Hello, I'm Dr. Stephen Hassan with another episode of the influence continuum.

And I have a guest with me, Peter Blachley, who I am thrilled to interview.

Peter is one of several former members of the 3-H-O Yogi Bajun

Happy Healthy, Holy cult. Most people know of this group as Kundalini Yoga or white turban

Sikhs, not Indian Sikhs, who often have colored turbines, but this was a group started by this

guy, fortunately is dead, a real nasty cult leader in my professional experience.

And Peter, before we begin, I'll just read a little bit about you. You are an author,

but it says in your bio you have a lifelong quest for answers to life's big questions.

That encompass philosophy, religion, yoga, meditation, music, science, politics, and psychology. Just a few things,

but things that I, too, love. You've offered many published articles and two memoirs,

The Stone from Halfway Rock, a young boy's adventure on the coast of Maine, and more importantly

to this interview, The Inner Circle, my 17 years in the cult of the American Sikhs, 1970 to

1987.

You are currently a trauma recovery coach in the middle of writing a third memoir,

tracking your search for authenticity and the journey of recovery from a religious cult.

You also are a professional sea captain, musician, watercolor artist,

and you live with your wife, Joanna,

on the shores of Kinnabic River in Bath, Maine,

where you've built two houses.

Wow, cool.

And most timely is you've appeared

in a forthcoming HBO Max documentary on the Sikh cult of Yogi Bajan called Breath of Fire.

...