Sudas reports from his visit, earlier this spring, to the Elontuli retreat centre in Finland, created by Sudeva and Pragita
(click on images to view in larger scale with captions)
Finland has 188,000 lakes and is home to an estimated 22 billion trees. With nearly 75% of its land area covered by woodlands, this equates to about 4,500 trees for every Finn, or roughly ten times the global average per person.
In English we have an expression about not being able to see the forest for the trees, meaning not being able to see the bigger picture due to getting lost in detail. As I flew into Helsinki yesterday afternoon, I couldn’t see Helsinki because of the trees.
Living as I do in the flatlands of west Jutland in Denmark, with very open landscapes, the contrast was especially striking, and the bit about the forest and the trees popped into my mind.
Previously, I have only ever passed through Helsinki airport and had no experience of the country, apart from the news cycle.
On landing, I was astonished to find that Helsinki airport is a very busy and thriving situation, full of global travellers criss-crossing the planet. It lies at the top of the world. The airport itself is super modern, spacious and with an aura of futuristic design and friendly welcome. Even the military presence with serious weaponry at their command did not in any way seem jarring or off-putting. Quite the contrary, they offered reassurance, knowing as we do that we find ourselves at the crossroads of a geopolitical hotspot, bordering as it does with Russia. The security of Finland is undoubtedly the security of all of Europe. In that sense we are all a part of Finland.
Two hours later, after a sun-filled drive into some country area, I arrived at my destination, which is a retreat centre deep in a forest, close to a lake.
I had been met at the airport by one of my hosts, Sudeva, and for the next three hours we exchanged life stories, spoke of how our paths crossed unknowingly a couple of times back in the 1980s, and what engaged us in each of our lives in the current moment.
Sudeva, together with Pragita, his partner of more than 30 years, have created a state-of-the-art retreat centre in a forest area about a 1.5-hour drive from Helsinki. The story of how they made their place is remarkable in itself, and over dinner I had time to ask detailed questions about how they had fostered and fulfilled a vision to create a place for meditation, therapy, tantra processes, breathwork, primal, and many other pathways to inner growth, in such a beautiful place. The more I heard of their achievement the more magical it all seemed, and at the same time I understood that it must have entailed hard work, determination as well as an immeasurable trust in the bounty of life.
Parallel with that project they also shared the upbringing of their children, as well as following their respective musical careers in the normal world. I had already seen four beautiful pianos standing in various rooms throughout their home. It all struck me as a high-wire balancing act, which has turned out well and continues to grow and thrive, in spite of periodic setbacks, financial crises, or occasional inner turbulence.
They now find themselves at a stage in their lives where everyday projects leave ample room to develop their new roles as grandparents and carers for elderly parents. There seems to be a lot of space in them to deal with what just comes along.
My host commented rather philosophically on this new-found stage of their lives, and asked me if I had a similar experience. We are almost in the same age bracket, and I could easily admit that I especially enjoyed the freedom and relaxation which becoming older frequently offers.
For a lifetime, they have lived the daily round of being present to all that turned up in every manifestation of their shared adventures.
But at this point everything seems to work with much less effort and does not require the continuous or constant striving of the earlier years of their partnership. They flow well together and very much appreciate that fact.
Today, the day after my arrival, they will make a road trip in and around Helsinki which encompasses food shopping for a seminar which starts at their place in the evening, do a face-to-face magazine interview, which of course can promote their work in breath and tantra, and plan to get home in time to greet the group participants who arrive for the coming 6-day breath workshop. They have offered regular breathwork groups and trainings ever since they commenced their immersion in that field with Dwari and Devapath way back. I see from their programme that Shunyo and Marco as well as Svagito and Svarup are part of their ongoing programme. And Dwari will arrive here in a couple of days.
So, as they head off for their day, I have been promised a continuation of our conversation from yesterday when next we meet. For the rest of the day, I am free to relax, recover from my long travel from yesterday and take time to explore the surroundings. They even jokingly proposed a swim in the nearby lake, something I very much doubt, as the water temperature is not much more than 10 degrees.
Finland has a very highly-rated educational system – even if their ranking in the annual Pisa report has been questioned by others (more envious nations?).
Sudeva and Pragita, who created Elontuli, have made it their life playground…
Well, things became much busier than I could have anticipated, and my hosts were abducted by the arriving participants, so I refrained from pestering them with my curiosity. It did not seem fitting, at least not yet.
But I managed to piece some of the story together, of how around 15 years ago they had spotted an attractive piece of land, in a forest by a lake, and some inner guidance impelled them to inquire and navigate what on outward appearance seemed like an impossible request. But eventually they closed a deal with a landowner who sold them a few hectares, and there they could develop their dream place.
It was not an obvious choice and it was also unlikely the owner would be willing to part with his land. But he did and they could begin the next phase of the operation.
There was a large tract of granite on their newly acquired property, a place which could suitably become a foundation for any intended construction. Step one was in place.
Two hundred kilometres away they found an unused school, with classrooms, meeting halls, kitchen, gym, offices and so on. The building had been there since 1927. And it was in good shape, had been well preserved, lovingly taken care of, and potentially had many good years in front of it. More importantly, it was no longer needed for the much depleted village community, whose children were being schooled in a bigger nearby town, in a more modern up-to-date building with better facilities.
So they bought the school, dismantling the building, log by log and beam by beam. And with 10 cross-country night-time runs on two massive flatbed trucks, they transported everything, lock, stock, and barrel, bringing it all to the new location where it would be reassembled like some giant Lego or Ikea assembly project. Each log and its position in the building was mapped and bundled with its neighbours, wall by wall and room by room, and laid out in a surrounding field. And each of the close to 50 windows and 50 doors were carefully linked to the relevant log pile.
On the granite foundation massive blocks of stone were evenly laid to become the frame on which the many hundreds of logs and beams could be reassembled to form the original 3-storey school building. Everything had been placed in a logical arrangement and each door and window had its own allocated spot in the jigsaw puzzle.
Eventually, everything was fitted together to complete the whole, and the original school building became perfectly complete, reassembled to its original design. The only change was to bring it all two hundred kilometres from its original location. No one would be any the wiser on seeing the beautiful building for the first time, and could probably never guess the origin or story or vision or effort or anything else which contributed to the creation of this extraordinarily beautiful place in the middle of a forest by a lake in rural Finland, a couple of hours south of Helsinki on the road to Turku!
There is even a typical sauna cabin by the lake shore, and soon, when I finish writing these sentences, I will walk the 200 metres or so to the lake shore, go into the sauna, which has been warmed up for the participants since 7 this morning, sit inside and enjoy the view over Lake Pujårvi, which is reputed to be one of the cleanest freshwater lakes of the 188,000 lakes.
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