Breath of Fire

Breath of Fire takes on the daunting challenge of trying to convey the dysfunction, enabling, and vast criminality of a man named Harbhajan Singh Puri, who later re-imagined himself as Yogi Bhajan.

The focus of Breath of Fire is Katie Griggs aka Gurujagat Kaur, who was emblematic of many of Yogi Bhajan's manipulative techniques, which they both used effectively to dupe their followers. Her teacher, Harijiwan Singh is mentioned only briefly, and is another nefarious "guru" who is still leading what remains of Gurujagat's followers.

I would have preferred to hear more of the stories of the victim/survivors and far less from talking-heads who had only a peripheral knowledge of the community.

Katie Griggs mother, Nansy Steinhorn-Galloway, was especially heartbreaking to witness as she comes to terms with all that transpired.

The early followers of Yogi Bhajan, Peter Blachly and Leah Lamb-Allen were particularly compelling, painting a rich picture of the early days of the 3HO organization and what they found attractive about this new lifestyle that Yogi Bhajan was offering.

Mahani Khalsa's story was gut-wrenching to hear. So many of the children, born to the first wave of devotees, were brutally harmed. They deserve their own documentary to begin to adequately tell the world what happened to them.

At times, the use of weird, circus-like music, screaming yogis with horror music, and glib commentary, was strange and unnecessary. The stories held their own without all that nonsense.

I recommend this documentary for its truth-telling and for its exposure of the hypocrisy and grift that is rampant in "new age-well-being" spaces.

It has reached a worldwide audience, which is cause for celebration.

As someone with personal experience of this cult I found the series to be very good. It's important for this information to reach people as the cult is still doing their best to rope new people in. I was fortunate enough to see through them during teacher training as the facts didn't add up a lot of the time. I know the organisation is using their standard damage control about disgruntled former employees/students as can be seen in some of the reviews here. I have seen some of the communications sent out to the teachers about what to say with regards to this series. However, the number of testimonials from survivors and the legal documents speak for themselves.

I don't usually write reviews on here but after watching the 2 episodes that have been released so far (out of 4, that haven't all been released yet..) i think the series is great so far! Its highly entertaining, very well produced, and they are talking with the people who were closest to Yogi Bhajan and "Kundalini Katie", aka Guru Jagat..

As someone who taught hatha and vinyasa yoga for 12 years myself and dabbled in kundalini from time to time i'm very familiar with the yoga world, although i didn't know the full story of the background of the origins of kundalini yoga, and Yogi Bhajan himself, i'm not too surprised.. it does seem like most people who desire to become 'gurus' and amass a following have a certain personality type, and are often followed by scandals and controversy when put under further investigation.

It seems that the other reviewers have taken this obviously completely objective documenting of this story personally?.. which would only lead me to believe they have adopted the system being shown and discussed in this series as their own personal belief system?..

anyways i've always believed the most profound and truthful spiritual teachers live pretty humbly and don't necessarily desire the attention, following and acclaim that many who have created cult like communities and followings seem to desire. I heard someone discussing this topic recently saying be weary of anyone who physically elevates themselves over others, ie. Sitting above their 'students' or followers.. obviously to be taken with a grain of salt, but i have to agree some of the greatest teachers have lived simply and their life and their actions themselves were their teaching/message..

that said i also think people need to give up this idea of trying to find someone to follow and learn that the greatest wisdom is within ourselves; of course we can learn so much from others and we can have many teachers and find truths everywhere and from everyone, the point being not to follow another person or elevate them above yourself in importance or it starts to become a form of idolatry.

This series is extraordinarily well done and manages to avoid the usual sensationalism that is a standard feature of most documentaries about cults. In large part this is due to the interviewing style of Hayley Pappas, whose compassionate and empathic approach elicited heart-felt and deeply moving responses. There were a couple of things that might have enhanced the series. I thought the "comic relief" of the bit explaining Kundalini Yoga was a bit silly, and the use of models and dancers dressed up to look like female yogis struck me as odd and unnecessary. The producers also left out a huge piece of the Kundalini Yoga culture, which was the music. Granted, the musical sound track was quite good, but for many in the cult, the music was a large part of the appeal. Overall, however, I give the producers high marks.

I was part of this group till I recognized that something was "fishy" about letting one man dictate my life. I got out in the mid 80's. Later I got my children out as well.

I became a trauma therapist to help others who fell into a spiritual abuse situation.

It is a good overview of how a cult works and what to avoid. Now I can see other cults out there, past and present.

It has former members telling their stories for pain and betrayal. Some of them I knew. Their stories are riveting. Stories that illustrate how a narcissist can pull followers to follow and eventually control all aspects of their lives.