Journey into the Heart of Sikh Dharma is a joint effort of its creator and facilitator, Mata Mandir Kaur, and her support team consisting of Baldev Singh and Gurukarm Kaur.
Mata Mandir Kaur Khalsa has been a minister of Sikh Dharma since 1984 and is a Certified Teacher of Kundalini Yoga. She began the JHSD telecourses in 2000.
She is a professionally trained pastoral counselor and knows how to create safety and connection in a group. Her compassion, wisdom, and playful style remind us of the deep and loving connections that are possible on our own unique path of spiritual evolution. Her “heartfull” presence fosters an environment that welcomes all questions, viewpoints, and experiences. Her knowledge and deep love of Sikh Dharma serve to inform and inspire her students.
Mata Mandir is passionately committed to facilitating connection and spiritual growth, both in the class and in her life. It has been her good fortune to live in the thriving Guru Ram Das Ashram community in Herndon, VA, for nearly 50 years, and counts among her most precious blessings the opportunity to be a part of Raj Khalsa Gurdwara, which brings together Western and Eastern Sikhs and seekers to enjoy the delights of sangat, kirtan, seva, and prayer in the Guru’s court.
Her marriage to GuruGanesha Singh fills her life with beauty, growth, and fun, and she adores her children, Saraswati Kaur and Akal Sahai Singh, and her 4 grandchildren. Mata Mandir loves playing and listening to kirtan, walking in nature, and swimming in the ocean. Working with Mata Mandir is a journey of self-discovery and transformation.
Baldev Singh, Marketing Manager. Having taken Journey into the Heart of Sikh Dharma, Baldev found that the course provided him with the opportunity to reconnect his true self with the many aspects of Sikh Dharma that he had put aside because work was all-consuming. It is his prayer to serve Mata Mandir Kaur and this course to help others feel the power of themselves in relation to their connection with Sikh Dharma.
Baldev has been actively involved in Ashram living for over 45 years. In his early years he taught yoga in the US and in Europe. He was the general manager of a chain of retail stores that he helped grow from 7 to 32 stores over a 12 year period. He has served as head assistant to Hari Kaur for Level I Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training in Millis, after having completed Level I himself. He is also working through the Level II Teacher Training modules with the goal of becoming a Teacher Trainer.
Some of Baldev’s strengths are understanding people, how to market a product, and how to develop a business.
Grace Rose Khalsa, web manager, handles the website of JHSD. Grace and Mata Mandir Kaur have been friends since living together in the then-ashram in Buffalo NY, and then living and working together in Washington DC in the Golden Temple Conscious Cookery and other businesses owned by the DC sangat. She began learning HTML, CSS, and other web-related work while employed in the Biology Department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has been working in this and related arenas since 1998. Grace has had the privilege of taking the JHSD course twice, and highly recommends the experience to every interested person.
Grace lives with her husband Baldev Singh in the Millis, Massachusetts, sangat, and works as an email marketing specialist for a nonprofit Jewish Federation in Boston.