Leaders & Yoga

A little more about Sahiba Kaur

“The process of going through self hating is (…) going to the macro and micro analysis of understanding "Who Am I?" (…) It is a most private, most secret, self-indulgent, hypnotic state of consciousness in which self is being examined by one's own superior self. Moment you know you've got a superior self, and moment you know it is examined, moment you know it has come to a resultant, you are liberated. And beyond that there is no God. That IS God.” These words by Yogi Bhajan from a class he taught in Los Angeles in 1990 are a powerful call to stop evading and take action to face what we need to face. In 2005 I was standing on the middle of a tall building under construction. It was a gray concrete structure, with some columns supporting the floors and ceilings, a few walls, and some stairs. A scary sound emerged as from the center of the earth announcing an earthquake, then everything started to shake. Clouds of dust were formed by the destruction of the structure. Fear took over, as I knew I was going to die. I was paralyzed. Then a big tall man wearing white walked in with his beard and turban. It wasn’t a pleasant image but in a way he was my only hope. He stood up staring at me from a distance. He was firm, determined and demanding, defying if I dared to hold his eyes. With all my cells in fear mode, I don’t know how I managed: all I could do was to hold my eyes into his while everything collapsed around us. A ram run by among the gray clouds of dust; columns, floor and ceiling shaking and cracking open, then collapsing with the deep sound of mother earth doing what she does in times of destruction. After a timeless minute, it was over. Everything was still and in complete silence. All that was left was my pure self, intact, not even a spot of dust on my skin. I was whole and I was breathing.

The experience was absolutely real, so vivid. I knew I was told something important in that dream. By then I had been practicing Kundalini Yoga twice a day for a couple of months, not knowing much about it. In one of the classes I saw a small picture of the man with the turban. I was told it was Yogi Bhajan, the Master who brought the teachings of Kundalini Yoga to the west in 1969. That’s how I got to know my Teacher, through a dream, in Ecuador, one year after he had left his physical body in the United States of America in 2004. I have had several experiences with him since then. I belong to a generation of yogis who started to practice Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan after he left his physical body and can feel his presence strongly[1].

What does he mean with examining oneself by one’s own superior self? It might have to do with not running away from karma. Not only accepting, but also holding the intensity of the experience to go through. The only way to experience one’s own superior self is by the cleansing of emotional and mental patterns that limit the self. I am grateful with life for giving me some tools that were useful when facing life’s challenges: a father who taught me to meditate when I was four years old, a spiritual name that was given to me since I was in my mother’s womb, an environment where I could learn from nature and from art, loving friends and family, some inspiring teachers and later in life Kundalini Yoga (13 years ago). I also know that these tools might be helpful only when I choose not to run away, otherwise they can be the perfect excuse to distract from what needs to be addressed. When it is a matter of facing the real lessons my soul chooses to learn, all I have is myself, which is a lot when the superior self participates in the equation, and which can be too little when the little self wants to have control of incomprehensible situations. The process of facing karma has to do with the process of going from self-hatred to self-love, that Yogi Bhajan mentions in his class. The experiences can be horrifying and painful, but if the superior self participates, the landscape changes dramatically.

I have been a committed yogini according to Yogi Bhajan’s teachings since 2005, with a steady daily practice of two hours in average. I started teaching in 2006 in different yoga studios, until I co-founded my own studio in Ecuador with my partner Sat Prakash Kaur in 2009, where I was part of the team of teachers until I moved to Madrid in 2016. For four years I taught to adult prisoners in Quito, and since 2006 besides teaching in conventional yoga studios, I have taught Kundalini Yoga in public spaces, cultural institutions, schools and universities, to children, teenagers and adults, including indigenous communities, migrants, refugees, and sexual workers, for I have felt teaching yoga only in studios gives access to a particular limited audience. While I still feel seva (service) is needed to reach out to vulnerable populations, I have decided to focus my attention into bringing the teachings where important decisions are being taken, decisions that will have strong impact in big communities, regarding economical, political, social and ecological matters. This is happening mainly in business contexts and with high-level leaders.

Today I teach through the platform www.leadersandyoga.com and in a Masters Degree in Commercial Management and Marketing in ESIC Business and Marketing School. I have started a project with women leaders of cultural institutions and have created a new yoga space called Mi Yoga Wasi. It has been fascinating to see how apparent limitations when moving to a different country could open new horizons and expand the possibilities. I enjoy seeing opportunities unfold from a new place inside of me, where I am not looking for external satisfaction to feel complete or worth, I have stopped searching and needing signs of approval or recognition. I do feel the pressure of my soul wanting to manifest big, and networking is a way to make it possible. I fluently write and speak English and Spanish, being able to teach in both languages and able to serve as interpreter for other teachers, as well as translating written material. My background as visual and audiovisual artist allows me to use my aesthetic abilities for developing communicational material; my experience in leading positions in social and cultural institutions, have given me the ability to design, direct and manage big scale projects. I am looking forward to share these powerful tools with you.

[1] In 2009, on my first of eight travels to Ram Das Puri in New Mexico, I went to a Tratakam meditation with his picture. We were about 40 people in the room. The teacher asked how many of us had met Yogi Bhajan in person. Some five people raised their hands. Then he asked how many of us had had an experience with Yogi Bhajan, to my surprise around 25 or more people raised our hands. The teacher told us Yogi Bhajan had said that after leaving his physical body he would be able to reach easier to more people.

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A little more about Sahiba Kaur

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