BONUS PREVIEW: The Dark Side of Kundalini Yoga
IndoctriNation
IndoctriNation
4.8 • 566 Ratings
🗓️ 12 December 2025
⏱️ 5 minutes
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Summary
This is just a preview of our Patreon exclusive Bonus Episode. You can hear the full episode by becoming a member at: https://www.patreon.com/indoctrination
In this exclusive Patreon bonus episode, Rachel Bernstein discusses the documentary 'Breath of Fire,' which explores the controversial Kundalini Yoga empire founded by Yogi Bhajan and later led by Guru Jagat. Directed by Hayley Papas and Smiley Stevens, the series sheds light on the origins, rise, and eventual exposure of abusive practices within the movement. The discussion highlights the documentary's revelations about financial exploitation, psychological and sexual abuse, and the manipulation of vulnerable individuals seeking spiritual healing. The episode shows the broader issues of commercialization and manipulation in spiritual communities, particularly in the age of social media. Listeners are urged to conduct thorough research and seek information from former members before getting involved in any spiritual organization.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Thanks for tuning in to our bonus episode preview. |
| 0:10.2 | This is just a short sample of this week's exclusive Patreon episode. |
| 0:15.9 | You can hear the episode in its entirety by becoming a member at patreon.com slash indoctrination, where you'll gain |
| 0:24.4 | access to all of our exclusive episodes and merchandise. |
| 0:35.4 | Hello, everyone. Thank you, thank you, thank you for your wonderful support. It is so meaningful. It's so wonderful and really helps keep the show on the air. It is really important that we get a chance to talk about some of these issues |
| 0:54.9 | that don't get, I think, enough attention. |
| 0:58.9 | I want to be able to talk about the Breath of Fire documentary. |
| 1:04.3 | It's about the Kundalini Yoga Empire. |
| 1:16.6 | Breath of Fire is an American documentary series directed and produced by Haley Papas and Smiley Stevens, and it follows the life and career of Guru Jagat, including the |
| 1:24.5 | life of Yogi Bajan, her spiritual teacher, who was accused of sexual abuse. |
| 1:30.6 | I have many clients who are former members of Yogi Bajan's group, and a lot of them don't even |
| 1:41.9 | want to speak his name and sometimes call him YBi B, so they don't need to even say the name Yogi Bajan. |
| 1:50.1 | That paints a picture of how they feel about him based on how they were treated. |
| 1:54.4 | The series also explores the history and origins of Kundalid and Yoga, and it had a world premiere at the Tribeca Festival in June of |
| 2:04.5 | 2024 and premiered in October, 2004. So there's this introduction to Kundaliyya Yoga as a fringe |
| 2:12.1 | branch of yoga practice. Of the many different ways to practice yoga, Kundalini Yoga is considered to be on the |
| 2:20.3 | fringe. So, Philip Dislip, who is a friend of this podcast who's been on a couple of times, |
| 2:27.5 | actually, was interviewed for this. And he said, if yoga is like a tree, Kundalini is like it had a wayward branch that came off |
| 2:38.4 | that tree. Kundalini yoga is focused on calisthenic movements and breathwork and chanting, |
| 2:46.3 | and Kundalini is kind of like a weird hodgepodge of different exercises, so it can be very different |
| 2:54.4 | from one class to the next, whereas there's kind of more of a regularity. |
| 3:01.0 | From one half a yoga class to the next, Dislip explains. |
... |
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