News
Interview Jem Bendell, Integral Yoga classes, and Waking Youth's first retreat! ☀️
Hello friends,
I come to you with a few updates today, all of which I’m excited to share. Let’s get to it:
Interview Jem Bendell
On September 5, Jem Bendell will be at Casa do Comum, in Lisbon, launching the Portuguese edition of his book Breaking Together: a Freedom-Loving Response to Collapse.
I wrote about how deeply this book touched me early last year. And as I write this now, looking back, I realize just how much it has shaped my life and work since—though I won’t go into that today…
In it, Jem argues not only that our civilization is bound to collapse, but that this process has already begun. Beyond diagnosing why, he offers a vision of how we might live meaningfully once we accept this reality.
I’ll be attending the launch, and interviewing him shortly afterward. So, if you’re in Lisbon around that time, I invite you to join us.
Also, if you’re already familiar with Jem’s work, I’d love for you to send me questions to pose him on the day of the interview. I’ll do my best to cover them. You can do this by replying to this email or leaving a comment below.
And if you aren’t yet familiar with his work, well, maybe this is a good opportunity! In 2018, Jem wrote Deep Adaptation, a paper that greatly inspired the creation of Extinction Rebellion and set the stage for Breaking Together.
Integral Yoga Classes
In other news, on September 15, I’ll be opening an Integral Yoga group class—both online and in person, in Alentejo, Portugal.
Integral Yoga is a practice I’ve loved and shared for the past four years. It was created by Sri Aurobindo in the early 20th century, alongside his fascinating theory of consciousness.
Unlike most classical yoga systems that aim for union with the divine through an ascetic path, seeking liberation from material existence, Integral Yoga takes a different approach. It invites us to, first, divinize the world of matter. In other words: to create here on Earth the heaven our hearts so often long for.
By the way, and in the spirit of Waking Youth’s latest research on communities, Sri Aurobindo’s vision inspired the creation of Auroville, one of the world’s most renowned intentional communities.
Okay, enough for now. I’ll tell you more about this yoga offering soon. In the meantime, if it sounds like something you might be interested in, I invite you to answer a short survey below. I want to design a thoughtful experience that is suited to your needs and wishes.
‘Let Your Life Speak’ Retreat
Last but certainly not least: I’m facilitating my first retreat, ever, from October 8 to 12. It will take place in northern Portugal, in Vila Nova de Cerveira, my second home ever since I was a kid.
To be frank, I didn’t think I’d facilitate a retreat so early in my life. But when my dear friend Nata—who will be co-hosting with me—challenged me, I thought: why not? After all, Waking Youth’s very reason for being (and mine) is to explore what it means to live into maturity more wisely, as individuals and as a species. And what better way to do that than together, face-to-face, in a place I love?
We drew inspiration from Parker Palmer’s book, Let Your Life Speak, which explores the life-long journey of discovering one’s vocation—and, of course, our own unfolding paths.
Over five days, we’ll sit with questions like: What is the life that only I am meant to live? What does purpose feel like—not in theory, but in my body? And what would it mean to show up in my relationships as myself—no masks, no pretense, no people-pleasing?
I’m looking forward to diving into themes that have been accompanying my life and this project for years:
Discovering one’s calling (aligned with my conversation with Ashanti Kunene);
Radical honesty with ourselves and others (building on my exchange with filmmaker Caveh Zahedi);
Conscious relating and new relational models, like novogamy (expanding on my interview with transpersonal psychologist Jorge Ferrer).
There’s much more that I want to share about this experience. I’ll write more about it soon. For now, you can check out our landing page below, and write to me if you’re curious or have any questions.
With love,
Carlota