Mani, the central peninsula of the southern Peloponnes, is one of the most beautiful and interesting areas of Greece.
Historically the only part of Greece which defended itself against the turkish occupation, it is now devoted to a still simple but yet quite distinguished Tourism.
Often called the "Toscany" of Greece, the Mani is the nations most famous olive-oil producing area.

Even though it used to be a carefully kept secret among insiders up until recently, today the Mani is easily accessible for all travellers wishing to make a connection with its people and its landscape.

One of the Mani´s most prominent qualities is the abundance of all different kinds of beaches. There are magnificent rockplateaus, there are idyllic sand-beaches, wide ones and tiny ones - flat or steep, totally lonely and very populated ones, with or witout Cafés and Taverns. And all of these can be reached within only one hour by car…
In just one day you can easily hike the mountains and also relax at an idyllic beach, sunbathing, as well.

The landscape is colorful, of profound nature and of course dried out in the summertime. Red soil, yellow dry grass in between olivetrees, lots of stone and rock and bright blue coves. The sea is clear and unspoiled - the landscape is mostly characterized by its olive trees and rocks, the deepblue sea and the hills of the Taigetos Mountainrange. The villages are quite small, often snuggling into the hills, consisting mainly of stonehouses built in the traditional style, whitewashed little houses in the style of the islands are rare to find.
Many villages are well renovated and restored, everywhere there are little taverns.

Down at the sea the villages show more influence by tourism. There are many taverns, cafés, fishrestaurants and shops, and yet a romantic atmosphere prevails.

We have some 8 months of "spring" every year here. By mid-September, when "spring" starts, we take pleasure in the first cool winds and the white caps out on sea and in the adored jewel of a first rain. In January in the beautiful rainshowers and the lot of sun in between them, the greens everywhere and the life which starts. In May we are still fascinated by all these flowers and blossoming shrubs and trees and this unbelievable creative power of the Mani and it is impossible to decide, whether to be sad for the green to leave or happy for the yellow to come.

You can grow wonderful gardens here and in the summertime everything is burnt.
The summer: the dense yellow of the fields, the density of the crickets, who chirp, the Zikades, who shriek and the warm summer nights.
The hot, sensuous, totally overflowing, sweaty siesta-sessions between four and seven pm, followed by a refreshing shower and then the sipping of a Nescafé or something else, to get ready for the second day of the same day.
You enjoy the merciful eveningsun, the sunset, a delicious dinner and let the stars smile down at you, intoxicated and sprinkled by the chirping of the crickets. It has an effect on you like the music of Schumann, thousand times nicer, and yet interpreted in an unbelievably correct way. He, who knew exactly the sound and feeling of the Flächenmusik-perception of the soul as well as of endless erotic.

Imagine yourself sitting at one of these blue round coffeehousetables, having breakfast. Terrific bread, fresh lettuce leaves in juicy shades of green and lush shapes, olives, goat cheese, maybe some oliveoil and fresh herbs. Your favorite drink is steaming in the fresh morning air and you are surrounded by the most wonderful colors, sounds and scents in the glimmering light of the morning which is constantly changing and renewing itself.

And your heart feels wide and big and you feel genuine joy rising upwards from the base of your root to your stomach and chest, filling the space all the way to your head etc.
And this joy wants to stay and wants to even increase, to grow and to share.
And now you know that it is TOTALLY OK that something is happening here, which is good the way it is and that it is ok that this feeling of joy really belongs to you, is born in you and is connecting with this world and expanding and that is is REALLY LIKE THAT and that it is ok if your future will feel just like that as well.
That you are allowed to feel like that.
That this moment is totally rich and that this richness, this warmth, this exchange may recreate itself every moment.
It is an endless spring whithin you which lets this feeling expand and connect and be recreated in new ways all the time.
You feel like the world is one big crescendo and suddenly you know that there will always be supplies for you and for the world to which you are sending these rays of joy and which is absorbing them unrestrictedly. This richness exists and you know it.

Continuity which is no continuity but is constantly recreating itself from itself and is connecting with everything and is allowed to flow and recreate.
And each moment of your life has its creative potential and is giving itself, flowing and giving anew and anew and anew.
Your world is a constant sinfony of colors and tones of feelings and there are no bounderies set for this experience of being newly connected, of FLOWING.

All this you are allowed to experience, feel, BE.

How to get here: In summertime there are direct flights to Kalamata (check with your travel agent)
Alternatively you can take a plane to Athens and go to Kalamata from there (advantage: more flexible schedules and dates).
Agios Nikolaos, Stoupa and Kardamili (community of Lefktrou) in the state of Messinia are the places which we should best visit for the seminar.

A phantastic site about Mani, Kardamili...