Winter newsletter
Time to pause
Autumn 2024 Praxis Open Residency souvenir
A note from Catherine Tran, Head of Research at Life Itself and Host for our Autumn 2024 residency
In the Autumn which has just passed, we hosted a Praxis Open Residency at the Life Itself Bergerac Hub. Over the course of two and half months, from 1st October to 15th December 2024, the Hub came alive with the colourful and dynamic presence of more than 30 kind and creative souls. On average, we were about 10 residents at any one time, with people coming and going, some settling in for just a week and others for more than a month.
The intention was to explore conscious community living together. How might a gentle frame of collective practices and structures, both contemplative and pragmatic, nourish us and our work in the world? What might living mindfully together activate or change in the way we relate to ourselves, to others, and to the wider world?
Together with our foundational frame of morning meditation and movement practice, collective care, shared meals, and weekly sharing circle and weekly community meeting, we had Open Space sessions including: Circling; massage exchange; Authentic Relating; 5Rhythms dance; Tarot circle; film nights; games (improv theatre, cooperative board games and more); meditation group; blindfold dinner; and projects “show and tell”. We enjoyed trips to Plum Village, the nearby Zen Buddhist monastery, to an Open Mic night and an art exhibition opening in town, and to local markets. We had a special visit from Ria the Storyteller, a shamanic storyteller, teacher and traveller, who offered us a Shamanic Song and Storytelling Circle.
Read some reflections from two of the Autumn residents, who shared about what they appreciated about their time at the Hub, here:
The Praxis Hub Journey
A note from Valérie Duvauchelle, Praxis Ecology designer and Co-founder of the Life Itself Bergerac Hub.
Next event at the Hub: Life Itself Spring Gathering
The next opportunity to spend time at the Hub and experience its flavour of conscious co-living is the Life Itself Spring Gathering. You can come just for the weekend, Open Space Gathering, 27th-30th March, or stay on also for the week afterwards for a community co-living and co-working week.
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