September 20th-24th, 2023
The purpose of the Seeds Program is to support community members in developing and deepening their relationships to their community, to their ancestors, and to Mother Earth. Through this training we aim to co-guide you in reclaiming your personal identity and your relationship with your families and ancestors. We encourage you to learn and reflect on what it means to have reciprocity in your families, communities and in your leadership. And we share frameworks that can guide you on your path as a novice to deepening your relationship with Mother Earth.
“The Seeds Program has transformed my life. Not only did it provide a foundation for my spiritual path, but it has brought me in much closer relationship with Pachamama. It opened up a channel of deep connection with the universe and the five energies. It has taught me sacred ways of being and keeping connected to divine energy.”
"Seeds has changed my orientation to creating a world that is just and equitable for everyone. I have learned my own value by following what Seeds has taught me around community and ancestry. The weight of these crises seem manageable because I have a better idea of history of the oppression and the resiliency of Mother Earth. I cannot recommend this program enough!"
“The Seeds program gave me perspective and tools to become more grounded in my daily life and in my work, also the chance to meet inspiring people.”
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In order to defend Mother Earth, we must regain our relationship with her. In order to change society, we must remember a long view perspective by connecting with our ancestors. In order to respond to this great calling, we must learn to be in community.
The deadline has passed for the 2023 Seeds Program. Sign up below to get news about future programming and other events related to connecting with Mother Earth, ancestors and community.
We will start on Wednesday September 20th at 5pm EST. Please plan to arrive on time.
Here are some of the main topics that will be covered during the experiences. However, please know that the agenda will evolve based on participant needs and the preparation process.
Day 1 Community (only from 5-9pm)
- Community & Connection – Individualism & Vulnerability
Day 2 Mother Earth (all day)
- Our Oldest Ancestor
- Gifts and Rhythms of Mother Earth
- Ceremony
- An Encounter with Sound
Day 3 Ancestors (all day)
- Ancestral Memory and Seeds
- Wisdom and the Path of the Novice
- Ancestors Ceremony
Day 4 Reciprocity (all day)
- Reciprocity & Redemption
- Reciprocal Societies: The Andes, Amazon and MesoAmerica.
- Co-Creating with Mother Earth
- Community Celebration
Day 5 A new Beginning (9am-1pm)
- Finding Ourselves
- Closing & Reflections
This is a list of the potential subjects that we might explore in the training.
Cost: This program operates in Gift Economy, which means the Ayni Institute will subsidize the cost of of trainers, preparation, coordination, logistics, training location and food for all days of the training. We are seeking to make this experience as financially accessible as possible. Because of this, there will be no entry cost or charge for any accepted applicants. At the end of training, if you have benefited from the experience, you are welcome to donate and gift the experience to the next Seeds Program Cohort, according to your volition and your means.
Number of participants: We’re going to have a maximum of 30 participants. We’ll be accepting people through our application on an ongoing basis until August 25th. We encourage you to apply early. If you previously attended, you can find the alumni application here.
Lodging for the in-person training: We ask participants to arrange and cover their own lodging and travel costs. For lodging, there are a few options:
- There is a hotel located just a few minutes away from the training school, The Comfort Inn, which you can book if you want to be as close to the training site as possible.
- You can arrange shared accommodations (Airbnb, etc.) with other participants. Please let us know if you are interested in this option in your application.
- We may be able to arrange humble accommodations with one of our Ayni community members.
If you need lodging support for the in-person training September 20-24, we may be able to host you with one of our community members. Please let us know you need it in our application here.
COVID Precaution (In person participants):
For our in person training, our Ayni Team will be testing consistently. We ask that before attending the first session you test negative, this ensures we don’t accidentally put others at risk of COVID-19 (especially those that are immunocompromised in our training team and within our participant cohort).
We encourage you to wear a mask, especially if we are indoors, but they are not required in order to participate. Please do what you feel most comfortable doing.
If COVID symptoms arise, please contact us immediately and refrain from coming in person. Even if symptoms do not arise and you feel you have been exposed, please get a PCR test (it can be done at your local CVS) to ensure you are negative before coming back to being in-person.
Really Interested but Can't Make it?
We spent a year during the pandemic putting this in-person experience into a self-paced course. We really recommend doing the online modules; it is even more powerful to do with a colleague, friend or in a group.
