Online Reference For Body, Mind & Spirit

Term: Pierre Bernard

DEFINITION:
(Neé Peter Coon or Perry Baker, 1875–1955) Using the name “Oom the Omnipotent,” Bernard introduced hatha yoga and Tantric sexuality to the US during the early 1900s. He formed the Tantrik Order in America using the name “Shastri,” opened the New York Sanskrit College, taught hatha yoga, produced one issue of a journal, and was popular among the elite of the East Coast including two of the Vanderbilts. He purchased the Nyack, New Jersey estate of Joseph Hilton and built the Clarkstown Country Club. The library there drew scholars from great distances.