May 18, 2020 – Trainer Update

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Sat Naam Dear Teacher Trainers,

Blessings to the Global KRI Trainer Academy and community.

For the past several months, all of us within the KRI community have been finding individual and collective ways to process the allegations against Yogi Bhajan. There have been many conversations, reflections, face to face meetings, and online meetings with the intention of listening to each other and expressing our experiences, sympathies, and pain. 

For many, it has been a deeply moving experience. These circumstances have given us pause to reflect, ask important questions, and reexamine some of the foundations that we hold dear.

One thing is clear, change is needed! We have a unique opportunity to refine and renew our community and mission. KRI is committed to moving forward with the intent of honoring the inspiration that brought us to these teachings and, at the same time, making the necessary changes to create a safe, open, inclusive, and stronger community. KRI is dedicated to establishing a process with the opportunity for all voices to be heard.

There is a great deal that is unclear as we look to the future, but what we do know is each step forward must reflect values and opportunities to heal the deep pain within our community revealed during these last few months. We are ready to engage in this process in a broader sense and would like for you to join us. We are reaching out to invite and encourage you to collaborate with KRI on a path forward. Our prayer is that all members of the Academy engage wholeheartedly in this community-wide process and conversation.

Going forward together

As part of the next steps, we must ask ourselves (personally and collectively) a very important question:

“What do I need to see from the KRI community to stay engaged and inspired?”

This, in turn, will spark other questions, such as:

  • What are the changes that I would like to see?
  • How do we implement the required changes?
  •  What are the values that we currently hold that you want to retain and enlarge?
  • How do we build a community-wide decision-making process that reflects our values?

KRI’s Intention

The intention that will drive this process is: To honor the inspiration that brought us to this path and to make the changes needed to foster openness, safety, inclusivity and trustworthiness within our community and define our identity as kundalini yoga teachers and trainers.

Goal

The goals of this process are to:

  • Make sure that every member has the opportunity to share and/or express how the allegations have impacted their lives and practice
  • Provide a space of dialogue to listen, heal, and reconcile
  • Find in our collective wisdom a source of inspiration and commitment to deepen our practice and to serve the future
  •   Find where there is excitement and passion to work together as a community

 What comes Next:

  1. Reach out – Community members, KRI staff, and volunteers will redouble their efforts to reach out to all members of the Academy and initiate or continue ant open dialogue. This will be done by electronic means, one-on-one calls, invitations to meetings, etc.
  1. Engagement – Reassure that each Academy member knows how important their voice is to our community. Everyone will be invited to participate and engage in a world-wide conversation begin at our first the on-line Forum. 
  1. Global Trainer’s Forum – KRI will host a world-wide online forum July 9th, 10th and 11th where every member of the KRI Academy will be able to share, propose and engage with conversations through dynamic group consciousness tools that will redefine our future. It will be a time and space to hear each other’s voices, and collectively define what we are working towards and how we will work together.

We will emerge stronger, brighter, and more inclusive from the challenges that we are facing today. The world now more than ever needs the yogic technology we can share. Please join us in this process so we can emerge from these challenging times better than ever. Let’s serve the world together. 

May Guru Ram Das bless us all,

Amrit Singh Khalsa 


Some additional items for this week’s trainer update:

  • Trauma Sensitivity for Trainers – Webinar Wednesday May 20th 11:30-1 EDT (New York) – Join us to explore together how to best serve your trainees more sensitively in these heightened times….. If so many trainees have some form of psychological, emotional or sexual trauma, what tips or techniques can we use to accommodate those needs? Join Sat Guru Kaur, Somatic Body Therapist, in this live interview or watch the recording afterwards!Â