A woman has candidly revealed how she was swept up into working for yoga guru who was accused of running a ‘cult’ after the original founder was flooded with accusations of sexual assault.
Charlotte Medlock appeared on a recent episode of the Cults to Consciousness podcast to discuss her experience of the kundalini yoga practice.
Yogi Bhajan, who was born Harbhajan Singh Khalsa, brought kundalini yoga — a combination of repetitive movement, chanting and breathing — to the western world when he immigrated from India to the US in the late 1960s.
He was ultimately accused of rape, sexual misconduct, and financial wrongdoing in allegations spanning years – but was controversially defended by many.
Among them was Katie Griggs, who assumed the name Guru Jagat, having set up her own institute based on his teachings after experiencing the ‘life-changing’ practice in the early 2000s. But that too would prove to have a whole host of its own flaws.
Charlotte Medlock appeared on a recent episode of the Cults to Consciousness podcast to discuss her experience of the kundalini yoga practice
Katie Griggs, who assumed the name Guru Jagat, having set up her own institute after experiencing the ‘life-changing’ yoga practice in the early 2000s
Charlotte began by talking host Shelise Ann Sola through the origins of the kundalini yoga practice introduced by Yogi Bhajan.
She explained: ‘He was a customs officer in India at the Delhi Airport and he saw a lot of these burnt-out hippies coming through looking for a guru.
‘He thought “maybe I should go to the United States and teach yoga” so that’s what he did.
‘It took off right away. He came to Los Angeles, he planted the seeds and it took off from there.’
But the entrepreneur’s scheme appeared to have a much more sinister underbelly.
Bhajan was accused of sexual assault and sexual misconduct before and after his death, but the allegations were largely ignored for years.
Yogi Bhajan, who was born Harbhajan Singh Khalsa, brought kundalini yoga to the western world
However, in early 2020, his former secretary Pamela Saharah Dyson shined new light on his alleged sexual misconduct when she self-published her tell-all memoir titled Premka: White Bird in a Golden Cage: My Life with Yogi Bhajan.
Her account emboldened others to come forward with their own claims of sexual abuse at the hands of the spiritual teacher and an independent third party released a report that found the abuse ‘more likely than not occurred,’ Phelan reported.
Charlotte shared that he established a ranch in Espanola, New Mexico, where she claimed ‘most of the abuse happened.’
‘I can’t believe he got away with it,’ Charlotte added.
Nonetheless, Griggs, who defended Bhajan and discredited his former secretary following the book release, decided to branch off on her own based on his teachings.
The self-proclaimed Guru quickly identified what she believed was a gap in the market as Charlotte explained: ‘She claimed Yogi Bhajan told her to go to LA and teach at Yoga West – and that’s what she did.’
In the years that followed, Charlotte happened to move to the area and was ‘exploring’ different types of classes when she came across one of Griggs’ groups.
‘The class was packed. It was the first class I ever went to and the room was electric. She was working the room. She was cracking jokes.’
But she was also surprised to see that all attendees were dressed head-to-toe in white.
‘I definitely thought it was super weird. I felt it was very off-putting to me in a way. I was like, “What? Who are these people? This is very strange.”
‘But in the class we’re doing we’re chanting a lot, we’re doing movements that I’ve never done before, I’m breathing really heavily and I left those first classes completely blissed out.’
Charlotte (left) told host Shelise Ann Sola (right) that she became burnt out at her office job and began battling feelings of shame, self-doubt and hopelessness
Jagat opened the first Ra Ma Institute yoga studio in Venice, California, in 2013. She went on to create an online platform and open studios in New York City and Mallorca
Griggs opened her first Ra Ma Institute yoga studio in Venice, California, in 2013, attracting a number of celebrity fans, including Alicia Keys and Kate Hudson.
She also went onto to create a successful online platform and open more locations in New York City and Mallorca with the Ra Ma Institute’s website featuring an online shop featuring crystals, jewelry, and white dresses from Jagat’s eponymous clothing line.
In her mid 20s, Charlotte became burnt out at her office job and began battling feelings of shame, self-doubt and hopelessness.
It was at this time that she sought increasing comfort in Griggs’ teachings which would only set her on a continuing downward spiral.
She began practicing without fail and was offered the chance to become a kundalini yoga teacher.
Charlotte signed up to a $3,000 training course ‘with the last of what was in her bank account’ but admitted: ‘That is where the sort indoctrination started.’
‘I was so desperate I was like “if I just do this, then I think all my dreams will come true and my destiny will get activated and I’m going to get so much money” – very delusional.’
However, part way through the course Charlotte decided to change tact and took a job working directly for Griggs instead of becoming a course teacher.
‘I started out as an intern. They offered a $300 a month stipend and right away I was working full-time because Guru Jagat had a book coming out…
‘I just got sucked in right away,’ she said.
Charlotte eventually secured a permanent job at $1,800 per month which she described as being ‘insane from the start.’
She was expected to wake up every morning at 4am, was bombarded with texts listing out tasks and would work constantly through the night, adding: ‘It was all hours, all the time.’
Describing what Guru Jagat (pictured) expected, Charlotte explained: ‘W e were supposed to be perfect. We were supposed to be constantly thinking about her’
Bhajan was accused of sexual assault and sexual misconduct before and after his death, but the allegations were largely ignored for years
But the operation soon began raging out of control.
Griggs worked to build up her celebrity client base but Charlotte dished: ‘She spent money like water.
‘The chaos with the money was always a thing. There was never enough money coming in.’
She continued: ‘Right when I started working for her she was just as charismatic, funny and fun to be around as she was on stage.
‘I had so much joy and enthusiasm and hope in the beginning I really thought that we were do doing something good for the world.
‘I want to say six months into it I saw her scream at an employee in a meeting until the employee cried and that was very uncomfortable for me to watch.
‘I’d never seen Guru Jagat pop off like that on somebody. I just kind of excused myself and like went to go get a coffee.
‘As I’m like going out the door Guru Jagat said, “Oh Charlotte doesn’t like it when I yell” and kind of laughed and [made me feel stupid] for taking it too seriously or something.
‘I was uncomfortable. It was very uncomfortable to watch. She just laughed it off and so I brushed it off like it was no big deal.’
But this would prove to only be the beginning.
Charlotte explained that a short time later she too was ‘screamed at for making a typo in an email.’
‘I made excuses for it in the beginning I was like “oh well I I did f**k, it’s it’s my fault, I deserved that…”
‘I never liked getting yelled at and I never thought it was a blessing. I just took it for a long time until I couldn’t take it anymore.’
Charlotte, who gave up drinking and went vegetarian after joining the group, said she initially felt good in her change of lifestyle.
‘After a year of that, it just became this hamster wheel that I couldn’t get off of where I was constantly obsessing…
‘With the dynamic of being in the “inner circle” of this cult I was just constantly oscillating between fear and being perfect which sent me into hyperdrive.’
She said that she worked constantly and, although she knew she was unhappy, the practice of kundalini yoga ‘makes you disassociated from your feelings’ in what she branded as ‘toxic positivity.’
Charlotte admitted that the tumultuous environment got worse when the workforce began to turn on each other.
‘We did throw each other under the bus constantly because we were so scared of Guru Jagat and we didn’t want to be the one to get put in the hot seat.
‘It was complete chaos. There were balls dropping all the time. Things were changing constantly and at the end of the day there was always somebody getting yelled at.’
Describing what Guru Jagat expected, Charlotte explained: ‘We were supposed to be perfect. We were supposed to be constantly thinking about her, working to make her money, if she was in town we were expected to spend time with her and be around her constantly.
‘I think she really fed off of our energy, she wanted to be worshiped constantly.’
Griggs reportedly told Charlotte she ‘did not need’ her family any longer as she became increasingly cut off.
‘I definitely became more isolated in my relationships and from my family.
‘In Kundalini Yoga there’s a teaching if you stay under the same roof with your parents for more than 72 hours you revert back to your seven-year-old self…
‘It was implied this is your new family now.’
In 2020, amid the coronavirus pandemic, Charlotte said ‘s**t was hitting the fan’ due to the release of the memoir documenting allegations of Yogi Bhajan’s students.
‘When this book came out, it was like the floodgates opened suddenly.
‘All of these other women and people were coming forward with their stories of abuse by Yogi Bhajan and our clients were like, “When are you going to make a statement? What do you guys have to say about this?”
‘For a really long time Guru Jagat was like “we’re not going to say anything, if anyone comments anything on our social media just delete and block.”
‘She thought it was just going to go away and it wasn’t going away.’
In 2020, Pamela Saharah Dyson published her memoir detailing Yogi Bhajan’s alleged sexual misconduct
Tensions became increasingly fraught so Guru Jagat hired a ‘family constellation therapist’ for all employees.
Charlotte claims she worked with the teacher to ‘gaslight’ the group, adding: ‘She is like “you all need to stop talking about Guru Jagat. It’s draining her energy.
‘”She should get an Oscar for acting like a human being. She is not from this planet. When she is not in business meetings she is talking to Saturn and Mars.”‘
Most of her colleagues seemed to buy into the message but Charlotte said: ‘I was like this is just pure f**king propaganda. I was p**sed. I was like this is so f**ked up.
‘I was just seeing the writing on the wall at that point but I was still too scared to leave.’
Four years into her tenure, Charlotte, who was becoming increasingly ‘distressed,’ finally concluded that ‘nothing is ever going to change’ and she handed in her notice.
‘It‘s really funny because I didn’t even realize it was a cult when I quit. I thought I was just quitting a bad job.
‘The reason I was so scared to quit was because they would tell stories about bad things happening to people that left – people getting in car accidents, people getting cancer, that kind of thing…
‘I realized this thing I devoted four years of my life to was a lie. Those first few months after I quit I felt like a war veteran or something coming back from a war because it was just so intense.’
Charlotte, who went on a ‘spiritual detox,’ concluded: ‘It probably took me a year of just processing everything and making sense of it all to to feel normal again.’
Guru Jagat died of a pulmonary embolism following ankle surgery at age 41.
In the months before her death, she was interviewed for Vanity Fair and brushed off any accusations of wrongdoing.
‘I’m a controversial figure,’ she said at the time. ‘This goes with the territory. I’m not, like, love-and-light Suzie. I’m very direct and I talk about s**t people don’t want to talk about.’
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