Becoming Peace,
Becoming Liberation
The Seventh Edition of Kaleido Retreat will take place from Wednesday 4th of September to Sunday 8th of September 2024 in Hasliberg Reuti in Switzerland.
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Becoming Liberation – 2024
Becoming Peace, Becoming Liberation
At Kaleido Retreat, we will not only have the conversations needed for our times, but also explore them in playful, creative, embodied and nourishing ways so that you are catalyzed to create positive change in your lives and for this planet. At Kaleido, we seek to bring these concepts into the dynamic present by connecting it to our living, still-evolving experience.
With Becoming Peace, Becoming Liberation as the theme of this year’s retreat, we hope to create a shared language, open space and myriad lens for the exchange, interpretation and meaning-making of our experiences; a community to witness our stories; and the knowledge and tools to transform, individually and collectively.
Register for Kaleido 2024
Programme
Transforming Conflict into Peace, Understanding and Freedom
Creative Imagination of Liberation
Amna will share her experiences as a dreamer, performing artist and political worker, as well as her insights on how concepts like liberation and change are such contested terms.
Setting a backdrop with pointed questions rather than answers, with anecdotes from her life, Amna will attempt to create and hold a space that holds in it the creative imagination of liberation.
On the Morality of War and Peace
Dreaming of Global Democracy
The world is in upheaval: multiple crises are confronting us with huge challenges. At the same time, the pressure on democratic societies is rising – both from within and from outside. It is therefore time to consider updating the political operating system. Not for a single country, but for the entire planet.
Making Peace with the Machine
Via an ocean nexus – how everything is connected?
Via an ocean nexus – how everything is connected and how, by only looking at that lens we ignore the externalities of other elements at our peril
This can range from solving for climate, for ocean, for plastics and for social equity.
How do we approach things in a less parochial and patriarchal manner?
What steps does society have to take, and what steps can we take as individuals for that systemic change to happen.
Making Peace with Nature: A Journey from Science to Conscious Action
The intersection of traditional scientific knowledge and the need for a collective shift in consciousness is crucial to addressing environmental challenges.
Limitations of science in driving action highlight the importance of integrating insights from various disciplines to catalyze systemic change. Fostering collaboration and reprogramming the psyche to align with heart consciousness can lead to a new paradigm of environmental peace and liberation.
How can we collectively bring about this transformation in our approach to environmental stewardship?
Liberatory Economics
Kaleido Morning Circles
Every morning, we gather for the Kaleido Morning Circle, to deepen our intention, in gratitude, get into our bodies, laugh together, move together, to begin our collective and personal experience for the day.
The Emotion Wheel
Emotional well-being is important for us to be able to cope with our everyday life.
Many people in our society are exposed to increasing stress and our modern, hectic lifestyle has a strong impact on mental health. It helps us if we recognize the importance of our emotions, actively strive for them and consciously take time for them in our daily lives.
The Emotion Wheel installation at Kaleido helps with this. Here you have the opportunity to reflect on your own emotions, over the 5 days of Kaleido, to give space to them, and if you like, to get into conversation with it and us. The Wheel provides an encounter zone where emotion patterns and exchanges emerge.
Hatha Yoga and Ecstatic Breathwork
Yoga for all levels.
Immerse yourself in a practice where we will begin the day by visiting our personal intention, exploring traditional Hatha Yoga postures, focusing on alignment, breath and mindfulness. Feel the benefit of arriving inside of your body through conscious movement. When you start to explore your inner space, the path will become always more clear, leading you closer to your authentic, peaceful and compassionate self.
Embracing Nature, Embracing Self: A Contemplative Morning
Immerse yourself in the serenity of the natural world, connecting deeply with your inner being and the welcoming environment around you.
Experience the profound sense of belonging and peace that comes from recognizing we are not separate from nature, but an integral part of it, finding harmony in the sanctuary where we are free to simply be.
Morning Singing
In this activation we will breath and “wake up” together. With conscious loving attention, we will create a magic space where our unique voices are invited to come out and play. The focus will also be on deep listening, to harmonise as a group and to set the tone and intention for the day.
Liberating your Business from the Venture Capital Model
This workshop will help you to architect a business using Post Growth Entrepreneurship, an entrepreneurial methodology for creating non-extractive social businesses. Dr. Melanie Rieback, co-founder of Radically Open Security and Post Growth startup incubator Nonprofit Ventures will make you question everything that you know about entrepreneurship, provide practical tools for building something different, and help you to liberate your business from venture capital.
The session will be an interactive workshop with the following setup:
– Choose a “Post Growth” business to work on
– Choose a financially non-extractive governance structure
– Fill in business model canvases: Sustainable Business Model Canvas + Minimum Viable Product (MVP) Experiment Canvas
– Explain the bootstrapping process for your “Post Growth” business
– Share with peers and end with a group discussion.
Embodied Liberation of Money
What is your relationship with and to money?
What is inner richness for you?
What beliefs do you hold towards the notion of money? From where has that taken root in you? Are those beliefs really true? Do they serve you?
In this workshop, we will embark on a journey of embodied exploration on the theme of money, to potential shift and integrate our body-mind relationship towards money.
Deep Listening
Using the dynamics of a community engaged in the artistic process- doing art, we will open a doorway into a deeper listening- responding to what we sense and perceive. Creating art in solitude and in communion we try to answer for ourselves the question : what is there to celebrate? In these trying times we find ourselves, the question takes up much more significance, for the alternative is to despair.
Drumming
Participants will have the opportunity to drum, make music and improvise using elements from African and Arabic rhythms. The goal is not only self-awareness, but also communication: how does playing in a group touch the various aspects of being part of a community?
Drumming presents the opportunity for certain experiences to happen, such as a whole-body experience, a sense of the flow of energy in the group or a redefinition of what it means to be an individual in a group.
Peace through nature and nature through peace
How deep is the rabbit hole?
If nature speaks, how can we listen?
When we listen what changes and what is liberated?
Come find out.
SOMAgination Playspace
We are living in a crisis of imagination.
Lets feel and dream our utopias collectively in the SOMAgination playspace.
Moving towards Peace
In this transformative embodiment workshop at the Kaleido, we will look into our inner battles — rage, anger, and judgment — and aim towards converting these emotions into peace. We will work with our body individually, in pairs and in a group to fully sense, listen and acknowledge what is present. We will explore communication channels with and through our bodies, allow ourselves to express and release what might be stuck in our system.
We will get a deeper understanding about the archetypes we play in or life and how these roles can lead to an outcome of a more conscious behaviour.
The intention of the workshop is to create space for internal and external harmony.
Bring your journal, your colors and water.
Get ready to move!
Explore Dance Forms from South Asia
The spoken words that accompany the body’s movement are called Bol (e.g. Taa/Thhai/Thhai/Tat) in the northern part of the indian subcontinent or Cul Katte (e.g.Takka/Dhimmi/Tayyi/Tayyi/Ta) in the southern part of the subcontinent.
How are they spoken by the body?
Explore a few styles with Amna Mawaz Khan from the universe of dance forms from south Asia, ranging from the categories of “folk,” to “classical” to “contemporary.”
Come and dance!
On Impermanence of Stone
Rocks, stones and mountains are the landmarks of humanity. By their consistency and materiality, they symbolise stability and immobility, and appear to be unalterable by time. Are they really?
Milestones, inscriptions, laws and statues, many cultures and leaders have inscribed their earthly passage in stone. Until they are replaced by their successors.
The universe is all about movement, change and transformation. Nothing stands still, nothing is unchanging. It’s all a question of time scale and perception.
Stones are excellent guides for telling us the history of the earth. Historic monuments are evidence of our fragility in this material world that we try to dominate and control.
By observing the stones, I invite you to take a salutary step back 4.5 billion years, using the tools of geology, palaeontology and archaeology.
Wars, destruction, bereavement, climate crisis, migration… this reflection on the impermanence of rocks is a powerful way of relativising the importance of the challenges we face, an invitation to let go.
Emancipatory Storytelling as Social Innovation
Dive into the practice of emancipatory storytelling as a socially innovative approach towards meaningful collaborative team work and co-creative unorthox coalitions and alliances.
Liberating Intimacy
This experience will invite you to connect deeply with yourself, your body, and your emotions.
It will free you from old conditioning around what it means to be a sexual being.
Gradually explore your sensual body using your breath, and gentle touch, feeling the powerful liberation of your inner world.
Making Peace with Cancer
The moment that someone hears that they have cancer is pivotal. From this instant, the life of this person will never be the same. It can be processed in so many different ways. We will share and discuss how we can make peace with cancer by also understanding that cancer is not just a physical disease, it is also emotional, psychological and spiritual. We can ask ourselves, where are my deficits, where am I losing energy? These questions are not only for when you’ve been diagnosed with a disease, these are questions for all humans who want to live their best lives.
Strategic Design for Peace and Liberation
In this short co-design session, Alex will guide participants through the methodology of strategic design, focusing on the ability to address concrete issues while maintaining a clear view of the larger systemic context. By embracing diverse perspectives, the session emphasizes exploring challenges collaboratively. Together, participants will use empathy, curiosity, and intuition as key tools for organizing around a shared challenge. This session is designed to inspire collective action across disciplines and backgrounds, equipping participants with practical approaches to drive meaningful change in their own work.
Exploring the Inner Development Goals
Elysium Breathwork: The Path to Inner Peace and Liberation
Inspired by the mythological realm of eternal peace and happiness, this workshop is a sanctuary for your soul, offering a retreat from the chaos of daily life. Through conscious connected breathing and integrative techniques, you will embark on a journey towards tranquility and self-liberation. Each breath draws in peace and releases burdens, guiding you to your personal Elysium. Experience the transformative power of breathwork,, Become Peace, Become Liberation
Appreciating Short Films Screening Circle
Exploring notions of emancipation , authenticity , innovation and transformative change, we will be appreciating various short films from around the world that tackle various issues on sustainability , justice, gender, ecology and more.
Open Space
The Open Space is a spacetime to bring forth the diversity of ideas, projects, questions, initiatives from the Kaleido Collective. Those interested in proposing for offering an invitation to hold space is requested to send us a short note during the registration.
Performance (DIN is Noise)
Performance with PEMANAGPO
Performance with dit:eau
Speakers and workshop leaders
Nadia is a Professor of Practical Philosophy at ETH Zurich.
With a double doctorate in Physics and Philosophy, she researches fundamental questions of practical philosophy as well as on applied problems of morality. Some of the practical philosophical problems, she investigates include, how to allocate scarce medical resources; the morality of war, specifically new war technologies; the conceptual and normative analysis of recommender systems and (self-)deception; the normative analysis of the crisis of liberalism and cosmopolitanism; climate justice and the challenge of pluralism; the ethics of artificial intelligence in times of polarization; the consent theory of morality and its application in democracies in crisis.
Amna is a transdisciplinary artist from Islamabad, Pakistan. She is an exponent of Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Uday Shankar and Pakistani folk dances.
From 2016 to 2018, she was head choreographer and dance instructor of the permanent dance ensemble, the National Performing Arts Group, at the Pakistan National Council of Arts. She has performed and given workshops across Pakistan as well as in China, America, India, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
Amna has years of experience with direction, script writing and acting for theater and video production, and has worked with different theatre collectives and filmmakers.
She is part of the Awami Workers Party, and a founding member of both Women Democratic Front and Laal Hartaal, Amna is active in socio-political movements in the dismantling of oppression of all kinds.
Amna’s work is rooted in interventionist action rooted in a place of divine love. She lives between Heidelberg, Germany and Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
Melanie is CEO/Co-founder of Radically Open Security (the world’s first not-for-profit computer security company), and “Post Growth” startup incubator Nonprofit Ventures. She is also a former Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the Free University of Amsterdam.
She was named “Most Innovative IT Leader of the Netherlands” by CIO Magazine (TIM Award) in 2017, and one of the “9 Most Innovative Women in the European Union” (EU Women Innovators Prize) in 2019. She is also one of the 400 most successful women in the Netherlands by Viva Magazine (Viva400) in 2010 and 2017, and one of the fifty most inspiring women in tech (Inspiring Fifty Netherlands) in 2016, 2017, and 2019. Her company, Radically Open Security was named the 50th Most Innovative SME by the Dutch Chamber of Commerce (MKB Innovatie Top 100) in 2016.
Patrick is a 7th dan Aikikai and has studied the art of Aikido for over 40 years, 7 years of which was by living and training fulltime in Iwama, Japan with the late Morihiro Saito, 9th dan. Saito Sensei was the longest disciple of Morihei Ueshiba, O’Sensei, the founder of Aikido.
Patrick is the founder of Aikido Montreux and the director of the Evolutionary Aikido Community. He is a practitioner and teacher of Yoga, Meditation and Japanese Tea Ceremony. Patrick also leads the Conscious Practice Institute, which offers conflict resolution programs for hospitals, universities, and international corporations.
Antoinette is co-founder of the Gallifrey Foundation and also She Changes Climate. She is passionate about the complex interrelationships of the ocean, plastics, gender, and overfishing on social injustice, human health and the environment. She seeks either coalitions to find action-oriented solutions that will have far reaching impacts downstream, or to take action on identified gaps where little or no attention is being paid.
Thus her work is eclectic interconnectedness: ranging from impact of overfishing on the ocean and migrants, empowering citizens to take civil legal action against unsustainable legal and illegal overfishing, awareness campaigns on the impacts of plastics on human and planetary health, social injustice and the environment .
Tony is an inspirational musician and story-teller. He is palestinian, living in Zurich since many years with his wife and two daughters. Tony’s interest lies in the use of drumming to expand awareness, to connect to oneself and to change.
Born in New Zealand, Tamar is an international vocal coach and inter-disciplinary artist with Māori, Polynesian and European ancestry. She is a passionate “singer for life” and a creative mentor for many around the world who search to find and express their unique voice.
Anaïs is an impact-driven educational entrepreneur, learning designer, teacher and coach.
Anaïs is a co-founder of Scaling4Good, STRIDE – unSchool for Collaborative Leadership & Social Innovation and is adjunct faculty at ETH Zurich and University of St. Gallen where she develops and teaches pioneering programs in Climate Innovation and Regenerative Leadership.
She is a member of various advisory boards including the Science Advisory Board for Transdisciplinarity at the Swiss Academies of Sciences.
She is dedicated to societal transformation through personal transformation, social equity and systems change.
James is an economist and writer and hosts the weekly economics podcast Macrodose
He was economic advisor to the Shadow Chancellor (UK), and was chief economist at the New Economics Foundation after previously working for HM Treasury, Nesta and the Royal Society. He holds a first in economics and economic history from LSE, and a masters with distinction and a PhD in economics from the University of London. James has taught and lectured at Sussex, SOAS, City and Cambridge Universities, and has written widely on economics and economic policy. James was Director of Progressive Economic Forum from 2021 to 2022.
Lerie (she/they) is a transdisciplinary artist, performer and director, living in Zürich and Basel.
Pemanagpo has been experimenting with sound and digital media since teenage years and studied physical theatre and Jungian psychology after completing a Specialist degree (former equivalent of Masters Degree in Russia) in philosophy. Since 2021, Pemanagpo has been working as a theatrical and film director, and became an active AI researcher and beta-tester, implementing different models into art and advocating for an ethical and sustainable use of technology.
Summarising their multi-disciplinary background in art, theatre, Jungian psychology, astrology and writing, Pemanagpo calls themself “a professional fairy-taler_ess”, as the cornerstone of their work is to explore the collective myths and intimate, mystical and numinous connection with the technology.
Gisela is a body-mind integral teacher, therapist, energy healer, and group facilitator.
With more than three decades of experience in professional choreography, direction, and therapeutic work in the Americas, Europe and Asia, her mission is to inspire individuals and groups with her unique method combining physical movement and arts.
She aims guide people to connect with themselves with a greater energy flow than what they currently experience.
With her unique method (Movement for Life), she “opens up” people to being more trusting and becoming the best version of themselves. She seeks to enhance their internal capabilities and impart valuable skills which introduce inner harmony. She wishes to be a co-pilot on this universal human journey of self-love and self-empowerment.
Daniel is a marine biologist and oceanographer recognized for his research into the impact of environmental conditions on whale distribution and behavior. He is currently the Director of the Right Whale Ecology Program at the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, Massachusetts, USA. Dr. Palacios is leading cutting-edge research and conservation initiatives for the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale. His work combines scientific rigor with innovative approaches to tackle pressing marine conservation issues.
Additionally, Dr. Palacios is a long-term practitioner of the contemporary Japanese martial art, Aikido, known as ‘the Art of Peace,’ whose principles he incorporates into his daily life to foster more authentic connections.
Janne is a ceramic artist, medical practitioner, and a core team member of Kaleido based in Zurich. She is currently pursuing her further studies in Art Education at Zurich University of Arts (ZhdK).
Habib is a Swiss/Pakistani artist working internationally with a vision of ”creating safe spaces where beauty is celebrated”. He trained initially as as a medical doctor and specialised in public health and health management and pursued further education in the arts, earning a Masters in Expressive Arts Coaching, Consulting and Education, and a Master of Fine Arts (Arts in Public Sphere). He is the founder of the Center of Arts-based Methodologies and Wellbeing in Karachi, Pakistan, and runs collectively an international community project called the Mini-zine Library. His current personal research revolves around exploring the metaphor of mother goddess as a way to practise a feminism beyond gender- one that encapsulates the rights of the planet- and the role of the arts therein. He loves making pretty things and enjoys talking to trees.
Daniel Graf is a campaigner and democracy activist.
He has co-initiated popular initiatives in Switzerland and led many political referendum campaigns. His main interest is the digitalization of democracy and the decentralization of power structures. Daniel lives with his family in Basel.
Clarissa is an artist, deeply immersed in exploring somatic practices for over two decades.
She’s dedicated her creative journey to harnessing the power of the body-mind connection. She believes that steering humanity toward a healthier existence begins with an intimate understanding and appreciation of our physical selves and our daily creative power.
She draws from Emboding Anatomy, Butoh Dance, Life/Art Process, Improvisation and Qui Gong to design her offerings. For the “daily business” aspect in life, she uses Conscious-Money-Work to help transform her life and anybody who crosses her path.
Noemi has an unwavering passion for intuitive dancing and conscious movement.
She supports people to rediscover their authentic selves by using the power of their bodies. Through her guide and embodiment practice, she aims to create a profound sense of connection and empower you to embrace their uniqueness. She believes that as human beings, we can learn to navigate our emotions in a healthy way, and using the body as a tool is key in this process. She is a mother of a 4 year old.
Samuel is a peace activist, archaeologist and director of La société CHAMAN specialized in culturage heritage preservation.
Jagannathan is a musician and software activist and creator of DIN Is Noise, a revolutionary sound, music & noise making software.
Leen is a sexuality and relationship coach and a tantric Hatha Yoga Teacher.
She believes that through the power of sexuality, women and men can radically transform their life turning it into a party fuelled by orgasms and joy.
Leen helps people live a Sublime Life accomplishing their dreams and attracting what they desire: a partner, a dream job, a house … all of it comes from Orgasmic Aliveness.
She is the host of the Sublime Woman Summit and is certified as Sex, Love and Relationship coach through the renowned Tantric Institute of Integrated Sexuality.
She lives and breathes to see people transform and awaken to the power of their pleasure. Working with her will give you the embrace of a profoundly safe & juicy cocoon- where you can fully awaken the deepest love for your body, heart and soul.
Miro envisions a world where every breath leads to moments of discovery, healing, and empowerment. As a breathwork facilitator, Miro combines sacred space creation, cacao rituals, and breathwork to inspire personal transformation. His work is guided by a deep belief in the power of kindness, compassion, and mindful breathing to enhance global well-being.
Carly is first and foremost a soul who aches to know the depths of LOVE. She grew up in USA, studied to be a social worker, moved to Switzerland in her late 20’s, had two wonderful young daughters, worked with young children, started looking at life through the lens of her yoga practice, became a yoga teacher, had an existential crisis, was diagnosed with breast cancer, met my mortality face to face and ever since started to LIVE HER TRUTH.
Naveen is a Co-founder and the Creative Director of Kaleido.
He’s a community organizer and facilitator, and passionate about catalyzing the creative potential of individuals and social systems.
He co-founded Humane Warriors, a for-impact organization empowering the diaspora to work on social and environment projects back in their home countries, and also The Origin AG, which develops mindful technologies and tools for creativity. He was formerly a senior researcher and lecturer for robotics at ETH Zurich.
He currently lives, works, and plays in Lichtensteig, Switzerland as a pioneer.
Eda is an SNSF postdoctoral researcher at the Wyss Academy for Nature at the University of Bern working on equitable biodiversity governance and just conservation across the world (www.bridging-values.com). She is a trailblazing visual anthropologist and an award winning documentary filmmaker. Eda founded internationally recognised visual and multimodal anthropology initiatives such as the EthnoKino Film Festival and KarmaMotion with whom she filmed and produced numerous award winning documentary films.
Helder has learned and worked with recognized permaculturists like the cocreator of permaculture Bill Mollison, and other pioneers of this movement like Geoff Lawton, Doug Bullock, Rosemary Morrow, Darren Doherty and Sepp Holzer, to name a few, and in the major world climatic regions. In this process Helder has been researching & implementing sustainability principles in a wide variety of environments, from urban and rural plots in the north and south of Europe to the the arid landscapes of Egypt & Turkey and lately big scale areas of tropical jungles of Peru and Brazil and favilitated knowledge sharing with tribal communities of Quechua and Shipibo tradition.
Helder is a strong supporter of low-income farmers and focuses his work on the creation of strong social structures to build strong foundations for resilient communities. His niche lies in the creation of harmonious social and natural landscapes that demonstrate a high quality of life and a paradigm shift. He is the founder of New School Permaculture and is very passionate about non-formal education and creative methodologies to deliver knowledge.
Nithin is a sound artist, curator and musician from Kerala, India.
Fascinated by all things ‘sound’ and ‘listening’, Nithin stumbled across his passion for curating listening experiences. His artistic practice revolves around facilitating listening spaces that allow listeners to enter an open, empathetic, and attentive states of mind. Nithin’s work has found homes in various platforms like Serendipity Arts Festival (Goa), Hyderabad Literature Festival, Ashoka University (Delhi), OtherPeople (NY), Radio Al Hara (Ramallah, Palestine), BoxoutFM (Delhi), BuchBasel (Switzerland)
Nithin is currently based in Berlin and is pursuing a Master’s in Sound Studies and Sonics Arts at the University of Arts in Berlin. Nithin has been programming Free.wav, an electronic music and sonic arts residency, since 2021 at Bhoomi Farms, set up by his family as an arts residency space.
Alex (she/they) is an award-winning strategist, facilitator, and systems thinker based in Berlin, Germany. With a multidisciplinary background, she leverages her expertise to empower entrepreneurs, journalists, activists, and scientists to collaboratively address global challenges. Alex approaches strategic design not just as a methodology, but as a dynamic, three-dimensional space for fostering collective and embodied systems change. Her innovative work in bottom-up policy transformation was recently awarded with the New European Bauhaus Prize. By integrating social science, politics, culture, and economics, Alex is researching pathways toward regenerative economic systems.
Lucas is a musician and soundscape artist who’d take people on a captivating journey into the world of electronic music. With over a decade of experience in the art of DJ-ing and a music release journey that began in 2020, Lucas is a seasoned explorer of sonic landscapes. His expertise spans various genres, allowing him to curate a dynamic introduction workshop that unveils the nuances of electronic music.
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