The GeoPoint, now called Vista
Alegre, began 22 years ago when Sandra
Guimaraes, a trained bioenergetics therapist, bought land in Brazil
"sitio da cachoeira", ranch of the water fall, because she
sensed its healing powers. Her original idea was to build a space in
nature and beauty that would open people to healing processes. For many
years she has treated her clients at this place actualizing the original
vision. People came to spent a week in this lush natural setting. They
experienced individual psycho therapeutic sessions with Sandra and were
introduced to practices of the ancient wisdom of Tibetan Buddhism, which
Sandra had been studying and practicing for over 20 years. The place
eventually came to be used for group retreats as well individual healing
work.
In 1999, Thais Corral
started therapy with Sandra and from there a very deep friendship unfolded,
which became the basis of a partnership leading to a new venture, the
center called Vista Alegre. For this, Thais bought extra land adjoining
Sandra's. Thais's mountain rests side-by-side and now as one with Sandra's
valley.
On the new land Sandra and Thais have built two houses to accommodate
22 people. The focus of the center, now called Vista Alegre, is leadership
development. It has been built to support the development of the inner
dimension of leadership, as well as outer resources of collective leadership
that will guide the transition for a wisdom civilization.
Vista Alegre is directly connected to the Global Leadership Network
(GLN), who together believe that the change that the world needs today
will depend on the quality of the relationship we can have with ourselves,
with the people that surround us and with the planet. Guiding questions
are:
How can we develop and connect the inner and outer dimensions of
our work and leadership?
How can we find truly pragmatic ways to resolve the world's challenges
without compromising the depth of our inspiration and aspiration?
How can we sustain our commitments in the world and avoid burn out,
and balance those commitments with the responsbilities to our local
and national community, as well as to our personal and family life?
How do leaders shaped by one cultural context learn to respect and
interact effectively with leaders shaped by another, very different
culture?
How must our understanding of gender deepen in order to develop the
kind of leadership our planet needs?
How can we balance the feminine and masculine qualities within ourselves?
How can we help people to be more aligned with their positive intentions?
A fundamental belief is that the power of GeoPoints places like Vista
Alegre will help leaders and entrepreneurs fine tune positive intentions
and align with positive change in the world.
Vista Alegre distinguishes itself as a GeoPoint and center for leadership
development by five fundamental principles:
Simplicity - letting nature show the way, uncovering
what does not belong to essence.
Elegance - the mastery of details that express
style and quality
Pragmatism - mobilizing energy for sustainable
leadership
Depth - depth and breath of connecting the inner
and outer resources of present possibilities
Humanity - cultivating the respect of individual
and cultural diversity while also representing the potential unity
of our shared humanity.
In October 2007 the GLN community met at Vista Alegre to develop a
new curriculum on Leadership for Climate Security and to participate
in a retreat about the "Power of Time" (www.skillfulmeans.org).
This gathering was celebrated as an initiation and official launch of
Vista Alegre as GeoPoints Brazil.
