Yogi Bhajan

Born Harbhajan Singh in what is now Pakistan to a family of healers and community leaders, Yogi Bhajan studied comparative religion and Vedic philosophy in his undergraduate years, going onto receive his Masters in Economics with honors from Punjab University. Years later, he earned his Ph.D. in communications psychology from the University of Humanistic Studies in San Francisco.

A Master of Kundalini Yoga by the age of 16 - itself a rare feat - he gave his first lecture at a Los Angeles high school gym on January 5, 1969. Then a 39-year-old recent émigré from India, he left behind a government career in order to realise the vision of bringing Kundalini Yoga to the West.

In the turbulent, drug culture of the 60s, Yogi Bhajan first reached out to the youth. He recognised their experimentation with drugs and "altered states of consciousness" expressed a deeper desire to experience a holistic, liberating sense of awareness and a longing for family, for connection with themselves and one another.

Over the past 32 years, he has emerged as a religious, community and business leader with a distinguished reputation as a man of peace, world-vision, wisdom, and compassion. He has authored and published more than 30 books on topics ranging from spirituality and consciousness to communication and psychology.