First Holistic Retreat
Durga's Tiger Land: 19. – 26. November 2022
Come together!
Durga's Tiger Land; a 42 hectare world of hills, a stream with small waterfalls, cacao, willows, fruits, balsa trees, birds and wildlife, on the banks of the Rio Verde. A community in its pioneer phase.
Welcome to our first holistic retreat where we bring our community experience into the world in a larger framework: people from all over the world, all ages, all social classes. Where we share experiential knowledge that my partner David and I have been testing for many years- community building techniques from tantra, yoga, shamanism, and art, along with cooking, eating, drinking, and celebrating together. We will create performances from music, dance, and theater together with neighbors. We will invite our guests to think about structures such as sociocracy, social permaculture, or dragon dreaming, or about the place of money, about equality, about love and sexuality, through lectures and discussions. We are inspired by the research of Graeber and Eisenstein. They existed not so long ago - societies where there was no need for judges or police or money. Where "having more" did not mean elevating myself above others and forcing them to work. Inspiring also communities like ZEGG "Center for Experimental Society Design" or "Siebenlinden", which have existed for about 30 years and do not need "bosses". We know the challenge of working day after day, with all our being, for a new culture. Yes, we are aware that we carry the western culture within us, and we keep thinking and acting in old structures.
But celebrating together increases the energy, so these borders can simply fall.
Yes, let’s inaugurate together the new community and workshop hall made with wood and bamboo from the land. And our new Maloca to honor the spirit of yage. COME TOGETHER. Welcome on Durga’s Tiger Land
The Land and its Vision
First the Rio Verde -a living river that rises and falls, crystal clear gentle or muddy reddish brown wild. Huge banana leaves glow in the evening sun, and hummingbirds buzz in the flowering mango tree. Our neighbors are cattle ranchers or plant cacao, they love horses, the land they farm. A healer lives next door, and children, children's children and other relatives live in the huts all around - their own little village. The feeling of being in Africa comes up - the Afroecuadorian population predominates here. Further up the river live the Chachis, traditional indigenous people. On the nearby Pacific coast live many of the light-skinned mestizos.
Under the terrace roof of our simple wooden hut, we hear laughter and singing. On the fire roasts fish, speared by Javier in the river, and one of our chickens. The sound of cartoons from the cell phone - two children, 3 and 6 years old, sit and watch. The mom from Colombia is helping to build our permaculture garden. The dad is a beekeeper from Ecuador. Both neighbors, they intentionally live a simple life - they moved here after university and a life in the city. Their wooden house stands under the huge saman tree at the top of the hill. Two volunteers from Spain play the guitar - everyone knows the old Latino hits, singing along: "Besa me, besame muuuucho..." Maria Alexandra comes from Puerto Rico and like Renata from Kachastan and Leena from the USA, she completed her yoga teacher training at Durga's Tiger School. Renata is part of the Durga's Tiger Land team, and commutes between Switzerland (where she has built a healing center with others) and Ecuador. Pedrito, Luis and Leidys are refugees from Venezuela, they work with us and we built them a small wooden house across the river. Luis and Pedrito are farmers and illiterate. Javier, born in the river valley, who coordinates the work and advises us, is 22 years old. After graduating from high school, he worked in the city and returned. He is an all-rounder: he can build his own canoe and wooden house from trees, he can plant, knows a lot about cattle, horses and mules, about chickens and hunting. He is a proud free man: "I come from this valley, and here I want to live". He needs little money - he spends it mostly on fancy clothes and the smartphone.
Everyone talks to everyone, we laugh a lot, dance, enjoy the food and Sunday afternoon.
We come from different cultures, social classes. We are from 3 to 66 years old. We are curious, open-minded. And cooking, eating and celebrating together creates a feeling of togetherness beyond all definitions and boundaries.
We perceive: There it is a moment of reality, the vision for Durga's Tiger Land. We want to become a cell for an ancient new culture, where we explore and bring to the world the dignity, joy and freedom of being human - in community through lived life. Where children no longer have to function, but are allowed to grow.