HEALTHY, HAPPY, HOLY ORGANIZATION (3HO). In 1969, Harbhajan Singh Puri (b. August 26, 1929), now known as Yogi Bhajan, came to California. A Sikh from India, he started teaching Kuṇḍalinī Yoga and founded the Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization, also called the 3HO Foundation.

Yogi Bhajan had worked as a customs officer before he moved to North America in 1968. After a brief stay in Canada, he traveled to Los Angeles where he began teaching yoga at the YMCA and the East-West Cultural Center. His classes attracted students, some from the counterculture, who were in the process of seeking alternative lifestyles and higher consciousness.

Several of these early students joined with Bhajan to establish an ashram (center) in Los Angeles and to found 3HO. Bhajan encouraged students to become Kuṇḍalinī Yoga teachers themselves and to establish new ashrams. Early ashram sites were established...