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Ayampe, Ecuador
The CENTER
Our brand new center was built with massive amounts of love specifically for the purpose of immersing you in our unique programs.
Beautiful bamboo roofs curve like waves over smooth cool concrete, with every nook and cranny intentionally designed to make you feel at home.
If you’d like to come see the place yourself, check out the Visit page for more info.
The LAND
Located on a lush, rainforest-covered hill with sweeping ocean and mountain views, the land we chose for the center will give you a feeling of intimate connectedness to the natural world.
With fertile soil gracing every square meter, we hope to establish a bountiful permaculture project to provide freshly grown fruits and vegetables to all our visitors.
The TOWN
Walk 20 minutes down the hill and into the peaceful town of Ayampe, Ecuador, where you’ll find friendly expats and locals co-existing beautifully with their environment.
Decades of strict local regulations have kept large hotel developers from affecting the pristine beauty of the beaches and surrounding greenery, creating a unique, village-like atmosphere.
The SURF
One of our main criteria in choosing the location was access to consistent waves, and Ayampe provides exactly that.
A beach break capable of many different moods, beginners and advanced surfers alike will enjoy the variety on offer. Everything from friendly white water for learning to long, stretched out walls for ripping can be found and enjoyed.
The Team
Meet the people making it all happen
The Method
How do we train, to dance in the rain?
We only have one body. And it is infinitely complex.
Exploring the depths of the body and how it can be trained and understood is a core interest of ours at The B.E.L.L. Center.
Rather than stick to a single approach, our movement trainings incorporate many different practices ranging from slow intentional motions of qi gong to the intense primal creativity of freeform animal flow (and everything in between).
Mobility, flexibility, strength, and balance are equally important characteristics we strive to cultivate in our customized programs.
But at the highest level, awareness of body is the key to harnessing the full energetic capabilities of your physical form, and is constantly emphasized in our teachings.
We were originally creatures of the seas.
But now, the majority of our lives take place on land.
In our opinion, connecting with humanity’s aquatic roots through surfing waves is one of the most fulfilling ways you can spend your time.
Riding an ocean wave requires an understanding of and surrender to the forces of nature beyond our control. Each new wave promises a brief moment of merging with the energy of the universe.
Preparing your Body, Mind, and Breath to be exposed to the dynamic nature of the ocean is a deep passion of ours at The B.E.L.L. Center, and many of our trainings are designed to carry over well to being on top of a surfboard.
From the 1st session to the 1000th, surfing provides us with purpose beyond the rat race so commonly happening on land.
"Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate” - Carl Jung
Whether we want to admit it or not, most of us don’t understand ourselves.
Our lives have become so full of things we need to do that we rarely take the time to stop and consider who we are and what we’re doing here.
That’s where meditation comes in.
At The B.E.L.L. Center, we teach simple yet effective practices that aim to help you build a better relationship with your mind. Through meditation, we show you how to understand the patterns guiding all of your behavior, emotions, and mental phenomena.
Our minds control every aspect of our perception of the world. Which is why we consider it absolutely fundamental to spend time training it on a regular basis to work for you, rather than against you.
Breathing keeps you alive...
Sounds obvious, doesn’t it?
That’s about as far as many of us get in our understanding of the breath.
But not all breathing is the same. How well your mind and body function on a moment-to-moment basis is highly correlated to the quality of your breathing. Train the breath, and the mind and body follow.
Don’t believe us? Try breathing as heavily as possible for 60 seconds. What just happened to your body and mind? Try inhaling normally and exhaling as slowly as possible on repeat for 60 seconds. What just happened to your body and mind?
Our teachings at The B.E.L.L. Center include many practical and portable methods to help you directly influence your nervous system in a myriad of beneficial ways.
The Ethos
Our Guiding Principles
How can you expect to change or improve anything about your life if you're not aware of exactly how it needs to change?
Like attempting to rearrange a messy closet in the dark, many of us spend our time attempting to rearrange our lives with an incomplete understanding of how our individual minds will respond to the changes.
Training in awareness through meditation and other avenues gives us a way to brighten the beam of our mental flashlight, illuminating the clutter and offering us more choices over how we react internally and externally.
At The B.E.L.L. Center, most of our offerings are rooted in the development of awareness of mind, body, and spirit, because we believe cultivation of awareness is the essential building block beneath all other practices and ways of growing.
See “Why Be Aware” for more information.
You start an activity. You lose track of time. Your actions feel effortless. You finish. You are left with a feeling of immense richness.
This is a state of flow.
Complete and immersive engagement in an activity with the appropriate balance of challenge and skill.
Flow states are often where we reach our highest potential, but they can be tricky to harness on a regular basis. At The B.E.L.L. Center, we seek to study and experience these temporary states on land and in the ocean, in order to appreciate their advantages.
Inspired by Taoist wisdom, we also love to take the concept a step further by exploring a higher level concept which we call “life flow”. By this we mean structuring your mind in a way that minimizes resistance, and in turn allows you to work your way through life like a mountain stream bending effortlessly around obstacles.
Everything in the universe is interconnected and interdependent.
Science and spirituality agree wholeheartedly on this fact, from both a physical and energetic perspective.
But due to the unique way in which our human minds function, we tend to view ourselves as separate entities from the world around us, and often stuff everything we perceive into bounded categories to appeal to our rational understanding.
This way of thinking can be very useful when we need to accomplish tasks. But life is about more than getting things done. Too much separation, disconnection, and categorization can lead to the development of a strong ego vulnerable to attack from the capricious world we inhabit.
At The B.E.L.L. Center, we use regular practices, immersion in the ocean, and transformational experiences to remind ourselves of the myriad of ways in which we are connected. Recognizing and appreciating these connections on a regular basis is a major help in cultivating lasting wellbeing.
See “A Selfless and Interconnected Existence” for more information.
Want to Dive Deeper?
Check out the posts written over the years by our founder telling stories, sharing insight, and working through the philosophies at the core of the center.
“...it was a turning point in my life as
they really helped me to deepen my
meditation practice, live in the
present moment, and start building
the life that I always dreamed of.”
- Amelie L
Canada
“Anna and Kolin do a
great job making their
teachings accessible to
people of all levels."
- Zach R
USA
“They live what they preach.”
- Daniel B
Switzerland
“If you sign up...you can expect to
meet amazing people, feel deep
connection with nature, and water
the seeds of mindfulness that are
already within you.”
- Nate M
USA
“I’ve sat with a lot of meditation
teachers over the last decade, and
Kolin was one of the few who really
got what it meant to be a meditator
in the modern world.”
- Jackson B
USA
“Mindfulness is definitely
worth practicing,
especially with these
beautiful teachers.”
- Angelika P
Austria
“...without a doubt, it was one of the
most revolutionary workshops I have
attended, and I've done mindfulness
retreats with Buddhist monks and
even Jon Kabat-Zinn himself.”
- Billy L
USA
“The entire session was flawless and
flowed beautifully, evoking a truly
blissful state.”
- Tom B
Australia
“It was a transformative experience,
and I will definitely be back to
attend the next retreats at the
B.E.L.L. Center!”
- Zach R
USA
“I couldn't have been more lucky in
crossing paths with them during this
special journey that we call life.”
- Enzo M
Italy
“Kolin and Anna always go above
and beyond what is expected to
make sure you have the best
possible experience.”
- Amelie L
Canada
“I implore any curious people to go
and meet them, take a class, and
feel something good for a change!”
- Franz B
USA
“...was definitely a turning point in
how I started to think about the
practice in a more relevant and
helpful way in my life.”
- Leo S
USA
“I learnt how to recognize, separate
and appreciate subtle feelings from
stronger ones.”
- Rohan S
India
“I only knew one person prior to
attending the retreat, however I left
with 10 lifelong connections along
with memories that will last a
lifetime.”
- Michael D
USA
“I was a bit skeptical of some
wellness trends, but one breathwork
session with them shows that it’s for
real.”
- Craig S
Germany
“...was super professional and made
me feel both safe & free to explore
my mind at the same time.”
- Alexia T
Argentina
“Very good guidance and
explanation, a modern approach
that is accessible to everyone.”
- Lien U
Belgium
“...it was a turning point in my life as they really helped me to deepen
my meditation practice, live in the present moment, and start building
the life that I always dreamed of.”
- Amelie L
Canada
“Anna and Kolin do a great job making their teachings accessible
to people of all levels."
- Zach R
USA
“They live what they preach.”
- Daniel B
Switzerland
“If you sign up for one of their events, you can expect to
meet amazing people, feel deep connection with nature, and
water the seeds of mindfulness that are already within you.”
- Nate M
USA
“I’ve sat with a lot of meditation teachers over the last decade,
and Kolin was one of the few who really got what it meant
to be a meditator in the modern world.”
- Jackson B
USA
“Mindfulness is definitely worth practicing,
especially with these beautiful teachers.”
- Angelika P
Austria
“...without a doubt, it was one of the most revolutionary workshops
I have ever attended, and I have done mindfulness retreats with
Buddhist monks and even Jon Kabat-Zinn himself.”
- Billy L
USA
“The entire session was flawless and flowed beautifully,
evoking a truly blissful state.”
- Tom B
Australia
“It was a transformative experience, and I will definitely
be back to attend the next retreats at the B.E.L.L. Center!”
- Zach R
USA
“I couldn't have been more lucky in crossing paths with them during
this special journey that we call life.”
- Enzo M
Italy
“Kolin and Anna always go above and beyond what is expected to
make sure you have the best possible experience.”
- Amelie L
Canada
“I implore any curious people to go and meet them, take a class,
and feel something good for a change!”
- Franz B
USA
“...was definitely a turning point in how I started to think about
the practice in a more relevant and helpful way in my life.”
- Leo S
USA
“I learnt how to recognize, separate and appreciate
subtle feelings from stronger ones.”
- Rohan S
India
“I only knew one person prior to attending the retreat, however I left with
10 lifelong connections along with memories that will last a lifetime.”
- Michael D
USA
“I was a bit skeptical of some wellness trends, but
one breathwork session with them shows that it’s for real.”
- Craig S
Germany
“...was super professional and made me feel both
safe & free to explore my mind at the same time.”
- Alexia T
Argentina
“Very good guidance and explanation, a modern approach
that is accessible to everyone.”
- Lien U
Belgium
5.0 stars based on
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