Transition to Outpost
| Dear friends of YIP, |
| We hope this Newsletter finds you well, Many who have known YIP for a long time would know YIP to be a permanent improvisation. Our desire to continue meeting the outer and inner circumstances that come our way, makes it so that nothing in the physicality of YIP is ever set in stone – where, who, and in what way can be different every time as we respond to the needs we see, the asks of us, or constraints we meet. Long after the curriculum for YIP17 was made, and many applications had come in, the team was faced with the fact that we could not be in Sweden for the entire duration of program due to changes made in visa laws. To make YIP possible in the way we want to, the team came to the Outpost as an answer after many long considerations. And so, three weeks ago the yippies and the team packed our bags, cleaned the spaces we used in Ytterjärna and in no time found ourselves on a bus to the airport, 30,000 ft in the air, and right here in India. With our shift for the Outpost, we’ve now moved halfway across the globe leaving snowy Sweden behind and coming into the context of Tamil Nadu in Southern India – into a world, culture, and way of life that for many of us is new and for others somewhat familiar. It’s been two weeks now since we’ve arrived – a very full two weeks of meeting many people, meeting different realities, and meeting ourselves and each other in everything new. These meetings have expanded us in all the ways that they have challenged, confronted and inspired us. This Newsletter will take you through our last weeks in Ytterjärna, our transition to the Outpost and our first week at CESCI (Center for Experiencing Socio Cultural Interaction in Madurai, Tamil Nadu), the campus that will be our home for the first month of our stay in India. Written by Sydney Dinopol |
In this newsletter you will find: – Moving In Complexity written by Nele Goertz and Matvey Melnikov- Portrait Painting written by Anousha O`Malley- Initiative Forum Days and Transition to Outpost written by Sarah Bennet- Travel to India written by Naomi Richards- Introduction to CESCI written by Lucia Höfer- Initiative Forum 2025- Message from the Organising Team: YIP18 Applications Open – Alumni Project: Planetary Service written by Teresa Ramos Serra |
Moving in Complexity
with Justas Kučinskas
Part One:
Last week’s course we were hosted by Justas Kučinskas from Lithuania. He is the founder of Movement Vilnius (a movement school). Justas has previously practiced various forms of movement: professional dancing and yoga. Besides this, he is also a philosopher.
Each day began by standing still and upright together for 10 minutes. Afterwards we did different flows and positions. Personally this was the most uncomfortable part of the day to me. While having to stand still I felt the want to shake or move my body. Remaining at the same spot and not being able to move in space takes lots of patience. Only the last day I found myself actually enjoying these tasks.
After fika we went into partner and group exercises. All of these tasks were connected to observing, listening and communicating. For example a duo task: Person 1 moves freely and comes into any position. Person 2 ‘listens’ and after taking a brief moment echoing person 1’s movement they start to move as well and end up in any position. This goes on for some minutes and a conversation will be created.
This exercises prooves to me that communication doesn’t need words or clear gestures. We don’t only listen with our ears but we listen with our whole body as well as speaking with it. There is no way of not communicating. And putting spoken words aside, communication seems even more powerful. Its authenticity creates vulnerability because there is just no way to lie while expressing ourselves with the help of our body. Whereas words can’t always tell the truth.
I wonder if spoken language is even that important to be able to communicate or if the body and soul language are actually transferring the actual essence of what one tries to put in words.
What I take from this week is patience, trust, awareness and attention. Patiently and honestly listening to others and oneself. Acting and reacting trustfully. Putting attention and awareness into one’s body rather than one’s mind to truly follow one’s instincts and impulses.
Written by Nele Goertz
Part Two:
I have been doing movement exercises as a personal practice since 2021. From the 28.10 to 01.11 we had a wonderful “Moving in Complexity” week. We practiced many different approaches to our bodies. I have to say that this week opened my eyes to the perception of my body and the presence of beings in a room in a way I never experienced before. How to be, what to do, how it is even possible to create a good space in a room in order to bring positive changes around me and the world. The experience of the professional competitive sports Justas Kučinskas practiced in his life combined with his approaches as a host for complexity of movements resulted in a professional feeling of learning in me. I felt like a professional learner. Why? I can’t answer. The process of learning was intense in movement but also in thinking. We were reuniting all the feelings we are able to practice like breath, sight, muscle rhythms and more in one flow.
From my observations the week was a success for the whole group. Thanks a lot to Justas Kučinskas.
Written by Matvey Melnikov
Portrait Painting
with Rachel Ingvad
With cold frosty mornings and an autumn sun pouring through the windows, the Portrait Painting week
began. Our contributor for this week, Rachel Ingvad, brought an exuberant exciting energy to the group,
her purple hair and shining eyes inspiring us to be creative.
Working with acrylics, we each chose two to three colours of paint. At this point we were not thinking
about the portrait itself but instead, in covering the stark white of the canvas, we released the pressure of
the ‘first mark’ and focused on enjoying the process of painting.
Continuing, we began to look at the face, focusing on darks and lights, tones and shadows, detaching any preconceived ideas we had about ourselves. We were encouraged not to look at our features as eyes, nose, mouth but simply different shades of colour.
The week progressed, we fell in and out of love with our paintings, some days we painted with the canvas
upside down. We discussed each others work through feedback sessions, tackled challenges together, and began to recognise our friends in the colours. It was interesting to observe a group of 37 students, some with a background in art and some having never painted before finding their styles and uncovering hidden talents.
The Portrait Painting week heightened my observation of the world, I found myself noticing shapes in
peoples faces and I discovered the depth of sensitivity and compassion we have for each other as a group.
Written by Anousha O´Malley
Initiative Forum Days and Transition to Outpost
| The week before we set off to India, we had a lot to do! Our Initiative Forum needed a big push in terms of planning and organising. Additionally the entire YIP campus needed a deep-clean – not an easy task. Monday and Tuesday, were dedicated to the Sowing Seeds of Connection Initiative Forum, taking place over the Easter Weekend 2025. We worked hard and planned a program filled with interesting contributors and engaging content. For the rest of the week, the Yippies and the OTs cleaned, then cleaned and then cleaned some more. Tallevana, Nibble, Almandinen, the Hive were tidied, dusted, mopped, scrubbed and wiped until each surface sparkled. For these 3 days, Annie and Sydney morphed into cleaning police, using their fingers to detect spots of dust. Leaving Ytterjärna in a cleansed state brought a sense of completion to our time in Sweden and left us feeling excited and ready for India! Written by Sarah Bennet |
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Travel to India
“While most of us are led by the strict demands of timetables and diaries, our soul, the seat of the heart, trails nostalgically behind, burdened by the weight of memory.”
An Arabic proverb tells us that the soul moves at the speed of a camel, about the same as the speed of walking (around 3mph). If that is true then the souls of YIP17 would still be somewhere in the Baltic sea or perhaps into Latvia. In the modern world we can move faster than comprehensible through the ephemeral substance of air. And so YIP harnessed the wonders of modernity and on a sunny Swedish Sunday morning in November began the journey that brought us here to the humid outskirts of Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India. We passed through different time zones and different worlds, from the sterile corridors and border controls of Arlanda airport, to the strange, amorphous non-place of a steel cylinder 30,000ft in the air. And then on to the bizarre metropolis of Dubai airport, monument to mobility and consumerism encased in air conditioned permanent wakefulness in the Arabian desert. No camel speed remembered here. Bleary eyed by this point, nonetheless coaxed by Matvey into push ups in the midst of the bright lights and duty free cars… After another blast of recirculated air, over the Arabian sea, we stumbled into the hot and foggy air of Chennai. After lengthy discussions at the border, we made it out and were met by a 8ft banner, welcoming gifts and insistent group photos. The final stretch. A bus ride through landscapes mostly unseen. Sleep could wait no longer. Stopping for lunch, our first taste of South Indian food, and then the ubiquitous chai- scalding and sweet, we pressed on, past palm trees, rice fields, carts of bananas, cows and colours. Night fell with equatorial suddenness. On through the dark, until finally, almost 35 hours later we were home. Our new home, from home, from home. Welcomed again with flowers and warmth and then finally to bed, for the first night of sleep, kept company by the sound of the dogs, horns and crickets that would soon become routine.
Written by Naomi Richards
Introduction to CESCI
“The future depends on what we do in the present” – Gandhi
Unbelievable, we are already one week in India. This first week was about arriving here in CESCI and learning about moving into a life of non violence. I have never been so far away from my home before, so it was very exciting for me to get to know a new culture. This week I learned far more than I ever expected. I think I never met so many inspiring people in such a short time in my life.
On Monday night we arrived after a 48 hour trip in the beautiful CESCI center. We were very warmly welcomed and got super delicious food. On Tuesday I got up at 6 am to participate in the yoga session (which is more like a real full body work out). After that our service hour started. I enjoy working outside and making the place more beautiful. At 8 o’clock we have breakfast, which is pretty different from the breakfast in Sweden (often rice, idly and sambar). In our first session we learned more deeply about the work of CESCI and Ekta Parishad. CESCI is a community focused initiative that supports grassroots movements for social justice, peace and sustainability. Later, we learned about land rights issues in India. This fact stood out most for me: 80% of the women in India are working as farmers, but just 8% of these women legally own the land.
The next day we learned more about the life and values of Mahatma Gandhi who worked for social justice in many ways, including through organising enormous non violent marches. I think this is a very simple but important quote: “What you do not want for yourself, do not do to others.” This quote is a universal law, but I think we forget it too often. Later someone told us about the importance of local governments and how these days local governments are addressing global issues. What I liked most was our trip to a yoga ashram in the afternoon, where Swamiji shared his knowledge and experiences with us. We talked about how we all search for happiness and how we are just able to find it if we live in the present. Additionally, how important it is to combine learning with action.
On Thursday and Friday we talked more about Non Violence and Social Action. For example it is normal that we get angry when we see injustice in the world and that is also necessary. But we have to use this powerful instrument of anger to actually make a positive change. For that we need Non Violence not just in our actions but also in our mind and in our words.
That sounds like we were sitting the whole week in a room and listening. But we also visited a temple on a mountain and we went to different villages nearby. These were wonderful experiences. The children in the villages prepared wonderful events for us. I was deeply touched by how they welcomed us and showed us a small glimpse of how they live.
Even on Saturday all of us went to a local village where we cleaned the side of the road together with the people living there. After work we drank coconut water out of fresh coconuts and sang songs together.
Unfortunately I am not able to write about all the new impressions and inspiring conversations that happened in this short article. I can just say, that for me it was one of the most adventurous weeks in my life.
I want to end this text with a quote from Gandhi which stood out to me this week: “There is enough for everyone’s need, but not for everyone’s greed.”
I am incredibly thankful to have the opportunity to be here in India and get so many new experiences.
Written by Lucia Höfer
Message from the Organising Team:
YIP18 Applications Open
How can we stand, understand and respond to the challenges in the world today?
Another year filled with major advances in the so called “AI tsunami” has passed by bringing yet more intensively the question of what is to be human?
Are we practising our capacity to be conscious and awake intellectually, ethically and morally in the choices we make, in the imaginations of the future we put into the world and in the efforts we expend?
Another year filled with war and conflict has been lived through (or perished in) where we have witnessed, experienced or been impacted by the power of the military industrial complex and its capacity to fuel disharmony, hatred and misunderstanding where one sided narratives of entire populations are spun and propagated to dehumanise people.
Are we able to find ways to decipher truth, to understand complex systems and their inter-relationship and to foster human understanding?
Another year filled with political mayhem has been experienced, where the lowest human drives and impulses have been manipulated to make important decisions that need the opposite of this, that need care, insight, education and intelligence to make.
Are we able to school our capacity to enter into topics (or indeed ourselves) in a nuanced way, viewing them from multiple perspectives?
Another year filled with exploration and understanding has been enjoyed here in YIP, filled with meetings, challenges, moments of realisation and being seen. Filled with community, good food, stories, song and adventure. Another year supported by the beauty of the land here in Sweden and the stunning natural world.
Are we able to learn from these things and be shaped by them so that we can do good in the world?
YIP 18 applications are open to anyone between 18 and 28 who feel called to live with these questions and realities and spend 10 months together with others who do the same.
On the team we start with a verse every morning which speaks well to the intention of YIP:
In our heads the power of faith
In our hearts the might of love
In the fullness of our being
Sustaining hope
To hold and carry life.
– R. Steiner
Please be in touch with us if you have any questions and let anyone you feel may be interested in YIP know of its existence.
With Thanks,
The Organising Team
| In the next newsletter you will find: |
| – The Art of Storytelling – Personal Initiative Kickstart – Transition to Auroville – Winter Break – Alumni Project |
| Newsletter made by Naomi Richards, Sydney Dinopol and David Adámek |