MAESTRO MANUEL RUFINO

Maestro Manuel Rufino was born in Quisqueya, known by the Tainos (an original tribe of the Caribbean) as “mother of all lands”. Today, Quisqueya is called the Dominican Republic, which is the name given by the Spanish.

He was born on May 4, 1958 under the May Full Moon of the Wesak, called by the Buddhist tradition, the “Buddha Full Moon” and “Flower Moon” by the native people. He was born in a humble home but with great spiritual riches. Since he was little, he leaned towards the arts and with a great concern towards medicine because his mother was a nurse and most of his uncles and aunts leaned towards healing.  

 Maestro Manuel studied art in high school at the Luchhetti School of Arts and at the School of Fine Arts in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He did his college studies at the Arts Students League of New York. Maestro Manuel has participated in many arts exhibitions and was also a member of the circle of poets in New York City.

At the age of 13, Maestro Manuel moved with his parents and siblings to San Juan, Puerto Rico. At the age of 14, he began his study of Shorinji Kempo, a Japanese martial arts. At the age of 17, he began his study with Shaolin Kung Fu martial arts. 

At the age of 17, for the first time, he entered the cultural center of the UGB Solar Line in Puerto Rico where he began his career in the study of Initiatic schools. There, he studied yoga, natural medicine, astrology, sacred sciences and comparative religions. At this time, he met the Grand Guru, Maestro José Manuel Estrada, who introduced him to the Initiatic schools. He also met his teacher, Maestro Domingo Dias Porta, who has guided him through the indigenous traditions of Amerikua since 1976.

At the age of 18, Maestro Manuel Rufino began his training as a vegetarian chef. He went on to work in some of the most popular vegetarian restaurants and health food stores in New York, California, Mexico and Puerto Rico. There he shared recipes, nutritional information and how to heal through diet. He also studied natural medicine under the guidance of Bernard Jensen.

Maestro Manuel Rufino has traveled through all the continents of the world carrying the message of peace and unity to help reestablish the original harmony and the postulates of the New Era. He is currently in the 5th degree in the Mayan Sovereign Solar Order of Chichaan Itzaab (S.O.S.X.I) and has been recognized as an elder in many traditions. However, Maestro Manuel prefers not to claim titles and to be a simple human being at the service of the world and all its inhabitants on land, air, water and fire.

Maestro Manuel Rufino has established communities and cultural centers in Europe, North, Central and South America to share the postulates of unity and the American Indian Tradition. He has taught yoga and meditation for over 42 years throughout the world.

Maestro Manuel is the founder of the Heart & Mind Festival, which attracts some of the most influential leaders in the spiritual, scientific, artistic, diplomatic and philosophical spheres of our time. Maestro Manuel is also the founder of Golden Drum, a cultural center in Brooklyn and the Sacred Arts Research Foundation, a 501(c)(3) whose mission is to provide support for the sacred arts.

 He is the World Director of the Movement of American Indian Solar Culture, a 501(c)(3) dedicated to serving the community by focusing on sharing Amerikua Wisdom, founded by his teacher, Maestro Domingo Dias Porta. He is the founder of the Jungle Café, a vegetarian restaurant in Brooklyn, NY and the visionary behind the Blue Wolf in Canada, Golden Beehive community in London, England and the White Eagle’s Nest in Warsaw.