John Kiddie, fondly known as “JK,” came to Sunburst in inimitable JK style: unhurried, enthusiastic, and curious. His story is remarkably similar to those of many Sunburst residents, although of course the details differ. JK recalls having an awakening experience in the late 60s after reading a book on yoga by Richard Hittleman. As John put it, “a whole new awareness opened up in me that was the beginning of my spiritual quest.” He also recalls that “yoga changed and awakened [him]” as well, at a time when the practice was very new to the West.
A seeker comes home
A man outstanding in his field.
At that time, John had been studying and enjoying Transcendental Meditation with a friend for a year or so, and enjoyed the mellow, peaceful, tuned-in feeling he got from it. At a point in his life when he was free from major financial and relationship responsibilities, JK remembers this period as a time of quiet exploration. Living with his brother in a $75.-a-month apartment in southern California, JK surfed, read, and meditated, sometimes spending weeks at a time on beaches where the waves were favorable. Despite living far to the south, John frequented Jalama Beach near Lompoc because he felt great energy and enjoyed the wild environment there, not realizing that he was near the birthplace of his future spiritual teacher.
In the early 70s, JK began to notice that while he was still enjoying meditation, there seemed to be something missing. The urge to grow spiritually flared up in him again and he began “seeking and looking” anew. One day a friend mentioned a place above Santa Barbara on Gibraltar Road called Sunburst, where people lived in community and meditated together. Intrigued, John went up the coast to see about “this place in the mountains.”
It all makes sense
Upon reaching Sunburst, JK experienced “instant remembrance and kinship” with the people he encountered there. “It suddenly all made sense,” he recalls with his big trademark grin. “I was supposed to be here. I’d found my home and my path.” John remembers being initiated into the Kriya Yoga path in the fall of 1971, remarking, “It felt like we were all bees being drawn back to the hive, like there was a hand that guided us to [Sunburst]. It felt so right to be part of this lineage, learning from this line of masters.”
When JK arrived on the scene, Sunburst had just acquired Lemuria Ranch (formerly Ogilvy Ranch), where he says “we all worked toward becoming self-sufficient on the land.” At the start of 1972, JK and a friend wanted to start a small beekeeping operation, so they were put in charge of building the boxes and getting the business running. He later worked as a truck driver and mechanic, helping the community with transporting products to and from its growing natural food stores, restaurant, and other enterprises.
John’s work at Sunburst as a twenty-something eventually led him into a full-time career as a farmer and steward of the land. He is currently manager of Nojoqui Farms, an organic farm just north of Sunburst that provides fruit and vegetables for the New Frontiers Natural Foods chain and other buyers, supervising a group of local pickers and growers with his special blend of good humor and calmness.
Sunburst teachings center and ground
As a young man barely out of his teens, JK remembers that the first members of the Sunburst community were all about his age, had high spiritual aspirations and open minds, and massive amounts of energy. The founder, Norman Paulsen, was faced with the challenge of organizing and instilling discipline into all those beautiful young people to inspire spiritual growth and bring focus and forward movement to the community.
To that end, Norm asked his young charges to practice chastity (unless they were married), to refrain from using alcohol, tobacco, or drugs, and to meditate as a group for an hour every morning before work and another hour every night before bed. In those days, as another Sunburst resident has recounted, someone would blow a giant conch shell to call everyone to meditation. John also began to appreciate, as his experience within Sunburst deepened, that the many different types of people in the community were all held together by their common pursuit of the spiritual goal of self-realization.
Norm taught his flock the Kriya meditation technique that he had been practicing since his days with Yogananda, and JK remains grateful for the discipline of those formative years. “The Kriya has given me a daily practice that brings me into my center,” he says, and “has imbued [my life] with a certain depth and understanding.” As an Aries, who are known for being great initiators but who sometimes need a boost with follow-through, John especially appreciates the discipline he developed through his meditation practice during his youth. Now in his 60s, he finds that the Kriya has blossomed in him to become the anchor of his everyday life, rather than something he practices just at certain times. “My daily life is my practice, and my practice is my life,” he explains, adding, “My work is to dedicate all my actions to Spirit.”
The future of Sunburst is now
John and his trusty truck at a creek crossing
An energetic, playful, and yet soothingly grounded man, John is a staunch proponent of permaculture, self-sufficiency, and “living lightly on the land.” He works to be an example of existing in harmony with the environment, and is deeply grateful to be living and working in a place that promotes and encourages that mission. Although he admits to wanting things to move and evolve more quickly than they sometimes do and wishes he had “a golden wand” to make real the group’s long-term vision for the community and its land, JK remembers that Norm used to tell him, “God’s time is different from our time. The big wheel’s in motion, so let’s take the long view.”
John is unabashedly passionate about several things: his wife, Letha; his love of the land upon which Sunburst sits; and surfing. He also practices Hapkido and yoga, loves to visit Hawaii and family in Long Beach, still holds occasional pilgrimages to his “soul spot” at nearby Jalama Beach, helps Letha build and maintain their spectacular vegetable and flower gardens, plays with his two grandkids in Bend, Oregon, and enjoys using his photographic skills to document Sunburst community life. His boundless energy and kindness help to make Sunburst the wonderful place it is. We’re all so grateful to have JK in our lives!
Photo credits: Kara Block at OmImagery
As I meditated on Sunday morning with the folks who had participated in our September 16-18 Kriya II Yoga event, I felt a beautiful energy filling the room. The warmth, support, and love that had blossomed that weekend as we shared our insights and experiences made our meditation area even more powerfully charged than usual.
Singing after meditation, with Val leading the way
It was wonderful to be part of the classes and workshops that were offered during the retreat, including “Developing a Deep Meditation Practice,” “Awakening the Gateways of the Spine,” “The Baptism of Fire and the Divine Embryo,” and “Cultivating Devotion.” People asked some really good questions that led to a lot of illuminating discussion and further exploration that I found inspiring and helpful for my own practice.
Of course, the highlight of the event was the introduction of the Kriya II technique, which builds on the strong foundation of Kriya I and takes it even further. As taught by Sunburst founder Norman Paulsen, direct disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda, this second step on the “airplane route to God” is truly a powerful tool that can bring about deep transformation of our relationship with the Divine within the temple of our soul.
As sometimes happens, there were moments of quiet tears and laughter from a few participants as they experienced periods of heart opening and self-realization. One of the things I love best about Sunburst is that you can have such experiences here and feel completely supported and safe.
I look forward to the next Kriya retreat in December. I remember when I first came to Sunburst last summer, my friend Barbara said that although she’s been here since the early 70s, she still continues to learn, grow, and be inspired by these events. I see why now! Thanks to everyone who came to Kriya II. Please come back soon and tell us how it’s going for you!
In July 2011, we had some guests at Sunburst who did something extraordinary: these people, whom I assume have daily lives as busy and full as mine, had set aside two full weeks to live with us and experience up close and personal what it’s like to live in an intentional community.
These eight men and women could have gone camping in Yosemite, or flown to Tahiti, or done any number of other things that regular folks do with their summer vacations, but instead they chose to come to Sunburst and find out what we’re doing here. I felt so honored by that, as I know other Sunburst residents did—that people would choose to spend their free time learning what we do here, studying the teachings we live by, and immersing themselves in this place we all love so much.
Sometimes our guests think Sunburst might be a kind of utopia or escape from the “real world,” but they quickly learn that living in community is actually a commitment to living on the front line of human experience. Everyone here has their own ego and pet peeves, their particular shortcomings and challenges. We have disagreements. We’re just regular people. The difference is that we’re dedicated to minimizing and resolving any conflicts using the tools our founder Norman Paulsen taught Sunburst’s original residents and which we still practice today: Kriya Yoga, the 12 Virtues, and the Eight-Fold Path.
A lovingly created new corner of the Lodge garden
When I met some of our Service Exchange Program guests soon after their stay started, it was while they were working with Heiko cleaning up the gardens and landscaping around the Lodge. It was a fairly warm day, and I could tell that some of them weren’t used to working outside or doing physical labor. But there they were, talking and laughing, some on their knees weeding, some with a wheelbarrow and rake, others with shovels. Heiko never misses a chance to put people to work, so I knew they were going to have a full work-trade experience! I was very impressed with their willingness to try new things and really get into Sunburst’s daily life.
At lunch a couple of days later, I joined the group outside on the lawn and found that the bonds among these people had strengthened perceptibly. I saw a lot of smiles, hugs, laughter, and kidding around, and also some tears occasionally as people allowed long-stowed emotions and tension to surface and dissipate in the atmosphere of love and support that Sunburst is known for. Since Jim and I came here, that’s something we see all the time, and we’ve experienced it ourselves. There’s a very healing energy here—from the land, the people, and Norm’s presence still vibrating strongly all around us—that gently encourages people to let down their guard and allow love to enter and open their hearts. It’s beautiful to see, and I felt so grateful to be even a small part of the process that was causing a beneficial shift in our guests’ well-being.
During the Kriya Yoga retreat that came on the last weekend of the Service Exchange Program, I realized as I looked around the meditation circle one afternoon just how close these men and women, these guests who were now part of Sunburst’s extended family, had become. They had taken on the comfortable demeanor of brothers and sisters, and seemed to be so completely themselves. Most were much more relaxed than when they had arrived, and many radiated a palpable new strength of spirit and purpose as they approached the end of their stay at Sunburst.
I know that many of these dear new friends will return one day, and some will stay with us as we continue the human adventure that is Sunburst. It was a privilege to participate in and witness the process through which these people transformed themselves into fuller, deeper expressions of the Divine Spirit that lives within each one of us.
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Sidenotes
One of our guests, Carey, had been with us for some time on his own before joining the formal Service Exchange Program with the other participants. He quickly became a beloved member of the community. Carey could often be found sitting quietly in the shade of the cottonwoods outside the Lodge as he worked on his art and listened to sweet music on his radio.
Groundskeeper Heiko surveys his team's work
Carey recently had this to say about his experience at Sunburst:
“Meditation on the Divine, living surrounded by nature,
eating healthy food, working to improve a spiritual sanctuary, having free time, reflecting on ways of conscious living,
& celebrating with song…
What could be better?
Doing it with wonderful people!”
Another participant, an energetic and outgoing life coach named Kim, wrote about her stay:
“I felt so blessed by the opportunity to participate in the Sunburst Service Exchange Program. The environment was like another member of our group: so beautiful, fully present, and bursting with life. I felt immediate connections to many individuals and to the Rainbow Path curriculum. Working with the land brought me great appreciation for those who had come before. Daily meditation with instruction created the change I had always envisioned for myself. A surprise bonus was the incredibly tasty and plentiful vegetarian cuisine—simply delicious. Thank you! I look forward to a lasting relationship with Sunburst, and all its residents and friends. Sunburst has written on the slate of my being!”
We’re grateful to be traveling the path of self-realization with such people.
It’s not easy catching up with Heiko Wirtz for an interview. One of the busiest and most in-demand people at Sunburst, Heiko is the Guy Who Does Everything. Have a broken water pipe? Call Heiko. Your horse just ran away? Call Heiko. The Internet is down? Call Heiko. Need some hay baled by next Tuesday? You get the picture.
Heiko Wirtz
I remember when I first came to Sunburst about a year ago, and got to work with Heiko on installing some sprinklers in the gardens around the Lodge. Over the course of those first days, I was amazed at how much work this man gets done and how many requests for help he fields in an average day. I asked him, “Is there anything you don’t do around here?” His response? “Um, nope.” And he handles it all with good humor and a sense of ease.
So I was pleased when I finally got Heiko to sit down in my living room (in the chair he loaned us) for a talk. Like everything he does, though, Heiko dedicated himself fully to the task at hand and gave me tons of information—about Sunburst history, about his life here, and about his vision for the future of this community.
Heiko came to Sunburst from Germany with his mom and his older brother Claas in 1982 as a nine year old. Sibylle had had a spiritual awakening a few years prior, causing huge life changes that led her to move herself and her boys to Sunburst. But unbeknownst to her and at about the same time as his mother, Heiko had received a message while on a visit to a Catholic chapel. He recalls, “I felt immense energy come over me [and suddenly realized] that I wanted to give my life to God.”
Not knowing any English on his arrival in the United States, Heiko nevertheless made friends quickly with the other children who lived at Sunburst. Among the adults, he felt particularly drawn to Norman Paulsen, the founder of Sunburst, and slowly came to regard him as a father figure and mentor. He would watch Norm lift weights and they often did outdoor work together on the property.
As Heiko and his friends grew into young adults, many of the kids he had grown up with began to leave the community, which at that point was located in Salt Lake City, Utah and Oasis, Nevada. Disturbed and saddened by the thought that Sunburst might be weakened or not even survive this trend, Heiko asked Norm what he could do to help. Norm asked if Heiko would be interested in working on the restoration of the Star Pilot, an old double-masted schooner that Norm (a passionate sailor) had recently reacquired. He eagerly accepted.
So in 1992, Heiko and Ross Gordon, another Sunburst resident, traveled to the ship’s home port at the time in Gloucester, Massachusetts and prepared her for the long voyage back to California. After the ship’s arrival in May 1993 in San Diego, they began the arduous task of refurbishing the craft as they lived aboard it. Heiko remembers, “Norm called every morning and asked ‘What are your plans?,’” knowing that the recent high school grad had a tendency to sleep in. Rousted from his bed early on a daily basis, Heiko gradually developed a routine and the discipline it took to help restore the schooner. As engineering assistant, he refurbished the entire engine and also served as the purser, doing the bookkeeping and distributing pay.
- Heiko Wirtz creating new garden beds
Meanwhile, Norm had found a property to call home on California’s Central Coast, near his birthplace. Once the Star Pilot had been moved to San Diego Harbor in 1993, Norm would occasionally go down to stay with Heiko and Ross to check on their progress and help out. It was during these visits that Heiko formed a close bond with Norm.
In November 1993, while on a visit to the farm where Norm lived, Nojoqui Farms(pronounced “NAH-ho-ee”), Heiko went for a horseback ride with Norm’s wife Patty in the rolling hills above the farm. Heiko and Patty gazed out over the valley arrayed before them, the spectacular Las Cruces Ranch. Inspired by the land’s beauty and energy, he told Patty, “Wouldn’t it be great to live on a ranch like this someday?” It took some time for that dream to come true, but three years later, property in that direction became available for Sunburst.
Heiko and the crew finished renovating the Star Pilot in 1997, and the community sold it to finance the construction of a magnificent lodge on the new ranch property. The log structure now welcomes guests and residents alike, providing a wonderful gathering place for meditation and family meals. After moving back to Nojoqui Farms when the ship was sold, Heiko was instrumental in landscaping the new grounds and helping Norm tend the ranch’s small new cattle herd.
When asked what Sunburst means to him, Heiko’s very clear that through his energy, dedication, love, and service, he wants to give Sunburst continuing strength and relevance, and to provide a modern take on what it looks like to live in community. Heiko believes that Sunburst has “moved into a higher gear” now, after a period of inward searching and growth, as it actively seeks new experiences and more interaction with our surrounding communities.
As a member of Sunburst, his spiritual goals are the ones Norm instilled in Heiko as a child and young man: to meet God “face to face” through meditation, stewardship of the land, service to others, and practice of the Twelve Virtues as outlined in the Sunburst teachings. He understands and appreciates the world religions through these teachings, seeing the seeds of truth that are common to all of them, while finding that a direct experience of the divine is possible through the practice of Kriya Yoga as taught by Norm and Norm’s teacher, Paramahansa Yogananda.
Daily life for Heiko usually begins with meditation at 6:30 AM with other Sunburst residents, and then around 9 AM he begins his work as groundskeeper and a member of the ranch’s maintenance team. His wide-ranging duties include corral construction and other fencing projects, creating and maintaining the beautiful landscaping around the Lodge, caring for the 200-head cow and calf operation and seven ranch horses, and generally supporting the 2,000-acre ranch’s infrastructure.
Although he’s often pretty tired by the end of the day after working on the ranch, Heiko sometimes catches a second wind to enjoy our nearby beaches with friends. Another favorite pastime is sailing out to the Channel Islands. Heiko is a dedicated martial artist, studying Hapkido with another Sunburst resident, Dan Posney. His spinning-down sweep kick is inspiring.
A man with a great sense of humor who’s terrific with adults and kids alike, Heiko’s known around Sunburst as the Pied Piper. His energy, caring nature, and open heart leave a lasting impression on all our guests, and he’s a wonderful brother to all the people who live here as well.
Photo credits: Kara Block at OmImagery
by Amanda
Saturday, July 9 finally came after a weeklong heat wave that toasted everything in sight. At last, it was time for Kids Unplugged, our much anticipated summer event for families, and here was some nice, cool fog!
During the treasure hunt
I was so excited as I got my son Cisco and his best friend Anthony ready to go down to the ranch to meet our guests, and yet I also felt very calm and focused. This combination of feelings was completely foreign to me! I’m often both excited and anxious, but my butterflies were fluttering off somewhere else that morning as the boys and I drove down the driveway to the Lodge.
Kara speaking about her Red-Tailed hawk, "Sunshine"
Since that spectacular day, when my dream of a beautiful family day at Sunburst came true, I’ve wondered about the source of that strange and wonderful feeling of one-pointed calm. Was it purely the product of months of meetings, note-taking, list-making, and delegating? I’ve always been a good preparer and planner. I mean, I have lists of my lists! (Does anyone else do that?)
Kids Unplugged exceeded even my high expectations. It was one of the high points of my life, and when I look back someday I know it will be one of the things I’m most proud of. What I’ve come to understand since Kids Unplugged unfolded is that Spirit was strongly involved that day. Whatever you want to call it—flow, Love, guardian angels, God, Source—something was there with us that day that caused everything to happen just right. Yes, our preparations were important, and I see now that this energy was also there during our meetings and our work as individuals on the different parts of the day.
Sunburst is an incredible place. I’ve never had the privilege of working with such tuned-in people—people who know how to channel divine love and broadcast it out again to the world in such a potent and yet gentle way.
The success of Kids Unplugged, I’m convinced, stemmed from the love that lives here at Sunburst and everywhere that Spirit is welcomed and cultivated. When we can do our work and then step aside and let Source run the whole she-bang, that’s when miracles happen. That’s where the magic is.
