Gurmukh, 70, is the founder of the Golden Bridge Yoga. With centers in Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and New York City, Golden Bridge is the premier center for the study and practice of Kundalini Yoga and Meditation as taught by Yogi Bhajan. Since being baptized 43 years ago with the spiritual name meaning “one who helps people across the world ocean,” Gurmukh has dedicated her life to fulfilling her namesake. As the world’s leading Kundalini Yoga teacher, she and her husband Gurushabd travel worldwide, bringing this vast Technology and Teacher Training Programs to students globally in the U.S.A., Mexico, Europe, Russia, India, and South Africa. She is as well the creator and pioneer of The Khalsa Way Prenatal and Postnatal Teacher Training Program, now in its 30th year. Her daughter Wahe Guru Kaur, 29, works alongside her parents in fulfilling this Mission.
Spiritual head of the Himalayan Institute, Pandit Tigunait is the successor of Swami Rama of the Himalayas. Lecturing and teaching worldwide for more than a quarter of a century, he is the author of fourteen books, including his autobiography Touched by Fire: The Ongoing Journey of a Spiritual Seeker, the best-selling At the Eleventh Hour: The Biography of Swami Rama of the Himalayas and a regular contributor to Yoga International magazine.
The White Lotus Foundation is a 501c3, nonsectarian spiritual Foundation dedicated to the development of the total human being. Donations to the Foundation are tax-deductible. Our mountain retreat center over looks the city of Santa Barbara, the Pacific Ocean and Channel Islands. We are situated in a steep canyon on forty acres in the San Marcos Pass. Through the bottom of the canyon flows the year ’round San Jose creek. This land was once sacred to the Chumash Indians who called it Taklushmon which means the gathering place. The teachings of Yoga have traditionally been shared in powerful and natural settings. Living in close communion with the Earth, in the energies of nature, opens us to the beauty and sacredness of life. Here clarity, meditation and understanding flow spontaneously. We have an ideal and very special location with pure air, spring water, beautiful sandstone swimming holes, hiking trails and plenty of secluded places for silent reflection. We have indoor accommodations and Yurts, as well as campsites under the bay trees, near the waterfall or on plateaus overlooking the ocean
The beautiful Varanasi, India is the holiest of Hindu’s sacred cities. The oldest inhabited city in the world lies beside the sacred River Ganges, nestled between the River Asi, to the south and the River Varuna, to the north. The flourishing city of Varanasi is rich in history and ceremonious traditions. The riverfront plays host to Ghats, which are stone stairways leading to the river; eighty-four of them, in fact. Each of the Ghats is significant in its own way and many travelers take part in freeing themselves from sin by bathing in the sacred river.
The history and sacred traditions of Varanasi are said to date back as far as 5,000 years. The area is lavished with a variety of religious beliefs; each encompassing their rituals and structures. Buddhism is marked by the Dhamek Stupa shrine, where it is said that the first sermon of Gautama Buddha was given. The followers of the Jain faith claim this area for worship and pilgrimage. Islamic sites are present in the area and date back as far as 1033 CE when the area was invaded and ruled by Muslims. In vast significance, the Hindu temples are effervescent in the area; after several periods of destruction by the Muslims, Varanasi rebuilt the temples, boasting its independence since the 18th century.