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Joining the Ecovillage Lifestyle Experience Week at Gaia Ashram

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This article was written by Lila Sahj.

Simple but profound, the Ecovillage Lifestyle Experience Week was humbling, soul-nourishing, and inspiring. My intention for the week was to listen deeply and learn, to be humbler and appreciate my life & nature, to open and feel more love in my heart, and to apply the knowledge I gain to my life, and then share it with others. 

We were guided by the wise & wild Om (whose stories could fill books), on a journey through the 4 Dimensions of Sustainability: Social, Economic, Ecological, and Cultural. 

I was expecting it to be very community and nature-oriented, so I was surprised at how central personal awareness and growth was to the process, which I deeply appreciated. We all reflected on our lifestyles & designed them anew, inspired by the mind-expanding questions we were given. I like this personal approach because I believe that to change the world, it needs to come from within – culture shift in ourselves & the collective. Being in an environment where we feel connected to all of life and take the time to explore true heart’s desires facilitates the emergence of a holistic mindset; one that values all life, including oneself. I wish for every young person to do this program. 

If I had to place my bets on which topic would be the most emotional, economics would have been the last topic I would have bet on. But answering the questions of “What is wealth to me?”, “What do I want in my life?” “What makes me feel alive?”, and “What makes life worth living for me?” were the most powerful questions asked so far, and I questioned what I truly needed and wanted in order to flourish. I found that I most value joy, fun, and playfulness; freedom and the resources to take my time & space to relax and do what I love; being with people I love; the ability to flourish – to grow and learn in ways that feel aligned to me; a sense of safety and security in a grounded, comfortable home, and of course, beautiful food (and an outdoor shower would be fantastic, too). 

Questions like this aren’t asked in “normal” environments. Having the space to reflect on life and design it holistically is a fantastic experience, which I would recommend to everyone looking for a fresh start, hope for a better future, and some peace and connection with what is truly real: others & nature!

I witnessed and experienced tears of gratitude, liberation in movement and body through the 5 Elements Dance, deep peace in meditation and connection with nature, feeling seen by others, having a deeper connection with myself, and being part of a small and tight-knit community with lots of fun moments throughout. Other experiences included creating a skit, documentary night, yoga, and being led around the farm by a partner with my eyes closed, exploring all my senses – one of the most pleasurable and peaceful things I have ever done. 

I love living and being in ecovillages. Magic happens in these places that don’t happen anywhere else. It’s the influence of great souls who share their thoughts and way of life. It’s the entire new culture and system which honors all of life, including your own hopes, dreams, and talents – waiting to empower you so you can flourish! It’s the nature, the fact that I wasn’t in a single closed room with 4 walls. Everything is open, connected – it’s reflected in the architecture of the place. I love the simplicity of life here. I love the food (too much haha), I love the fact that I can go and switch the water on every day at 17:30, watching the sprinklers go from small to tall towers of water. I love the satisfaction and peace of sitting there witnessing the seeds I planted sprout and grow. I love watching the sky change color, seeing the sun peak gold through the clouds, hints of pink and lilac coloring the sky as the day turns into night. And of course, being barefoot as much as possible! I find myself taking off my shoes as soon as the ground is soft enough to bear. It just feels better. 

This week has shown me the power of deep listening to others and reflecting back on people’s strengths. There is a magic created when another person’s eyes are shining as you tell them the light that you see in them. It is a gift we can all give to others, going deeper than the average compliment. It requires observation of the other, curiosity, listening, remembering, and compassion. This way of communicating leaves everyone around feeling better 😊 as we remember we are all celebrations of diversity. We learned during the topic of ecology that diversity is resilience. Without diversity, the soil dries up, erodes, the leaves get bitten away, and the yields are less. Our differences are what we can use to work together to create a new system that nourishes all life. The meaning we each give to our lives and our willingness to be open-minded and compassionate is what helps this bloom. 

It was beautiful to see the intentions everyone set at the beginning of the week blossom into fulfilled wishes and more, as seen during our final sharing moment around a bonfire. Pleng played the drums, Sin’s awesome dance music filled the air, Simon kept the fire burning, Niki held loving space, and Ben presented his beautiful art. The course ended synchronistically with the full moon and we ended our evening playing a fierce game of Ninja under its glow, a symbol of completion, the waning moon an invitation to internalize the teachings that resonated most and to share them with whoever is curious. 

I leave this week feeling much more grounded and connected to nature, something that I had been missing for a long time. I experienced the deeply humbling feeling of asking nature for permission before I sit in the company of its trees, shrubs, spiders, and crawling ants, well aware that this is not only my home, but theirs too, and theirs first. 

I was aware and committed to my life’s purpose before this week, but the tools and knowledge parted to me during the program have grounded and deepened my plans and what I want to express. Gaia Ashram is a place to go when you want to connect back to yourself, other people, and nature, in an authentic and peaceful way, without the stresses of “normal life”. 

Paraphrasing Om, this is not a place to escape from your life. This is a place to learn, to expand, and to empower yourself with awareness of your own strengths, skills, and talents, putting them into practice in the community so you leave (if you do 😛) being, even more, yourself, knowing what you love and what you find important – which I believe is exactly your purpose & medicine for the world 😊. 

Thank you, Om and Tom, for holding the space and for your wisdom, and thank you, everyone, in the course and others living in Gaia Ashram. It is wonderful being part of this community, our hearts united in the mission of life honoring life. 

Lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu,

May all beings everywhere be happy and free, and may the thoughts, words, and actions of my own life contribute in some way to that happiness and to that freedom for all. 

—

Read Om Sunisa Jamwiset Deiters’s (co-founder of Gaia Ashram) article about the Ecovillage Lifestyle Experience Week here.

About the Author

Lila Sahj

Lila is a 21-year-old Project Management student & a coach. She has been researching and experiencing ecovillage and holistic living since 17 years old and found a deep love for community and natural living. She has undergone her own spiritual and self-healing journey, and she now holds space for others to go through their own journeys. Her coaching focuses on empowering the other to reconnect with and trust their own intuition, heart, and body so that they can live authentically and share their medicine for the world. The concepts of systems thinking, the permaculture principles, the 4 Dimensions of Sustainability, and regeneration are key to her coaching and project management style. She holds a Belgian passport but was born in Singapore and has lived in Myanmar, Indonesia, Malawi, Thailand, the Netherlands, Cambodia, and Spain. You can find more about her on her Instagram page @divine.play.coaching.

Tanya Mottl: Participating in Online EDE was an Enriching and Nurturing Experience

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WOW!

Why did I do the course?

What did I want to achieve?

How will I use it now?

What happened?

So what?
What Next?

Will it help me with MY projects?

I registered to do the Ecovillage Design Education Online course because I felt that I had a marvelous opportunity to learn from the diverse GEN speakers from all around the globe. I figured that even if this was a toe in the water, it was a great way to collaborate in project-based learning and get a sense of which tools and resources would best help me with my own projects of passion: co-creating a collaborative living co-housing home using universal design at Narara Ecovillage, helping to develop and participate in the learning business at the village using GEN principles and helping to grow the GEN Australia network.

My strongest recollection in starting the course was John Croft, an elder from GEN, and co-founder of the Dragon Dreaming project tool, saying “what would it take for this to be the best course you have ever done”?

(picture: Melody Simay Acar)

WOW! I thought, my dream: building an online community that can use tools and resources that can be used to strengthen the online network by creating events and sharing information that helps with regeneration projects.

I’d already participated in GENOA’s use of the tool for project planning with Hema Wu. So, I wanted to learn more!

I was thrilled at the diversity of participants and in the ensuing weeks and months that followed, the fabulous support team created lots of opportunities for the participants to be in breakout groups to discuss the concepts we were learning. I noted a common purpose – how can I contribute to regeneration and healing the planet?  We are all in this together.

We were at choice to join our preferred project groups; I chose Networking and our group became Seeds and Spores and we used this metaphor as we grew and morphed and learned together.

These are my tribe, I thought. And I was right!

What I loved about exploring governance and agreements in the social dimension was that we created them together – here is our agreement.

Each week we had a different presenter and their ecovillage projects and experience were all so different and yet, they were all based on people’s participation and the connection to nature. Through this diversity, we were able to consider how their model might apply to our team project or to my own projects.

I noticed how effective Sociocracy was in allowing participatory leadership. Did we do it perfectly, heck no! Was there learning in that? YES! I am keen to immerse myself in it more!

Our group returned to the Dragon Dreaming process repeatedly and imperfectly – dreaming, planning, doing, and celebrating. I’ve learned that it’s clearly a process that requires time to understand, practice, and integrate. Using MIRO online as an alternative to using sticky post-it is probably more environmentally sustainable, however, it does take a wee bit of practice. And yes, being together shoulder to shoulder in a circle, not on a zoom screen would be better YET I’m grateful for the technology we were able to make use of.

All of our sessions were recorded and we have access to these and to the additional resources that the participants and facilitators provided. A treasure trove of collaborative knowledge.

I’m also looking forward to further integrating all my learnings by diving into the 2021 Online Summit which was included in our fee.

As we dived into the Ecology dimension and had sessions about permaculture design and green building technologies, water management, regeneration & food security, climate change, and emerGENcies, I felt enormously grateful that I am already a member of an ecovillage with a strong vision based on permaculture principles. I had only done my own Permaculture Design Certificate in Oct/Nov (at the time of the GENOA Online Gathering) and reviewing these concepts in the EDE helped to better integrate them. 

(picture: Monika Hering)


I also felt grateful for the simple new measures I have been able to practice during COVID lockdowns – saving seed & regrowing the heads of spinach, beets, celery, beetroot, and parsnips.  I have deepened my love of composting and have yet to set up my own Share Waste project.  

As part of our group’s weekly Celebration and strong desire to integrate music and art, I introduced the group to an Australian permaculture group, Formidable Vegetable.

“Songs are some of our most powerful tools for learning, remembering, and sharing knowledge. Music can be so much more than entertainment”

Charlie McGee

You can see Charlie’s TedX talk More than a Tune: Make Music with a Purpose, Change the World!  Here:

Their songs are based on permaculture principles and I particularly love their song Our Street; which one do you prefer?

The Economy dimension was eye-opening with the first presentation by ecovillage founder Ross Jackson. How fascinating to hear Anna Kovasna, Head of Education present about the economies of different ecovillages, Taisa and Macaco speak of social currencies, community banks, and trade systems. It affirmed my orientation over many decades of work for the board and that we all have something of value to contribute.  May East’s decades of work around intrapreneurship and working on the edge was also informative.

This dimension has particularly inspired me during the lockdown as Narara has planned an Ecovillage Residential Experience Weekend and I am certain that there are other ways that we can all promote ecovillage living joyously? I love how GEN-Europe hosted a series of Meet the Ecovillages and now has the  Resilience and Regeneration series. 
How else can we demonstrate the benefits of ecovillage lifestyle and support income for our ecovillages – using the principle of Respect Indigenous Wisdom and Welcome Positive Innovation?

I really enjoyed the different styles of teaching that Macaco and Taisa were able to incorporate in the presentations including bringing in nature – even if it was a pot plant indoors with us!

(picture: Melody Simay Acar)

I loved seeing what new direction the pioneers of GEN Education have taken – Kosha Joubert now attending to collective trauma with Pocket Project, Daniel Christian-Wahl whose articles I’ve subscribed to in Medium, and Daniel Greenberg who’s now driving the importance of story-telling and Mugove.

I particularly loved Taisa’s presentation about Ecovillages and the SDGs and the activity we did to better understand such a complex idea. I am keen to see how GEN continues to work with Regeneration rather than Sustainability. The figures presented in the 2017 Impact Assessment are inspiring and I think it is our responsibility as Ambassadors to share this as much as possible.

“Let ours be a time remembered for the awakening of a new reverence for life, the firm resolve to achieve sustainability, the quickening of the struggle for justice and peace, and the joyful celebration of life.”

Earth Charter
(picture: Monika Hering)

It also really looks forward to implementing the new Impact Assessment Survey to present updated global data on the power of regenerative lifestyles.  

So what now? I am still integrating ALL the information, reviewing frequently, and seeing how I can practically apply the information.

Our project group will assess how we might continue our project and how we can collaborate with others from the program.  We are grateful to the support team (Abbie, Carolin) who set up a Slack channel for future communications.

I can’t wait to hear how it was for some of them who were able to go to Damanhur for part of the month-long EDE.

I followed up the EDE by attending a 4-week online workshop about co-housing at EarthSong in New Zealand which deepened my EDE learnings. I’m grateful for Robin Allison’s encouraging words:

I’d like to reiterate that ours was a very long and demanding journey because it was the first time the cohousing model was introduced and adapted to NZ conditions. It shouldn’t be so challenging for others. It’s for that reason that it feels important to tell the Earthsong story and share our learnings, systems, and agreements, to help other projects move faster.

Robin Allison

I have organized a Dragon Dreaming session with the generous support of Hema Wu and Amena Bal.  This collaboration has meant an opportunity to explore and expand our own online facilitation skills and for me, even more respect for their skills and their friendship.

What next?  

I want to find out more about the Transition Game as I think this will help our Collaborative Living project at Narara Ecovillage.

(picture: Melody Simay Acar)

I have got involved with helping to organize the Sociocracy workshop series at Narara in September.  Project-based learning like this has increased my skill exponentially – new online systems, uploading the FB events, and finding ways to be creative!

I also am looking forward to a deeper dive into the upcoming Dragon Dreaming workshop that is being proposed by GENOA.

Support and encouragement for the growth of PermaYouth who are in the top 10 for the Hildur Jackson Award 2021

Can I design an ecovillage now?

Maybe not by myself!!  However, having access to the GEN Map of Regeneration and having my own sets of cards with the SDGs attached, I’m finding ways of doing online presentations and having conversations about solutions to the climate crisis and the Regeneration that we can ALL participate in.

I remain in a state of both Outrage and Optimism, in the words of Christiana Figueres.

I will do the best I can with what I have learned.

How can you help us to build the GENOA network across Oceania and Australasia?

It would help if you visit our Facebook and Instagram pages.

Please comment and Like the posts and mark Interested in the events, even if you cannot go as this helps your friends to see what events are coming up.

Please feel free to contact me at tanya.mottl@genaustralia.org.au 

Would I recommend the online EDE?

Heck, yes! If not now, when? If not me, who?

Education and inspiration and action are essential right now.

About the Author

Tanya Mottl, GEN Australia, Australia.

Tanya is a GEN Australia Ambassador based in Sydney, Australia. She is also a member of the GEN Australia Management and Communications team since March 2020. An enthusiast for the GEN Regenerative Design process, Tanya has a diverse background and is driven by a passion for community, nature and the inherent human need for connection.

She is a skier, sailer, e-cyclist and a generalist and likes to play to her strengths – kindness and facilitating conversations around the current climate crisis. With a background in training, she is keen to see the SDGs and Ecovillage Design Cards utilised extensively during the Decade of Restoration. She is grateful for her upbringing in the Ku-ring-Gai Chase National Park on Pittwater in Sydney for the understanding of weather which helps her understanding of the Permaculture Design Certificate she’s currently doing. A novice eco-villager but a quick learner!