How to live without having to waste your life on getting over failures or negative emotions? How to change your attitudes and habits? How to get rid of disturbing thoughts? There are many who say that this is impossible, since one cannot change one’s own character. Thousands of people who have attended the Art of Conscious Change courses of Ingvar Villido would not agree. They can confirm, based on their own experience, that this is indeed possible. The Art of Conscious Change gives one the knowledge and skills for reshaping one’s attitudes and habits, in order to act efficiently and find better solutions for any situations arising in one’s life.
Our big dream is to finish the construction of the Art of Conscious Change School in Lilleoru, in order to bring this useful knowledge to even more people who need it!
1. How can you help us?
We wish to raise 20,000 euros for furnishing the Art of Conscious Change School with windows. It has been exactly two years since we started constructing the foundation of the building. The goal we have set for this winter is to have the walls and the roof in place. In order to achieve this objective, we are asking you to help us by giving your support for buying windows for the school.
We wish to open the Art of Conscious Change School in 2018, as a tribute to the 100th anniversary of the Estonian Republic. The school needs to be ready by that time, because Lilleoru is going to host the Global Ecovillage Network’s (GEN) international conference in the same summer.
2. How are we constructing?
The Art of Conscious Change School is the largest building made of reed-bales in Estonia, and the first public building of that kind in the world. The load-bearing structures of the schoolhouse are made of reused glued laminated timber beams which formerly belonged to Straw Theatre (Põhuteater). In 2011, we raised almost 50,000 euros in three weeks to save the structural frame of the Straw Theatre from ending up in a junk yard, and brought the demounted beams to Lilleoru.
We are building the school on the basis of donations and voluntary work, mostly on weekends. Since 2011, more than 400 individuals and companies have contributed to the construction of the Art of Conscious Change School, and volunteers have contributed in total more than 20,000 work hours. During four years, we have raised more than 150,000 euros in donations, and more than 20,000 hours of work have been contributed by different volunteers. In addition, in 2011-2015 the non-profit organization MTÜ Lilleoru from its own part has invested close to 70,000 euros in the construction.
The Art of Conscious Change School’s architects are Sven Koppel and Ain Padrik, its engineer is Kerti Rand and the author of the interior design is Tea Tammelaan. The construction manager is Mäger Ehitus OÜ, the construction is supervised by Jürgen Kallo. They all have worked on voluntary basis. In various specific areas of work, we have involved and will involve other experts in their own field as well.
3. What is going to be in the building?
In the school building, there will be:
• a spacious hall (133 m2) which can be structured, a smaller seminar room and a library;
• a dining room - café and a kitchen complex;
• a room for nature therapies;
• a studio for creativity workshops and a ceramics studio;
• an information point, a children’s playroom and an office;
• washing facilities for guests;
• total surface area of the building is 1000 m2.
In the next stage, we will construct the side wing, where there will be guest rooms.
We will create a large permaculture garden around the house.
4. What are we planning to do this winter?
Today, the frame of the main part of the building, as well as the western wall, made of reed-bales, have already been built.
Our plans for this winter include:
Our plans for this winter include:
• build all other reed-bale walls and insulate the roof;
• continue with the construction of separating walls;
• install communications inside the floor of the first floor;
• continue with the construction of separating walls;
• install communications inside the floor of the first floor;
• furnish the building with windows.
In the Hooandja campaign, we are raising money for buying and installing the windows. The amount needed for this is 20,000 euros. It is not a small amount, but the building is large and luminous: its main part has 41 windows, with the total surface area of 100m2. We are planning to buy and install triple-glazed timber/aluminium composite windows. We opted for this solution because they are the best for keeping the building warm and have a maximum useful life.
5. What kind of place is Lilleoru?
Lilleoru centre is located in Aruvalla village, Rae parish, Harjumaa county, Estonia. Everything in Lilleoru has been created by people who come to study here. The activities taking place here are organized by non-profit organization MTÜ Lilleoru which has close to 100 members today. It all started 20 years ago upon the initiative of Ingvar Villido, supported by a handful of people who built the first house and started creating the Flower-of-Life Park here.
The activities in Lilleoru are centered around the teachings of the Art of Conscious Change and Babaji's Kriya Yoga which gives one the knowledge and skills for reshaping one’s attitudes and habits, in order to act efficiently and find the best solution for any situation arising in one’s life.
Please help our big dream come true, so that we could open a unique school in Lilleoru, which will be of great support to many people in living a more conscious life!
MTÜ Lilleoru belongs to the list of non-profit organizations and foundations benefitting from income tax allowance. In case you are Estonian resident for tax purposes, please note that in order to have income tax refunded from the donation that you have made us through Hooandja, you would need to add the donation to your tax declaration yourself. If you are not Estonian resident, you should check with your own tax authorities whether the donation is eligible for any tax refund or not.
