Board of Directors
The Board of Directors for the LYF Foundation includes:
Harijot Kaur Khalsa, - President
Harijot Kaur met Yogi Bhajan in 1975 and, at his request, began working in the Golden Temple Conscious Cookery restaurant in Los Angeles. In 1982 she became his personal financial and legal assistant. During the last thirty years, she also served as a consultant to the nonprofit organizations that Yogi Bhajan inspired. Harijot is a Certified Kundalini Yoga Teacher and has compiled and illustrated seven manuals of Kundalini Yoga as Taught by Yogi Bhajan® that have been published by the Kundalini Research Institute.
Sopurkh Kaur Khalsa - Secretary
Sopurkh Kaur met Yogi Bhajan in the early 1970’s and worked at his direction to help create the nonprofit and for profit organizations that are a large part of the legacy he left for future generations. Sopurkh Kaur has been President of several of the businesses and is on many of their boards. For 25 years she served as Comptroller of Sikh Dharma and, during that time, provided administrative and financial counsel to Sikhs throughout the United States and Europe. She was named Director of Spiritual Trust of 3HO Foundation, a position that is responsible to maintain the integrity and quality of the teachings of Yogi Bhajan on the practice of Kundalini Yoga, meditation and Humanology
Shanti Kaur Khalsa - Treasurer
Shanti Kaur Khalsa is a wife, mother, and security professional. She is a Director for Akal Security, a Sikh-owned private security company with nearly 10,000 employees in more than forty states. This is a non-traditional role for women, and particularly for a woman in a turban and Khalsa bana. As such, she has been successful in bringing the Khalsa values to private security throughout her twenty-year career.
Shanti Kaur is active in spreading the teachings of Sikh Dharma in the United States and abroad. Involvement with Sikh teenagers has led to mentoring young people around the world in the Sikh way, both in their personal and professional lives. She is an active kirtani, and has traveled widely giving inspirational kirtan and lecture programs. Also a published historian, she regularly contributes articles on both current events and Sikh history to Sikh publications.
Shanti Kaur currently lives in Espanola, New Mexico with her husband, Tyaga Singh, and their son Bhai Daya Singh.
Jai Singh Khalsa
Jai Singh did his graduate work in architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, R.I. Today his firm, Khalsa Design, Inc., is a pillar of the Boston architectural community, working on between 50-70 projects at a time. Khalsa Design specializes in the adaptive reuse of historic structures, converting many old mills, firehouses, and churches into office and living spaces, blending the best of the old and the new.
He worked directly with Yogiji on the design for the buildings for Miri Piri Academy, the Sikh boarding school in India, and for the Anandpur sahib Training Center. Along with Siri Karta Singh, he created a master plan for Yogiji’s Ranch in Espanola. He is also deeply involved in the Temple of Steel project for Guru Ram Das Puri.
He is actively involved in Sikh advocacy and charitable efforts. He works with the 3HO United Nations non-governmental program, which promotes the teaching of Kundalini Yoga worldwide, and serves on the Khalsa Council, a governing body of the Sikh Community. He also volunteers his time to Sikh Dharma of Massachusetts. Jai Singh has three children ranging in age from 10 to 24. His wife, Siri Ram Kaur, works as an executive at an international trading company and publishes a Sikh magazine.
Roy Lambert
Roy is a tax and business lawyer with expertise in areas important to nonprofit, tax exempt organizations. He is a shareholder with the Portland, Oregon law firm of Schwabe, Williamson, and Wyatt, PC and has practiced law for more than thirty years. Mr. Lambert first became acquainted with the Sikh community inspired by Yogi Bhajan through his representation of Golden Temple of Oregon, Inc. Through that representation, Yogi Bhajan and Mr. Lambert became acquainted. Over time, Yogi Bhajan gained confidence in Mr. Lambert’s expertise and judgment, with the result that Mr. Lambert eventually represented Yogi Bhajan personally and represented many organizations (both nonprofit and for profit) in the community inspired by Yogi Bhajan.
Mr. Lambert has for many years been actively involved in the Portland, Oregon Jewish community and has served as President of its Mittleman Jewish Community Center and of the Oregon Jewish Community Foundation.