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Valerie Weir / Kulbir Kaur

Summary of Experience

I began my yoga meditation practice with Yogi Bhajan in the 1970s. This initial experience inspired a lifelong dedication to learning, serving, and uplifting the community through the healing arts. I received my 1500-hour accreditation in massage therapy in 1994 through the Health Enrichment Center and continued my studies the following year in a 500-hour subtle energies program. These programs included intensive studies combining both Western and Eastern anatomy and physiology. In the late 90s I received accreditation from the Esalen Institute in advanced body work and a 200-hour accreditation in hatha yoga through the tradition of Sri Kripalu. This program also included intensive studies in Eastern philosophy and anatomy.

During this time I continued to develop my kundalini meditation and yoga practice, studying with fellow teachers and participating in white tantric yoga (an intensive form of meditation designed to clear the subconscious mind). In 2003 I completed my first 200-hour accreditation with the International Kundalini Yoga Teachers Association in Española, New Mexico. I look back on this experience with a deep sense of gratitude. Yogi Bhajan, the head of Sikh Dharma for the Western Hemisphere and the Mahan Tantric, led his final teachers training that year. I feel so fortunate to have sat with this master and feel his presence every day. Although he left his body in the fall of 2004, his legacy is alive in the consciousness of many. One month after his passing I traveled to his childhood home in Anandpursahib, India, where I received an additional 200 hours of accreditation. I am registered with the Yoga Alliance as an E-RYT, based on training and teaching experience.

So that I may be of greater service to our community, I am currently enrolled in a 2-year program of study with the Kundalini Research Institute (KRI), which consists of five modules including mind and meditation, authentic relationships, lifecycles and lifestyles, vitality and stress, and conscious communication. This will fulfill the requirement for Yoga Alliance’s RYT-500 certification. This advanced work is also part of a seven-year accreditation/intern process with KRI that I’ve been asked to be a part of. When I look back to when I took my first kundalini yoga class at age 17, I now see the impact it had on my life’s work. As Yogi Bhajan so beautifully stated, “It only takes one clear mind that acts beyond its intrigues to seed the world with truth.” As a teacher it is a privilege to witness, experience and participate in this process of realizing truth.