My biggest drive is my curiosity about the endless possibilities that exist on this beautiful planet through connecting with the intelligence of nature.

Creativity 
I spent 15 years working in advertising, an industry I was passionate about. How do you connect with the soul of something and share its essence through communication? This, for me, is the heart of branding. The creative industries attract driven and talented people and I thrived in many ways in this environment. Over time though, I began to question the products and services I was working on and if my skills could be applied to other aspects of society in more sustainable ways.

 

The transition 
From my time of travels around the world and in my work, I experienced different perceptions and cultures through talking, sharing and asking people about their views. Whilst still helping people take their messages out to the world, I began questioning my own self and the reason why I was here. The question arose in me, ‘Who Am I’, and I didn’t know how to begin to answer it. So for many years I explored what I thought might give me the answer. Not to try and fix anything; I simply had a thirst for knowledge about myself.

Along the way I become aware of the skeletons in the closet. I did counselling, tried every alternative therapy and super food I could get my hands on, sat crossed-legged for hours on end, explored breath work, looked into Gestalt approaches and danced a lot. I trained to become a yoga teacher, a shamanic practitioner and constellation coach, and started to give back based on what I had experienced through classes, retreats and within the corporate world. Through this, I developed a deep fascination with the indigenous ways, their medicine and how they used dance and music as a way to connect with nature. This exploration continues with gratitude and humbleness for the wisdom they hold.

So what?
Back to my corporate life, I moved from branding to focusing more on coaching and constellation work. I do still love branding though, done in intuitive ways, as it can bring out the potential of people who work within an organisation. I believe all of my questioning lead me to buying land in Portugal, to set up a bee sanctuary and commit to land regeneration work. When I started to question everything, I found it impossible not to feel nature and the abuse it was suffering due to human consumption and activity. I want to do my little bit to give back to support future generations living a vibrant life.

One year into the project, the land is teaching me so much. You work with bees and they impart their wisdom – they are actually here to help energetically shift our trauma as well as maintaining an abundant food resource for us. A week working with our apple orchard, and these trees began to teach us that our actions are about giving fruits to others. Words create a ripple; who we are creates ripples. Artemisia teaches us to dream, release our highest desires to the universe and sit back and watch. You will either get the dream or something else that will drive you further into your potential, no need to worry, everything is taken care of. On and on my stories could go, nature is the greatest teacher. I give gracious thanks for this opportunity in Portugal to deeply show me this.

 

Quinta Das Abelhas 
Our project is 12 hectares of land in central Portugal. Alongside the bee and land work, it is a haven for transformation. Enter, rest, transform and then go out and take your creativity into the world with potency. Do not play small. As humans we need to dance our passion and share it, send out the new and stay away from the negativity that drives our media. The media is such a small part of our story, the amount of projects around the world that are doing good is simply inspiring.  We run constellation events to help people connect to this knowing and to discover new possibilities for their own creativity.

Book Of Choice – Song of Increase: Listening to the Wisdom of Honeybees for Kinder Beekeeping and a Better World

To follow what we do click on the links below:
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See you in Portugal and on this wonderful adventure that nature gives us.

Deborah Richmond
deborah@pureportugal.co.uk