Puran Bair
Encyclopedia
Puran Khan Bair is a meditation
teacher, mystic
, and author of Living from the Heart and co-author (with Susanna Bair) of Energize Your Heart in 4 Dimensions. He was born in Greensburg, PA, in 1944. Bair holds an MS
degree in Computer Science
from the University of Pennsylvania
. His professional career has focused on computer science research, environmental energy, financial services, and teaching meditation. He was involved in two ultimately unsuccessful start-up firms, one in windpower (in which he holds a patent
), and a second venture which worked on high-speed composting (in which he has a patent pending).
Bair studied meditation with Sufi teacher Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan
, son and successor of Hazrat Inayat Khan
. Pir Vilayat certified Puran Bair as a master teacher, or murshid
.
Puran Bair was active in the Sufi Order International, helping to establish a number of spiritual communities, including the Abode of the Message, in New Lebanon, NY, as well as communities in Philadelphia, PA, and Boston, MA.
In 1988, he was asked by Pir Vilayat to start a new organization which would teach meditation to business professionals. In response Bair co-founded the Institute for Applied Meditation, with his wife Susanna Bair (the two wed in 1991). Puran Bair has four children, all from previous marriages.
In Living from the Heart Puran Bair introduces Heart Rhythm Meditation
(HRM); the method is based on meditation techniques gleaned from Sufi
, Hebrew, and Christian sources.
Puran Bair has worked with Dr. Herbert Benson
and other researchers to document the physiological changes that occur during the different stages of meditation, including metabolism, heart rhythm, brain waves, light emission and electromagnetism.
Meditation
Meditation is any form of a family of practices in which practitioners train their minds or self-induce a mode of consciousness to realize some benefit....
teacher, mystic
Mysticism
Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
, and author of Living from the Heart and co-author (with Susanna Bair) of Energize Your Heart in 4 Dimensions. He was born in Greensburg, PA, in 1944. Bair holds an MS
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
degree in Computer Science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
from the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
. His professional career has focused on computer science research, environmental energy, financial services, and teaching meditation. He was involved in two ultimately unsuccessful start-up firms, one in windpower (in which he holds a patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
), and a second venture which worked on high-speed composting (in which he has a patent pending).
Bair studied meditation with Sufi teacher Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan
Vilayat Inayat Khan
Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, was the eldest son of Sufi Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan, head of the Sufi Order International. Pir Zia Inayat Khan is Pir Vilayat's son and successor as Pir of the Sufi Order International...
, son and successor of Hazrat Inayat Khan
Inayat Khan
Inayat Khan was an exemplar of Universal Sufism and founder of the "Sufi Order in the West" in 1914 . Later, in 1923, the Sufi Order of the London period was dissolved into a new organization formed under Swiss law and called the "International Sufi Movement"...
. Pir Vilayat certified Puran Bair as a master teacher, or murshid
Murshid
Murshid is Arabic for "guide" or "teacher". Particularly in Sufism it refers to a Sufi teacher. The term is used by other branches of Islam as well, e.g. by the Nizaris, the main school of Ismā‘īlī Shiites....
.
Puran Bair was active in the Sufi Order International, helping to establish a number of spiritual communities, including the Abode of the Message, in New Lebanon, NY, as well as communities in Philadelphia, PA, and Boston, MA.
In 1988, he was asked by Pir Vilayat to start a new organization which would teach meditation to business professionals. In response Bair co-founded the Institute for Applied Meditation, with his wife Susanna Bair (the two wed in 1991). Puran Bair has four children, all from previous marriages.
In Living from the Heart Puran Bair introduces Heart Rhythm Meditation
Heart Rhythm Meditation
Heart Rhythm Meditation is an ancient method of meditation that has been expanded and developed by Puran Bair and Susanna Bair of the Institute for Applied Meditation...
(HRM); the method is based on meditation techniques gleaned from Sufi
Universal Sufism
Universal Sufism is a universalist spiritual movement founded by Hazrat Inayat Khan while traveling throughout the West between 1910 and 1926, based on unity of all people and religions and the presence of spiritual guidance in all people, places and things. It is to some extent influenced by the ...
, Hebrew, and Christian sources.
Puran Bair has worked with Dr. Herbert Benson
Herbert Benson
Herbert Benson, M.D. , is an American cardiologist and founder of the Mind/Body Medical Institute at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He graduated from Wesleyan University and Harvard Medical School....
and other researchers to document the physiological changes that occur during the different stages of meditation, including metabolism, heart rhythm, brain waves, light emission and electromagnetism.