Join us for the Embodying Deep Ecology Retreat organised by the LIONE association, in collaboration with One Resilient Earth, from July 29th to August 2nd, 2025, at Schloss Hohenfels, Lake Constance, Germany.
The Retreat is designed as an intergenerational journey of connection, regeneration & transformation for activists and changemakers eager to rediscover themselves, others, and the living world in profound ways.
This Retreat is for you if you feel stuck between a world falling apart and a new, beautiful world you can profoundly sense—a world you long to bring to life, yet aren’t sure how. It offers a space to explore and embody your role in birthing new realities where we all feel a deep connection to ourselves, others, and nature.
We will share tools for inner and outer transformation, so as to grow respect and care for all living beings. You will have opportunities to explore emotions, the future, repair, regeneration, and co-creation—while building new relationships. You will experience nature in immersive ways through stories, art, and movement, and enjoy time to rest and restore your body and mind. With dedicated spaces for reflection, emerging questions, and insight integration, our time together will help lay the foundation for moving beyond “business as usual”.
Why Deep Ecology?
Our ecological crisis demands courage. Too many projects offer shallow fixes that merely shift damages and deepen injustices, ultimately undermining the wellbeing of all living beings. In contrast, Deep Ecology upholds the equal right of every being to live and blossom, emphasizing nature’s intrinsic value—a call originally made by Arne Næss.
At this retreat, we take it a step further and invite you to reimagine Deep Ecology: to integrate ourselves fully into the planet’s ecosystems and nurture reciprocal and regenerative relationships. Together, we will explore the root causes of the crisis and discover what holds us back from taking action that addresses those very roots, thanks to transformative and embodied learning experiences. In collaboration with more-than-humans, we will listen to plants, animals, fungi, and lakes as we journey through diverse landscapes within, around, between ourselves, and across time.
What will you do during the Retreat?
During the retreat, you will join a vibrant group of around 40 participants from diverse backgrounds. We invite you on an inspiring learning journey with dynamic morning workshops, relaxed early afternoons, and engaging evening offerings by both organizers and participants. Our activities will unfold in the ancient rooms of the castle and the powerful nature in the gardens, nearby forests and lakes.
Following a spiraling path refined by One Resilient Earth, you will have opportunities to explore, connect, feel, dream, repair, and create anew. You will gain fresh insights through group activities, creative experiments, and shared reflections. You will enjoy invigorating yoga sessions, guided meditations, breath work, or share your art and lead group activities. Moments of collective silence and self-led meditation will offer space for quiet reflection, while facilitators will provide one-on-one mentoring or coaching.
What will you get from the Retreat?
As this is an emergent, collective journey, your experience is co-created by you and the whole group. We will support you in reconnecting deeply with yourself, others, and nature; rethinking your actions to embrace bolder, transformative paths; engaging in inspiring, co-creative processes; and becoming part of a supportive community that nurtures and regenerates itself.
You will also learn methods to:
- Practice Deep Listening and storytelling to forge new connections
- Enhance emotional fluency and regulate your mind and body through somatic practices
- Develop Futures Literacy to make better-informed decisions in the present
- Engage in repair and regeneration with humility
- Boost your creativity for current and future projects
What is the participation fee?
Participation fees are available here. Participation fees in the retreat includes the 6-day program, accommodation in a shared room with organic vegetarian-vegan full-board and a shuttle service to and from the nearest train station. Single-room accommodation is available upon request for an additional fee.
LIONE covers most of the costs, while you will only contribute based on your income and dedication. We truly appreciate your work if you are volunteering for sustainable transformation, we want to offer extra funding. If you are dedicated and need help with the fee, just let the LIONE team know.
Tickets with a receipt payable by a company have to cover the estimated seminar expenses per person. Please pay within 2 weeks after confirmation to secure your spot. You can cancel without costs until May 31, 2025. After this date, the participation fee will be non-refundable.
Where is the Retreat taking place?
Schloss Hohenfels is a vibrant, sustainable and spiritual inspired conference venue near Lake Constance, surrounded by a picturesque and energizing natural landscape. Steeped in history, it is dedicated to environmental stewardship and fostering consciousness, making it an ideal setting for meaningful and transformative events.
How can you participate?
You are welcome to join the retreat if you are over 18 years old and are working in the field of ecological sustainability (either in a for-profit or non-profit organisation, or through activism). Moreover, this retreat is for you if:
- you know that nobody has all the answers, listen to others with humility and curiosity (no matter their age, gender or identity), and contribute to collective explorations with care and integrity;
- you are open to feeling the emotions that arise when confronting the ecological crisis, its root causes, and your role in it. You know those emotions may be distressing, take responsibility for your wellbeing and can voice your boundaries;
- you are willing to foster transformation, and are excited by play, paradigm shifts, different knowledge systems, intellectual wanderings, artistic improvisation, and new bodily experiences.
Do you want to participate?
To apply, simply fill in this online application form and upload your CV and your motivation letter. We will then get back to you with further information
Who will be hosting the retreat?
Laureline Simon has been co-creating and facilitating transformative learning experiences focusing on climate resilience, regeneration, and deep societal transformation with One Resilient Earth since 2020. Before founding One Resilient Earth, she coordinated international cooperation initiatives focusing on climate change mitigation and adaptation for over 12 years. This included supporting international negotiations on climate adaptation, loss and damage and the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples platform with the UN. She also led an international research programme on climate adaptation cities of the Global South, and worked on disaster risk reduction with SEWA, a women-led grassroots organisation in India.
Boris Lebedev is a speaker, transformation consultant, and lecturer specializing in regenerative and sustainable topics. Through his work, he supports regenerative initiatives, teams and companies, empowering them through inspiring speeches and workshops. In his workshops he uses the combination of somatic practices, visionary thinking and nature elements. He holds a Master’s degree in Sustainability Sciences and is a member of the Young German Club of Rome, the TT30 group and Reinventing Society.
Isabella Pfoser has been designing and facilitating experiential learning spaces at the crossroads of sustainability, somatics, and resilience. With nearly a decade in social and environmental activism, she recognized the link between inner well-being and societal change. She represented Austria at COP26 & 27, worked with the UN, and studied political science and economics before focusing on somatics, breathwork, and mindfulness coaching. Her practice has helped her navigate high-pressure spaces, from climate negotiations to refugee shelters. Now, she shares these tools to support those in demanding fields in building resilience while driving systemic transformation.
Rūta Žemčugovaitė is a Lithuanian-born writer, facilitator, artist, and creative consultant based in Berlin. She is a co-founder of Sympoiesis Experience and Design Lab, where she investigates regenerative design practices and leads Regenerative Futures workshops where humans are invited to deeply connect with nature. Rūta holds a BSc in Psychology from the University of Stirling and has trained with the leading trauma healing experts in Costa Rica. She has facilitated trauma-informed workshops and retreats in Hawaii, Sweden, Switzerland, and Germany. She writes a Substack newsletter titled Regenerative Transmission.
Alois Reinhardt is a Swiss-born performer, artist, painter, choreographer, dancer and actor. From 2007 to 2011 he was engaged at the Deutsches Theater Göttingen, where he received the young talent award. This was followed by 15 years of professional experience at the Deutsches Theater Göttingen (2007-2012) as well as at the Theater Bonn (since 2013). Besides his creation in theaters, he developed live painting performances in different settings, and participated in projects with renowned dancers and choreographers. Since 2018, he has been teaching regularly as an acting lecturer at the Alanus Hochschule for Art and Society.
Sarah Queblatin is a regenerative design strategist who intricately weaves inclusive ecosystem leadership with awareness-based systems change methodologies for whole systems transformation. Her roles are categorized into three interrelated pathways: Soil, Soul, and Story. Drawing from years of experience as a social innovator and cultural creative, she engages in diverse activities, such as co-designing multi-stakeholder platforms with Indigenous wisdom keepers, cultivating healing permaculture gardens with displaced communities, facilitating expressive arts practices for cancer patients, and designing learning journeys for prototyping regenerative solutions with changemakers. Through her work, Sarah collaborates with nature and the creative process, offering gifts of remembrance of wholeness to herself and others.
Maximilian Schachinger, born in 1968, is the co-founder of the LIONE association, chairman of the advisory board of Schachinger Logistik Holding, managing director of 1-0-1 GmbH, and founder of the Council for Sustainable Logistics. He has dedicated his life to the sustainable transformation of our economic system and measures all his actions against this principle. Since the age of 14, he has been connecting with people actively engaged in the healing of society and nature. At that time, he co-organized a demonstration in Linz against the Seveso toxin alongside six others. In 1982 this group gave rise to Greenpeace Austria and Global 2000. As the recipient of 18 awards for sustainability and innovation, he serves on various juries. Maximilian lives wherever his work takes him, moving between Vienna, Zurich, and Bolzano.
If you have questions, please write to: office@life-on-earth.org