Guru Kaur's Story

The different strands of my life have woven together to create an experience of life way beyond anything that I could ever have dreamed of when I was just starting out. With a Classics degree from King’s College, London in the bag, I really had no idea at all what would fill the rest of my life. Becoming a Chartered Accountant seemed like a sensible start: “get a good professional qualification under your belt; it will stand you in good stead”. The day that the final exam results came through I was totally surprised to find that I had indeed passed them, first time.

This was quickly followed by a deep sinking feeling: now what?

It took a further 18 months before I joined the City, in its effervescent just post-Big Bang euphoria, first as a Small Companies Analyst before migrating to what became Merrill Lynch’s Corporate Broking Department to set up and run their Investor Relations Team. It was an amazing time to be in the City. It was undoubtedly a man’s world into which I had wandered but I felt well qualified to be there in my own right.

I remember one day sitting on a train coming back to London from a company visit thinking how incredible it was to be exposed to such diverse businesses, exceptional high calibre people and the outstanding training it was giving me. However, underneath there continued to be a deepening sense of unease which began to manifest through various illnesses. These led me to explore alternative ways of caring for myself and became the crossroads into the next phase of my life.

Just after my 30th birthday, I met my first Teacher, Guru Singh, who guided me through a very deep self healing process. He introduced me to the sacred science of Kundalini Yoga and to Yogi Bhajan, the wise and straight-talking man who had brought this ancient, and previously inaccessible, technology to the west, and opened up Sikh Dharma to those of non-Indian origin. It was Yogi Bhajan who blessed me with the challenge to live as Guru Kaur. Meeting him gave me the feeling of being completely understood and a sense of self which had first been awakened by Guru Singh.

In 1995 I went for 5 days to the Golden Temple in Amritsar with Guru Singh and a large group of White Sikhs. I had gone there as a perfectly (in)sane stockbroker; how could I possibly have undergone such an intense meditation and healing experience? It was beyond my understanding. For the next 3 years I combined my spiritual and my professional life by keeping them separate: I qualified as a Kundalini Yoga teacher and taught 3 regular classes a week while still maintaining a heavy work travel schedule around the US and Europe.

In 1998 I took Amrit (Sikh baptism), left the City and went to live for the year in the run-up to the Sikh Tercentenary celebration in Punjab as a representative of Yogi Bhajan. I lived for 3½ months in the Golden Temple complex, ironically in the very same room that I had seen 3 years before (“I could never live in a room like that” were the precise words I had used) and then 7 months in Anandpur Sahib, where I lived in a family who took me in when I had nowhere else to stay.

Punjab at the time was still very un-westernised and was not particularly accustomed to seeing western women. I spent a lot of my time doing seva, selfless service, in the Gurdwara kitchens or washing floors. This year gave me an extraordinary insight into life. It was as far from my City life as it was possible to imagine. Instead of the 5 star hotels there was one bucket of water (cold) per person per day. Hospitality was spiritual rather than corporate.

On my return to England it was obvious that my life would be very different from before as I sought to integrate my spiritual outlook on life and my English professional experience. I set up Amritvela with my husband, Nick Fleming (we’ve been together since we first met at school aged 16) and began a journey to fulfil a lifelong dream of running my own clothing company.

Inspired by Yogi Bhajan's comment to me to be "Regally Graceful".  I created Amritvela's Regally Graceful bespoke couture and clothing collection, and concept. To support this I began running Regally Graceful courses and consultancy to help men and women maintain their grace in any environment, and to find professional and personal fulfilment. At the end of 2005, after exactly 7 years, we discontinued the Bespoke Couture side of Regally Graceful allowing me to focus more on the bigger concept of Regally Graceful, taking it to a larger audience through teaching and digital media.  Regally Graceful is a way of living.  You can listen to interviews with people I've met along my way who embody it whom I've interviewed for the Regally Graceful Podcasts.  

Throughout I have continued to teach regular classes of Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan, and ran Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training Programmes in London each year until 2006. From 1999 to 2008 I taught regular classes of Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan  in London, UK at Pineapple Dance Studios and since 2010 I have been teaching at Yoga at the Farm, in London SE16, supporting our local community.  

In recent years I have shared my love of Northern India by leading Holy Days Tours combining the intensity of spiritual experience with the wonders of Indian culture.

In 2002 I was ordained as a Minister of Sikh Dharma.  In 2003 the International Kundalini Yoga Teachers Association awarded me their accolade as an Aquarian Teacher for my outstanding service.  The same year I was personally chosen by Yogi Bhajan (Siri Singh Sahib) to join the International Khalsa Council, the subtle and meditative body which serves the spirit of Sikh Dharma in the Western Hemisphere, as a full member. I served as the Chairwoman of the European Khalsa Council from 2004 to 2007.

In January 2008 I launched with our business partner, Hari Karam Singh, the Be the Woman You were Born to Be... Online Course and Community. I am deeply touched by the outstanding feedback from the women who are part of this and love being part of the subtlety of teaching and leading virtually.  Women from all around the globe are now taking part; the wonders of the potential for modern-day technology always continue to blow my mind.  

In June 2009 the Friends of Russia Dock Woodland, started the annual Meditation in the Park event and Hari Karam Singh and I are both on the core organising committee.  This popular event celebrates, in the beautiful sanctuary near where we live, the joys of green spaces, good food and a clear mind.  It is based on the simple, yet radical, concept of being free with no promoted products, where people go away with more than they came with.  In 2011 it was attended by over 2,000 people.  

Millie-Pup and I were also featured in 2011 on the trailer to Sky's A Different Breed.