Autumn Praxis Residency (October to December 2025)
Live together with others who are exploring regenerative ways of being and doing. A conscious co-living residency to transform how we relate to ourselves, each other, and the wider world.
See here for our next residency in Spring 2026!
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.
“And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.” ~Rilke
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.
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.
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.
you might meet life itself people at the retreat in PV! then you are welcome to join for lunch or dinner from monday 13 th at the hub !
Hello! I've just discovered you by recommendation. While I'd love to come for the end of the fall residency in Dec., the date is too close. So I'm wondering about possibilities in January? Anything planned? Thanks, and it's a pleasure to discover this place!