Phillip Deslippe is a historian of American religion with a background in American Studies and literature. My research focuses on Asian, metaphysical, and marginal religions in modern America. I am currently a doctoral candidate in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara and writing a dissertation on the early history of yoga in the United States from the mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth century.

An unusual and controversial figure, Yogi Bhajan, claimed to teach a secret and powerful form of yoga openly for the first time and led thousands of Western spiritual seekers to convert to Sikhism. Philip will discuss the origins of Yogi Bhajan's yoga, the reorienting of his group towards Sikhism, and where recent revelations about his abuse and misconduct might lead his organization and legacy in the future.