Building on the Vanity Fair article, “The Second Coming of Guru Jagat”, Breath of Fire explores LA-based millennial Guru Jagat AKA Katie Griggs, and her multi-million-dollar business as a “yoga guru to the stars” with clients that included Madonna, Kate Hudson, Alicia Keyes to Orlando Bloom, Demi Moore and more. She was the face of the Kundalini Yoga practice and controversial founder of the RA MA Institute. The film follows her meteoric rise to fame and stunning fall from grace that exposed a multi-billion-dollar spiritual empire fraught with abuse. Her death in 2021 at the age of 41 brought a sudden end to her ever-expanding wellness empire.
The series explores the culture of modern spirituality through the rise of Kundalini yoga in the west, from its origins with Yogi Bhajan in the 1960s to its presence in millennial wellness circles today. It paints a portrait of a seeker turned guru and examines the complicated intersection of spirituality, cultural appropriation, and capitalism. The series reveals the darker facets of wellness industry figureheads driven by a desire for power and profit.
The 4-part documentary series Breath of Fire debuts October 23 on HBO.
