NECTARINES
As a newborn collective (born July 2020) we are a lucky bunch:
a group of friends on an island, who get along with each other, living close by,
able and willing to talk things through together, feeling juicy and wanting to inspire,
slightly overwhelmed to share experiences with a bigger audience,
and feeling grateful for having the help and support of the group.
We share more than we do, but when we do, we do it be-a-u-ti-fully!
a group of friends on an island, who get along with each other, living close by,
able and willing to talk things through together, feeling juicy and wanting to inspire,
slightly overwhelmed to share experiences with a bigger audience,
and feeling grateful for having the help and support of the group.
We share more than we do, but when we do, we do it be-a-u-ti-fully!
QUARTERLY contributionS
We will come out with a new edition every three months. If you like what you see and want to contribute to the general juicyness in some way, send us an email!
LOVE THE BUTTERFLIES
We want to thank Peter Hardiman for his pictures of butterflies we used for our first Nectar logo. www.peterhardimanphoto.com is his website and he is releasing his first book in these days, contact him for any info regarding Corfu butterflies!
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Amalia Mouzakiti
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Hello! I'm Amalia. I always loved to do things with my hands. Ever since I can remember, creating was a big joy for me! At some point in my life I felt tired and disappointed while working in the system, so I quit my job and started traveling. That was when I got in touch with artisans and the art of Macrame. It opened a new door in my life, I found my new passion! Work became joy again and what excited me the most was the freedom I had.
After years of working in markets and festivals I came back to my home island Corfu and decided to put down my roots. Together with my family we opened our beloved Little Shop in Arillas, where you can meet us and our creations! |
Arianna Benedetta Artioli
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My name is Arianna Benedetta, I was born in Italy and spent about 20 years in Ticino, Switzerland, where I first moved to study languages. I have traveled abroad with my parents since a young age, discovering a vast, lush, diverse world of inebriating colors and tastes that definitely opened my horizons, nourished my Libra and excited my rising Sagittarius!
My passions have moved me throughout these almost 50 years of life: passion for understanding deeper, for nature and exploring, for love and intimacy. I have lived several lives already, from trying to fit into the “normal” world of regular job and marriage, to traveling around Europe co-leading singing workshops and everything in between. In 2019, I have written and self published my first handbook “13 steps of wellbeing” as an exercise in sharing myself with a broader public. I encountered several teachers on my path, they have thought me how to practice Yoga, meditation, Hawaiian traditional dance, chants and massage, as well as how to use flower remedies. I also felt the need to learn effective tools to support my emotional processes, so I joined two powerful trainings: Learning Love in 2009 and 2010 and Possibility Management ten years later. Lately I am exploring neuroplasticity and the nervous system, sourdough bread making and permaculture, mixing my love for nature with my interest in the human being system. I keep unfolding, connecting with my core values and clarifying my vision, which is definitely related to supporting the evolutionary journey of our planet and its inhabitants. I love to share the tools that help me in my journey through individual sessions and in small and intimate groups of people, to connect on a deeper level and empower each other. I am very happy and grateful to be part of the co-creators of the Nectar Collective, as for me it represents another beautiful way to come and grow together, while inspiring other human beings. My personal website is www.ariannabenedetta.weebly.com and I also support Feeling Sound, the life work of my partner and husband Igor Ezendam www.feelingsound.com |
Chantal Maltais Oei
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Hi, I'm Chantal. Like many of us I feel I've had many chapters in my book. I was born in Montreal, Canada. In the first chapters, I felt the need to explore the World, different cultures, tastes, colors fueled my inspiration. At 17 I was in Brazil, there I had my first remarkable encounter with an art exhibition that moved me to the core.
I travelled many years around the World, I studied Art and Religion at Concordia University and Economy at University of Montreal. I started to participate in Art Shows in 1993, then moved to the US in 1999, started to show in significant galleries in 2000. In 2009 I had my first solo at Longview Museum of Art in Texas USA. During that time I had an astrologic reading, I was told that I will have to let go, meaning really let go!!! I did not comprehend what it meant, I was told not to resist, to go with the flow so the ride would be less painful and that I would emerge at the end of it more profound. I couldn’t ever imagine what was coming. I was also told that I would stop creating art work for many years. I could not believe it, my career was just taking off. Two months later my husband died tragically and somehow a piece of me died in the process. It took a long time to find ground underneath my feet, and to rise from the ashes. I landed on an island in Greece and started my inner journey. I felt the need to stay still, create roots and enjoy the ride of the unknown. My work now is more personal. It emerges from my own story, my introspection. I had learned to feel the joy and the pain. I am not clinging on one or the other but I try to stay still right in the middle and this is the place I work from. I am currently working on building an art space in Greece to create an exhibit and curate and give to others the opportunity to explore their inner artist. www.chantalmaltaisoei.com |
Colleen Grassnick
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My name is Colleen Grassnick, I’m a Naturopath and am passionate about helping people achieve their health goals using herbal and nutritional medicine, as well as dietary and lifestyle changes. Being able to empower people with this profession is one of my greatest honours because life could have taken me in so countless different directions.
I was born in wall-divided Berlin in 1985 and at the tender age of 1.5 years old, my world travels began. The first stop was Paris where I learned to love complex flavours like sun-dried olives and escargot. Next stop was California where I learned that materialism is fun, which I quickly unlearned when we lived in the stunning countryside outside of Moscow during the fall of the USSR. Inflation was one of the worst evils leading to mass homelessness, hunger and disparity in the capital. With my naive 8 year old eyes I suddenly saw that life was not all about pink flashy shoes and halloween candy. I saw that the world needed help! I asked myself: Why do I have food, shelter and warm clothes, and they don’t? Who can help them? Why can’t I help them? And so my mission began: I will help people and the environment to thrive and not just survive. Living in Russia also taught me the delight of being immersed by nature, tumbling in the snow, smelling the flowers, swimming in the lake and new adventures around every corner. Nature became my greatest teacher, I became it’s greatest admirer. When I was 10 at first I wanted to become a Greenpeace activist, then a politician to save the world from ourselves. As a teenager I discovered my love for science in high school back in Germany and I thought that becoming a doctor would enable me to achieve my mission. When I completed a premedical Bachelor degree in Utrecht my eyes were opened: why should I only treat symptoms when I can potentially treat the cause of an ailment? Sydney was my next stop, where I studied a 4-year bachelor of naturopathy and the more science I studied, the more spiritual I became. Mother Earth gives us all the plants and elements that we need to heal; all we need to do is unlock its wisdom and apply it appropriately. The physiological connection between our health, our general state of well-being and state of mind is profound. The bio-chemistry of our body is more powerful than we may imagine and naturopathy is about identifying the natural healing pathways that are interrupted and boosting the system with the needed ingredients. After working in several health food stores and a natural health clinic for some years, I embarked on a year and a half of travelling through south east Asia and exploring the richness of the cultures. In 2016 I arrived on Corfu and have established myself as a naturopath for local and international clients with often very complex conditions. In 2018 I bought my own plot of land and called it Ekollina. It is supported by international volunteers, family and friends, and is becoming a permaculture-inspired food and medicine forest with learning spaces all around the lush edible gardens. The grand vision is to inspire people of all ages to live environmentally conscious lives and in harmony with themselves and with nature. Together we explore natural building techniques, grow an abundance of food and medicine and propagate plants that will regenerate desolate landscapes. By combining my love of nature and passion for naturopathy, I live in my truth and seek to fulfil my purpose on this planet. www.corfunaturalhealth.com |
Igor Olivier Ezendam
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My name is Igor, I’m a Dutchborn artist, singer, multi-instrumentalist, teacher and student of vocal harmonics, a polyphonic singing style found in shamanic traditions the world over, with origins in Mongolia and Tibet, some say even Atlantis. My ‘job’ is the best job there is: helping people find their voice, their self-expression. I share this instrument for deep transformation in individual sessions, at concerts and during the seminars together with my wife Arianna Artioli.
I’ve shared with many people, during sessions, performing at elementary and high-schools, universities and old-age homes, theatres, weddings and yoga schools, always happy to see the faces when I start singing vocal harmonics. I'm greatly inspired by Tuvan (Mongolia), Tibetan, Sufi, Native American, African, Aboriginal and all the world's freestyle singers, and by nature everywhere. Especially vocal harmonics, a singing technique which creates a scale of overtones, whistle-like sounds in my voice, blew my mind. I love these sounds, ever since I heard them come out of the radio one day in the nineties, listening to a concert of David Hykes and his Harmonic Choir. I’ve been touring around the globe with Overtone World Music concerts, in which I combine various singing styles with didgeridoo, percussion (hang, djembe, daf, doundoun, bodhrán), shrutibox, tibetan bowls and stringed instruments (mandola, cümbüs, guitar, guitalele). I wrote a book on singing and overtones, called 'Your Sound is Sacred' (translation from italian coming soon), and recorded several CDs as a soloist as well as with other artists. As a 3D sound artist I’ve created sound-sculptures, exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art in Amsterdam and the Académie des Beaux Arts in Paris. See my Giant Didgeridoo project here. Deeply inspired by Sufi philosophy through the books of Hazrat Inayat Khan, I spent 20 years supporting a Sufi meditation camp in the Swiss Alps, where I learned about sharing circles, community work, leading groups of volunteers, and bridging people’s understanding of each other. For me, the Sufi Message wakens in humanity the spirit of brother- and sisterhood, with tolerance on the part of each for the religion and beliefs of the other, with forgiveness from each for the fault of the other. (Read ‘Hazrat Inayat Khan, The Unity of Religious Ideals’). Visit my website: www.feelingsound.com Check out my music: www.feelingsound.bandcamp.com See some videos: IgorFeelingSound Connect on Facebook: SingingFreedom |
Mukta Arianna Tidei
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My love and passion to explore deeper dimensions of Being has been my guidance in the last twenty years.
I was born in Rome in Italy 49 years ago. I was 28 and I was working as a promising and succesfull cinema agent when it happened to travel to India. I didn’t know then that my life was going into such a deep revolution which deeply changed my intire existence and life-style. After my first journey to India and my stay in Poona at the Ashram of Indian Master Osho, it was clear that I could not go back into my “dream life” of showbusiness… so I quit everything, made a big farewell party, sold my car, rented my flat and I left for India. I stayed in India for the next two years – and I returned there many other times during the years - This is when my journey into myself and my studies began. Many travels around the world, many trainings, many meetings with inspiring teachers and masters, many enriching and challening community living experiences followed and have brought me where I am today. I come from a background as a Reiki Master, body worker, meditation teacher and women circles. I also have a degree in Holistic Counselling and Somatic Experiencing (P. Levine Trauma Resolution Work). I’ve worked for a few years with people sharing my love for truth and inner exploration but what has been catching my attention and passion more and more is holding the space for others so that whatever their process is, it can happen in the safest, deepest and more contained way possible. Through some professional past experiences and especially today as the manager of Corfu Buddha Hall Seminar House in Greece, I am developing and unfolding a new way to lead which takes in consideration the feminine qualities and the deep integration with the masculine ones in a new direction of Conscious Feminine Leadership. At the moment I am working on this as a structured program which I will launch in 2021. The Nectar Collective project is very significant in my personal and professional life, giving me the right inspiration, support and mirroring to go on creating, co-creating and evolving. If you would like to know more or to be in touch with me you can write to: [email protected] For more information on Corfu Buddha Hall, please visit the website: www.corfubuddhahall.com |
Sophia Michalopoulou
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Hi! My name is Sophia Michalopoulou. I was born on Corfu but traveled the world and the seven seas for a long while looking for keys to unlock myself, making connections with soul family while connecting the grid, remembering missing links in my biological family timelines. My ancestors were Greek and Irish-Australian.
I have a BA in Art History, an MA in Museum Management but left London city to be a night walking guide in the Daintree Rainforest in far North Queensland Australia but have now ended up immersed in warm water remembering my birth journey. I studied with an aboriginal medicine man and sat with other exceptional souls and creatures but most of all I treasure animals and babies. I work with water rather than just in it because water helps us remember more of who we are. The more we awaken to our own unique gifts and abilities as multidimensional human beings the more likely we are to live together as one. I am a pregnancy and birth doula and hold space for evolving families from a baby’s perspective. I am also a perinatal therapist hoping to have my own therapy pool someday to support the whole life cycle with water from conception to death. I have found my tribe of many colors and the place on earth I wish to care for. I have three children: the oldest is the vision for The Mermaid Island © and a school for mermaids and other magical creatures called Mermaids Corfu. www.mermaidscorfu.com My middle child is Water Happy which encourages babies, children and adults to love water and themselves too. Water Happy is now growing and becoming Water Conscious as well, it has made a call for an annual water gathering at Corfu Buddha Hall. www.waterhappy.net My youngest daughter is ANASA: Aquatic Doula Services which is Birthing Conscious Humans as a podcast and other online content which is aimed at supporting, inspiring and motivating families and other human beings into action for a new way of birthing and raising humanity. To connect: [email protected] The Nectar Collective is a time and place for me to share intimate heart space with friends I consider family and inspirational co-creators with whom the juice of life may flow. And I am happy. |
Tristana Lauro
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Since a very young age I always wondered why adults would argue with each other and not learn a way to stay connected even when disagreeing. Then growing up I understood that each of us carry a wound, often since childhood, and that wound reopens later in life every time we are in a specific dynamic. That very trigger is an opportunity to heal and an opportunity to create more connection, inner joy, inner ecstasy - instead we often stay stuck in that very painful dynamic without connecting to the jewels that it has to offer and chose to dissipate with transitory external distractions to medicate. The pain of not understanding this led me to explore at a young age several forms of meditations. This practices taught me to appreciate the beauty and the power of the present moment and the alchemy each moment can hold.
Having worked for years in the entertainment industry and as a photo-model, I soon got bored of the vacuity of “appearance”, I studied and graduated in Photography and opened an Advertising Agency in Italy thinking that would offer me a more creative prospective, however despite the agency was one of the most creative times of my life, I stopped feeling fulfillment from the stillness of an image and Trained as a Yoga and Meditation Teacher as what I was looking for was the stillness of the mind all along. However the Yoga path resulted quite rigid and not in tune with my more feminine nature therefore after few years I have started exploring Tantra, both Neo and Classical and I knew that I had found my passion and purpose. I also trained as a Intimacy & Relationship Coach and Tantra Educator in California and Orgasmic Meditation Trainer in New York. I have been featured on National Television in the UK, worked with many celebrities and offered several talks on the subject of intimacy. After becoming a mother I started to put more attention in working with women ( I have trained as a Red tent Facilitator and Femine Rite of Passages Facilitator - Menarche Rites, Blessing way for mothers, Action to Power and Wise Woman Ceremony) , couples and young families as I feel there is a real need to bring sacredness back in our lives, to truly start the healing path through relating and understanding that each trigger is an opportunity to go deeper and create more connection among us. I run workshops, retreats and private sessions worldwide. My dream is to facilitate more private retreats for couples with young children, to offer the parents a safe space where they can reconnect to one another -as I believe that relationships need to be cultivated- while children are being looked after by some magical cross of a Mermaid and Mary Poppins. Nectar Collective is an opportunity for me to be part of an amazing creative family where play and alchemy are the flavour of each encounter... Connect with me at www.thealchemyofdesire.co.uk |
CoLLABORATIONSAs the Nectar Collective we are deeply grateful to
Sacha Heath who started the online learning group, out of which Nectar was born. www.yogawithsacha.com Tim Jeavons without whose photography we would have made much less of an impression with our projects. Igor Ezendam for supporting the feminine way with graphic design and website creation. www.feelingsound.com Peter Hardiman for graciously allowing us to use his buttterflies for our logo. www.peterhardimanphoto.com |