear myself sing… so that I just felt surrounded by it.

Nirinjan: When I was around thirteen, I took Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training, and got really into practicing yoga. More than anything else, Kundalini Yoga opened my awareness so that I could experience the divine. Singing and chanting just came naturally out of that. I love singing because it’s like calling on God, being with God, connected to everything… it’s where nothing is good or bad, just perfect. Love.

(Nirinjan’s mother is Guru Raj Kaur, an amazing musician who lives in Vancouver. Her music is known and loved around the globe. She has released two CDs, The Narayan Shabd and Japji: Song of the Soul)

Karan: Did you study music formally? Can you tell us about it?

Nirinjan: When I was a little girl, I took piano lessons for about six years, which provided an excellent foundation in western music. My father then taught me some simple guitar when I was a little older. In the way of vocal training, I studied formally a little bit while I was going to school in India. There is a teacher there who is a master of Raag (the technology of classical indian music). He is a phenominal musician and vocalist. It’s hard to put into words specifically what I learned from him; only that my relationship to music changed, and my awareness expanded. I got so much from him just by osmosis…by sitting with him…listening. As if I just absorbed the music and technique into myself, instead of learning it through my mind, like I do most things. It’s important for me to say though, that the world of Raag is so vast and deep, people spend years and years studying it full time to really be good at it, and still, there is always more to learn. I really only learned a tiny bit of raag, but that tiny bit took my experience of music and singing to a whole other level of feeling music and hearing it. I am so grateful for the little bit I was able to learn from him.

Karan: What would people be surprised to know about you?

Nirinjan: Surprised? I don’t know what would really surprise people these days! Hmm…well, I was born three months early, I guess that’s pretty unusual. I spent the first three months of my life in a little life support box…! During that time, my mom put a little tape player in there and played Gurbani (Sacred Sikh music) for me all the time. I like to think that played a part in my love for Sikhism, and helped me have a very personal relationship to it through the sound current.

I also really love dogs, and would adopt the whole darn animal shelter if I could! I have a little black mini schnauzer at home named Baalu, who I love to train to do funny tricks. If you ever want to make me relax and feel happy, let me hang out with a dog.
Karan: How does music play into your spiritual beliefs and practices?

Nirinjan: In Sikhism we believe that our Guru is the sacred sound current. A line in our sacred scripture reads “Bani Guru, Guru hai bani, vich bani, amrit sare”. This means “the sound current is my Guru, my Guru is the sacred sound, through the sacred word, the nectar of bliss is found.” in almost all of our practices as Sikhs (which means “students”), we are constantly chanting and singing to the divine. Our whole sacred scripture is full of songs called “shabds”. These are all essentially love songs to God, to the divine. So music fits pretty perfectly into my spiritual practice!

Karan: What are you most excited about in this upcoming tour?

Nirinjan: Well this is going to be the most I’ve ever sung in a five weeks period I think! It will be an amazing experience to sing that much! It will also be very educational singing with a whoe band of proffesional musicians. A tour is such a big deal…I’m pretty much just excited for whatever happens!

Nirinjan has released two CDs on her own, and this summer she released a new album, Healing the Wounds of Love, which will be available for the first time online in early November.

Here are her CDs:

To see when the Joy is Now tour is coming to your area, CLICK HERE

By ywcommunications | Posted in audio, events, global news, news | Also tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Camp Raj Yog Fundraiser - Success!

June 4, 2008 – 2:20 am

What I love most about 3ho events is the way we get things done. A big part of this effectiveness is seva. The fundraiser last night for Camp Raj Yog was no exception, run for the most part by the humility and grace of sevadars From this perspective, I could see and feel the sevadars not only taking care of the event, but taking care of each other. There were sevadars serving fellow sevadars food, bringing water and giving shoulder massages. This depth of service made my cup overflow which allowed me to do my job better. (A big thanks to everyone for helping out! Also, a big hand for Sarbjeet Kaur for organizing us!)

Coming together and merging as one sangat was new for the Kitsilano and Surrey sangats. This was the first time we were uniting our energies for a single cause that does and will continue to benefit us all. We began by meditating together and eating some appies and then enjoying the voices that represent our community, Baltej, Guru Raj Kaur and Hari Singh as they guided us through the history and future we are creating as a community. The dreams for the land that they shared were so inspiring, how could everyone not give a little! Read More »

By siriomkaur | Posted in Camp Raj Yog, events | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Kundalini Yoga celebrates 35 years in Vancouver

May 5, 2008 – 1:37 am

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.

Kundalini Yoga Class Whonnock, BC - Sat KriyaNot 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 arriving at first class in VancouverYogi 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).

Yogis dancing at Kundalini Yoga Class in Vancouver 1970\'sAlmost 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.

By siriomkaur | Posted in events, inspiring people | Also tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (2)

Spirit of the West

April 4, 2008 – 5:24 pm

Guru Raj Kaur Khalsa

Guru Raj Kaur Khalsa was one of the religious leaders featured in an article from Vancouver Magazine, written by Tyee Bridge published in March 2008.

Spirit of the West

Guru Raj Kaur Khalsa
Co-founder, Raj Yog Nivas

In her own words, Guru Raj Kaur Khalsa is “a Greek/Sikh gal born into 1950s Brooklyn, New York, who by some miracle ended up in beautiful Vancouver.” Part of the miracle stems from her encounters with kundalini yoga and Yogi Bhajan in the early ’70s. Yogi Bhajan was a Sikh householder, a former Indian government official who came to Canada in 1969 to teach kundalini yoga—not a traditional Sikh practice, but one he learned as a teenager from yoga masters. “He didn’t come to spread Sikhism but to make this ancient form of yoga public, because he saw a need in the West,” Khalsa says. “But some of us were also interested in the Sikh stuff as well, which kind of surprised him.” After adopting Yogi Bhajan’s mix of yoga and Sikh philosophy, Khalsa and her husband began teaching in Vancouver in 1973. Together they oversee Raj Yog Nivas, aka Yoga West, a Kitsilano gurdwara and yoga center.

Punjabi Sikhs arriving in the ’70s didn’t know what to make of their white-turbaned, well-toned brethren, but Khalsa gained their trust by offering classes to Punjabi youth while advocating for the right of Sikhs to wear turbans and ceremonial kirpan knives. Thirty years on, the Raj Yog Nivas community is an eclectic overlap of North American Sikh converts, Sikhs of Punjabi descent, and yoga aficionados with no ties to Sikhism. All are welcome, she says. “The Sikh faith was never meant to become another religion, rather to openly teach how to ‘do the sacred,’ how to have a sacred, integrated life, a meditative mind, and a fearless spirit.”

To read the entire article - visit the on-line Vancouver Magazine

By haribhajan | Posted in inspiring people, news | Also tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Aquarian Teacher Training Starts in October

August 24, 2007 – 3:55 pm

Sat Nam,

The Aquarian Age is dawning and marks the transition into new ways of “being” within the evolution of humanity. The vibrational frequency of the planet has been steadily increasing and we are currently on the cusp leaving the Piscean age behind and it has been predicted that we will be fully in the Aquarian Age by 2012.

The Piscean Age was ruled by machines, hierarchies, ego and characterized by power, control, fear and manipulation. The New Aquarian Age will be ruled by awareness, intuition, wisdom (lived knowledge), experience and characterized by healing, peace and prosperity.

The mind is changing its sensitivity, it’s basic frequency and functioning. Our life is changing its sense of time, space, and reality. To help with these vast changes ahead we are fortunate to have the powerful technology of Kundalini Yoga at our disposal.

Here Guru Raj Kaur Khalsa , Lead Trainer of this years’ KRI Aquarian Teacher Training invites you into the program.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGuUCAv77Zw]
To learn more please visit Aquarian Teacher Training

By haribhajan | Posted in Yoga Teacher Training, video | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)