a family journal, kept along the way
Our Journey Home
Two seekers, many roads, a thousand questions, and the slow remembering that we were never separate from life.
These pages hold real years, real places and real people. Read slowly, the way you would leaf through a friend's notebook.
Chapter one
We Began With Questions
Nearly ten years ago, on different sides of the world, our lives began asking the same questions.
- How can we live more truthfully?
- How can we become a force for good?
- How can our lives bring more beauty, care and positive impact into the world?
Neither of us knew the other existed. Neither of us had a plan. For both of us, the path began with inner awakening — yoga, breath, holistic living, spiritual inquiry, organic food, nature connection and the desire to move from separation back into relationship.
Over time, that inner journey naturally became an outer one: gardens, soil, trees, food forests, community, circles, retreats and practical regeneration.
It is a story from the path — still being walked, still being written.
Chapter two · Sofia
From the City to the Body
Sofia's journey began after leaving Colombia and the fast-paced world of PR, communications and magazines — a world of stress, image and constant performance.
Her path led her towards yoga, Yin, movement, holistic living, natural healing, detoxification, authentic connection and spaces where people can soften, breathe and remember themselves.
Sofia brings the softness, depth and embodiment of the inner journey. Her work is rooted in Yin yoga, presence, nervous system care, natural remedies and the art of creating spaces where people feel safe to be real.
Her journey reminds us that regeneration is not only about planting trees. It is also about softening the masks, releasing performance, reconnecting with the body, and remembering the quiet intelligence of the heart.
The body asked for slowness — and she listened.
Is there another way to live?
Chapter three · Benjy
The Backpack, the Forest and the Question That Would Not Leave
Benjy's journey began after leaving Germany at twenty-five.
He had been working long night shifts in industry — earning money but feeling increasingly disconnected from his health, sleep, purpose and the natural rhythm of life. Breathwork first helped him find rest again. Yoga helped him listen again. Organic living and regeneration helped him turn that awakening into practical action.
Across Europe, Asia and Australia, he learned from regenerative farmers, biodynamic growers, syntropic pioneers, ecological educators, permaculture people, Indigenous communities, elders, yogis, retreat centres, festivals, forests and many generous teachers.
Some lessons came through books and courses. Many came through field days, long walks, pruning, composting, planting trees, observing water, listening to old gardeners and making mistakes with hands in the soil.
Chapter four
What the Forest Was Trying to Tell Us
Over time, one lesson returned again and again: regeneration is not a single technique.
It is a way of seeing, relating and participating in life — with humility, curiosity and love. We came to see that inner regeneration and outer regeneration are not separate. The nervous system and the ecosystem speak to one another.
Healthy breath, healthy soil, healthy food, healthy relationships and healthy communities are different expressions of the same living relationship.
We did not travel the world looking for somewhere to escape to. We travelled to learn how to help places — and people — come alive again.
Chapter five
Two Journeys Meet in Australia
Two paths that began an ocean apart crossed in Australia — and became one road.
Across seven formative years, gardens, teachers, circles and communities changed the way we listened — to the land, to one another and to the deeper relationships that sustain life. Through more than twenty-five retreats and circles, we learnt that healing the Earth and healing ourselves are not separate journeys.
Australia also opened our eyes to the deep histories of Country and the First Peoples of the land. Learning about colonisation, dispossession and the ongoing resilience of Indigenous communities changed us. We do not claim to speak for any culture. We approach these histories with humility and respect, as grateful students of every teaching that helps humanity return from separation to relationship.
Benjy remembers Gabu Damien, a Warungu man from Far North Queensland, and the gardens and lessons in listening they created together. We thank Adam Collins, and Kate and Stu, our biodynamic teachers and wisdom keepers. And we hold special gratitude for Dan, Grace and Mark of the Sacred Earth Foundation family, whose vision and ours grew into a joined mission.
Small moments from the path
The places and people that keep us learning.
There have been muddy boots, long crossings, garden experiments and laughter alongside the difficult lessons. These are a few of the real moments behind the vision.
Chapter six
Learning Through Places
Every place on this road gave us teachers, gardens, mistakes and gifts. Drawn from memory, not to scale — the road was never this straight.
- Germanywhere Benjy's question began
- Colombiawhere Sofia chose the body over the rush
- Australiawhere the two paths met
- Colombiareturning together
- Portugalrooting home
Chapter seven
Not a Straight Path
We are still learning. Still evolving. Perfectly imperfect.
Sacred and silly. Raw and real. Joyful whenever possible. There were wrong turns, gardens that struggled, plans that dissolved and seasons of doubt — and every one of them taught us something the easy stretches could not.
Our hope is simply to share what has helped us, so that others can remember their own gifts, their own courage and their own way of caring for life.
have always lived close together.
is made by walking it.
Everything we got wrong fed what finally grew.
Chapter eight
A Living Library Begins
Awakening Eden grew from a question: how can our lives help life flourish?
For years we gathered the films, books, teachers, land-based wisdom, spiritual practices and lived experiences that helped us move from overwhelm into direction. Awakening Eden became our way of sharing those sparks — a calm, practical home for positive change.
It is our humble attempt to participate in the return to relationship: through guides, films, yoga, circles, workshops, food forests and practical land-based learning. A living library, freely given.
Chapter nine
Rooting in Portugal
Portugal became the place where years of learning began to turn into a more grounded, independent body of work.
Through different homes, gardens, farms, retreats and land projects, the vision kept becoming clearer: share practical regenerative knowledge freely, help real places become more alive, and connect people who want to create positive change together.
Awakening Eden is now growing as a Living Library, a community, a regenerative land practice and an open invitation to co-create future learning landscapes with integrity. The wider village and regenerative centre remain a future direction to research carefully with the right land, partners, governance and funding.
The invitation
Walk With Us
The journey continues — and it was never meant to be walked alone. Choose the doorway that calls you.
May you leave every place a little more alive than you found it.