Month: April 2020

Sat Naam Dear Teacher Trainers,

At this time within our trainer community, and the community at large, there are different opinions about how to move forward.  As trainers we remain united in our collective desire to serve humanity with these teachings.  Our teacher training programs, in all of the diverse forms and styles and approaches that you all bring to them, remain powerful vehicles for transformation for many, many people.  The times are demanding flexibility in HOW we deliver our mission, but the core remains – to inspire and teach, for the benefit of humanity, these precious yogic teachings. 

• Updated Level One Teacher Training Textbook and Manual – KRI is trying to balance two priorities – an urgent need to have a revised manual out by the fall, so that those trainers who need this to run their upcoming programs have something different than the current manual; and our commitment to an inclusive process in determining the details of that updated manual.  The reality of how much time a new, inclusive process will take would preclude having it done by the fall.   So the plan is to have a two-phased edit of the textbook and manual. 

The first phase of the plan is to prepare and have a digital version available in English by the end of the summer. This first phase version would utilize all of the collaborative input and small working group writings that we’ve been gathering for the last 2 years (which includes major re-writes of the Humanology, History, and Kundalini Yoga and Sikh Dharma chapters).  In addition, this version will include edits that broaden the focus of teaching while we will continue to recognize the contributions of Yogi Bhajan in bringing these remarkable teachings to the world. 

Next, we will begin working on a fully collaborative Phase Two edition of the Aquarian Teacher, via the to-be-determined group decision making process that all trainers will all be invited to help co-create.  This Phase Two version of a new Textbook would probably be ready in English for the fall of 2021.

• Aquarian Development Series Webinars this week and next – 
  • April the 29^th, 19:00 EDT (New York) –  Dhyan Bhakti Kaur Khalsa presents “Understand & Support your Intersex, Gender Non-Conforming, & Transgender Students” Live Webinar join the Sutra Circle today.
  • Thursday April 30^th , 12:30 EDT (New York) – Coronavirus: What to do! 4 Part Series, live and pre-recorded.  Join Dr. Shanti Shanti Kaur live in this four part webinar series as she strengthens our collective immunity with specific information about viruses and how to strengthen the immune response in the face of pandemics.   Additional webinars will also be held Thursday May 14th 12:30 EDT (New York) & May 28th 12:30 EDT (New York).
  • May 6^th – 19:00 EDT (New York) – Sound & Mantra: Healing with the Siri Gayatri Mantra.  Dev Suroop Kaur reveals secrets to healing with this special mantra: Ra Ma Da Sa Sa Say So Hung. She will share her research, experience, correct pronunciation and ways that you can use this mantra in your life to help heal and help others heal. Join us for fun, warmth and exploration of this most beloved of Kundalini Yoga mantras!  Replay available one week after live recording.
  • Every Thursday 12:00 – 14:00 EDT (New York) – Heartstorming with Hari Kaur NYC.  We invite you to join us as Trainers share Aquarian approaches for now and the future.  Weekly sharing with Academy members on Content, Issues and Themes to further your Teaching and offerings! Especially for trainers who are still processing our community’s challenges with the Yogi Bhajan investigation.  Join us for Cozy peer dialogue and best practices and tips in ways to bring the Teachings forward with verve and grounded in real practices.
  • Date and time TDA – Tommy Rosen shares about Recovery 2.0!  Through more than 20 years of recovery from addiction, noted yoga teacher and founder of Recovery 2.0, Tommy Rosen learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t work in recovery. He shares his techniques and inspirations in this 2-hour long webinar.
  • 3 Wednesdays in June (3^rd, 10^th, & 17^th), 19:00 EDT (New York) – Journey Through the Chakras with Pavandev Kaur.  What are new and engaging ways to present the timeless teaching of the Chakras?  In this 3 part webinar series, Pavandev Kaur offers a very brief history of the chakras as they were developed and used in India and how the chakras came to the West.  She offers some tips and techniques for teaching the chakras to help the students have a deeper experience of their own energy system.
  • July 15^th, 17:00 EST (New York) – How to be Inclusive for different body types in Yoga Teaching with Ramdesh Kaur.  Ramdesh Kaur, author of “The Body Temple,” teaches trainers and yoga teachers how to use inclusion-friendly language to have accepting classes that support and include all body types. Join us for the live webinar. 

Video Message from Amrit Singh – Watch a short video message from Amrit Singh regarding his appointment as CEO of KRI beginning June 1^st.

• International Online Trainer Forum –  This summer, KRI will host an International Online Trainer Forum. While this event will not replace in-person Forums, in this time of uncertainty we want to maintain meaningful connection throughout our global trainer community. The event will be held over three days in the second week of July and will accommodate various time zones around the world. We look forward to a truly multicultural gathering that includes critical conversations, interactive workshops, peer sharing, and community building. Please support the development and planning of the event by taking this short survey: https://trainersupport.kundaliniresearchinstitute.org/international-online-trainer-forum-survey/

• The Global Healing Meditation continues – every morning at 6:30 AM New Mexico Time.  Everyone can now join through Sutra. Each morning 50+ trainers, teachers, students, and family members join together to send healing to the Planet.  We are separate yet powerfully together.  This meditation will continue at least until June 14^th.   Here is an article which you are encouraged to share with your teachers and students.  The meditation is led by a different participant each morning and in different languages.  We close each day by chanting Akal for those who have passed.  https://healing.sutra.co

Sat Nam. Greetings from New Mexico. 

What an amazing and unusual time we are living in right now! I know the pandemic has affected all of us very personally on many levels. I am so grateful for the beauty of our practice of Kundalini Yoga to help us maintain our elevated spirits and bring harmony to these wild times.

Many have been drastically financially affected as well.  In that way KRI is no exception.  We have had many layoffs here at KRI and are very sad to see some of these dedicated people go. KRI has been built and carried forward by the gifts and strengths of these people and many others as well who have donated time and money and skill to bring these great teachings to the world. 

I myself have learned much in my service as CEO for 14 wonderful years.  It has been my great privilege to witness, experience and help promote the immense gifts and growth and that these teachings give to thousands of people worldwide.  

So it is difficult for me to announce today that I will be retiring a bit earlier than thought, at the end of May.  I do this knowing, with humility and wisdom, that this is best to help the current financial aspects of KRI.  This decision was made after much inner contemplation and discussion with the KRI Board of Directors. It also allows for a passing on of the large responsibilities of CEO to our next generation of leaders. KRI has an excellent and robust future.  Amrit Singh is slated to be the new CEO and President of KRI.  He and I have worked closely together over the last several years and I am confident in his capacity to serve, innovate and lead. I will stay on part time to help with the transition.

Of course I will not be retiring my love and teaching of Kundalini Yoga!  I look forward to seeing many of you at courses and events and in life.  May we all rise and expand in consciousness,

And of course, as always, I am in your service,

All the best with Blessings,

Nirvair Singh

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• Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan® – No decisions nor discussions have been had yet. There are rumors out there that KRI has already decided to make changes to the name, “Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan®,” as well as to remove Yogi Bhajan from the Teachings.  This discussion has not happened and no decisions have been made.  Instead, we are working to set up a collective decision making process so that we can listen deeply to one another and move together into questions like this.  Amrit Singh is available to join a zoom call to address concerns such as this, if any group (of local trainers, or trainer teams) would like to arrange such a conversation.

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• Online Learning for Teacher Trainers & Teachers

• Visit the Course Catalogue for the Academy here.
• Please email [email protected] with your content expertise and what you’d like to share with the Academy and public!
• Just for fun: here’s an interesting article about cultivating the beginner’s mind by James Clear
• Upcoming Online Courses

• Pedagogy Series continues!
• Dhyan Bhakti K. Khalsa explains Intersex, Gender Non-Conforming & Transgender: ongoing series “Supporting LGBTQI+ Community”
• Dr. Shanti Shanti Kaur: Coronavirus: What to Do! Ongoing Series continues
• Training for Now; with Hari Kaur NYC; Heartstorming the future and supporting the transformational training of Kundalini; beginning every Thursday April 23rd 10:00 to 11:30 EST(NYC)
• Sat Guru Kaur; How to Teach Level One Trauma Informed …date /time tba
• One more time slot added for the CRT update presentation – For any of you that were not able to make the previous zoom calls, we have added one more time slot.  If you’d like to hear about the current status of the investigation, what may come afterwards, and have a chance to ask questions, please join us at 8am Mountain Daylight time on Thursday 16 April at this zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/5254726198?pwd=M2FINUxsaHZaV3orZ0pvL3NRQytVZz09  

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• Please communicate with KRI in your native language – We are truly a global Trainer Academy, and English is not required.  Please rest assured that you can email us, anytime and about any topic, in your native language and we will get it translated.  

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• Level One Student Practicum Evaluation Form now available as a PDF form – Download this PDF form here to allow you to fill out practicum evaluations on your computer.

Sat Naam Dear Teacher Trainers,

• Exploring Conscious Change – As the world around us is transforming so must we continue evolving our current decision making processes to design a truly collaborative world-wide system.  In an effort to move in this direction, instead of having our April TTEC meeting online as originally planned, we will look for a professional third party facilitator to help us design and then run an inclusive and transparent process for setting up a new KRI decision making system. The professional facilitator (or facilitator team) will need to meet the following criteria:
  • Experienced in facilitating large group processes, ideally with a variety of methodologies
  • Demonstrated passion for inclusive and transparent systems, and experience helping organizations find the right processes for them
  • Able to advise and guide communities to an appropriate balance of full inclusivity (slow) and delegated decision-making authority (more efficient)
  • Experienced in helping groups to design decision making processes
  • Experience working with spiritual communities
  • Experience working globally – being sensitive to the challenges of language, time-zones and cultural differences
  • Ideally experienced in planning and facilitating online group processes, not only in-person

Once we find the appropriate professionals to support the process, the next step will be the planning phase. The goal of the first phase will be to attain collective agreement on how we will make decisions going forward, and to clarify the scope of change that needs to happen. From there, we will be able to work on such initiatives as: how to begin finalizing the new edition of The Aquarian Teacher, decide what changes we need to be made to our certification requirements, etc.

The new process we will develop together will be a process to serve us in the long term as a worldwide community.  It is not limited to updating the training manual and training requirements. We are looking to involve stakeholders beyond trainers, such as teachers, in this decision making process. This will be an upgrade to how KRI functions, ensuring that KRI serves its worldwide community, and remains relevant and responsive to our times and able to continue to deliver the teachings in their integrity to future generations.  

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• Tips for more effective online trainings – 
  • Ask the group to keep the focus on the training (i.e., put away cell phone and don’t deviate into doing emails)
  • Ask the group to keep video on and gallery view open so you and everyone can be “seen” during dialogue times
  • Encourage the group to use the “chat” function; encourage them to use chats to ask questions AND pass notes to each other in class by sending private messages. Obviously not to the point of distraction but a small amount helps them keep going with the organic relationships of the in person experience.

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• Updates from the Collaborative Response Team – Zoom Call – Shanti Kaur and Sat Nam Singh from the Collaborative Response Team will join members of the Aquarian Trainer Academy on zoom calls for an informational update on the work of the Collaborative Response Team and a review of the issues regarding allegations of misconduct against Yogi Bhajan. They will be available to answer questions.  The remaining dates/times for these calls are Thursday, April 9 from 9 AM to 10:30 AM New Mexico Time and Thursday, April 9 from 5 PM to 6:30 pm New Mexico Time, and the zoom link is https://zoom.us/j/5254726198.

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• The Aquarian Teacher en español now available digitally – Those of you who are in a Spanish speaking country will be receiving a complimentary copy shortly, with instructions about how you can order them for your future trainings.  If you don’t see anything related to this in your email, please email KRI’s translation coordinator, HariShabad Kaur.  When the next edition of this manual is ready, these digital copies will automatically be updated.

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• North American Level Three Mela will be online this year! – We are working with participants to create an online experience for the Level 3 mela this year in June.  Depending on what happens with the European Yoga Festival, we will either have the mela in person, as planned, or move that one online as well.  If you are in Level Three already, or planning to begin this year, please look for details in your emails!

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• More free resources for Teacher Trainers!
  • 6-part webinar on Pedagogy – how to keep adult learners engaged.  Attend live or watch the recordings.  Practical suggestions on how to make lecturing more in line with the neuroscience of how adults learn, and how this knowledge can be carried into action in Level One Teacher Trainings.
  • Transformational Learning Online with Lorenz & Natasha, Sutra’s creators.  Tools and tips to teach online and engage people in a truly meaningful way!  Join us for this live webinar with Lorenz and Natasha Sell, watch the recording one week later: Tuesday April 7th 10 AM EST (New York City) and 15:00 (GMT+1 London) British Summer Time.  The link to join the live presentation is: https://zoom.us/j/3131045746.

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• Changes to our ongoing Zoom calls – Next week KRI will schedule zoom in different countries or groups of countries for trainers instead of the open zoom calls that we sponsored for the past two weeks.  Hari Charn Kaur will reach out to establish times for the calls.  The calls for South America will be in Spanish or with Spanish translation.  We want to continue to hear all voices and to support each trainer though these challenging times.  

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• New zoom link for the ongoing, global, healing meditation – The Global Ra-Ma-Da-Sa meditation is continuing through May 25^th.  You, and anyone in your community (so please share this link!), can join a zoom call to meditate together at 6:30am Mountain Daylight time here:

https://zoom.us/j/551818097?pwd=VXY1eWZaU1NqV2NHblNNUXZ0OUZOUT09

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• Yoga Alliance’s online training best practices – As it is helpful, check out Yoga Alliance’s online training best practices here.

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• Grants available for US based yoga teachers with income lost due to COVID-19 – More info and to apply can be found at the website for Reclamation Ventures here.