Today we’re excited to bring you a Q&A with one of Do What You Love’s new guest bloggers, Lara Tabatznik. Lara is the Founder of 42 Acres, a modern rustic retreat centre, set deep in the hills of Somerset, England. 42 Acres opens in April this year and Lara will curate retreats which focus on healing and transformation. Her unique approach to self-development combines inner and outer work and she hopes it will become a model for social change.
Where do you live and what brought you here?
I live in Fitzrovia, London, across the street from Regents Park, my favourite park in London. I was born and raised in London. When I was 16, I went to boarding school in the U.S., and ended up living there for nine years. At 25, I went travelling. In that one year I learnt more about life and people than I had in my previous 25 years combined. My passion for development and social change was recharged while travelling through India, Nepal and Southeast Asia.
Experiencing life in India, Cambodia and Nepal
I returned to New York City changed and became slightly depressed. I struggled to reintegrate after what I had seen. I had fire in my soul and social change in my blood; I knew something in me was ready to emerge.
In 2010, shortly after, the Bertha Foundation was born. I had no experience creating a foundation, no idea what I was doing, but I did know, deep within my heart, that I wanted to bring about change. The advice I was given was to just start, so I did.
What is the Bertha Foundation and how did it begin?
Bertha supports activists, storytellers, and entrepreneurs who are creating change in the world. Through my experience working for non-profit organisations, I realized that I wanted to create something bigger than myself that would help change lives.
Images from Bertha Foundation website
Bertha began out of my apartment in Brooklyn, New York, and before long I’d moved to Cape Town. It was time to close one chapter in my life and start a new one.
View from Lara’s apartment in New York
Lara’s apartment in New York
Moving to South Africa felt right. I wanted to be in the Global South where the work would feel more relevant. Plus I’ve been surrounded by South Africans my entire life – my father, grandparents and many aunts and uncles – so the country felt familiar.
What have you learnt from Bertha?
Bertha became my greatest teacher. I spent 18 months living in Cape Town building the foundation, meeting inspiring people, and spending as much time as I could by the ocean, and hiking through forests and mountains. It was magical. In many ways, and without me realising this at the time – it opened me up to spirituality. Bertha also taught me to be comfortable with the unknown and to trust the process – and myself. It has taught me one of my most profound lessons in life –happiness, comes from within. No amount of change on the outside can make you happy, maybe temporarily, but true happiness needs to be inside out.
What are your biggest loves in life?
I love nature. I feel my clearest and truest self when I am in nature, because it allows me to reconnect with my body and soul in a deep way. I also love meditation. If not the most, it’s one of my most important daily practices. The places you can go from just being with yourself, open to it all: the dark, the light and everything in between.
I love and cherish personal development and everything it stands for. I believe working on oneself is the most important work one can do in this life; it permeates into everything we do and how we show up in the world. It’s incredibly powerful to realize that we are simply experiencing our lives through the stories we create and the ones which we tell ourselves.
Absorbing energy from the sun and the moon: a crystal charging in field
I love documentaries. There is so much power in the nature of documentary story-telling and how it allows you to see the world through another’s open eyes.
I also love to travel; exploring new places and cultures firsthand is a better education than any text. I feel blessed to have the people I do in my life, I am surrounded by so much love and support.
What motivates you?
I am motivated by the inspiring people I’ve been able to meet through my work. I feel something come alive in me. I have been privileged to get to know many incredible people in my life, and I find it’s the greatest source for my energy, creativity and action. I am moved by people who are following their dream in life, the dream itself is not important, as long as it’s theirs. I am driven by people who take risks and who are courageous in how they live their lives.
I am motivated to create something bigger than myself, something that will have a significant impact on other’s lives.
What is your big dream?
It started from my own personal journey; those incredible experiences which ultimately led me to look within and make changes. The last few years have had a profound affect on me. I want to create a comfortable space for others to experience this kind of transformation: an oasis to awaken deep desires and innermost selves, where individuals feel safe to truly connect with their soul; a place that fuels energy, vitality and aliveness.
The dream is to create a home for healing, heightened consciousness and change for those who seek it. Work has already begun on 42 Acres – my retreat venue. Ultimately, I’d love people come to 42 Acres and find what they’re looking for – that something unlocks in them – and they realize their dreams and start taking action to make them happen. Above all, I hope 42 Acres can be a place where people can learn to accept themselves fully.
Over the coming months Lara will be writing more posts to share her experiences as she builds her dream retreat.
Lara is the Founder of 42 Acres, a modern rustic retreat center, set deep in the hills of Somerset, England. 42 Acres, is set to open summer of 2015 and Lara will curate retreats focused on transformation, healing and social change. Before the inception of 42 Acres, Lara founded the Bertha Foundation. Bertha supports activists, storytellers, and entrepreneurs who are creating change in the world. Through her experience working for non-profit organizations, Lara realized she wanted to create something bigger than herself that would help change lives. Lara’s passion for holistic change was deepened while travelling through India, Nepal and Southeast Asia. Lara hopes that 42 Acres will become a new model for change, combining both the inner and outer work.
