3HO = “Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization”.
Yogi Bhajan gave his first public lecture in the United States on January 5, 1969, at the East West Cultural Center where he stated his firm conviction that it is the birthright of every human being to be “Healthy, Happy, and Holy.”
“On the fifth of January, when I gave a lecture, they asked me, ‘What have you brought for us?’ I said, ‘I gave you a Healthy, Happy, Holy way of life.’ I have not come here to collect students; I will create teachers, and teachers so created in this 3HO, shall teach the world a way of life with style. That’s what we have said, that’s what we are doing, that’s what we are.”
-Yogi Bhajan, 1/5/93
While Yogi Bhajan brought Kundalini Yoga to the West from India in the late 1960’s, he did not simply share yoga exercises and meditations. His teachings include a comprehensive lifestyle that allows the radiance of the soul to shine in every facet of life. How to eat. How to dress. How to communicate. How to have relationships. How to raise children. How to do business. Yogi Bhajan infused every aspect of life with the beauty and grace of the Kundalini.
When you raise your Kundalini and change your consciousness, every aspect of life gets transformed. The lifestyle teachings of 3HO are designed to support you through that transformation. In this way, you live a healthy, happy and holy life as a bountiful, blissful and beautiful human being.
Over the years, he sowed the seeds for institutions and events that have multiplied and mushroomed worldwide, attracting thousands of people who embrace the 3HO way of life. He said 3HO was to be a family of people who lived not just “with” each other but “for” each other.
To provide a structure for the teachings, the 3HO Foundation was legally incorporated in California on July 29, 1969. The first 3HO sponsored Summer Solstice Celebration was held in June, 1970 at Santa Clara Canyon, an alpine heaven between Espanola and Los Alamos. Since that time, 3HO has sponsored annual Summer Solstice events in New Mexico and annual Winter Solstice events in Florida.
Yogi Bhajan told people, “Don’t love me, love my teachings,” but he touched the hearts of every seeker. 3HO’s mission is to inspire everyone, everywhere to live a Healthy, Happy, and Holy life through the teachings of Yogi Bhajan.
“We started a healthy, happy, holy way of life, and that became 3HO. It is a dream come true. It is a very pure path in which every human is worshipped equally. Everybody is a potential teacher. There is no ‘yes’ and ‘no’, rather there is a set discipline to follow…We built a foundation called the 3HO Foundation: a Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization of people. The first song I sang was, ‘We are the people, the people of love, let us people love today.’ Certain little things started happening in a very unique way with all of you. All of those who have left, all who are with me, who shall be with me, or who shall leave me, all play a very important role in the development of 3HO—a lifestyle of the Age of Aquarius where humans shall be first and foremost purely human, and will do everything graciously.”
-Yogi Bhajan, 1/5/94
“Yogi Bhajan was making soup in the kitchen of the East-West Cultural Center in Los Angeles when he told me, ‘I have a vision, to create an organization called 3HO, the Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization, and you’ll be the Mother.’ Without hesitation I replied, ‘Thanks a lot, but no thanks. I’ve already raised my son – and I definitely don’t want any more responsibility; and furthermore, I don’t like organizations.’
Fortunately, he didn’t listen to me. Through the years, despite all the opposition and stupidity (starting with me!) that he patiently endured, Yogi Bhajan continued to follow his inner guidance, manifesting his vision and fulfilling his God-given destiny. On January 5, 1969, at his first public lecture in the United States, he stated, ‘It’s your birthright to be Healthy, Happy, and Holy—and the practice of Kundalini Yoga is the method to claim that birthright.'”
-Shakti Parwha Kaur Khalsa