Sponsor a 3HO LUMINARY

Helping to bring a Luminary to Winter Solstice doesn't just give them a free pass. Our Luminary program helps them to develop skills and connections that support their service missions, re-inspire their work, and deepens their tools for change.

While we are still creating our Winter Solstice program, here's what our Luminaries did at Summer Solstice.

Tour of Yogi Bhajan's Ranch
Many of the Luminaries later reported that it was very special for them to be able to see the ranch and connect with Yogi Bhajan.

IKYTA Teachers' Conference - Prem Tent
A morning of group practice, courageous conversation, authentic connection and inspiration with IKYTA teachers from around the world. There was a special feature on the Luminaries, including yoga taught by selected Luminaries.

Peace Prayer Day - Tantric Shelter
Luminaries were honored on stage during the afternoon program

Honored Guest Brunch at Yogi Bhajan's Estate
A special brunch to honor the Peace Prayer Day guest speaker, Fania Davis, along with the Luminaries, sponsors, and key members of the community.

Lights of the World: An Evening with the Luminaries - Tantric Shelter
An evening in celebration of the diversity of our Luminaries from around the world, including music, story sharing, and more. This summer, our Luminary from Haiti, Kiret Nam, led chanting in Haitian Creole and the Luminaries came onstage to sing with her.

Youth Mentorship Program - Northern New Mexico Community College
An opportunity for the Luminaries to share stories and inspiration with some of the teen mentors from our local Española Valley. This took the form of a conversation between the Luminaries and the youth and organizers from Moving Arts Espanola, which is run by Roger Montoya, who was recently named a CNN hero for his work there.

The Luminaries shared their personal stories of the work they do and the Moving Arts people shared very moving healing stories about issues with addiction, violence, and trauma in the local community. Everyone agreed that we would like to create some stronger connections and collaborations between these communities in the future.

Day in Santa Fe
An opportunity to explore the local scene!
All the remaining Luminaries got a day of touring around Santa Fe, seeing the art, eating the food, enjoying themselves. It was a great bonding time for the Luminaries and a great opportunity to just have some fun after the whirlwind that is Solstice.

Kirtan at Yogi Bhajan's Ranch
Joining in with the Española Sangat and Summer Solstice attendees for a beautiful evening of chanting and food under the New Mexico sky.

Our 2019 Summer Luminaries came from Greece, Argentina, Thailand, Germany, the USA, Brazil, Vietnam, Spain, Haiti, Chile, and Egypt!

Meet some of the extraordinary people from our growing list of Luminaries your contribution will touch:

Banesa Tseki is one of the founders of Kundalini Africa Rising, which promotes social justice as a spiritual practice. Every week, she teaches children at Ekhaya park in Hillbrow, one of the most dangerous inner city areas in South Africa made famous for its gun raids, drugs and criminals. She also teaches with Street Light Kids, which aims to give underprivileged children the same right to access world class education. She helped launch Open Kundalini Yoga classes in areas such as the inner cities in Soweto and Alex townships, Lesotho and Mozambique to enable specific communities of color to gain access to Kundalini Yoga and its benefits.

Djuma Manirakiza is an exile from Burundi now living in a refugee camp in Kigali who teaches Kundalini Yoga to refugee children in camps in Rwanda and schools in Kenya.

Akarat Sivaphongthongchai teaches Kundalini Yoga to autistic and special needs children as well as female prisoners in Thailand. He is also a volunteer for the National KY Thailand Group and helps to organize Kundalini Yoga festivals in Thailand.

Conny Brammen (Meherpal Kaur) founded a volunteer association that brings Kundalini Yoga into state institutions in Germany, sharing Kundalini Yoga with people in distress such as those with eating disorders, psychiatric disorders, people in prison, and recovering sex-workers.

Jeffrey Donald (Dharm Atma Singh) has trained 207 teachers in Virginia in Kundalini Yoga and meditation for use in classrooms. This summer he will train an additional 200 teachers in 35 school districts on Kundalini techniques for students.

Guru Updesh Kaur from Chile hosts a langar group that cooks and serves 900 portions of vegetarian food three times a week to the homeless and disabled. She teaches yoga and meditation as a seva to the elderly, and has adopted abandoned children.

Oinak Singh was raised in an orphanage for destitute children in Rishikesh, India. Exposed to Kundalini Yoga from yoga teachers visiting the children's home, he now pays it forward by bringing Kundalini Yoga and meditation to "ragpickers,"children in the slums who pick through trash heaps looking for salvage.

Atma Jodha Singh from Texas is a volunteer chaplain in the TX State Prison system and shares Kundalini Yoga with male prisoners. He also shares Kundalini Yoga with people recovering from strokes and brain tumors, having survived his own brain tumor a few years ago.

Shango Johnson teaches yoga to children pre-K to high school in Chicago, Illinois, where he helps kids learn to cope with their problems through meditation. He works as a male mentor coordinator with I Grow Chicago Peace House, a community gathering and healing resource space. He also patrols the Chicago area for Cease Fire, a public health anti-violence program.

Martine Brisson (Kiret Nam Kaur) is the only Kundalini Yoga teacher in Haiti. She organizes a festival that shares Kundalini Yoga in the streets and public parks of Port-au-Prince.

Zutu-ocloo Kofi keeps the teachings of Kundalini Yoga alive in Accra, Ghana. He also helps African-American youth on trips to Ghana to rediscover their African heritage and develop a daily sadhana.

Marina Maia (Sunderta Kaur) is developing a donation-built community center in an underserved area of Brazil for impoverished children and adults to learn the tools of Kundalini Yoga. She is the founder of Yoga e Negritude, which seeks to raise the profile of Black yoga students and teachers in Brazil.

Chamois Anderson is a Kundalini Yogi in Laramie, Wyoming working for Defenders of Wildlife, a non-profit that focuses on threatened and endangered species. She works to restore wild bison to tribal and public lands, and to bring back the endangered black-footed ferret by building up prairie dogs to sustain their populations on recovery sites across the Great Plains. She also works with Native American tribes all across the Great Plains on reservations.

Maria Martinez Feduchi (Sarandeep Kaur) serves the Spanish Association of Kundalini Yoga (AEKY) tirelessly, organizing up to 4 annual meetings for the community and sharing Kundalini Yoga at fairs across Spain. She is a founding member of an organization that promotes the welfare of women and children.

Help us honor these extraordinary lights in the global 3HO family. Bring them to Summer Solstice with your donation. Help us make their dream a reality and support us in helping even more Luminaries join the 50th Anniversary celebrations. The more funds we raise, the more Luminaries we can bring. Help our list of Luminaries grow through your donation today!