Roots – Community Centre

In my healing work and mentoring (with adults), I draw on a wide array of techniques and tools — from my own experience recovering from chronic health conditions, as well as study of energy healing practices, craniosacral therapy, and shamanism since moving to Costa Rica in 2020. You can find more info on this website about my services (in holistic health) as well as about my personal health journey You can also find reviews of my work on my site here.

Alex is a black belt in the Hung Gar style of Kung Fu, derived from the Southern Shaolin Temple in China. He trained under Sifu Kautzman in Canada at the Canadian Hung Kuen Association, and has five years of experience teaching kids/youth Kung Fu classes (both at his Sifu’s school in Canada, and since early 2023 in Costa Rica teaching both kids and adults). The Hung Gar style of Kung Fu is rooted deeply in tradition: it incorporates subtle Qi gong and Tai chi elements as well as more energetic martial practice, and is a rounded discipline for mind, body and spirit.

The Vision for our Land

Our mission here in Costa Rica is to create and facilitate healing spaces where visitors can also come to reconnect with the simple pleasures in life. A place to enjoy fresh organic food, clean water, and the soothing music of jungle song. A place to nurture the mind, body, heart and soul, and feel a sense of tribe and belonging with the Earth and all her creatures. In this safe and sacred sanctuary, visitors can be nourished by the land – whilst receiving our services and classes.

We also envision this land as an educational centre for youth to learn about a new way of life, gain practical experience and skills (in ecological construction, permaculture and herbalism), and have time to connect with themselves and nature in order to find the path they wish to walk in life. They can also participate in set programs incorporating mentoring sessions & Kung Fu classes.

A key principle we have is to teach not only through classes, but through our own embodiment of a healthy lifestyle: inviting others into our home and to our land, where we have begun growing medicinal plants and have built our own home through ecological methods. We love to share the knowledge we have learnt: from our own journeys with health, the struggles we’ve overcome, as well as the wide variety of training we have undertaken.

Through integrated programs, visitors can learn about topics ranging from spiritual & meditation practices, healthy & nutritious cooking, plants & plant medicines, and construction. Additionally, after many years teaching youth at his Sifu’s school in Canada, Alex is now establishing his own Hung Gar Kung Fu school in Costa Rica and offers lessons from our home (and select venues in the area).

Core Values

A sense of family and community is at the heart of this project.

To start with, we believe that health and wellness is a universal human right and want to be able to offer visits/retreats, attendance at events, and our practitioner services, inclusively to all — irrespective of background and finances. For this reason, we will be operating with sliding-scale pricing and also offer alternative models of exchange to ensure accessibility.

Alongside this notion of family is our commitment to harmonious interrelationship with all who come to live with/visit us — for however long that may be. We seek to create a safe space for genuine connection, where each individual can be their authentic self, healthy boundaries, individual needs and private space is respected, and any differences or issues can be resolved peacefully through compassionate communication. Weekly talking “circles”, or meetings around the fire, offer an opportunity for each present to take turns sharing and being listened to with full attention. This develops the community’s awareness of where each individual is at on their journey, and enables for healthy interconnected growth and development as a community.

We also celebrate the beauty of human imperfection – we are all on paths of healing, personal growth & development, Alex and I included. We are both teachers and students – we have teachers ourselves, and we are also students of our paths and disciplines. We seek to foster a culture of equality and heterarchy (as opposed to hierarchy). It is true that we all have different roles – and so we may lead in certain aspects, or where we offer classes/workshops in our particular fields of expertise. However, we do not endorse a guru culture, and an environment of mutual respect for all beings is of primary importance.

Youth accommodation (currently camping – with a communal kitchen & bodega space) is free, as our gift to the next generation — and our gates are already open to visitors camping (we have already had one volunteer with us for two months). At this early stage, the invitation is to come and camp, and bring what resources you have to help us develop and improve our communal spaces, as well as grow food.

Contributions to help grow our community and aid development in these early stages can be: financial, material gifts to aid material development, seeds & seedlings, or hands-on time and skills. In particular, for those travelling to us from abroad, we welcome contributions of “Pure Tung Oil” to assist with the natural treatment & upkeep of our wooden structures. Natural products such as this are not available where we live and import costs are very expensive.

Work so far… and further support we need!

Since acquiring the land in late 2022 we have:

• connected public water and electricity services, as well as fibre optic internet
• conducted land-management work to prevent further erosion caused by neighbouring property/road drainage
• planted fruit trees & are in the early stages of cultivating a herb garden
• built a multi-purpose deck (Kung Fu/yoga/meditation space); and
• are in the final stages of building our home.

In order to grow the project and develop more infrastructure for community enjoyment, we need hands-on support as well as funding.

Key further goals for 2024 are to finish our home, renovate the existing bodega “The Apothecary” which provides communal facilities for the campground, extend camping facilities to provide “glamping” options, build a greenhouse and initiate greater levels of food-production.

Finally, if you are a wellness practitioner and are interested to collaborate with us by hosting an event, workshop or retreat at our land, please get in touch! We already have permanent facilities in place to host events, although accommodation is camping only.

Pledge to Gaia (Mother Earth)

We are committed to sustainable development, with ecological building and land management practices. On our land, we protect an area of the jungle and the creek with potable water that flows through it.

My passion for protecting the Earth was developed from a legal perspective when studying environmental law at university. Alongside my studies, I was involved pro bono in preparing the scientific evidence base for an environmental case against the UK government before the European Court of Justice, concerning England’s failure to implement the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive in the context of agricultural development. My article discussing the case, Semi-natural grassland decline: the failings of environmental impact assessment in England was published by Lawtext in the journal Environmental Law and Management, Volume 28 (2016) issue 5.

Alex has been a climate change activist himself and shares my values for fiercely protecting Mother Earth and seeking sustainable solutions for humanity’s survival and growth, symbiotically with the harmonious functioning of the planet’s ecosystems.