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.
Work Camp & Take-down 2025 in Bad Bevensen
We’ll have a two-week work camp this year, aiming for a group of 8-12 people. From Sunday July 13 to Friday July 25, we’ll build platforms for the meditation tent, the childrens tent and the washtent, prepare the retreat area, the kitchen and the tea cosmos, set up a dozen small white tents and much more. Our aim is to have a beautiful experience in the work camp itself, organizing evening programs and having enough time off to go to the river frequently. There will be a one week take-down after the camp, August 17 – August 22.
Requirements for Work Camp and Take-down 2025
- Participation in the camp happens at your own risk.
- The work can be demanding. You should be physically fit and enjoy to live and work in a community.
- Your health insurance needs to cover your stay in Germany.
- You can stay in your tent or campervan, if that’s not possible because you travel from afar, let us know with your application.
- Our camp guidelines apply, please read them carefully.
- If you stay the whole six weeks, we’ll see that you get enough time off, and we’ll support you in your travel costs if needed.
History of the Work Camp
The work camp has a long history in being a part of the camp that has it’s very unique characteristics and always attracted a different brew of people. With a five-week workc amp 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 Nori (nori@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:
