Life Itself Praxis Hub
Life Itself Praxis Hub
Life Itself Institute established its Bergerac Praxis Hub in 2020 as a deliberately designed developmental space supporting deep inner development, collective inquiry, and systems change through philosophical rigor, relational practices, and experimental community-building.
Vision
Life Itself aims to incubate individuals and collectives capable of navigating complexity with depth and coherence. The hub is epistemically ambitious, generating and testing new ontological and developmental frameworks informed by cognitive science, contemplative traditions, and complexity theory. Unlike many intentional communities focused solely on lifestyle, Life Itself maintains a rigorous meta-theoretical stance while connecting inner transformation to systemic engagement, supporting participants to "grow up," "wake up," and "show up" in ecologically and socially impactful ways.
Core values
Life Itself describes itself as "the middle way between Plum Village and Silicon Valley" - balancing the spiritual and the rational, meditation and getting things done. The hub operates with strong emphasis on multi-domain development, drawing on adult development theory (Cook-Greuter, Kegan), trauma and attachment theory, and meditative insight across cognitive, emotional, relational, and systemic dimensions.
Program
Praxis Residencies range from one week to three months. Participants arrive with a project or question to explore while being part of a systemic collective body. Daily "Minimum Viable Practices" include shared cooking, silent meditation, housecleaning, and garden care. Evenings offer circling and core circles for deeper check-ins, while weekends remain unstructured. Participants can offer their own sessions, creating space for emergent learning rather than following a strict program.
Practices
- Daily meditation, walking meditation, and mindful cooking
- Circling, authentic relating, weekly sharing circles
- Complexity-informed discussion spaces and dialectic processes
- Action-research and collaborative projects
- Meta-theoretical engagement with Integral Theory and developmental frameworks