By Nikita Mehta

We all arrived in our whites, at Yoga Tree Telegraph. Some of us with turbans, others with sheep skin rugs, all there for the same purpose; to find transcendence. We looked to our guru, Gurmukh, to lead us in finding light. She spoke eloquently about going inward, about how to find that moment of connection with the self, with the divine, with each other. As she led us in practice she described finding that special place inside of us, one that we dive deep to find. She spoke of the blue pearl.

But what was this blue pearl that she spoke of finding? We sat down with Gurmukh, this angel of light, to ask her about the blue pearl, kundalini yoga and what is next on her agenda.

What is the essence of the blue pearl and why are you teaching workshops about it?

It started in 1971, when Yogi Bhajan started talking about the blue pearl, and it seemed so euphoric and mystical, you just didn’t know what it was... He began teaching these meditations that would take you deeper and deeper and deeper until you didn’t know where you were, who you were and really what your life was all about. And like I said today it took us back to that state of “I am, I am” without any adjectives or adverbs. We are so caught up today in giving our identification to the exterior. Our gender, sexual preference, what kind of car we drive, and how much money we have. People pay so much attention to the outside influences and he would say go back to that place inside of you where the blue pearl lives. That’s your real identity and that’s where you can relax and that’s where there’s no stress. The word stress is so popular now, and to me it’s only when we disconnect with the blue pearl, when we disconnect with the essence or God or whatever you want to call it. It’s so painful, so stressful and it’s so scary to be disconnected, but people live in that state all the time. And then of course they have to run to Western medicine and medications and all the addictions. So, when we go into the blue pearl, you can live out in the world and know that you can go back to that place, the blue pearl, and then you can “ahhhhhh, yeah!”

Of all the different types of yoga, why is it important for us to practice kundalini yoga?

Well myself, I practice all the different types of yoga. When I go in the temple, that’s kundalini. That’s the blue pearl, that’s the “I am, I am.”

You are teaching a lot of seminars but let’s talk about why the blue pearl is different than other courses you are offering.

Well in many ways it’s not, because when you have a kundalini experience in a class, it takes you wherever you are supposed to go. For some people it’s so hard when they are new and they are just un-layering the mask of the subconscious mind. And then other people who have been doing it a long time, they have uncovered that, and they can go deep into the blue pearl. So, when I teach a subject everyone is going to go to a different place. It’s a different degree, but the goal, or the opportunity or the potential is the blue pearl.

What are the offerings that you have coming up?

Thank you for asking. I am going home for a week to Taos, New Mexico to regroup and then I’ll be teaching at Raj Yoga in Boulder for one night. We then fly over to London, where I will be teaching the level 1 training for teachers at Triyoga in Camden, London. We then we head to India. I’ll teach at the International Yoga Festival as well as two level 2 teacher trainings. And then we go up to our orphanage. We are taking a group of people there to create a really good website for these 300 children, with the intention of raising enough money ($120,000) to build them a kitchen. From there I’ll go across Europe and then to LA where I’m filming with Alo Moves. We will be back in the Bay Area on May 26th for our next blue pearl workshop. We are always on the move, so I am not sure where we will be after the Bay Area, but Summer Solstice is a must. It’s the 50th Summer Solstice and it is happening June, 14th-21st.

You can join Gurmukh another workshop on “Finding The Blue Pearl” on May 26th and July 21st at Yoga Tree Telegraph. Learn more here.

Find out about other Yoga Tree workshops here.