A Walk Through the History of The Living Centre

You could say both of us spent our adult lives imbued by the wholistic field. It was new, exciting and on the edge back in the ’70s. I, Lorenna, am exploring consciousness and earth connection, and Shantree is diving into his love for plants through herbalism and nutrition. 

We loved supporting people in natural ways to heal their body-mind and deepen into the important questions of ‘Who am I?’, ’Why am I here?’ and ‘What is my service to the world?’

Life was full and fulfilling. About 30-years ago a deep and almost unbearable yearning to be of greater service to, what was becoming a withering planet’ began to emerge. Yes we know that healthy people make for a healthier planet yet we also saw that many people, while celebrating a healthier more vibrant lifestyle were not connecting the dots between the health of the Earth and human action. 

This is about the time that Shantree and I met and the Centre started to go through it’s metamorphosis from being mostly a herbal centre to an eco-spiritual centre. Courses were created that reflected a larger vision of what health means.  

Programs that addressed practical needs such as food, nutrition and sustainable growing methods, natural medicines,  regenerative gardening systems. All of this woven together with practical methods for healing trauma, childhood and societal indoctrinations, nature connection and shifting consciousness from the destructive illusion of the ‘separate self’ to one of Interbeing, also called interconnection.  

It’s not as though we weren’t doing this before. We simply realized that to fulfill this yearning of the heart and our mutual commitment to serve our Earth Mother, the lens of how and what we offered had to shift from being primarily people-focused to care of the Earth, People and Future Generations.  

Ultimately it is a healthier Earth that makes for healthier people and life. We have come to realize that there is a great wasteland in the soul of most people because of our disconnection with Nature. A disconnect that happened such a long time ago that we don’t even remember why we try to fill our lives with ‘stuff’, busyness, success and addictions in order to fill the hole in our hearts. 

They say ‘Love is the answer’, and indeed it is. Our journey has taken on a great love affair journey with so many aspects of Earth’s expression. For Shantree it has been through Herbalism , Ayurvedic Living Nutrition , and our Permaculture Certification courses and Forest Gardening.

For myself I find ways into the heart of Mother Earth through the Shamanu: Earth Wisdom, Teachings, WomanEarth programs and ManEarth: Fire & Water Sacred Balance and Permaculture, particularly the Inner/Social aspect.  

Allowing our teachings to ignite our interconnected oneness with all of life; to open to nature as wisdom-teacher; to support people in realizing their ‘sacred work’ as builders of a planetary community focused on peace and respect for the sacredness of all life, AND drinking in the awesome wonders of creation is truly what our lives are all about. 

Awe, wonder, connection and Love for Life is not ‘woo woo’. It is the very foundation of who and what we are. For some crazy reason, we have normalized war, hatred, selfishness and the like. 

There is radical change afoot. Being in the healing field for 50 years we can see an acceleration in how quickly people are waking up, asking the important questions and reclaiming their lives. These are exciting and dangerous times. We sit on a knife-edge of possibility. What we choose in this generation will lay foundations for decades to come, as it always has. 

We are deeply thankful to be able to share what we love through our programs and now, opening our hearts and land to others who want to create sustainable ways of living and creating income doing what they believe in through our Ecosystem Participants program.

What a privilege to be alive in these times with the support and love of a living planet and each other.  We look forward to continuing to share and celebrate the abundance of Life and community with you.

With love and gratitude,

Lorenna  Bousquet-Kacera, co-director of The Living Centre & founder of Shamanu: Earth Wisdom Teachings