Who Is Guru Jagat? What to Know About the Kundalini Yoga Instructor From HBO’s ‘Breath of Fire’
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HBO’s latest true crime docuseries Breath of Fire is another saga of a spiritual community accused of cult-like behaviors. Based on Haley Phelan’s Vanity Fair article “The Second Coming of Guru Jagat,” the four-part series—which premiered on October 23, 2024, and airs new episodes every Wednesday—centers on Guru Jagat, a practitioner of kundalini yoga who doc directors Hayley Pappas and Smiley Stevens have dubbed “the Elizabeth Holmes of Yoga.” Throughout the 2010s, Jagat built her L.A.-based studio into an international empire that boasted several locations, adjacent e-commerce businesses, and celebrity followers including Kate Hudson, Alicia Keys, Orlando Bloom, and Russell Brand. She also allegedly fostered a cult-like, abusive environment within the organization, and eventually platformed right-wing, anti-vax, and QAnon conspiracies by the onset of the COVID pandemic.
The well-rounded cult docuseries also explores the legacy of Jagat’s controversial mentor, Yogi Bhajan, the complicated culture of modern spirituality, and the “dangers of self-proclaimed gurus,” per the doc’s description. At the center of it all is Guru Jagat, the charismatic and controversial leader whose public profile has altered from guru girlboss to alleged cult leader, in the wake of her untimely death. Read on for a brief primer on everything to know about Guru Jagat.
Guru Jagat, real name Katie Griggs, was born in Colorado in 1979. According to Vanity Fair, Griggs dreamed of acting or performing onstage as a kid, and she “drifted in her early 20s, dropping out of school due to partying, then eventually getting a degree from Antioch College in Ohio.” Eventually, the one-time YouTube astrologer founded the RA MA Institute for Applied Yogic Sciences and Technology, an L.A.-based studio established in 2013 that focused on spreading the practice of kundalini yoga. According to the outlet, kundalini is “characterized by intense breath work, repetitive poses, and alternative lifestyle choices, such as wearing white and eating mostly vegetarian.”
The first episode of the HBO docuseries introduces some elements of Jagat’s practice, including “breath of fire,” an energizing breath work that one doc subject describes as a feeling similar to “taking poppers.” As stated in the doc, Jagat would end her sessions with a 45-minute talk that sometimes included a “prosperity meditation,” where the attendants would credit their successes, such as getting a dream job or a dream house to the yoga practice.
Content retrieved from: https://www.marieclaire.com/culture/tv-shows/who-is-guru-jagat-breath-of-fire/.
