The Grace Space
A podcast for the Sovereign Soul.
The Grace Space is a sanctuary for those who are awakening. In each episode, I explore what it means to reclaim your sovereignty, remember your origin, and live in coherence with your soul's blueprint. these are transmissions for the ones who feel the world unraveling -- and know it's time to come home.
The Grace Space
Belonging, On Purpose
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What if home began with people rather than paperwork?
I sit down with community matchmaker and ecovillage tour leader Cynthia Tina to explore why humans are wired for belonging and how intentional communities offer a practical antidote to isolation. From reversing the housing script—meeting neighbors first, then sorting logistics—to redefining success through shared meals, work parties, and mutual aid, this conversation reframes home as a web of care.
Cynthia shares stories from visiting around 200 communities worldwide and building her own Vermont home with many hands. We unpack the full spectrum of options—income-sharing communes, cohousing neighborhoods with private homes, urban co-ops, and sustainability-focused ecovillages—and what truly makes them thrive: frequent, high-quality interactions and clear agreements. We also talk about fit and safety: how to vet communities, recognize healthy governance, and avoid guru dynamics or projects running on vague promises.
In an age of deep isolation, the solutions here aren't theoretical; they are daily and embodied. Choose the garden chat over the endless scroll. Choose neighbors you know over anonymous walls. If the village is calling, start with one step and let connection do the rest. If this resonated, follow the show, share with a friend, and leave a review to help others find their way home.
Read the blog post associated with this episode
Cynthia Tina helps people discover intentional community living for better housing, health, and happiness. She has visited more than 200 intentional communities around the world and resides in a Vermont ecovillage in her self-built natural home. Her speaking, businesses, and consultancy have contributed to the growth of numerous community-led housing projects.
She is the founder of CommunityFinders, which offers guidance for people seeking to join intentional communities, and the founder of Ecovillage Tours, which leads immersive trips to communities worldwide. Her forthcoming book, Intentional Community, is a practical gu
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Welcome to the Grace Space, a transmission for the sovereign soul. Hey everybody, welcome back to the Grace Space. I have a wonderful guest that I'm really excited for you to meet. Her name is Cynthia Tina. She created Community Finders and Eco-Village Tours, and she's a guide at the threshold of a new human story. Well, maybe it's not a new human story, maybe it's an old traditional, natural way to live that is coming back cyclically again because we need it. So through Cynthia's work with community finders and eco-village tours, she helps people rediscover belonging, rediscover coherence, communal living, tribe. But underneath her work is something even deeper: a kind of remembering of how humans are meant to live, our sense of connection, our interdependence. So today we follow that remembering through her story, her insights, and her vision for where we're heading. So Cynthia, when I uh contemplate your body of work, I I sense this deep remembering that's almost like a like a primordial human instinct for belonging, for place, for tribe. And so I'm curious, like, what is the core truth that you feel you are here to help people remember about community and and about themselves?
Cynthia:I think you said it so well just there, the primordial instinct and longing to belong. Yeah, that's a big piece of it. Um I think that humans were designed for connection. We evolved as a species in these small, tight-knit social circles. And so many people today don't have that, or have fragments of it, or need to hop on social media, or turn to a device, or travel to visit a friend who may not live near them, or family members. So I think that what I'm getting back to in my work is a reminder for people that social connection is really important for our makeup as humans, for our well-being, our physical well-being, our mental health, and that there are things that we all can do, even if you don't ever up and move to an intentional community, there's things that you can do to foster more social connection in your day-to-day life. But for those who are like, I really want to surround myself with that sense of belonging and sense of place and feel that I come from somewhere and am responsible to and care for and contribute to people in place. That's what intentional community is there for, for those who choose it.
Claire:Wow. So there's really a part of it is stewardship.
Cynthia:Yeah. I think so. Uh when I think of stewardship, I think of stewarding land and place. Um obviously you can have intentional communities that are online communities. Uh, we're all part of many of those groups, online meetup groups or social media groups these days. But what I focus on is residential intentional communities, places where people live in a place and identify with that place and spend most of their days in that place. And inherent in that is a lot of stewardship, a lot of care, even if you have an intentional community in the city, caring for your buildings, caring for your your grounds, caring for your space, and doing that in a collaborative fashion.
Claire:What I love about that is um how it it forces you to confront uh places in you that um don't want to engage, that don't want to commit to being someplace, that don't want to show show yourself, you know, to be seen and all of that, you know. And I think that is like there's this tension now. I mean, I belong to so many groups. I I'm I'm constantly on Zoom with groups and stuff like that. And it and I participate in groups, but I often notice that there is this part of me that's a little bit, you know, uh in French we would say sauvage, you know, that it's a little bit um wants to run away from that kind of thing. And uh there is this tension between wanting to belong, wanting to feel part of something that's bigger, and also being afraid of that. I would imagine that uh being like living in a residential intentional community would bring up a a lot of those kind of shadows.
Cynthia:Yeah, it certainly does. I think there's a uh misunderstanding, though, when we think of intentional community, sometimes people imagine, oh, only extra extroverts live in intentional communities, people who are really outgoing and love people all the time. And the reality is that most intentional communities are made up of more introverts, people who like alone time and quiet time. And I'm speaking for myself too. You know, I love living in community. I also love having a door on my house and I can shut the door and have my quiet, peaceful space when I want it. And that's the beautiful thing is I get that opportunity for social connection when I want. And I also get the opportunity for quiet when I want. And I think as a more introverted person, it's sometimes a struggle to find social connections in quote unquote normal life, or like you said, there's some fear or tension. It takes a lot of effort. I know so many um friends who don't live in community, and what they complain about is they need to coordinate to meet up with people. It's like a whole logistical thing. You gotta text and find a time and usually drive to the place. And I just think how fortunate I am. If I'm craving a little connection, I just have to wander up to the garden and I'm bound to run into a neighbor and have a small chat. And it's just those little opportunities that get to fill my day with micro connections, which are deeply nourishing.
Claire:Oh, yes. And this feels so essential now. I mean, uh part of what I think we're dealing with too. I don't know if you see this, but like I it feels like we're coming to some kind of bifurcation where, you know, um, if we lose connection with one another, if we lose these micro connections that are so enriching and so meaningful, even if they don't have to be profound conversations, you know, they're just, as you say, micro connections, that those are actually like the fabric, the weft of our sense of belonging to humanity and our sense of belonging on this planet. And if we get cut off from that, you know, we get scythed from what makes us human. And we we could be absorbed, you know, by the by the technocracy, which is, you know, uh definitely a strong timeline, you know, that is going alongside this return to the earth, you know, and return to community. So I feel like these two are coexisting side by side, and we kind of have to choose where we want to go and what we're going to give our energy to. It's so easy to be absorbed by technology and in a technocracy, if that is where you know, one timeline might be going. But there is this other um timeline of um, yeah, connection, communion with one another, simple uh communication and connection to the earth.
Cynthia:Do you feel that too? Yeah, yeah, and beautifully said. I I even get sucked in, you know, and I'm pretty good about being self-aware, but they design these platforms to be addictive and super engaging, and it's a choice, you know, hopping on the phone or spending my time in a more meaningful way, uh, a way that might foster my well-being a bit more. And that choice is something that we can extend to all areas of our life. And it is important to remember that very often we have more choice than we realize. And there's the default way we can go about things. And for my work, focused on intentional community, the default way is buying a home on Zillow or renting from a landlord. And you move into this neighborhood where you buy the house and you never meet the people who live alongside of you. Uh, that's the default way we do real estate and we do home, especially in the United States. Uh, and so intentional community is this completely different approach. We like reverse it. It's like first you meet the neighbors, you establish, is this a good fit? Is there harmony and connection here? Is this the place I want to live? Do these people want me to live here? Also, it's a mutual exchange. And then you go forward with, okay, well, what are what are the logistics of actually living here in a room or an apartment or a house? That is so completely different.
Claire:I mean, really, that is like the total reverse of, as you say, of the model that where you just sort of show up somewhere, you don't necessarily know anybody, and you kind of hope it's gonna go okay, right? But imagine the feeling. I mean, I am imagining the feeling of coming to a place where you already have met everybody and you know they want you there. Yeah, that's beautiful.
Cynthia:It really is, yeah.
Claire:So what what okay, so you you're a community matchmaker, a term that I think is really uh really appeals to me. And you also run these eco-village tours. So when someone says I'm looking for community, what do you feel they're actually longing for on a soul level?
Cynthia:Oh wow. Huh. Well, obviously, I work with a whole variety of people, people in different stages of life, young parents who really want their kids to grow up with the village, uh, older folks who want to age in place, but also age in community, which is kind of a new shift. They don't want to go to a retirement community. They really want real, genuine, intentional community for their later years of life. And everyone in between, young people who are looking for inspiration and connections and a possible way for them to fulfill their life purpose. Um, so it's a whole diversity of people. I think at the core is gosh, what would I say? Probably at the core is a desire for connection, as we've been speaking about. And feeling like intentional communities are doing something both radical and new and exciting, but also ancient and natural. And uh, you know, we we've seen throughout human history there have always been the rise of these intentional communities, these hippie communes off in the woods, these uh spiritual centers, uh different experiments, trying out new ways of living. And I think that these communities obviously have risen and fallen over the years, and most of them have ended, but we still have actually some of the older communities that were started in the 60s and 70s. Um I read a great book recently called Utopias, uh, talking about this history. And what the author noted is that the interesting thing is not that these communities failed and therefore aren't worth pursuing or paying attention to, but that they continually arise throughout the years. And right now we're in one of those waves where there's a huge resurgence and interest in more cooperative, collaborative ways of living. And I think compared to the hippie era communities, these intentional communities that are starting nowadays feel very accessible in some ways. They feel quite mainstream. And I hope that this will lead to a broader shift and return to older forms of living. So we'll see. It's an exciting time.
Claire:Well, so I'm curious about you. There's so many things in there that I want to talk about. We'll, we'll, we'll circle back around. But but first I'd like to ask you on the personal level, was there a moment in your life like, I don't know, some kind of rupture or awakening or crisis or choice where you realized that community wasn't just interesting to you, but it was actually part of your path?
Cynthia:I feel really fortunate that I had a lot of curiosities as a young child that were different than my peers. And I had the freedom to explore them, spending a lot of time in nature, reading books of people who are living alternative lives. And then as I got older, the opportunity to travel and meet some of those people in person and see some of those places. Just so much travel in my lifetime to date, having visited around 200 communities around the world of all different shapes and sizes and missions. And I kind of reflect back like, oh, is there like a turning point or a critical moment? I think it was more an experience of um at times getting swept up, even as a child, or especially remember in high school. High school was really rough, you know, getting swept up and trying to be popular and fit a certain image. And I uh was fortunate in my high school years to have some experiences that were much more uh nature-oriented, uh spending my summers backpacking in the woods, in the northeastern part of the United States. I got to visit my first intentional community when I was 15. It was a place in North Carolina called Turtle Island. And I learned about it in a book that I read called The Last American Man that talks sort of about the founder of this community. And I was like, whoa, I want to go there. And they had the summer program for young people, so I went. And that really opened my eyes to all these, yeah, different, different cultural, like we learned about traditional Appalachian food systems and food preparation, indigenous ways of knowing and living on the land. Um, I participated in my first sweat lodge, like really these profound experiences. So going back then to the private Catholic high school that I was that I was in and like trying to connect with my friends on some of these topics and values that just wasn't working so well. And and so I think that was a big part of my struggle or the tension was around relating to my peers and also my family who very loving and supportive, but I'm sure concerned about their young daughter who's becoming this, you know, wild creature and not wanting to follow the career path laid out for her. And I wanted to later on, you know, drop out of college. And I I was fortunate to have found middle paths, I think, through it all in ways that helped me stay connected with the mainstream family and upbringing I had, but also do my own thing and go my own way. Um, I'm a graduate of Goddard College, which um they they recently um closed the school, unfortunately, but it was a low residency school, which enabled me to travel and get my degree. So it was kind of like like that feeling of dropping out, if you will, and being in the real world, but also getting a degree out of it in the end. And yeah, and feel so blessed that I was able to also connect with networks and organizations, formal organizations that are supporting this movement of eco-villages and intentional communities. So I found a career path through that, held various leadership roles in these different organizations. Yeah, yeah. It's really, really great.
Claire:Wow. So it sounds like a real hybrid. Like this just sort of, you know, was woven into your life even from a young age, you know, and just became more and more viable as an actual career path that happened, just unfolded naturally for you.
Cynthia:Yeah, yeah, I would say so. And and it's thanks to a lot of earlier pioneers who set up these organizations and these pathways for me as a young person to step into and find my community, if you will, uh and and mentors who I'm still working with to this day. So I'm incredibly grateful. And I feel like it's a big part of my life path has been walking this line, if you will, between worlds and being a bridge. And I know you identify in that way as well. Uh and it's it's critical that, you know, I can, we just had Thanksgiving. I can sit around the Thanksgiving table and talk about all the things that are important to my family. I can also host a Friendsgiving here in my home with my community and do things a little different.
Claire:Yeah, well, that's a beautiful balance of all the worlds, right? That's where it really gets it feels good, right? Because you're you're you're whole, right? I mean, you bring all the different aspects of your being together, nothing is in conflict with it with anything else, even if they are different, you know. That's a beautiful balance that I think few people achieve.
Cynthia:Yeah, I I think it's important to me to be in integrity and that's where you know have these different masks. I have to say though, it's it's not always easy. I I still have like a lot of the stories that I inherited from my parents and society. What are you doing with your life? You know, you're not following like the success metrics and like a lot of yeah, inner anxiety and work around those. Voices still to this day.
Claire:Well, that's good to hear because we've all got that stuff coming up, no matter what it it is that we're doing. Um, so um you your community is in Vermont right now, right? Is are you from that area originally or is it completely other from how you grew up?
Cynthia:Yeah, I'm from this the northeast. Um, I grew up just outside of Boston in the suburbs, the highways and shopping malls. But uh some relatives of ours had a place in Vermont that we would go and visit them in the summer and skiing in the winter. So I always thought I would end up here. It really has spoken to me from a young age, and I got to travel and live lots of different places, but then came here to central northern Vermont. Um, gosh, five, well, even before that, um, maybe eight, nine, ten years ago, started living here more often. And then I joined this community in 2019 and began, I know what a time, began uh building my house in the early COVID years, which was extremely challenging. Um, also had its benefits at times, but I'm still building my house here. It's a combination of natural and conventional construction. So I'm doing a lot of the interior work right now, which is plastering the walls using a mixture of lime and clay plaster. So yeah, I love natural building. I'm a huge natural building geek, and that's what I do most of the time when I'm not, you know, on Zoom and teaching and talking. I I'm out there either in the garden, I grow most of my own uh vegetables, even throughout the year, or I'm building my house and covered in filth and dirt and hammered nails and all of that.
Claire:So well, so what would you say to people who hear that and they go, oh my gosh, she's building her own house? Like, I could never do that. Did you know how to do that stuff, or did you just learn?
Cynthia:Yeah, I did not know. I I was very inspired, of course, by the eco-villages I visited and the crazy straw bale and cob structures. Like, wow, so beautiful, so inspiring. That's what I wanted my house to be like. Um, but yeah, no, it's been it's been a process. It is not for everyone. It is uh the undertaking of a lifetime. Um it's not how most people do home construction these days. I mean, most people get a construction loan, they hire a general contractor, the house is completed within a year, you get to move in and go on with your life. And here I am, you know, still chipping away at it. I did not have these skills. I was fortunate. Um, my dad is a builder. His name is Bob. We call him Bob the Builder because he's sort of a handyman, jack of all trades. And also living in this community, I have so many builders and handy guys around me. Um, my neighbor Tomas, he helped with the foundation and the framing. Um, I've just been, I had woofers for a period of time, volunteers, lots of family and friends coming to help. So it hasn't been something I'm doing on my own. I don't think anyone really builds a house on their own, unless it's a very small home. Usually it takes a fair bit of people and effort.
Claire:So Yeah, but isn't that beautiful though? Because it's like all of that love and care is woven into the home. It's in the energy, it's in the the materials, you know. It I really believe that that I was uh interviewing um uh a friend who is uh of an expert in feng shui earlier, and uh we were talking about this very thing, you know, the soul of a place. And it seems to me that, you know, when you work on something in community with family, with friends, uh, with people who are just lending their time out of generosity, that warmth and and love and care goes into the construction. I'm sure that you can feel it in your house.
Cynthia:Oh yeah. I have a story for every nook and cranny. I remember everything that went right and went wrong. You know, my love, my tears also are baked into the walls. Yeah, it's um it's incredible. It's incredible. And it's an unfinished project. And that can be challenging some days to look around and be like, oh my gosh, I have so much to do. But also, I can take my time, which is I don't have the pressure. It's comfortable, it's livable. I don't need to necessarily rush to complete anything, which has allowed for a lot more thoughtfulness. I can't tell you how many doors and windows I changed my mind about and like we moved, and and I can do that because it's it's my home. It takes a little more time, but it's it's possible.
Claire:Wow. So maybe we could talk about could you give us a brief overview of the different kinds of community? Because I don't think people realize that you know how how much variety there is in communities and what is available, increasingly available out there to think about.
Cynthia:Yeah, yeah, good. Yes. And I would love for people to do more research, even just you know, type into Google intentional communities near me, see what comes up. I think you'll be surprised. Most um, well, all states, you know, probably mostly an American audience, although intentional communities can be found globally. There's a lot in Europe, Costa Rica, especially, parts of Asia. Um, but here in the United States, most small towns even have an intentional community already created or a group that has one in progress that they've been working on, trying to establish. They come in a huge range of shapes and styles. I like to think of it as a spectrum. I would say on one end of the spectrum is kind of the communities I was touching on earlier, the more radical, hippie, the communes, kind of what sometimes people stereotypically think of as an intentional community. Um, most though don't look anything like that. I mean, the more radical models, people are really sharing income. They have businesses they're running together, living perhaps very communally, sharing a kitchen, sharing life on a day-to-day tight level. And I've lived in communities like that, and it's beautiful and intense. I'm so glad they exist because it's that kind of experimentation we really need of radical economic models, new ways of raising kids and caring for the elders. It's awesome. I think, though, then you can have communities a little further on the spectrum, closer to the mainstream, where it feels more similar to an old-fashioned neighborhood where people maybe have some values in common. There's a big community green where people gather for putlucks and events, um, where people maybe uh have some core agreements like separate personal finances and lives, but they, you know, have a community fund that membership dues go into, and that pays for maintenance and maybe a shared garden. That's a lot how my community functions. When you join my community, you buy your piece of land and you build your house. Most intentional communities, though, aren't quite like that. Usually you're buying a home that's already been built, or you're renting a home that's already been built. Um, that's that's actually more typical. And then you can go on further on the spectrum, and you can have these luxury eco-villages, which are, in some respects, more of these ligated communities of people who are living very uh conscious and beautiful lives in community, but it feels a bit exclusive and high-end, quite expensive perhaps. Um, and all of that is intentional community. You can also have communities in the cities. We're not only talking about rural communities that are off-grid, there's that, but there's also people who are cohabitating, maybe as a housing cooperative or a co-living kind of space in an urban context. Um, so I think at the core, though, is a few things. Um, one is choosing to live together on the basis of explicit common values. So, unlike a retirement community, let's say you're I know you're in Florida, and maybe you have a few of them there, I've heard. Um, uh that's a community, they use that word, but there isn't the shared values, nor shared ownership, usually, which is another um uh hallmark, if you will, of intentional communities, shared values, ownership, shared agreements, and really a choice to live together and co-create life together.
Claire:That's powerful. So, given your years of visiting and living in and guiding people towards intentional communities, what patterns do you see emerging about what makes a community truly alive and nourishing and flourishing and successful?
Cynthia:I like to think of community health in terms of the same way I would think about ecosystem health. So for me, a thriving ecosystem is one that has a lot of connection and interaction and exchange among its species. So a high frequency of exchange, but also a high quality of exchange. And so when you think about a community and what does a healthy community look like, it's also where the people who live there have high quality, frequent exchange with one another. Um, you know, there's some um indicators, if you will, in this space of intentional community. There's a very common saying that the healthy communities are the ones that share a lot of meals together. I think that's true to a point. I think quality matters too. I definitely lived once in a community where we shared breakfast, lunch, and dinner together, and it was a lot, and uh tensions were often brewing under the surface. And so, you know, and the community I live with in now, we each have our own homes with our own kitchens. Uh, but we love getting together and having a good celebration, a good chat by the fire, lots of shared projects too, things that we build and create and do together. Those are some of my favorite days in the community where I live, where we have these work parties, which we we usually do about once a month in the summer. And everyone's out there with their tools and we're carrying things together and pushing things around and you know, putting soil on the beds, turning the compost, digging up a new garden. Um, very, very joyful. So that's probably foundationally what a uh thriving community looks like to me. It's not necessarily the same indicators of success that we have for, let's say, a business or uh one's other areas of life uh where we are thinking more about well, how much money does this produce and how productive is it and how how long lasting is it? It's not always true that the the longest lasting community is the healthiest and most vibrant. Sometimes older communities can stagnate, right? So right.
Claire:Well, and I mean who says that it has to be, right? Because uh, you know, people come together for very specific reasons that are also, you know, that's soul guided, you know, it doesn't mean that something has to last forever in perpetuity as it is, yeah. Everything has to evolve and change, right? And so we have to let ourselves and and obviously if our if we are gonna evolve and change, communities are gonna evolve and change too. It's a dynamic, well, living ecosystem, like you say. So um do you do you feel that what's happening now in the community movement is part of this larger evolutionary shift in humanity?
Cynthia:Gosh. Perhaps. I I think that humanity has gone through many shifts, of course. And it kind of depends on where you're sitting and your worldview about what particular moment we're in now. Uh I, from where I sit, I've certainly seen a lot of communities getting started now in response to discontentment for what they're seeing out there in the world and what they've experienced perhaps in their own lives. I think that's always been true. Intentional communities are counter-cultural, right? There's the they counter the dominant culture. Um, but right now it does feel like it is broad, widesweeping single mothers who are tired of raising their kids alone and want to band together and create a community, people who are experiencing homelessness and want to find a way to live in community to get basic housing needs met in an affordable way. Um, people who, yeah, do feel on a deeper level that things are not going in a good direction. They have a strong activism or even a spiritual calling and want to band together to create communities that can foster that those values, be of service, maybe do activism work, not only, you know, protesting, but also through the way in which they're living, and not doing that in isolated bubbles, but really doing that as a more uh collective. And people who are just um wanting to recreate the village. It wasn't so long ago that most people around the world lived in community. They lived in traditional villages, and many, many people around the world actually still live like that to this day. And there's a lot that can be learned there. Not to say they were always perfect, but I think there's this idea now that we can look to the past and take the best of that model and combine it with the present day and the best of new technologies and innovations we have today for a better future.
Claire:Well, you um host these amazing eco-village tours. Um and I I my intention is to join one of those eventually. Um and I've I've noticed that you you you host a number of them in Europe. Um and of course Costa Rica and US, Hawaii, um uh uh where else? Um Bali, Bali, oh India, that's right, that's right. So I mean really all over the world. Yeah. Have you noticed like is there a common vibe or something that is at the heart of every uh eco-village? And and maybe we should make the distinction between eco-village and intentional community as well. Um, is there something that's in common, even though there are big cultural differences in all of those places? You know, what are the things that they have in common? And and what have you learned from visiting so many different international communities?
Cynthia:Yeah, yeah, great. Yeah, I I do think there's a lot that they have in common, uh, definitely on a foundational, fundamental level. Um and it's true, you know, you visit one community, you've really just visited one community. They all are different because they're all made up of different people and have different origin stories and perhaps different visions for what they're trying to do. Um yeah, the the most uh awe-inspiring community I visited is in India. And that's really where we go on our India Eco-Village tour is just to one community called Oroville. Oroville. Yeah, Oroville, which is considered to be the largest intentional community in the world with around 3,000 people who live there. So, you know, bordering a town, maybe a small city, and certainly hoping to be a city. Um, their um slogan is uh a city that the world needs, uh, really to be a center for human unity. And it's amazing to see so many people from around the world attracted to Oroville. Um, Oroville is a little, uh they don't necessarily consider themselves an ecovillage. I think the uh the the words are to a certain degree semantics. I really use ecovillage and intentional community often interchangeably, although ecovillages that self-identify as ecovillages typically have a strong focus on sustainability, environmentally sustainable, um, but also sustainable in other ways. They're they're really trying to create a model for the future that can be a demonstration site for how people worldwide could live more connected to the land, more resiliently, um, especially in the face of natural disasters and such, regenerating the land, permaculture, all of that you usually find at ecovillages. And you find a lot of that at Oroville too. And so I mention Oroville because I feel they really embody some of those fundamental principles that you can find in nearly every intentional community. And we've talked about a fair number of them already, you know, at the core being connection. Really, I mean it's in the name, intentional community, being quite intentional about choosing to live in that particular place with those particular people, because you resonate, you share the vision, you share the values. And that alone, that kind of um quality of care and intentionality, you can find in a community, even if one is focused on music and the other is focused on eco building design or care for the elders or whatever it may be. Um and uh it's really special because much like living in a house that you build. Built and you can feel the intentionality in the walls when you walk in a place that was designed with some thoughtfulness and care. Um, it feels like walking, because I've I've been in a lot of uh traditional villages in Europe, and it has that kind of feeling, you know, where you you can feel, oh, somebody put all these stones here by hand. It's like, wow, how much care went into this place. And and I I get that similar feeling when I visit intentional communities, and it's such a contrast to the manufactured sameness that we find in most of society nowadays.
Claire:Yeah, well, and certainly in North America. I mean, I was living in France full-time for four and a half years, and it's completely different. I mean, the it a lot of the qualities of intentional communities or eco-villages you find in these smaller um villages. I mean, because as you say, it's it that's how we we lived. I mean, most of our history was lived in interdependence. Uh, and so, you know, these little enclaves popped up all over the place, you know, and um yeah, where I was living until very recently um was a really strong example of that kind of attitude, you know, that everybody is together in a small space. And it doesn't mean that they're there by intention. Some of them just grew up in there, they're there for generations, you know. Uh, some of them came from the outside without knowing what they were getting into, you know. Um, I was one of those people too, you know. And what I found was, you know, I mean, anywhere you go, you can create community around you if your heart's in the right place, you know. But yeah, I mean, the there's the sense of history uh in Europe, the sense of being of things being really old. You know, um, yeah, the the stones like talk, you know, they there's a definitely a feeling of wow. I mean, the energy is completely different than it is in North America. That would, you know, hence my question, like, you know, it must be so different from place to place. And, you know, to to see uh an eco-village intentional community in in France or Spain or Portugal or Italy, um, and then to go to one in Costa Rica, uh, in the jungle, and you know, all of these, and then United States, you know, um, I'm sure Canada has lots of intentional communities as well. I mean, it it must be um there's such a rich variety of experiences that can be had.
Cynthia:Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah. And you can be careful, you spend your lifetime getting addicted to traveling and visiting them all. Yeah, yeah. And it's it's also, I mean, it's worth mentioning um many of these intentional communities, especially when we talk Costa Rica or Asia, um, they are largely founded by expats. Not always American expats, but people who have come from many different parts of the world because they are dissatisfied with the their countries of origin or who knows what life circumstances drew them to a new place. And they um are creating these communities that are, of course, part of the surrounding environment and the neighboring uh communities there. And there's a big conversation, of course, around gentrification and and how you move to an area and be in right relationships with your neighbors. And I think a lot of communities are doing that work really well. They're actually a model for how we can do development in a more sustainable, um, um, kind and supportive way. Um, and that has an influence too on what you may find when you visit a community, is its origin story and the people who live there, and you know, if they're actually, you know, from that region originally or not. Right. Right.
Claire:And, you know, what was the yeah, the original intention behind the intentional community? You know, what was it reactive against something, or was it, did it come from, you know, was it birthed from love and the desire to create something positive? Because there's a there's a big distinction in energy between those two, you know. And I guess maybe some people might have a a well, I'll speak for myself. When I think about intentional community and eco-villages, because I'm always online looking at stuff and I'm I'm always building a house in my head, you know, I know it's in my future. Um, but you know, there's the the little fear part of me is like, well, but you know, be careful because you don't want to end up someplace where people are in a reaction against something that's gonna be negative, and blah, blah, blah. I mean, these are the thoughts that run through my head, you know, and probably because we've also been sold a version of, you know, um intentional community or eco-village in Hollywood, you know, sold as a version that they're all crazy hippies who are into, you know, they're who are weird and you know, they're they've been, they couldn't make it in the in the real world. And so they're living in a fantasy world someplace away from everything, you know. We've been sold some kind of little scary versions of um of what that is, right? So I the only way to find out, I think, is to go to from place to place and visit them and and experience it for yourself.
Cynthia:Yeah, yeah. And uh to take the the scary stories even a little further, perhaps a community that is dangerous, that is cultish and coercive in some way. And um, or you know, even more common perhaps is finding a community where there's an inhealth an unhealthy power dynamic and like a leader or a guru figure, or you know, some some, yeah, um, like you say, uh not good intentions perhaps at the core. Um and I think that it is good to be aware that those places do exist. Um it's a really small number, and I think that um most of the communities that uh you'll uh a lot of those communities are I had to say, like getting called out on that. And um, if they're of any size, you know, they they have um a lot of visitors and people who've come through and and some organizations even that are trying to make aware that, hey, this community perhaps isn't a good place or they're going through a challenging time right now. Um, and that's why I think it's important to do your due diligence with your research, um, to really look out for any like warning signs you might see of hmm, this community, especially the new ones that are just getting started, where they say, we're an intentional community, and it's really just you know, some person with a piece of land who is wishful thinking. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and and I think as well, it's another, you know, plug for what I do with EcoVillage Tours, because we spend a lot of time um vetting, building relationships, ensuring that the places that we work with are um, you know, doing things in a good way and of course are very safe, but also are modeling the kind of societies that we we want to see more of in the future. And um that's why it is helpful to work with somebody like me or join an Eco-Village tour if you're new to all this and maybe you are a little trepidatious, uh, because that's gonna give you a good experience and a well-supported experience in your foray into intentional community.
Claire:Totally agree. So when some people uh come to you, Cynthia, do I mean, do people come to you on the matchmaking side first or on the eco-village tour side? Do they communicate? I mean, how does it work when somebody approaches you for the first time?
Cynthia:Yeah, yeah. Well, I wear both hats. And so it's, you know, it's kind of I get approached in in the different ways and can direct people in different ways depending on what they're interested in. Um, mostly, though, for my work now with Community Finders is the organization that I do the matchmaking work through, CommunityFinders.com. I have a blog there. I have a lot of online courses and materials. So that's kind of the first place I usually direct people to is to start learning about all of this. Um and I'm working now on a book, which will be, I think, out by the time this podcast is out. So that's um another way that people can learn about this broad world of intentional communities and how to find a community that's a fit for them, or perhaps start a community if that's what they have their hearts set on. And then for people who want to turn that online research and learning into a practical experience, I highly recommend an Eco-Village tour. Um, or you know, visiting a few communities on your own. A lot of intentional communities will have visitor programs, maybe a weekend or a weeklong experience to give you some, you know, basic exposure and start to learn the culture and the customs, meet some people. Uh, because that's that's it. You know, a lot of people do the online window shopping, watching YouTube videos, getting inspired, but then don't ever quite take that next step of going and visiting some places, which is that is the next step you need to take if you want to live in a community or start one. It's always good to visit at least a few and get a sense for what's out there and have some basis of comparison before then you hopefully ultimately choose a community to join.
Claire:Well, um, that sounds like all really good advice. What's the name of your book that's coming out soon?
Cynthia:It's called Intentional Community. Okay. How to find, yeah, how to find community living for better housing, health, and happiness.
Claire:Wonderful. Yes. And by the time this episode airs, yeah, it should be hot off the presses. Yes, yes. Well, um I guess one final question. I'm inspired to ask you what gives you hope when you look at humanity right now?
Cynthia:Well, it's so easy not to have hope, isn't it? Just turn on the news. Right. Um you know, it's funny. I it's so it's so hard to know what's gonna happen in the future. Like you were alluding to earlier. We we have these parallel tracks and so many amazing good things over here happening, all these communities and projects and people with hearts who are trying to make a change. And then we also have things that really just seem to be going in a uh not good direction. And um, and so I can kind of get caught up sometimes in those two storylines. Um, obviously, I hope you know, hope one side um prevails, but uh what gives me hope on a much more practical level is the life that I'm choosing to lead because it's not about some future, hopefully maybe things will be better in the rest of the world. It's like I'm irregardless, I'm choosing the way that I live now because it feels good now. It's nourishing for me now. It's amazing to live in a community and contribute and help to raise the kids who live here and have my hands in the earth and know where my food comes from and and be able to support neighbors when they need it and be supported when I need it. And like all of that is just so um uh fueling and enriching. And then for me in this time to be able to share that through this medium and other mediums, like it's like I don't know what the future is gonna bring. I can hope, of course, but the hope that sustains me on a day-to-day is the hope of right now. I don't know if that makes sense.
Claire:It makes total sense. I think that is such beautiful wisdom. And actually, I mean, that is how we create the reality that we're in when we recognize that we're the creators, we are the creators, right? Instead of uh creating a world where you're worrying about how's it gonna go, who's gonna win, you know, that's totally placing our power outside of ourselves. And what you're doing is actually living the dream right now and helping other people to do the same thing.
unknown:Yeah, yeah.
Cynthia:And I hope they do. You can do it, everyone listening, like totally. And and I know too, some people are really struggling. I mean, it's it's tough out there. I get it, you know, finances, kids, responsibilities, care, caregiving, all of that. And still, there's a lot that you are in control of and a lot of power that you do have, and it might take time and it might take, you know, step by step. But I I really feel that um we we do have this choice. And the the first step is recognizing that you do have choice, and there are other ways to live, and get curious and learn as much as you can about them, and and just continue to follow that curiosity, and you might be surprised where it takes you.
Claire:That's a beautiful note to end on. Thank you, Cynthia, for spending this time with me, with us today, and for your valuable guidance and leadership in this domain. We really need you, and we need more and more communities uh and more and more options for people. So I really want to thank you for everything that you are.
Cynthia:Thank you, Claire. You have such a beautiful presence and ask such good questions, and thank you for this opportunity to be here and to share.
Claire:Well, we'll stay in touch.
Cynthia:Yes, we will. Absolutely.
unknown:Thank you.
Claire:Well, there you have it. What Cynthia reminds us of is that community isn't uh a solution, it's uh more like a state of being. It's a way of being in the world, a frequency that we're learning to return to in a world of fracture. Her work and her mission really point us back to the ancient human truth that we're not meant to walk alone, that we can depend on one another, that we are humane beings. I'll see you next time. Meanwhile, walk in grace. You've been listening to the grace space to amplify this view. You're welcome to like, subscribe, or share. Thank you.