My Journey with Gaia Education - by Yan Teixeira

I love to tell the story of how the 4D Framework changed my perspective and opened my eyes to a whole new world.

After five often tiring (and sometimes purposeless-feeling) years studying engineering at university, I felt I needed to reconnect with my heart. I decided to pause university during my last semester to pursue a dream: experiencing and learning English in an English-speaking country. My options were wide, but the most accessible path for me was volunteering. That’s when the universe introduced me to the ecovillage movement, and I trusted it was where I needed to be.

I spent three months at a wonderful ecovillage on Vancouver Island, Canada. There, I discovered permaculture, community living, and Gaia Education.

I remember feeling a sense of wonder, as if this way of being, doing, and learning, just felt right. It wasn’t logic telling me, my whole body felt at home. Stepping out of my head and feeling my heart connect with people, land, and myself was deeply affirming.

Gaia Education’s in-person and online programmes profoundly inspired me. I recall watching their educators teach with such passion, and learning they had a thriving community in my home country (Brazil) and worldwide. That was really moving for me. I knew I wanted to keep learning and integrating these principles everywhere I went, as these made me feel closer and closer to my heart.

The 4D Framework, rooted in community living and regenerative practices, and shaped by practitioners from the Global South to the Global North, is a groundbreaking (yet ancestral) perspective on our mainstream society living.

It opened my eyes to the regenerative potential we hold as part of nature, inviting us to act in cooperation with both human and non-human communities.

While the UN and mainstream sustainability conversations consider just three dimensions (Social, Economic, and Ecological, often leaning toward economic priorities from a not-so-sustainable perspective), the 4D Framework adds the Worldview Dimension as equally vital. By exploring how these dimensions interrelate and apply to our projects and movements, we unlock the subtlety of regenerative thinking. I especially love seeing the Worldview Dimension as the generative force that inspires all other actions, and how being aware of this invisible realm guides a group’s direction.

The Gaia Education Design for Sustainability and Regeneration (GEDS) programme is a unique opportunity to deeply explore each dimension, with proper time to integrate the learnings. It also connects participants with a diverse global community to share experiences and best practices across all 4 Dimensions.

For July only, GEDS is offering a 50% discount. This could be your life-transforming opportunity, just as it was mine.

Join us. I hope to see you there!

Yan Teixeira
Gaia Education eLearning Manager