Today we are facing an inner ecological crisis. In the 1980s, we saw the spruces lose their needles, the ozone hole grow, and the lakes become acidified. After public awareness campaigns, even politicians realized that society must respect nature's own principles in a completely different way. Today, we are facing a similar crisis where imbalance and a lack of understanding of the principles of our inner nature lead to escalating burnout syndrome, depression, and general disintegration in life. Yoga, mindfulness, and green rehabilitation may not be for everyone, but for many they have offered a path back to a balanced life rooted in meaningful contexts.
Within the framework of the human rights organization Soteria International, we work to raise the issue of inner ecology in the European Parliament. Färjås Yoga Retreats, with its location and yogic experience, offers a fantastic opportunity to work directly with the connection between inner and outer nature. Together with doctors, psychologists, sociologists, and Ayurvedic practitioners, we are developing two different paths to increased health and growth through interaction with nature: green rehab for those who participate, and understanding of regenerative small-scale farming, artisanal food production, and herbal medicine in a way that everyone can embrace.
Nature is a constant source of health and growth! Even modern medicine primarily uses active principles from the plant kingdom in its medications, but isolated and beyond our natural sense of proportion and the healing process itself.
Getting started with medicinal herbs is a bit like starting to bake your own bread. In the beginning, it may feel difficult and uncertain, but once you have gotten to know a handful of plants and their effects on us, interest, confidence, and enthusiasm grow for continuing to explore this living part of life!
It is important to us not only to produce good products, but primarily to let others learn how to do it themselves. Just as we gain so much more from the mushrooms we have picked ourselves, or the apple picked by our son, the personal connection and contact with the plants is crucial in our view of health, healing, and the sacred.
Färjås Yoga Retreats has published "The Gardener of the Soul" with fundamental reflections on health, DIY, and society. From that, we have developed workshops where you learn to make, among other things, creams, tinctures, scrubs, oils, and kombucha.
Keep an eye out for our upcoming workshops on Facebook, or get in touch if you’re a group that wants to come by and learn!
Together with our neighbors, we run Färjås Community Farm. The approach is regenerative small-scale farming, where we nurture the soil instead of taking from it. We grow buckwheat, Färjås wheat, and swidden rye. Black beans, gray peas, and yellow peas. Carrots, beets, parsnips, and radishes. Potatoes and pumpkins.
We have chickens, bees, and sheep. The sheep help keep the landscape open and maintain biodiversity, in collaboration with the County Administrative Board and the West Coast Foundation.
Inspired by the world's culinary crafts, over time we have developed our own approach here at Färjås Yoga Retreats. Yoga is the balance between consciousness and energy, and understanding and managing resources. Eliminating unconscious waste is a simple and elegant principle that has guided us towards increasingly circular culinary practices.
This means that Färjås food craftsmanship primarily relies on what we grow ourselves, at Färjås Community Farm. The winter menu is therefore determined by the spring sowing, the summer growth, and the autumn harvest. As much nutrition as possible is returned to the soil through compost and manure.
Another circular level arises through synergies during the actual processing. We get milk from the farmer whose cows graze on the salt marshes below. Still, it was hard to make our own cheese because we hadn't found a way to use all the whey that remains after cheesemaking. Sure, it can be used for baking, but not in such large quantities. We knew that you can make brown cheese spread by reducing whey for a long time, but then the stove has to be running for all the 30 hours it can take to reduce 10 liters of whey to 0.7 liters of brown cheese spread.
Last winter we started using the wood stove more for cooking, and with that, the different steps fell into place. With the wood stove, it is a joy to let vassla, kombucha, and other things reduce or boil day and night, while the kitchen remains warm and cozy. Slow cooking on the wood stove also provided the solution for producing our gray pea tempeh. The wood stove's heat oven maintains just the right warmth to make the tempeh spores believe they are in Indonesia.
In a similar way, we find ourselves drawn into more and more circular processes in processing. We make oat milk from the same oats that then become the porridge served with the oat milk. We let the skins and seeds from the pumpkin simmer into a broth while we cook, and eventually, it ends up in the pumpkin soup. Moreover, we make broth from everything that gradually becomes too woody in the fields, which forms the base for winter soups.
If the kombucha becomes too sour, it can turn into vinegar, which is, for example, used instead of rennet when we make cheese.
When we harvest honey, we scrape out the frames and put them back. The honey-laden wax that is strained off is placed in water, and the honey water can then be used for pickling, jams, and drinks.
Many discover how sprouting and sourdough baking become their own dance, and gradually we explore this dancing circular movement in increasingly larger parts of our culinary craft.
During certain periods, we offer green rehab at Färjås Yoga Retreat for small groups of 5-8 people. The goal is natural calm and space to rediscover your inner balance.
We follow a simple program with yoga/mindfulness, a shared vegetarian meal, and time for gardening or crafts. There is also the opportunity for discussions about life and existence, both individually and in groups.
The yoga/mindfulness is gentle and intuitive, tailored to each individual's goals and abilities. The conversations are based on the yogic tradition and the challenges we encounter in contemporary life.
The garden therapy and crafts section is designed according to each individual's interests and abilities; caring for the sheep, scything, chopping wood, delving into permaculture, beekeeping, or working with runes.
Our mindfulness and green rehab follow a program developed in collaboration with doctors, psychologists, sociologists, and therapists. Some of them also offer private consultations in Ayurveda, sound healing, classical psychology, healing massage, yoga, and meditation.
The daily schedule begins with a gathering followed by mindfulness exercises. After that, you have personal time, or you can help with lunch. After the communal meal, time is devoted to conversations and garden therapy, either individually or in groups, and the day concludes together with a short meditation.
09:00-09:15 Gathering and sharing
09:15-10:15 Mindfulness exercises, yoga, and relaxation
10:15-11:15 Personal time / making lunch
11:15-12:45 Lunch and green rehabilitation
12:45-13:00 Gathering and closing conversation
We welcome participants privately, in collaboration with your workplace during sick leave, or as work training. The price depends on who is paying – contact us or drop by for a visit if you are interested in learning more!
