Welcome to the Light on Light Family of Magazines!
We’d like you to know about our Editorial and Production Team
HOST EDITOR, KARUNA
Karuna is well known throughout the world of Yoga and as a hostess and conference facilitator. She joins us as a part of the global interspiritual work for over a decade. We like to think she “sets the table” for us here at Light on Light, and thus her title.
She a devoted mother, teacher, actress, radio host and magazine editor.
She brings her own
unique light of compassion, enthusiasm and pure joy to international yoga
and as a producer of inspired heartfelt sacred events including yoga,
music and dance. As Host Editor of Light
on Light Magazine, and on the Host Team of The Convergence series on VoiceAmerica, her message reaches out to
thousands. 2020 will see the appearance of her forthcoming book and yoga &
lifestyle manuals.
Based in Boulder, CO at www.lightonkundalini.com Karuna pioneered bringing level one, two, and three certified KRI
Teacher Training programs to the region and offers daily classes at Rally Sport
Health & Fitness Club in Boulder along with online classes, including
individual and group sessions. Certified in Children’s yoga and prenatal yoga,
she teaches yoga to all ages including children, teenagers and prenatal moms. She
leads retreats in Costa Rica and Yoga Festivals in Europe and has hosted many
workshops with Master Teachers including GuruGanesha “Conscious
Selling,” Mata Mandir “Mantra,” Snatam Kaur and GuruGanesha
“Voice,” and loves to offer the community in-depth opportunities for
studying with the Masters. She has been ordained as a “Wisdom Keeper” in both
Kundalini Yoga and Lakota Native American healing modalities.
True to her spiritual
name, which means “compassion,” Karuna likens herself
to a coach, helping her students push beyond self-imposed limits. Her
classes are filled with humor, music and the spirit of transformation.
Between international events, Karuna hosts Yoga-inspired retreats near
Boulder at Hacienda de Guru Ram Das.
MANAGING EDITOR, SHANNON WINTERS
Rev. Shannon Winter M.S., joins us from the interspiritual community as an ordained Interfaith Minister and with a professional background in scientific and medical publishing. She has been one of the key visioners of the Light on Light family of magazines, working closely with her husband David, Light on Light’s Graphics and Layout Editor.
Shannon honors the interconnected truths of all paths and faiths and is dedicated to the discovery and deepening of inner spirituality, the awakening of consciousness, cultivating of spiritual practices, unfolding of possibility and inspiration, and trusting fully in the Divine wisdom of our hearts. She is founder of Inner Light Spiritual Center in Hillsborough, New Jersey, where she teaches classes on interfaith, interspirituality, and the wisdom tradition pathways. Shannon also holds regular heart-centered Interspiritual Conversation Cafes and is author of the forthcoming spiritual memoir, The Gospel of Wisdom.
Originally from California, Shannon graduated with a BS degree in Science from Portland State University in Oregon, and an MS degree in Biomedical Writing from the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Shannon is also ordained as an interfaith minister in 2018 through One Spirit Interfaith Seminary in NYC and is an active affiliated minister performing ceremonies and rituals around the world. Together with her husband, they founded Sunnyside Gifts in 2015. Sunnyside is a “mom and pop” gift shop filled with inspiration and good vibes, including a wide range of metaphysical and spiritual practice gifts.
She resides in Hillsborough, New Jersey, with her family and joyful menagerie of rescued dogs and cats. For more, visit Shannon’s website at www.revshanmarie.com.
CONTRIBUTONS EDITOR, KURT JOHNSON
Kurt Johnson Ph.D., is known worldwide as one of the founders of the “Interspiritual Movement”. In 2002 he founded Interspiritual Dialogue with Br. Wayne Teasdale, who named “Interspirituality” in his now classic book The Mystic Heart: Discovering a Universal Spirituality in the World’s Religions (see “About Light on Light”). In the last decade his work he has emphasized media. He is Host of the VoiceAmerica Series, The Convergence, available online here.
the international audio voice of our Light on Light Programs. He brings to Light on Light his network of global contacts and colleagues across science and spirituality.
Kurt has worked in professional science and comparative religion over 40 years. A prominent figure on international committees, particularly at the United Nations, he is author of the influential book The Coming Interspiritual Age (2013) and two award-winning books in science: Nabokov’s Blues (2000) and Fine Lines (2015) (Brian Boyd Prize in scholarly writing, 2019). He is the author of dozens of articles on spirituality and activism in numerous periodicals.
Kurt has served on the faculty of New York’s One Spirit Interfaith Seminary for 12 years and, for 25 years was associated there with the American Museum of Natural History. He is host for UNITY EARTH’s Convergence radio series at VoiceAmerica, a series featuring global change-makers, and an editor of two Interspiritual Network and UNITY EARTH magazines: The Convergence and Light on Light. Kurt is ordained, or certified, in five religious traditions.
Kurt has a PhD in Evolution and Ecology and is author of over 200 scientific articles and seven books, along with further articles at Kosmos Journal, The Contemplative Journal, Evolution Institute, Integral Life with Ken Wilber and peace studies with Philip Hellmich of the SHIFT Network.
Kurt, a former monastic, is a member or founder of The Evolutionary Leaders, The Association of Transformational Leaders, the international Contemplative Alliance, the Gaiafield and Subtle Activism Networks, the Self Care to Earth Care network, the UN NGO Committee on Spirituality, Values and Global Concerns, the NGO Forum 21 Institute, and the UN Committee for International Yoga Day, and is President of the Friends of the Institute of Noetic Sciences.
Kurt is host or co-host of a number of websites, including www.unity.earth, www.interspirituaity.com, www.isdna.org, www.thecominginterspiritualage.com, www.communityofthemysticheart.org, www.selfcaretoearthcare.com, www.gaiafleid.net, and www.nationalserviceaeu.org, reflecting the variety and scope of his work.
GRAPHICS AND LAYOUT EDITOR, DAVID WINTERS
David comes to Light on Light with both expertise and passion in the publications arena, specializing in graphics and layout.
BOOK REVIEW EDITOR, SWAMI SHRADDHANANDA
Swami Shraddhananda (aka Dr. Sonya Jones) has made unique contributions to interspirtuality along with her significant leadership role among the Vedic Traditions and Yoga and joins Light on Light as its book review editor. For numerous years she and Dr. Kurt Johnson were part of shepherding The Community of The Mystic Heart, a important incipient organization within the growing interspiritual movement at the turn of the millennium. During that time she hosted interspiritual retreats and through her publishing imprint Sacred Feet Publishers, published the important book Mature Interspirituality: Wayne Teasdale’s Nine Elements—and Beyond.
She continues her work through Sacred Feet Ashram and the Sacred Feet Publishing imprint. Slate Branch Ashram is, foremost, a meditation retreat. Guests from all over the United States as well as Canada and the United Kingdom have attended retreats at the ashram where Swami returned upon taking early retirement as a full professor from Allegheny College.
The Teachings of Sacred Feet Yoga are offered at retreats conducted by Sw. Shraddhananda and the Sacred Feet Yoga Acharyas, or in private sessions. People of all spiritual traditions, or none, are welcomed. Interested persons should contact Sw. Shraddhananda at sfyoga@jefifoundation.org, Acharya Sandra Chamatkara Simon in Pittsburgh, PA at sandrajsimon@hotmail.com, or Acharya Sw. Prakashananda in the United Kingdom at swprakashji@gmail.com.
The Sacred Feet Publishing Imprint was founded in 2014 for purposes of releasing at least one title yearly in the field of Interspiritual Studies.