Festivals have for a long time dedicated music, art and workshops to promote learning and individual growth. They have even brought in inspirational speakers to nourish our souls with alternative knowledge in efforts to feed that hunger for change that we seem to all share. The unfortunate sadness of a lot of those efforts is they tend to fade with memory when we try to apply the lessons we emerge with to our world in a meaningful way. But what if we could choose a skill to take away from the experience? And not hula hooping or basket weaving, but something that if applied can put purpose in our routines and truly make a difference. In other words, what if instead of sliding back into our lives after a festival we could keep moving forward together as a community?

We can. Or at least, this was the thinking behind NuMundo.

By channeling the same creative energy and compassion for community toward the places in the world that need it most, a volunteer can maximize the impact of their contribution. Many even get the chance to change real lives. To take it a step further, NuMundo provides a robust directory of volunteer opportunities as a sort of choose your own adventure for those who wish to help. With hands-on, real world training some opt to provide earthquake relief in Nepal. Some choose to study permaculture with indigenous farmers in the Peruvian Amazon while others go to clean up beaches in Thailand so that they can get receive authentic yoga instruction in the evening.

But the experiences don’t all have to be all in remote locations. Near Santa Barbara there are opportunities to get involved with East End Eden in Ojai and or with the Emerald Village near San Francisco, among several others.

If we take festival culture as an evolutionary springboard for human consciousness its seems proper that one would need a place to land safely for that transformation to be considered a success. In many other places in the world, the perception of Americans is frequently unfavorable, but with programs and resources like those offered by NuMundo we can be a part of the work that changes that view – by changing the culture from the inside out. That’s why, the Lucidity team is very pleased to partner with the folks at NuMundo. We have a lot of work to do to save our planet and eachother and it’s friends like these that encourage us to reach deep down to uncover the best parts of ourselves, so that we can share them with the world.

To support NuMundo, you can volunteer your time at any of the enriching opportunities on their website or you can contribute to the current IndieGoGo campaign. Donors that contribute $550 or more can choose any one of the Lucid University 3-day intensives to deepen their knowledge of any of our 5 key disciplines before the festival. By supporting NuMundo we can address a fundamental human need that is all too often ignored. That we long to know eachother, at least in part because we’ve seen that there are so many exciting things to experience in and learn about the world. But also because we’ve discovered that it’s only through the knowledge of others that we truly ever come to know ourselves.