My daughter told me about this incredible yogi who she met at the Mount Madonna Center near Watsonville, California. She then send me a link about Rajeev Kahn – The HinJew to an arcicle in The Hindu, Kahn do! – The Hindu.
In The Hindu article, we learn that Rajeev is an actor, director, singer, and yoga teacher who travels the world teaching yoga. He was in India to teaching Anusara Yoga. This type of Yoga is based on the Five Universal Principles of alignment of Tantic Yoga.
Rajeev, then Aaron Kahn, did his first sun salutation at the age of 16 in Chicago. The article goes on to say,
Rajeev’s own journey began in LA when a friend introduced him to power yoga. He went on to learn ashtanga between theatre productions. “I realised theatre was taking a lot out of me, and giving back little. Yoga was giving, and giving and giving.” His development into a teacher seemed natural. “I’m much healthier. Happier. I have opportunities that my friends and colleagues don’t. They stay in LA, suffer in LA. I live in Paris and travel the world.”
Then, his name changed in a suitably dramatic fashion. “I was living in Arcosanti, an experimental town in the Arizona desert, to work on a theatre project.” As he was sweeping a community café, he bumped into an old man who told him about the Mount Madonna Centre in California. “He said it’s a community that does yoga together, and I was hooked.” Later, on a road trip with a friend, he visited the centre and met Baba Hari Dass, the silent monk who gave him his new name. “I’m now Rajeev Kahn on my passport. So I’m in the unique position where my birth name is my stage name, and my spiritual name is my legal name!”
What is interesting about Rajeev is that he has lived in Paris for six years. Indeed, he is leading a yoga retreat at the famous La Clairière Bio & Spa Hotel in Alsace, France in the French Alps from Thursday February 20 to Sunday February 23, 2014. This looks like a stunning place to have a yoga retreat.
Wouldn’t you like to be at the yoga retreat with Rajeev Kahn – the HinJew?