Durga's Tiger Land: Magic and Personal Power
First published on Facebook on March 2nd, 2022
Back in Quito. After 4 weeks at Durga’s Tiger Land in Rio Verde, close to the Pacific, in tropical climate – I would call it a jungle. A community project that has been with me for almost 2 years. It started in April 2020, when Iris – the founder of Durga’s Tiger School in Ecuador, where I worked in 2020 – told me about her vision, that she feels a deep calling to create a community, to anchor the joyful transformation we live at the school in everyday life. I have stepped on the land for the first time in June 2020, before it was bought. And it has been in my dreams ever since. I went to a lot of processes finding the flow with where I want to be, where my energy flows. But it was very clear that I need to be there at the beginning, that I have a role to play in birthing this into reality. So, at the end of January (2022), we started, really making it happen on the land, seven to ten people, sharing a small space, and our hearts and minds. Many of them will stay for the year or for a lifetime, I had committed for a month.
And what a wonderful, crazy, touching month it was. We started making the one house on the land livable, building, creating, doing. Trusting the collective intelligence – whenever we got lost in “must” and “should” and started to burn out, someone would say “stop”, and we would dive deep, connect in ritual with why we are here, what the land needs, what the group heart feels, and reignite action from a place of alignment. Personally, I mapped around 140ha of land with a drone. I built my first ever brick wall for our kitchen. I installed a ton of mosquito nets. I participated in rituals and held space for processes. I sang mantras. I swam in the Rio Verde. And did it again. And again. But most of all, I was just there, with my heart, my soul, and my mind. And I realize more and more that it is this being, that rootedness within myself, is the beginning, the ground I need, that any action that arises from outside that space will not feel aligned, will burn me out, will not bear true fruits.
I was gifted with deep learning, with connecting to a deep knowing within, about why I am on this earth (no words can express that process yet). With wonderful heart-connections. And with wonderful food. I will miss you all dearly. And I am excited to leave, excited about the seeds I planted and the seeds that were planted within me, that I bring with me. What I always longed for, what attracted me to this project the most, is magic. And magic I experienced. I leave with the deep knowing that we truly are magical beings, all of us. And that whenever we act from trust rather than fear, magic will happen. I might not always like the outcome, and it might be messy and hard at times, but oh so very alive.
That is the seed I will bring with me. Many projects await, many dreams and offerings, private and public. Creating community. Diving into the power of love, deeply, fully. Connecting others and myself to the magic within. Stepping into my personal power. And creating experiences that support that in others, too.
I am excited about this because I deeply believe in that. In what we do at Durga’s Tiger School, at Wild Love, at Kaula Yoga Zurich. What many others are doing from the power within themselves. Right now, this grounds me, this gives me a direction. There is that voice in me, saying “yeah, luxurious self-indulgence” and so much more. There is a war going on in Europe. There are many wars going on all the time, in parts of the world that are easier to forget. We have just witnessed two years of deep separation and division in society, making plainly visible what has been lingering for so long. My life, simply by living in Switzerland, is on so many levels based on systemic injustice, on violence, on abuse. I never chose this, but I am also part of it. I am aware of this. I really try hard to not deny it. To feel it all.
Yet: There are so many things in this world that disturb me, make me cry, where I feel lost. If I give in to that, if I dwell there, in the misery of it all – then I lose myself, I drift, I become passive and reactive. I truly believe that creating alternatives, exploring ways to live a deep, joyful, exciting peace in community, connecting to our own power, taking responsibility for our experience, makes a difference. That it is an essential part to creating a more beautiful world. That I need to make a choice, about where I direct my energy. That it matters what I do. That I make a difference if I focus on what I can change, where I feel empowered and not powerless.
So, I will keep dancing this life. Feeling it all. Trying hard to understand the impacts of my actions, to engage with the world around me. AND sharing what I feel is my mission. Magic, community, deep wild love, and personal power. I hope to see you soon. And that we will dance together.
If you want to find out more about the project, visit durgastigerland.com.