About Us

Mission and Philosophy

Prana Prana is dedicated to helping people access well-being tools including yoga, meditation, holistic therapies and food choices. We believe that when we are connected with our innate healing ability and are in balance, we attain a life that is healthier, happier, and fuller. We work with the whole person on the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual levels.

History

Our centre was founded by Dr. José Jacintho Balberde/ Guru Sewak Singh e his wife Subagh Kaur Khalsa in 1987, under the name of GRD Holistic Clinic, based on a holistic model of health and well-being including yoga, meditation, vegetarian nutrition, stress control, and ethical and conscious lifestyle choices.

About the Founder

The Founder

José Jacintho de Godoy Balberde / Guru Sewak Singh Khalsa (his spiritual name) was a clinical psychologist, professor, acupuncturist, doctor of oriental medicine, Kundalini Yoga teacher trainer, and more.

Using his formal training, he was dedicated to helping and inspiring everyone that he met to discover themselves physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually, and through this, reach the balance necessary to live in fullness.

In serving his destiny, he found himself in the role of guiding people to become conscious of their own essence through meditation. He often described himself as a midwife of the soul.

Biography

José Jacintho de Godoy Balberde was born on October 6, 1945 in São Paulo, SP. Born into a family of humble means, necessity led him to begin working very early.

Through hard work and determination, he became a Psychologist specializing in Holistic Psychotherapy & Bioenergy with his degree from Pontifica Catholic University in São Paulo in 1970.

He taught at Getúlio Vargas University for 10 years until he realized that his questions were leading him down another path.

He began to seek answers about human existence which were not based soley in the mind, but encompassing the whole person.

He went to the USA in 1982 to visit the spiritual teacher, Yogi Bhajan, who was a pioneer in taking the technology of Kundalini Yoga to the West as well as developing a deep understanding of the human being. From him, he received the spiritual name, Guru Sewak Singh, which means, the lion who serves the Guru by leading many from darkness to light.

Guru Sewak lived in the USA for 4 years, studying directly with Yogi Bhajan, who taught him Chakra Therapy. During this time he became certified in Chinese medicine and acupuncture.

At the end of his stay he met Subagh Kaur, who he married shortly after. In 1986, after their first child was born, they were requested by Yogi Bhajan to take the spiritual teachings including the technology of Kundalini Yoga and meditation to South America.

They founded 3HO Brasil, to spread the teachings of the “happy, healthy, holy” lifestyle and in 1987 began training Kundalini Yoga teachers in Brazil.
They had two more children and Guru Sewak continued his healing work at GRD Clinic in São Paulo. From 1986 until 2003, he traveled between Brazil and the US conducting workshops and consultations as a psychotherapist and healer.

On June 6, 2004, in his last public appearance due to the advance of cancer, he inaugurated the first Gurdwara (Sikh temple) in the Serra da Cantareira, São Paulo, Brazil.

He left his body on August 17, 2004, conscious and lucid, leaving many with a longing for more but also leaving a legacy of love in the hearts of hundreds of students, patients and friends who he led into deep meditative experiences and self-understanding.

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