Join us for an afternoon and evening of music, dance, and community, as part of the Second Renaissance Festival.

👉 RSVP here: https://luma.com/qv3pn15j (Free to attend)

More info

• Live music & visiting artists

• Performance art with Sylvie Barbier & friends

• Five Rhythms dance session

• Auberge Espagnole (Potluck) – bring a dish to share; or contribute for food provided

• Children welcome – play spaces available

✨ The Second Renaissance Festival explores the vision of a wiser, more mindful world, deeply inspired by the Plum Village tradition amongst others. This gathering is a chance to connect, celebrate, and experience art and mindfulness together.

Practicalities

• Cost: Free entry – donations for performers welcome.

• Where: Life Itself Farmhouse, 132 Chemin de Boismartin, Thenac, 24240

• RSVP here (one-click) so we have a sense of numbers: https://luma.com/qv3pn15j

🌿 Fête de la Seconde Renaissance

Sam 6 sept · 16h–21h · Thenac · Musique, danse, performance artistique, potluck, enfants bienvenus. Gratuit (dons bienvenus). ✨

👉 RSVP: https://luma.com/qv3pn15j

🌿 Fête de la Seconde Renaissance

Samedi 6 septembre · 16h–21h · Ferme Life Itself (103 Chemin de Boismartin, Thenac)

Rejoignez-nous pour un après-midi et une soirée de musique, de danse et de communauté, dans le cadre du Festival de la Seconde Renaissance.

https://festival.lifeitself.org/

. Entrée libre.

RSVP ici : https://luma.com/qv3pn15j

Plus d'informations

• Musique live & artistes invités

• Performance artistique avec Sylvie Barbier & amis

• Séance de danse des Cinq Rythmes

• Auberge Espagnole (Potluck) – apportez un plat à partager ; ou contribuez pour la nourriture fournie

• Enfants bienvenus – espaces de jeux disponibles

✨ Le Festival de la Seconde Renaissance explore la vision d'un monde plus sage et plus conscient, profondément inspiré par la tradition de Plum Village, parmi d'autres chemins de pratique. Ce rassemblement est une occasion de se connecter, de célébrer et de vivre l'art et la pleine conscience ensemble.

Aspects pratiques

• Entrée gratuite – les dons pour les artistes sont les bienvenus.

RSVP ici (un clic) pour que nous ayons une idée du nombre de participants : https://luma.com/qv3pn15j

What does it mean to live well, together? How can our ways of being transform the world? Join us for the third Autumn Praxis Residency at the Life Itself Bergerac Hub: a 2.5-month-long container for contemplative, relational, and embodied practice in community. You’ll live together with others who are asking questions like these in their lives and work, and experience the frame of collective rhythms and practices for conscious community living which has been developed at the Hub over the past 5 years. Stay for just an orientation week, 1 month, or the full length of the residency.

Key information

What: A 2.5-month residency for living together in a conscious community and working on your own projects, supported by a frame of collective rhythms and practices. The first week of each month will be an Orientation Week for forming our collective body and introducing the foundational practices and structures of the community. Stay for just an orientation week, 1 month, or the full length of the residency.

Where: Life Itself Hub, Bergerac, France (~1.5h by train or car from Bordeaux)

When: 6 October to 15 December 2025

Orientation Week dates:

• October: 6 - 11 October (Arrival from 3 October)

• November: 3 - 8 November (Arrival from 2 November)

• December: 1 - 7 December (Arrival from 30 November)

N.B. It is only possible to enter the residency at the beginning of one of the Orientation Weeks.

Cost: €1100 to €1300 per month, including a private room and all food & amenities (3 organic, plant-based meals per day). More details on cost below.

Application process: Application form, followed by a 20-minute call with a member of the team. Places will be filled on a rolling basis, so please apply as soon as possible. Registrations close on 30th August 2025.

Apply now

Opportunity: Life Itself Practicum

If you’re interested in joining the Autumn Praxis Residency, you may also be interested in applying for the Life Itself Practicum: an opportunity to live at the Hub, participate in the residency, contribute to ongoing work at Life Itself, and explore whether this kind of life and collaboration is right for you.

Room, board, and participation fee for the duration of the residency is covered in exchange for roughly 20 hours per week of work on Life Itself projects and initiatives.

If you apply for the Practicum, you do not need to apply separately for the Autumn Praxis Residency. For more information about the Practicum, please read the post below. For questions, contact: jobs@lifeitself.org.

Life Itself

Apply Now: 3-month Practicum at Life Itself Bergerac

We’re looking for people who may one day work with us – or in the broader field of inner-led change. To that end, we offer a three-month Practicum at our Life Itself Hub in southwest France. Participants receive full room and board and, in exchange, contribute approximately 20 hours per week to Life Itself’s ongoing projects and initiatives…

Read more

10 months ago · Catherine Tran and Rufus Pollock

The Residency in More Detail…

In Praxis Residencies, we immerse ourselves in a Praxis Ecology that reshapes us. Bringing mindfulness to the ways in which we relate to ourselves, each other, and the wider world – we open to possibilities of transformation.

By sitting, cooking, eating, resting, laughing, playing, and interacting together—while still honouring our needs for private time and work—we begin to feel differently and become more capable of responding to both our own challenges and those of the world.

The nourishment of food – although often overlooked in theories of change for inner-led systems transformation – is a core ingredient of the Praxis Residency. The Awami Food Praxis system, developed by Valérie Duvauchelle from decades of learning in Zen temples, is a subtle activation of transformation from the inside out. This food system aims at the magic balance between ethics, ecology, and finance to be fully coherent with our desire to change our current culture.

During the Praxis Residency, you take the time to explore a question or work on a specific project which you will share with others. Like the classic artists’ residency, the Praxis Residencies are made for contemplative activists to reflect on and craft their contribution to the world. Being surrounded by people who share the same care for the world and open-mindedness will nourish and inspire you on the journey.

This year, to support greater grounding, depth, and growth as a community, all residents will join at the start of an Orientation Week, and stays of one full month or more are strongly encouraged.

Read more about the Praxis Residency ethos and design in Praxis Ecology: A theory of change for conscious communities, or watch the short video filmed at last year’s Autumn Praxis residency below.

Who is it for?

We’re looking for people who are…

• Actively exploring and practising inner-led systems change, e.g. working on related professional or own interest projects; engaged in regular contemplative or creative practices.*

• Seeking to translate visionary ideas into humble actions, e.g. interested in how the way we cook and clean together may be a transformative practice

• Willing to pitch in and actively co-create the residency, e.g. by proposing and facilitating sessions for the community; sharing ideas, inspirations, and reflections with each other; showing up with care for each other and the physical space

• Interested in learning systems and tools for community living, especially for food democracy and food security in conscious communities

*The project or inquiry you wish to explore during the residency will be considered in the registration process (it does not need to be big or grand).

Programme

• A 5-day Orientation Week (how to embody a Praxis design in conscious communities)

  • Meet and connect with your fellow residents

  • Deepen the question or project you will explore

  • Sit together with others in silence

  • Practise the rhythms and principles of the Praxis Ecology

  • Learn the Awami Praxis food system to cook for community

• A collective frame which supports the rest of our time together, including shared practices and shared meals

• A question to explore (individual purpose)

• A presentation of your exploration

  

Daily Schedule

The schedule on weekdays is:

• 7:30-8:30am: Morning practice (sitting meditation & movement practice)

• 8:30-9am: Breakfast buffet

• 9-10 am: Collective care (cooking, cleaning, gardening)

• 10am-1 pm: Personal time

• 1-2pm: Buffet lunch and dishes

• 2-6:30pm: Personal time

• 6:30-7:30pm: Table dinner and dishes

• 8-9pm: Evening sessions (e.g. connection activities, relational practices, collective inquiries etc., as offered by residents)

N.B. This schedule is indicative and may be adjusted.

On weekends, there is no schedule and residents self-organise meals. Residents often use this time to discover nearby places of interest such as Plum Village, the Zen Buddhist monastery, prehistoric caves, or local markets.

There is a whole community sharing circle one evening a week where we tend to the emotional heartbeat of our community, and one community meeting per week to tend to practicalities, reflect on what’s working or not working, and grow as a collective organism.

Cost

Accommodation in a private room and all food (organic and plant-based) is included. It is also necessary to take out a Praxis Association membership, if you do not currently have one (from €10 for 1 year).

Standard room: €1100/month

• Standard private room: €590

• Food & amenities: €360 (€12/day)

• Participation fee: €150 (contributes towards the time of the hosting and organising team)

Premium room (private bathroom): €1300/month

• Premium room with private bathroom*: €790

• Food & amenities: €360 (€12/day)

• Participation fee: €150 (contributes towards the time of the hosting and organising team)

*N.B. For one of the Premium rooms, the private bathroom is not directly ensuite, and for another, the private bathroom has a bath and sink only (no toilet).

Orientation week only (6 nights): €492

• Shared room (with one other person): €270/person

• Food & amenities: €72 (€12/day)

• Participation fee: €150 (contributes towards the time of the hosting and organising team)

N.B. If staying for only the Orientation Week, the only accommodation option is in a shared room.

2 weeks (December only)

• Standard room: €295

• Premium room: €395

• Food & amenities: €12/day

• Participation fee: €150

Contact

For any questions, please write to us at praxis@lifeitself.org. We’ll be delighted to chat.

FAQs

How long can I stay for? Can I leave partway through a month?

The standard residency period is 1 month. We strongly encourage this to allow us time to form, grow, and deepen as a community.

You are also very welcome to stay for more than one month. Please note that room and participation fees are paid on a monthly basis, including if you wish to leave partway through a month.

There are a few places available to come for an Orientation Week only, and as the residency ends in mid-December you can come for a 2-week period starting with the December Orientation Week.

I am Valerie Duvauchelle, the designer of the AWAMI Praxis food design that we used at the Life itself Bregerac Hub and I am thrilled to share with you our food principles. This food system aims at the magic balance between ethics, ecology and finance to fully be coherent with our desire to change our current culture.

The food guardian is also called at the hub the Tenzo and is part of a stewardship which includes the house care. In the Zen tradition, the Tenzo embodies the role of the community food spirit and the space where meals are prepared. Its function is to create a nurturing kitchen environment, sharing a design to support and inspire cooks, and fostering togetherness among all participants and more.

Our culinary approach is guided by three foundational principles:

• Caring for all life: Mindfully considering the well-being of plants, animals, and humans within our food system.

• Honoring humans: Supporting local organic producers and celebrating their stories to create an authentic food experience.

• Sobering all energy: Minimizing waste and reflecting on our personal needs to protect our lives and the world, with a focus on finance, ethics, and ecology.

Throughout week days , we invite you to immerse yourself in a flexitarian sober experience that nourishes both body and soul. During the week we only cook plant-based culinary meals enabling you to explore new flavors and embrace a satisfying satiety with the aim to question our needs. During weekends we can appreciate cheese, fish or meat that we buy ONLY at the market from local producers . This approach allows us to reconnect with a sense of celebration while being aware of the cost for those sentient animals and deeply honoring their sacrifice.

We understand that individual dietary requirements may vary, based on specific physical or emotional needs, and that's perfectly fine. To help organize, we have an additional fridge exclusively designated for storing personal food, which may include dairy, fish, cheese, or meat. We insist that these items don’t come from any supermarket except biocoop, to avoid a maximum of suffering ; this is our only requirement. During the week, the collective fridge does not contain any sentient products, with the exception of butter, which we include in our breakfasts (sourced from grass-fed cows). Again, this should be honored as those cows give their veals to the meat industry for us to be able to eat this butter.

More generally, we are mindful even for plant based products of avoiding the purchase of industrial products that deplete aquifers by extracting excessive water, degrade land through monoculture practices such as palm oil production, and contribute to social injustice and chose to buy at our local market or biocoop to support as much as we can a regenerative system via organic producers. This needs to be fully accepted as a mindful way of consuming sentient beings when we do.

Our cooking time is based on a rolling system where everybody will have the opportunity to experience the privilege to nourish the community ( head chef) supported by the tenzo or others as a shared knowledge. When training residencies happen we can have a head chef that stays in this role for the duration of the residency.

Our hub menus are centered around three key elements: unseasoned cereals, a variety of beans (including tofu or soy proteins), and a refreshing raw salad. We can have dessert served with dinner, and cookies are offered during lunch every other day. We use a diverse range of grains, such as buckwheat, spelt, bulgur, and millet, along with ingredients like soy sauce, tamari, tofu, and seeds. Soy is incorporated in various forms. Desserts are thoughtfully prepared without white sugar, with a focus on promoting overall well-being. Breakfast is a self-serve experience, offering oatmeal, plant-based milk, coffee, teas, and ethically sourced cow's butter. Lunches are buffet-style, allowing you the freedom to choose to eat collectively, with one specific person or by yourself , and dinners are seated, creating a more intimate and shared atmosphere where we take the time to be grateful for our food. The cereal is typically unseasoned, and garlic or onions are not mixed in when raw. This approach directly related to the zen tradition which protects the “silent” taste, allows us to embrace a different sense of nourishment derived from the natural taste of ingredients rather than relying on heavy spices. This principle may vary among chefs to allow for freedom and variety in our meals.

During the week (monday to friday), we request drug and alcohol not be consumed in the hub.

More to come in Awami Design food system for Coco soon

( photo copyright Jess Griesnner)

Designed and written by valerie Duvauchelle

Supported by science perspective from Liuba Tupikina and Marc Santolini

The Praxis ecology is dedicated to supporting conscious community living projects within a Deliberately Developmental physical space and spirit. From this foundation, various designs can emerge, allowing each community or group to create its own framework.

This approach is rooted in the simple act of living together as a theory of change in itself. However, additional developmental purposes can be integrated on top of it.

• Overview

• Conscious community ethos

• the principles

• Community of practices framework

• 5 minimum viable practices

• The collective practice of interbeing

• The collective practice food care

• The collective practice of house care

• The collective practice energetic body care

• The collective practice of relational care

appendix

Overview

Intentional communities have evolved significantly since the 1960s, when the hippie movement was most influential. Today, several new movements seek to create lifestyles that break away from traditional norms.

These modern movements share a common quest: to offer viable and sustainable alternatives to conventional lifestyles, often seen as unsustainable and alienating.

The other longstanding model is that of religious communities, which have persisted for hundreds of years. Their purpose seems different but they both aim for a different way of living on earth, as a human being.

These two models can be differentiated as follows:

• Intentional Communities: Groups of people living together based on shared, often secular values and goals, focusing on sustainability, self-sufficiency, or resource-sharing. Sovereignty is a core principle in these communities.

• Religious Communities: Groups living together to practice a shared faith, following a lifestyle dictated by religious principles, often with hierarchical structures and strict rules. Collective engagement is a core principle in these communities.

Both models have their strengths and weaknesses, with potential for oppressive excesses either from hierarchical power or from a lack of structure. The research at the Praxis Hub seeks to find the right balance between individual freedom and structured collective engagement to create more resilient secular communities.

This is the emerging model of conscious communities or DDS spaces, which can be seen as a hybrid between co-living intentional communities and monastic religious communities.

What is a secular monastery - DDS space ?

As a concept distinct from Poiësis (producing something) or Théoria (contemplation), Praxis is fundamentally rooted in action.Buddhist scholar Stephen Batchelor also employs this term in his book Secular Buddhism, framing Buddhism as a praxis rather than a religion.

Directly inspired by Zen technology and the living organization of Zen temples, the praxis ecology is inherently connected to the transformative process—not by seeking it, but simply by expressing it. The practice itself is collective awakening, where the aim is not to achieve something new but to manifest what we already carry within, when living in the right container.The premise is that with the right structure and direction ( rather than goal) , a different sense of self naturally emerges. From this perspective, there is nothing to attain—only the full experience of body and mind in the ordinary rhythm of life.

The Praxis residencies developed at the Life Itself Bergerac Hub have explored how to structure this process in a way that reawakens our sense of being human and the wisdom that arises with it. The general vision is how to go from a self development culture to a collective wisdom culture though simply by living together in a way that regenerates our deep joy.

The art of this Praxis lies in striking the right balance between self-deconstruction and sovereignty, enabling individuals to transform collectively while preserving their personal agency.

This design is the result of three years of exploration, aimed at identifying the minimal conditions necessary to activate collective energy while maintaining private space.

A conscious community ethos

In the hub, we have people of different ages, many of whom are digital nomads living and working on their own. Some stay in co-living spaces, but without a structured collective framework. Maintaining a healthy life—let alone emotional well-being—requires significant effort in such conditions.

Scientific studies show that minimal social interaction makes it harder to experience joy. As Joanna Macy eloquently explains in her books and workshops, we are systemic beings, much like the living cells in our bodies. On a societal level, prolonged isolation prevents us from fully connecting to the “we” space, which is essential for both individual and collective adaptability.

This lack of connection ultimately reduces the ecosystem’s capacity to evolve, with joy and emotional safety being integral parts of this adaptive process—both within ourselves and in relation to the world around us. While community is not the only path to reconnecting with our natural ability to adapt (workshops, retreats, and other experiences can also play a role), living together in a conscious community allows for a deeper integration of new ways of being in the world.

How to collectively transform ? this is the question

We are all conditioned by a perception of reality that we know to be inaccurate—the belief in separation—yet we find ourselves unable to act on this knowledge. As a society, we may be collectively paralyzed, unable to respond to the urgent need for radical transformation that the world demands in order for us to adapt adequately.

Through intuition, collective sensing, or ancient wisdom, we know that within communities, we can experience a different sense of Self—one that allows us to live more resiliently. However, in today's society, spaces where we can be authentic and integrate the complexity of the world while living in a regenerative and enthusiastic way are rare.

In these uncertain times, perhaps we can remember our relational nature and act in harmony with the accelerating changes that are beyond our control. We can align with ancient wisdom that recognizes the power of community, as well as with scientific progress that has uncovered the profound systemic effects of community on the emotional and physiological well-being of individuals.

Along the way, we must be mindful that reconnecting with this memory may confront us with the reality of our separatist conditioning—dissonant with our desire for greater cooperation. This conditioning manifests as fearing others, harboring systematic mistrust, internalizing patriarchal dynamics, and more.

We must learn to bear witness to our paradoxes and resistance as an evolutionary process.

This is the experience we are exploring during mid term residencies at the Life Itself Praxis Bergerac Hub. The joy and the pain of being human together though a praxis ecology.

The ontological aspect of living in a physical space

The execution of one's practices becomes ingrained in a specific location, and the way individuals inhabit spaces constructs the dynamic body of the collective . At the Praxis Hub, we are interested in assessing the impact of the environment on personal and collective well-being, exploring how the "incorporation" of a living space contributes to the sense of trust we aim to foster in spaces of collective metamorphosis.

This approach to designing practices rooted in physicality is closely linked to the way Buddhist monasteries have always been structured. A monastery functions as a living body, with monks as its cells. The way these cells move influences the entire organism, sustaining both its visible and invisible equilibrium.

The movement between activities distributed in various rooms and the motions prompted by different activities allow us to visualize the possibilities of interaction in a place that weaves a complex emotional architecture based on classical architecture.

As an example, here is the distribution of the inhabited space during the residencies based on different daily activities, categorized along four parameters: interiority, exteriority, individual, and collective, presented in two axes.

Drawing (mobility in space )

In this drawing we can see the distribution of various types of activities in different subspaces allows for a maximum of encounters. (Liu Bauer, Marc Santolini)

The Praxis Hub, a space for remembering what is to be human

Time gives rhythm to the shared space of our hub, and it is through this collective movement—oscillating between private and communal time—that we reconnect with a true sense of identity and begin to think differently. This space can be seen as one of deep adaptation, a metamorphic environment where we hybridize together, attuning ourselves to the world.

Praxis residencies provide a space where each individual awakens their essence within the community through collective practices. Here, we explore the fluidity of our being and recognize that identity is inherently shaped by the relationships that flow through us. We seek to understand how openness to others—embraced within a community rather than confined to the isolated structure of the family unit—continuously reshapes us. Everything we encounter redefines us in an ongoing process.

This is a space where the joy of collective action and responsiveness finds its place in a constant state of evolution. We cannot become who we are in isolation; we need contact and interaction. This is what the Praxis ecology framework provides.

Illustration of the concept of interbeing (Liu Bauer)

At the Life itself Hub each residency follows a Praxis ecology framework to meet the needs of the community while maximizing the connections that harness the productive energy of the collective body.

We have several residencies format usually held by 3 roles : host ( relational guardian or facilitator) , steward ( house guardian) and tenzo ( food guardian) working together as a team . Team adapts which design suits best to their format within the Praxis ecology frame and ethics.

Here are the benefits of a conscious community setting that we have observed at the Life itself Hub through various Praxis residency formats:

• Truly meeting people

• Becoming part of the ecosystem

• Connecting to a space

• Feeling deep time

• Developing a different sense of self

• Learning to find peace in discomfort

• Addressing difficult conversations

• Experiencing the joy of togetherness

• Finding inspiration

• Concentrating better on work

The principles

The Praxis ecology that sustains any conscious community is rooted in a fundamental question: How do we shift from a culture of self-development to a culture of collective wisdom?

Collective engagement designs appear to be a key element of this transition.

But integrating sustainable care practices is not easy. Many of these ordinary activities—such as sitting, cooking, cleaning, or relating—are not recognized as essential to our lives or as vital to collective wisdom. We often view them as obligations, or worse, as moral duties, rather than as opportunities for growth and a way to truly be present in the world. The goal of Praxis conscious community as a DDS is to practice our lives together through shared principles and rules that reintegrate the spiritual with the material.

Representation of people’s trajectories within the communal space, with group synchronization points highlighted spanning the spectrum of contemplative (inward) and discursive (outward) practices.

(Drawing by Liu Bauer)

Here are the basic principles behind the Praxis ecology :

• Long time:

If we want to break free from the dogma of linear time and create a different space for action, we must find a way to experience time differently.

Many transformative proposals are often conducted intensively and over a maximum of one week. Whether it's silent retreats, yoga, or Nonviolent Communication workshops, While highly efficient, these short periods of collective experience can reinforce the illusion that these practices are detached from our everyday lives and rely on a separate space. Furthermore, the impact of these experiences may not resonate deeply or produce transformative effects at the collective level in ordinary life. These moments serve as inspiring and energizing times of strong collective activation but could also perpetuate the illusion that we have found a solution without fully grasping the underlying complexity.

Moreover, it often fails to integrate the core activity of everyday life—food organization—which is usually left out of the conversation.

Staying together in a framework of collective practices, ranging from two weeks to several months, allows for an arc that mirrors the theory U, with a peak at the beginning, a descent, tensions, and a resolution. This resolution typically arises from a profound realization of identity, enabling transformation. It is an experience of a different time, simultaneously accelerated and denser.

“There are different temporalities which are not measured by homogenous clock time ” Bayo Akomolafe.

• Engagement:

Generally speaking, engagement is the core element of Praxis ecology. It calls upon something that our cultural paradigm no longer values as much: a minimum level of discipline to follow a structure.

In the Praxis ecology , there is a shared structure with established rules—ones we do not individually negotiate, intentionally. However, with rules comes the challenge of reactivity, as they can sometimes be perceived as authoritarian.

The essential principle underlying the structure of this ecology is that cultivating both collective engagement and sovereignty is necessary to experience a new way of living together. We believe that true collective transformation is not possible without embracing the discomfort of changing habits—particularly the habit of freely choosing one's schedule or activities based purely on personal inclination.

At the same time, we acknowledge the deep attachment to personal freedom. Thus, it is essential to find the right balance between common rules and individual autonomy. This is why reflecting on structure is fundamental to group harmony: it must be fixed enough to generate positive transformation yet flexible enough to integrate and adapt to certain personal needs, however conditioned they may be.

The unexpected gift of commitment is that it allows us to move beyond our conditioned resistance to the collective, opening us to a way of relating to others that transcends individualism.

This engagement clarifies the mind through movement, fostering an organic sense of adaptation—a way of being with whatever arises. It also nurtures a natural capacity to hold space for and navigate reactivity when challenges emerge.

• Humility:

Knowing that our separatist conditioning forces us to confront our limitations and reactivity toward community, we must embrace these challenges as essential to our collective evolution. In other words, we need to acknowledge our reality, shaped by post-modernism, while allowing ourselves to dream of metamodernism.

During residencies, we don’t choose when to eat or when to clean. There is flexibility, but we agree to do things together at certain times. This structure may seem infantilizing, but it is a subtle strategy to deconstruct our habitual ways of interacting with the world ( let alone pragmatic reasons). By temporarily setting aside our personal will, we can experience the freedom of simply following the collective rhythm and focusing on one task at a time.

In doing so, we cultivate tolerance—for ourselves and others—when our aspirations don’t always align with reality. We recognize our reactivities as simply part of the process, approaching it with humility.

Mostly we develop a disposition to do things we trust without always understanding them , being agree or incline to do them, not knowing where it will leave us.

"For now, live the questions. Perhaps, one day far away, you will enter, little by little, without having noticed it, inside the answer.”Rainer Maria Rilke

• Faith

In most religious traditions the relationship between master and disciple is fundamental as a maieutic technology ( birthing each other) to experience knowledge. At the Life itself Bergerac Hub there are no masters and no religion here, but we are aware that without this space, we risk falling into the illusion of our own convictions. The attachment to changing things for the better can, in fact, reproduce the same dualistic paradigm.

The experience here is about connecting to the liminal space that manifests and echoes the "we space," which can activate and inform our collective wisdom. To achieve this, we must believe that the relationship of complete trust to a master, as found in a religious community, can be replaced by the secular community container that activates this liminal space. This requires trust in the Praxis ecology itself as a form of deconstruction—realizing the possibility of a different kind of action that arises from conscious community, rather than from well-intended actions driven by urgency, measurement, and visibility.

It is the exploration of another belief: that by relaxing together in the trouble, we activate intuition, collective wisdom, and generate powerful, enthusiastic action that truly matters. The "master" emerges not as an individual authority, but as a collective wisdom drawn from the Praxis ecology and the rhythm of the community.

However eldership in the space is important . Not as an authority but as an invisible vertebra that also supports the groups.

• Beingwithness

Everything is practice, and everything can be a refuge. Every practice becomes a space to release the pressure of the personal self, an opportunity to unplug from “our mission”—a breath of fresh air where we focus solely on what is before us in community. Free from the pressure to be better or more spiritual, and beyond mere efficiency, these daily practices allow us to explore our relationships with ourselves, others, and everything we encounter, fully present in the moment.

It’s about creating space for integrity in life and embodying interbeing within the right effort. We believe that, in this way, we can rediscover the unified common sense of the ‘good life’ cherished by philosophers—a life lived with the awareness that each moment is unique and informs us of what we need to align with the world around us.

Engagement, humility , faith and beingwithness within long time are not separated in this Praxis.

Consious community framework

At the Life Itself Hub, we aim to bring together social practices that blend the abstract spiritual practices with the more psychological practices of relational dynamics. This concept aligns with the "ecology of practices" developed by Isabelle Stengers in her book Inventing an Ecology of Practices, and further expanded by John Vervaeke. In this framework, no practice is more important than another; each one contributes to the balance of the whole ecosystem, which in turn activates adaptive harmony.

We can summarize the conscious community practices around five material and immaterial axes in constant interaction. These include:

1. The collective care of interbeing (dynamic contemplative porosity through practices such as sitting or other contemplative activities)

2. The collective care for food (activating the "in-between" space and cooking)

3. The collective care for the house (engaging in cleaning or gardening in a connected, mindful way)

4. The collective practice for relations (cultivating relational beingness)

5. The collective intention to cultivate a healthy body (yoga, Osho meditations, Qi Gong, etc.)

Together, these form what we call the MVP: the minimum viable practices. These are the practices we believe are essential for helping groups shift from a culture of self-development to one of collective wisdom.

Sense making of collective practices as a transformative process :

• The movement : Collective practices in community embodies our relational being through dynamic practices.

• The relaxation : The transformative aspect of these daily practices does not require more concentration but simply less distraction. It is the practice of “mindfulness without mind”. Through presence, we create the space to meet "what is". We relax into action while remaining alert

• Beyond morality :Collective practices such as cleaning or cooking are often seen as good action tasks, a service to the community. Of course, this state of mind is welcome, but it cannot be resilient because it is limited by moral reference. There is no limit to good deeds except to do more and more until one becomes a slave to one's own best intentions. This mindset could explain why burnout is common in communities.

Another way to perceive collective practices:

The primary reason for engaging in collective practices, in terms of ontological transformation, goes beyond their practical effectiveness in tasks like cooking and cleaning. These practices immerse us in interrelationships. For a certain period, everything we encounter is in motion—everything becomes alive, awakens, and the space itself takes shape, including ourselves.

Another crucial aspect of these pragmatic practices is that our relationships are woven through the roles each person takes on within the system for the day (rotating roles system). This is not a space for differentiation or challenge but rather for the dynamic rest of our personal identities.

By combining efficiency and mindfulness, we can reclaim the systemic power of collective movement in our daily lives.

The 5 MVP

The general framework of Praxis ecology is based on a spiritual materialism, understood in the original sense of the term. It is a materialism that sees nature ('organic') as the primary factor, with the spirit (in this case, the mind) as the secondary factor—a spirituality that places being at the forefront and thinking in the background.

This is a praxis of trans-individuation, a transcendental, pragmatic reality that moves beyond the individual to embrace a collective, evolving process of transformation.

• The practice of just sitting ( dynamic trans- self) :

Just sitting, just walking, or any practice that allows the space to be crossed by the world—cultivating openness to all that is external and integrating it into our body: hearing, seeing, tasting, smelling, and letting ourselves be transformed by it. To be in a state of porosity, fully engaging in our life as we receive it.

On a cushion or a chair or laying down, it is the commitment to openness, the curiosity to receive, and the opportunity to appreciate the hybridization—the constant co-emergence of the living within us. It is simply living in total openness, every moment of our life.

It is to wake up to our life at each moment

There are, of course, several methods (and non-methods) for sitting or walking, and the point is not to choose one that is superior to another, but to highlight the space that unfolds—one of relaxed presence, of an involuntary adjustment to the lived moment, in constant awakening and co-emergence.

There is no other goal than to live in this space of absorption, receptivity, and porosity, in the activity of contemplation itself. We do not add any injunctions; on the contrary, we free ourselves from them while engaging dynamically and enthusiastically. In this way, we experience, without realizing it, another space—the space of an inclusive self.

During the Life Itself Bergerac Hub residencies, we contemplate "what is" every morning. However, depending on the hosts, different methods are proposed. This practice of contemplation is both disarmingly simple and, at the same time, extremely complicated because, in our voluntaristic lives, we have lost the disposition to simply let ourselves be.

Carried along by our thoughts, it is often our head that drives our body—mentally and physically. In this performative paradigm, we’ve all been tempted by the perfection of a spiritual methodology or posture. We’ve all tried to be good students by imposing the same dictates on our bodies that we receive from our culture, the same "I must, I should." But after a while, the body always reminds us of the illusion of this arrogance: peace cannot be found in a contrite body.

So, the space we seek to cultivate here is one of freedom. We do not decide on the posture but seek to enter into cooperation, to emancipate ourselves in the corporality. We build a dialogue with our body and create, through a centered posture, the necessary space for involuntary grounding.

Sitting (or walking) involuntarily transforms our relationship to the world. The possible paradigm shift begins in this space.

At the Life Itself Hub, the contemplative practices most often proposed during residencies are zazen and walking meditation in the Zen spirit of objectless meditation. Thus, without straining or forcing anything, we relax into attentive presence. We simply pay attention to the inner micromovements that readjust us, through the body itself, and allow the spine to rise naturally.

Thoughts come and go, noises, sounds, smells, tensions, and relaxations also flow and visit us, and we let them. The breath is simply welcomed, and in the same way, we let it find its own rhythm, without will.

We enter the state of "Being-witness," a continuous interior movement in continuity with that of exteriority—a deconstruction of self where there is no more personal body, no more interior or exterior. The limits disappear with the sounds and sensations, just as when we eat or work. We cultivate the space of this disposition to always be in movement, in constant deconstruction that rebuilds as we go along. The "I" is made with others, by others, in others, including non-sentient beings like cars and wind. Each person is different, each body is different, each day is different, and each echo of life is specific to the reality of the moment.

To explore more ,you can find here a zazen foot notes from Issho Fujita + and an actualized version of the disposition of “just sitting” by Dogen zenjisama (12th century) from Taigu Roshi.

• The practice of food care :

Food is not about food but about interbeing.

Cooking is not about cooking but about relationships.

We often have a tendency when we think about food , including in communities to think mostly of ingredients and recipes.. This is part of it but not all. Cooking in community means mostly to create a system of roles and functions in order to get the fluidity which leads to efficiency and different ways to relate to each other .

More importantly it is a place of practice and like contemplation it offers people to connect to themselves and others through spaciousness of open presence

Besides the practice of cooking in itself, the choices made wishes to correlate the personal and the collective reality of our food in order to experience a way of cooking that nourishes our deepest needs ( not only physical) and the needs of all beings . It is linked to the question of satiety : Can we be satisfied with simple food that only takes what it needs from the earth, from animals and from others ?

In a situation as complex as ours today, the answer looks like a muddy pool.

The food practice at the Life itself Bergerac Hub is a laboratory that attempts to take on all the issues surrounding our food today by affirming that sitting in the question is the first step towards adjusted action. It is also an affirmation that if we really want to rethink our world we can no longer be satisfied with clear-cut solutions. It is by listening to all the complexity of our food, our powerlessness, our anger, our sadness and our joy too that we can begin to unravel all the issues at stake, whether they are emotional, identity-related, ecological, political or economical .

At the Bergerac Life itself hub, food is a central element of what it means to be a conscious community.

Our food ecology is developed through the Awami Praxis food design, drawing inspiration from the Zen food system and shojin ryori (Zen temple cuisine)

It is based on 5 branches :

• Receiving : to shop mindfully (Praxis groceries) or details principles

• Passing over (by transforming) : to cook ( this doc + Food Lab )

• Moving : to get Organized (Praxis food care design# organizing )

• Celebrating: rituals and ceremonials ( Praxis Food design # Celebrating )

• Thinking: what is food ?( Praxis food design # Thinking ) how to think with our bodymind / social technology practices

The 5 branches are supported by the: AWAMI Praxis food principles

• Caring - for all beings and ecosystems that we share resources with

• Degrowing - energy, money and time to use only what is necessary

• Honoring - human dignity by supporting only regenerative food production systems.

These principles allow us to strike an optimal balance between the ethical, financial, and ecological facets of our food system. The menus we curate, inspired by the Zen temple tradition, establish a mindful ambiance for the group's sustenance.

• The practice of house care (cleaning, repair)

Taking care of the space we live in has a profound effect on the well-being of each member of the group. It elevates energy, dignity, a sense of belonging, and integrity. Each residency involves care and attention, which contributes to the overall well-being of the community.

Doing things together, for the benefit of the community, brings us to another perception of care: we take care of ourselves by collectively caring for the space. We reconnect with the power of beauty, which we respect as a part of ourselves. Taking care of a place, a household, a kitchen, is deeply spiritual in this sense. Everything comes alive in the relationships we allow ourselves to have with everything we encounter.

The collective care of a house is not only about cleaning; it is about dignity and relationships.

• The practice of energizing the body

Resting to ourselves and the world differently starts with a conscious presence to our own body and is a fundamental factor for Good life and Good mind.

Some of the body practices we have at the hub depending of residents

• Morning yoga

• Sunday morning dance

• 5 rhythms dance

• Ect…

The practice of relational care : exploring new social technologies

Finding this collective movement within the desire for contact in an individualistic society—one that continually encourages us to assert our needs and identities—is extremely difficult. We are the product of a cultural conditioning based on the legitimacy of separation between beings. In community, we quickly confront our greatest fear: the fear of not surviving among others.

We must, therefore, reactivate our cellular memory of being communal, while bearing witness to who we are today: beings aspiring to what we sense as harmony, yet fearing the loss of our individuality. We must learn to dance with the dissonance between our ideals and the reality of a collective memory traumatized by oppression, adjusting our absolute reality to align with our relative reality. We simply have to learn to live with our dis-order.

Around the backbone of sitting and collective care, transformative relational practices are experienced during evening sessions.Rituals and ceremonies are also part of the Praxis structure.

Some of the social technologies we have experimented at the hub during our evening sessions ( some facilitated by host but mostly residents in order to share those technologies among our community) :

• Emergent dialogue

• Dialogos

• Diamond Inquiry

• Circling

• Authentic relating

• Deep listening circle

• Men and women circles

• Constellations

• Spontaneous blessing

• Moving debate

• Truth mandala

And rituals such as openingand closing ceremonies , equinox, samhain, death

APPENDIX

Definition of Praxis

Praxis (from Ancient Greek: πρᾶξις, romanized: praxis) is the process by which a theory, lesson, or skill is enacted, embodied, or realized. "Praxis" may also refer to the act of engaging, applying, exercising, realizing, or practicing ideas. This has been a recurrent topic in the field of philosophy, discussed in the writings of Plato, Aristotle, St. Augustine, Francis Bacon, Immanuel Kant, Søren Kierkegaard, Ludwig von Mises, Karl Marx, Antonio Gramsci, Martin Heidegger, Hannah Arendt, Jean-Paul Sartre, Paulo Freire, Murray Rothbard, and many others. It has meaning in the political, educational, spiritual and medical realms.

Origins

In Ancient Greek the word praxis (πρᾶξις) referred to activity engaged in by free people. The philosopher Aristotle held that there were three basic activities of humans: theoria (thinking), poiesis (making), and praxis (doing). Corresponding to these activities were three types of knowledge: theoretical, the end goal being truth; poietical, the end goal being production; and practical, the end goal being action.^[1] Aristotle further divided the knowledge derived from praxis into ethics, economics, and politics. He also distinguished between eupraxia (εὐπραξία, "good praxis")^[2] and dyspraxia (δυσπραξία, "bad praxis, misfortune").^[3]

^{( more on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Praxis_(process))}

About zazen , the porous silent contemplation ( interbeing care) , I will publish a post more specifically soon .

At Praxis Hub in Bergerac, for the past three years, together with the different guests of our residencies, we have been refining an ecology of co-living. Thanks to the hundred or so people who have visited the Hub, and the various formats we’ve offered (residencies focused on a particular training, themed residencies, and open residencies), we have shaped a design capable of addressing the great question of co-existence, as we move towards a future we dream of being more community-oriented than individualistic.

Over these three years, I’ve been particularly interested in the concept of the container rather than the content . Since 2022 my focus has been f on developing a structural design that activate a new way of being with others and the world, while respecting the need for isolation embedded in our cultural DNA. This is the ecology of praxis, based on five core practices. With this design, we meditate, cook, and circle together while also integrating personal time.

Throughout these three years, we’ve received many testimonies. For some, attached to a specific notion of freedom, this structure is not suitable, but for others, this design generates more energy, joy, and a calmer perspective on the world.

Here are a few testimonies we’ve received:

• People leave more inspired and enthusiastic, and most want to return.

• No one can define exactly what it is they experience, but the word "home" comes up often.

• Some share a deep transformation, which they relate to a kind of self-liberation.

• Living together brings back the joy of childhood and a willingness to play more, be silly, and creative.

• Most residents have stated that this type of collective praxis design is exactly what they need to stay motivated in their work

• This DDS space gives them the opportunity to express their ideas and emotions, including those that are difficult to contain.

• People feel allowed to be vulnerable within the group.

• Most residents recognize the value of the "tenzo" practice, both in terms of balanced nutrition and kitchen or table-setting practices, and as an integral part of a systematic experience necessary for community resilience.

These testimonies inspire us to nurture and expand this experience by sharing it. In 2025, we will be developing a praxis design tool for those interested in conscious co-living, centered around the heart of any community: a food system that is both pragmatic and transformative.

Sharing a proposal that can respond to the challenges of the world through a different way of being, within community spaces, is at the heart of the theory of Praxis, whose foundation remains the contemplative activism. The key question is: how can we create spaces that enable each individual to transform their capacity for action, starting from a space of inner transformation embodied within the collective field?

Through our toold and residencies, we wish to support this very particular time in our history and explore how we can listen better o the future.

Key Info

💛 What: An opportunity to experience the joy and nourishment of living in community with a light frame of collective practices, while devoting time to your own (or shared) projects and explorations. 

🌳 Where: Life Itself Praxis Hub, Bergerac, France (near Bordeaux)

🤸 Who: Open to anyone interested in conscious community living, contemplative activism, regenerative food systems, inner development, ecological and cultural transformation, living the “more beautiful world our hearts know is possible”, dancing with complexity, and more… 

🍂 When: 1st October - 15th December. You can stay for 1 week up to the full 2.5 months. 

💌 Cost: From €350-850/month, depending on the room, + €10/day for food & amenities. 

There will also be a special Creative Writing residency taking place within the frame of the Autumn residency, 23rd October to 7th November — more detail below. 

There is also the possibility to organise a one day presentation of the Awami Praxis Food design system and in general the Praxis design that Valerie developed at the Bergerac Life itself upon request.( on donation) .

Apply Now

About the Autumn Praxis Residency

The Autumn Praxis Residency is an opportunity to experience and contribute to the spirit of the Hub – which is to explore the practices that support community, both on an individual and a collective level. The practices we engage in intend to cultivate a compassionate lifestyle, ecological balance, and a shift from individual isolation to supportive community. 

Instead of following a specific training program or content, this residency creates space to listen to what the collective wants to emerge. Together, we feel the rhythm of a community, observe how our collective body responds to what unfolds — light or shadow — and create our time together. 

During this long Autumn residency, we have the opportunity to digest our Summer experiences and inspirations into seeds of change to take with us into Winter and Spring. You might be concentrating on your daily work, writing a book, designing a passion project, experimenting with group workshops, or something else… Whatever it is, the residency offers a place in which we can support each other in our unfolding. 

To give you a sense of how this Autumn could be, here is a flavour of what last year’s Autumn residency was like …

• 🎶 Reading, singing, or playing board games together by the fire 

• 🎨 Self-organised activities such as: Systemic Constellations, Authentic Relating, Circling, Men’s/Women’s Circles, Improv Theatre Games, Ecstatic Dance, film nights…

• 🥗 Delicious local and organic meals 

• 🌊 Long walks along the river

• 🤓 Sharing mini-presentations on our projects and passions  

• ❤️ Joy and cosiness and deep connection

• And much more!

Schedule and Collective Frame

This residency focuses on conscious co-living, or living well together, according to a framework of practice developed here over the past three years. 

Schedule (indicative and may change with the needs of the participants):

7-8am: Sitting meditation

8-9am: Breakfast (some of us also do yoga) 

9-10am: Collective care (cooking, cleaning, or gardening)

10am-1pm: Own time

1-2pm: Self-service lunch and dishes

2-6:30pm: Own time

6:30-7:30 pm: Table dinner and dishes

8pm: Optional evening activity

There is also a community sharing circle one evening a week where we can engage in deeper check-ins. 

In addition, participants may offer their own sessions to other residents, usually on evenings or weekends. It’s a great opportunity to share practices you love with the group, or experiment with facilitating something, or try something new!

Weekends don't have any frame. During that time, residents self-organise meals. Residents often use this time to discover nearby places of interest such as Plum Village, prehistoric caves, or local markets.

Rooms

For more information on rooms and prices, please see this document.

For this residency, we are offering only non-shared rooms to preserve the privacy and comfort of each participant, with some exceptions if you are coming with a friend or partner.

Creative Writing Residency : 23rd October - 7th November

During the Autumn Praxis residency, we will have a special Creative Writing residency, hosted by John Newton. 

This short residency is an invitation to drop into the pace of Autumn and create space for emergent nourishment through creative practices. We will use the forms of evening dialogues, sharing circles around the fire, and collective reading & writing jams to explore presence and poetic truth in a spirit of playfulness. The day will be spacious, with regular opportunities for mindfulness practice and exploring imaginal meditation practices. There will also be select screenings of rare or forgotten films that support metamodernist insights. 

Application is via the same form as for the general Autumn Praxis Residency.

Apply Now

Hosts

Valérie Duvauchelle (Tenzo, guardian of the dynamic food system)

Valerie is the designer of the Life Itself Hub Praxis frame, inspired by Zen temples where she studied the role of the Tenzo for several years. Her passion is to bridge this Buddhist technology to a secular frame for conscious communities. She is currently working on two books related to Zen food practice and how to make sense of our food today. She is also the author of Le goût silencieux (The Silent Taste), published by Actes Sud in 2018. She onboards chefs at the Hub and shares the Praxis design to support organizations or community spaces. 

Catherine Tran (Autumn Residency Host)

Catherine is a researcher at Life Itself and has spent roughly half her time over the past few years living in intentional community at the Life Itself Hubs in Bergerac and Berlin. In her life and work, she grapples with the question of what it means to be an ecologically response-able being on Earth. Some of her current big inspirations are: Hospicing Modernity and the Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures Collective, Tara Brach, and Systemic Constellations.

Bihter Kartheuser (Steward)

Bihter (MA, ICF, USABP) is a Mindfulness & Nervous System Coach and nomadic world citizen with a multidisciplinary background and a passion for exploring the complexities of being human. With over a decade of experience teaching yoga and mindfulness, her innate curiosity about the human body and psyche led her to specialize in trauma therapy. Drawn to the transformative power of the NeuroSystemics approach, Bihter completed a three-year training and is now engaged in clinical training with the NeuroSystemics. She envisions helping more people to cultivate nervous system resiliency, empowerment, and the agency for contributing to create  a healthier and happier society.

John Newton (Creative Writing Residency Host)

John is a facilitator, artistic researcher, dharma bum and resident bard. When not subsumed by worldly concerns, he pursues the imaginal through a variety of transdisciplinary approaches, including meditation practice, music, cinema, philosophy and cultural exegesis. Some of his music can be found here: https://chupwallah.bandcamp.com. His upcoming Substack, entitled Fever Dreaming, is a “cultural exegesis of contemporary psychedelia, new age spirituality, cinema, and philosophy”.

Join us this Autumn!

Letting go of the Holocene, letting go of climate illusions

We’re in the thick of it- The meta-crisis, with the climate crisis as its visible, concrete edge, are shaping our lives and of future generations…

Awareness is rising. Yet many are hesitant to focus on adapting to climate breakdown, fearing its implied surrender. This residency is about plunging deeper into the danger zone willingly, challenging taboo by emphasising adaptation instead of solely focusing on reducing emissions. When we do this, the future and the present look very different. Its time to prepare realistically and embrace the necessity of transformative adaptation..

Join us in Bergerac this September to explore psycho-spiritual adaptation and community resilience, combining climate realities with hope and creativity.

How can we embrace the danger of collapse without falling into despair? How do we open up to new possibilities? Can adaptation efforts support climate mitigation and help society reconcile with reality? Let's make adaptation accessible and build a supportive community ready to face immense challenges ahead.

Led by Liam Kavanagh, with insights from Rupert Read the co- director of the climate majority project and author Stephen Markley, this residency will delve into defensive, deep, and transformative adaptation. Together, we'll develop realistic future scenarios, share preparation strategies, and learn to navigate overwhelming emotions.

Join us on this courageous journey towards adaptation awareness. Let's create safety amidst the storm and build a community ready to thrive in the face of uncertainty.

For more information, please fill in our pre- registration form and we will get back to you soon.

To know more about the Hub

APPLY FORM

Host : Valérie D.H Duvauchelle

Valérie has created the Awami Food System designed for conscious communities. Inspired by Zen temples, this Praxis of ordinary life can be adapted to any community or group by placing food at the heart of the community.

( version française ci dessous)

Residency :

Living together anbd sharing our food perpsectives while sitting, cooking and cleaning together. Supported by the region's fresh, organic, local products and the river at our door ( yes we will swim !) we will enjoy a relaxing summer .

Training : In addition , from 22 to 25 of august a special trainning for people interested in the “Praxis food design “ where we will learn how to design food system for communities that sustains both individuals and collectives in a regenerative and adaptative way.

This Food praxis design is based on 5 branches that Valérie Duvauchelle has devlopped and that we will nourrish and be nourrished from during that time.

• Receiving : buying, measuring food for community

• Transforming : cooking non animal products meals for community

• Moving : organizing the food system between cooking, dishes, groceries, rituals

• Celebrating : contemplative rituals

• Thinking : miroring the inner food relationship with the societal food complexityed

Through an integrative perspective, we will reveal how modernity has conditioned our entire food system and our minds, and how cultivating collective creativity and imaginative remembering can tap into our deep joy and open new perspectives. This training is also very pragmatic and will give participants tools to buy less to manage food budget at 7 euros a day with 3 organic meals per person.

You can read the last post of valerie here presenting why a Praxis food design for communities can bring peace and resiliency in uncertainty and potential collapse.

Food Praxis

Price is 200 euros for the training , possibilities to give less or more in a mindfull way. Please contact directly Valerie for more information : valerie@lifeitself.org

apply for this residency here

A partir du 4 aôut : Une résidence pour réapprendre à vivre ensemble de manière consciente et dynamqiue autour de la nourriture.

Dans une région magnifique, nous retrouverons le plaisir d’aller au marché pour savourer les produits frais, biologiques et locaux de la région et nous pourrons également nous baigner dans la rivière à notre porte et profiter d'un été relaxant.

Du 23 au 25 août ( arrivée le 22 au soir : une formation de la "Praxis de la nourriture en communauté " où elles apprendront à concevoir des systèmes alimentaires pour les communautés, qui soutiennent à la fois les individus et les collectifs de manière régénérative et adaptative.

Ce design alimentaire Praxis est basé sur 5 branches devloppées par Valérie Duvauchelle au Praxis hub et que nous nourrirons ensemble :

• Recevoir : acheter, mesurer la nourriture pour la communauté.

• Transformer : cuisiner des repas sans produits animaux pour la communauté.

• Déplacer : organiser le système alimentaire entre la cuisine, la vaisselle, les courses, les rituels.

• Célébrer : rituels contemplatifs.

• Réfléchir : réfléchir à la relation intérieure à la nourriture et à la complexité alimentaire sociétale.

À travers une perspective intégrative, nous révélerons comment la modernité a conditionné notre système alimentaire entier et nos esprits, et comment cultiver la créativité collective et le souvenir imaginatif peut éveiller notre joie profonde et ouvrir de nouvelles perspectives. Cette formation est aussi très pragmatique et donnera aux participants des outils pour acheter moins et gérer un budget alimentaire de 7 euros par jour avec 3 repas biologiques par personne.

Vous pouvez lire le dernier post de Valérie ici, présentant pourquoi un design alimentaire Praxis pour les communautés peut apporter paix et résilience dans l'incertitude et l'éventuel effondrement.

Le Prix souhaité est 200 euros pour les 3, 5 jours ( nourriture comprise) avec la possibilité de donner moins ou plus ( en dehors des frais de logement ). Contacter svp valerie@lifeitself.org pour plus de renseignements.

pré inscription

We get to cook, work and play with a diverse group of people coming from many countries. We will be practicing all sorts of awareness practies (mindfulness, compassion, movement, art, diary), engage in small-group circles where we focus on the way in which our present moment embodied experience is affected by the speech and presence of others, and community sessions where we explore emergent questions about our society, its greatness and the urgent challenges to address change. We will create as safe a container as possible to enable the emergence of embodied regulation, relational insights and embody an ambitious relationship to the world.

We emphasise learning & integrating: we will have propose several ways to learn the art and science of developing inner and relational resiliency through workshops and didactic sessions. The immersion format allows for insights from structured experiential sessions to be integrated in relationships during the residency itself. The online sessions before and after we meet in Bergerac (France) allow for integration into one’s work, family and daily life because we want this process to impact your life in the long term!

“It was amazing. In many ways, very joyful, very playful, meaningful interactions, whether it was in groups or dyads”

– Camille M., Researcher, 2023 Residency Participant in Bergerac

Why Be More Relationally Embodied?

The quality of our relationships has recently shown to be the important factor for mental health. In school we did not learn how to build strong relationships, how to repair a connection when a rupture occurred, or how to express our needs for safety and emotional support. This residency aims to strengthen our way of engaging in relationships so that we can feel freer to be ourselves with others, and build strong bonds.

• Regulate: We will learn to self-regulate & co-regulate, which means we learn to support one another to feel better together. We learn to feel better somatically (in our body), emotionally (feeling well-being) and socially (feeling more embedded with others). We embody a responsive, not reactive, connexion to ourselves and others.

• Restore: From this sense of connection, safety and confidence, our patterns of dysregulation and dissociation (related to previous traumas) can soften and be released.

• Respond: As we grow our nervous system capacity and relational skills, we have more space, agency and possibility for new ways of engaging with the world.

The conceptual framework for group sessions stems of psychodynamic and attachment theories as well as systems, somatic, social and positive psychology to support relational resiliency. We emphasize “neuroceptive safety” which means we specifically attempt to modulate the containment of the group to skilfully face the challenges emerging, and embody the resources developed. For example, we start with a short embodiment practice at the beginning of the session to prime for somatic sensitivity and speaking from a place of experience. As the group builds in its quality of compassion, mutual support and enjoyment, it become a womb-like experience which enables a deep nervous system regulation for the group as a whole.

Joining us in this residency, you benefit by:

• Sensing and caring for the different states of your nervous system (self-regulation)

• Find out how you are impacted by others in an embodied way (co-regulation), and liberate yourself from constricting relational habits

• Being able to express yourself more authentically with others (perspective-taking), understand and appreciate others’ point of view (empathy)

• Learning the basic processes of creating safe-group spaces and group interventions (facilitation)

• Inquiring skilfully, in an embodied way, into difficult questions we are facing today as a society and as a species

  APPLY HERE