Building the Camp
The Work Camp
Every summer, a group of volunteers gathers to build the Camp from scratch and to manage the activities and logistics. Once Camp has ended, the volunteers dismantle everything.
To participate in the Work Camp means lots of physical activity, being outside most of the day, sweating under the hot sun, but also sometimes shivering in the rain and cold wind. It means good food, simple community living, making friends, meditating alone or with others, discovering and rediscovering dormant qualities in one self, and in being in close contact with nature.
This time offers the possibility to unite spirituality, work and play in community. Together we will be creating a space and atmosphere that will welcome the invited teachers and all participants, and offer them the possibility to create and follow the different programs in a supportive environment. It also offers a chance to be with people from countries with diverse cultures and languages.
We need people with a variety of skills from carpenters to people that like cooking for 15 people! But what we need most are helping hands, and it is always possible to learn new skills.
The Take-down
The take-down process also offers a wonderful opportunity to feel your body again after an intense time of meditation, to be in good company, or simply to spend some more time together in a smaller circle, before we all go out into the world again. After the abundance of experiences in Camp, it’s cathartic, yet bittersweet, to deconstruct, pack, and store everything away, leaving our camp place back to nature. Since we need many helping hands in the take-down, we invite also seminar participants who are able and willing to help us.
History of the Work Camp
The work camp has a long history, it’s very unique characteristics and always attracted a different brew of people. With a five-week work camp and a two-week take-down in Ticino, and up to 35 people, it was a different experience than today! A new place might bring a new work camp experience as well – We’ll see what the future holds. There is a group that meets infrequently to speak about the spirit of the work camp and how to make the experience most enjoyable – please get in touch with us (info@zenithinstitute.com) if you’d like to be a part of this conversation.
Here are some pictures of the work camp in Ticino, 2022 and older:
