Guru Ram Das Center for Medicine and Humanology

Written by 3HO International Published February 22, 2024

Mission which Originally Appeared on the GRD Center Website

Founded as a non-profit organization by Yogi Bhajan, the long-term mission of the Guru Ram Das Center for Medicine & Humanology is to bring the techniques of Kundalini Yoga as a treatment modality into the health care field, just as other methods such as acupuncture and chiropractic services have been integrated in the recent years.

~Source: “Sourcewatch.org

This is accomplished by:

Teaching Kundalini Yoga and Meditation to those with life-threatening or chronic illnesses such as asthma, diabetes, HIV disease, cancer, heart disease, chronic pain, depression and life transitions. Friends and family members are included in all our programs.
Training nurses, doctors, psychologists and other health care professionals to use Kundalini Yoga and Meditation as part of their patients’ treatment plan.

Providing specialized training to KRI certified yoga teachers worldwide, so they may knowledgeably and safely instruct yoga and mediation to people with illness.
Conducting research on the medical effects of Kundalini Yoga and Meditation.
Building a global network of health care professionals, yoga teachers, and yoga and meditation researchers to provide competent, appropriate, research informed instruction in Kundalini Yoga to those recovering from illness.

Origins and Vision

Yogi Bhajan taught that true healing addresses not just the body, but the mind, emotions, and spirit.
To embody this approach, he supported the establishment of the Guru Ram Das Center for Medicine and Humanology (based in Española, New Mexico, USA) as part of the 3HO and Sikh Dharma community’s outreach.
The center was named after Guru Ram Das, the 4th Sikh Guru, who is revered as the “Lord of Miracles” and the embodiment of healing, humility, and service.

The GRD Center Programs

Integrate Western medical science with the spiritual and yogic technology taught by Yogi Bhajan.
Promote a model of “Humanology,” a term Yogi Bhajan used to describe the science of living as a whole, healthy, and conscious human being.
Blend medical expertise, yoga, meditation, diet, counseling, and lifestyle practices.

Key Activities

Therapeutic Yoga & Counseling
- Training in Kundalini Yoga applications for stress, trauma, addiction, and chronic illness.
- Counseling and workshops on relationships, communication, and lifestyle health.
SuperHealth Connection
- The center worked alongside Yogi Bhajan’s SuperHealth program (for drug rehabilitation through yogic science).
Education & Certification
- Offered courses for medical professionals, yoga teachers, and community leaders to apply yogic principles in clinical and counseling settings.
- Developed the field of “Applied Humanology”, with courses such as Marriage & the Humanology of Relationships and Stress & Vitality.
Community Health
- Provided local and global outreach, including support groups, women’s health programs, and preventive lifestyle education.

Yogi Bhajan’s Role

Yogi Bhajan provided the teachings, framework, and inspiration for the center

He saw “Humanology” as the missing piece in modern medicine—bringing a spiritual and lifestyle dimension to healing.

The center became a way to institutionalize his vision of “the healthy, happy, holy human.”

The following are some comments made by Dr. Shanti Shanti during a class on June 10, 1998, on the origins of the Guru Ram Das Center for Medicine and Humanology:

“So, we began to catalog and work with all of this and do case studies and every time a new situation arose, I would talk to the Siri Singh Sahib (Yogi Bhajan). “Sir, they found the virus in the brain. What do you do? What do you do if it doesn’t test positive in the blood stream, but it comes out with all symptoms?” And he gave me a variety of things that people can do to build their immune system in the most serious states of illness.

In 1995 the Siri Singh Sahib asked me to come to New Mexico to start a research center to study the medical effects of yoga, which is what we have been working on—planting seeds and nursing it and watering it and letting it grow. We are a nonprofit organization called the Guru Ram Das Center for Medicine and Humanology.

Read the full transcript of this 1998 talk by Shanti Shanti

Date of Founding

The center was conceptually announced by Yogi Bhajan on December 3, 1995, during a lecture at Guru Ram Das Ashram in Los Angeles, where he declared that its work could transform healthcare.

Quote from the Guru Ram Das Center for Medicine and Humanology Facebook page on December 6, 2011:

We just celebrated our official Non-Profit Birthday! On December 3rd, 1995, in a Gurdwara lecture at Guru Ram Das Ashram in Los Angeles, Yogi Bhajan declared that the work of the Guru Ram Das Center for Medicine & Humanology can transform healthcare. It was a bold statement, yet in the years since, it is clear that bringing Kundalini Yoga into health care has already had transformational impact. Thank you for your support!

Here is a link to that December 3, 1995 Lecture.

The GRD Center was later incorporated as a nonprofit organization in 1997 and received its IRS 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status in July 1998

Early Leaders

Founder: Yogi Bhajan (Siri Singh Sahib), who envisioned integrating Kundalini Yoga into healthcare.

~Source: sikhdharma.org]

Founding Director: Dr. Shanti Shanti Kaur Khalsa, PhD, who began applying Kundalini Yoga therapeutically during the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s and later formalized the center’s programs.

Source: Students of Yogi Bhajan

Early Board Members (circa 2013):
- Shanti Shanti Kaur Khalsa – Executive Director
- Daya Singh Khalsa – Vice President
- Julie Staples (Guru Prakash Kaur), PhD – Board President
- Amrit Singh Khalsa, PhD – Treasurer
- Hari Charn Kaur Khalsa – Member at Large
- Ravi Har Kaur – Secretary.