International Teal Family Retreat
At The Hidden Oasis, Pune
20th to 26th February 2025
Curated and co-facilitated by Shammi Nanda.
Primary Language - English
Format - In Person
Join us for six day Retreat with families and children in the lap of nature, to learn and practice building ‘Teal Families’, which are collaborative, transparent, and evolutionary. Take a break from the day to day hustle of life, where you can stop and reflect on ways to deepen your connection with your partner, children and even your parents.
It will be a space to get the skills from Nonviolent Communication(NVC), pick up workable tools for making decision with collaboration and consent in your families, learn the nuts and bolts about organising your homes and kitchens in ways that cut down the overwhelm, give you more time for other creative pursuits and enjoy connection with your dear ones and experience about creating foods that are nourishing and exciting, without the overwhelm and burnouts.
A space to be in community with like minded people who want to choose their own paths of living and learning, to learn and be inspired by each other with the unique explorations that each one is doing in their homes and families. A place where we come together and co-create knowledge to enrich our lives. You will meet UnSchoolers, HomeSchoolers, Self Designed Learners, alternate healing practitioners, eco-conscious families, organic farmers and many more who believe in creating a more humane and sustainable world.
Alongside Shammi, we have an accompanying team of facilitators like Urmila Samson (Pune), Ramanusha (Sri Lanka), Lyla (Jaipur), and Niom Samson holding the space for children. Besides we also believe that the facilitators are there to hold space and with their unique wisdom, skills and experience to create this unique holistic living retreat.
Not to forget that learning happens with fun and play, so while we learn it happens with joy, fun and play along with the community.
The program integrates learning from Nonviolent Communication (NVC) along with principles and practices for self-management and collaboration from Holacracy in very simple and effective ways that can benefit your connections in very simple and doable ways so you can make it a part of your life after you go to your homes.
Holacracy will assist us in creating an evolutionary process to create systems for our daily functioning and engagement that are transparent, cooperative, and efficient, while NVC would be useful in one-on-one interactions where we would learn to be our true selves while maintaining care and compassion for others. Shammi has observed that in order to bring about long-lasting changes in the way we interact and collaborate within our families, a combination of structural and individual changes is necessary.
Pre RegistrationLet's Connect
Please Pre Register and share more about yourself along and get to know about how to get the discount.
There is no obligation to commit for joining the program by doing this. This is just to connect with you and share with your more about this program. You can then talk to our team members and learn more about the program.
What is teal family?
The concept of Teal has come from the work of Ken Wilbur and Frederic Laloux from Reinventing Organisations. Fredric studied organisations that have been self-managed and collaborative while working effectively in ways that are more soulful and nourishing for the team members and employees. Holacracy is one of the traditional ways of organising organisations.
During his 'Holacracy Yatra' in the United States around five years ago, Shammi toured across the country to observe how organisations were successfully integrating Holacracy. He has been bringing in methods for consent and collaborative decision-making systems and putting them across in simple ways with relationships and families that he has been coaching for some years.
This retreat will integrate learnings from NVC and Holacracy and give you doable skills in building families with an evolutionary and collaborative consciousness.
It is not just theory but nuts and bolts learning and practice with Shammi and the most unique and amazing blend of facilitators.
Our Hosting Team: Walking their Talk
We have a diverse team of hosts/facilitators. They walk their talk, have a lot of experience in their respective fields, hold the larger systemic picture and love to draw in interconnections of the different parts to the whole and come from diverse backgrounds. We have gone through our own journeys and enjoy to integrate our lived experiences in our offerings.
We see our selves as part of the community and some one who is there to co-create knowledge as we share our learnings and are not just there to transfer the knowledge. We are not better or separate from the community.
They are driven by passion for their work and feel nourished when they contribute to the well being of the community. They have a strong need to nurture and work towards making a beautiful world that they also want to live in. Some of us have worked togeather in the past and have an alignment in our values as well as our working styles. Besides, we are bringing in different skills and we have different ways of working which also adds to the diversity.
Besides, all of us are doing our own work with the community as we also enjoy sharing our learnings to the people.
Shammi Nanda
Holisitc Relationship Coach, Jaipur
Shammi is a coach with a unique blend of experience from filmmaking, organic farming, NVC, self-healing, cooking, unschooling, and collaborative decision-making. His diverse skills and NVC expertise help him connect with people across diverse backgrounds. He is versatile in his sharing and speaks the language and idiom of the person/s he is working with.
For years, he has travelled globally, sharing his insights while living on gift culture. Now focused on intimate relationship coaching, he supports people in building authentic, empathic connections within families. He believes that fostering honesty, compassion, and consent in close relationships creates a foundation for societal harmony and world peace.
Urmila Samson
Whole Being Integration Facilitator, Pune
Urmila is a mother of three unschooled children who are now adults. She sees that unlearning is an essential part of 'Unschooling' and has a lot to share from here experience of her journey with Unschooling. She is good at sharing stories from her own life journey, that can touch people's hearts.
She found that de-stressing, relaxing, learning to deeply listen to herself and the child, made parenting an easeful, joyful, mutually beneficial experience.
She will facilitate experiential processes to shift from head to heart/Whole Being integration and share about the collaborative family journey that led to this lived experience.
Ramanusha Poopalaratnam
NVC trainer, Sri Lanka
Ramanusha, a CNVC-certified Nonviolent Communication (NVC) trainer, has spent two decades promoting NVC in Sri Lanka, working in conflict resolution, training mediation board members in war-affected areas, and facilitating inter-religious dialogue to foster harmony.
Viewing conflict as an opportunity for growth, she teaches empathic listening and connection in her workshops. Growing up in a Tamil family, she navigated cultural challenges first hand, enhancing her ability to address local nuances in her NVC coaching & trainings beautifully.
Lyla FreeChild
Wellness Coach & Menstrual Artivist, Jaipur
Lyla FreeChild is a holistic food and wellness practitioner with seven years of experience. She specializes in organizing homes and kitchens to reduce overwhelm and make healthy, exciting cooking more accessible.
As a self-taught visual artist, Lyla explores the complex themes of the female body, sexuality, patriarchy, and personal trauma. For nearly a decade, she’s also been a dedicated menstrual artivist, deepening her understanding of how menstruation impacts our minds, bodies, and relationships.
Niom Samson
Unschooled Self Designed Learner & Games Facilitator, Pune
Niom (They/Them) is an unschooler who has been working with and teaching through 'play' for the past 6 years. Niom's exploration of play has brought them to a place of continually falling in love with life. Niom wishes to share this gift with the world and is integrating it into their work by bringing people together to experience it, in different ways, as a community.
Niom would be facilitating connection and play circles during the event and also be a support for the children in the spirit of shared power, fun and play.
Teal Family Master Class Recording
Here is the recording of the ‘Teal Family’ Master Class’ - Part 1, hosted by Urmila Samson and Shammi Nanda, where we talk of creating collaborative and conscious families while building a deeper connection with your partner and/or children.
Our work on Teal Family is also inspired by Federic Laloux from his book ‘Reinventing Organisations’ where he talks of Teal Organisations which are collaborative, inclusive and soulful and where our talents can blossom and our callings can be honored.
This work is also inspired by my close interactions with many conscious families who are exploring alternate and meaningful ways of living and learning in today’s times, walking their own paths while breaking out of patriarchy and its control and command mindset. Families who sit together and work with their conflicts in respectful ways and want to build a culture where no one is made to submit and decisions are made with openness, consent and collaboration.
Besides, we are also offering a six day International Teal Family Retreat, near Pune. You can learn about the program from my site at www.shamminanda.com. The venue for the retreat is The Hidden Oasis near Pune, see more at https://thehiddenoasis.com
Looking forward to having you join our Master Class and hear more about creating Teal Families.
About The Venue
The Hidden Oasis is Nature’s amazing gift to us. Just an hour’s drive from Pune is this ideal destination to rejuvenate yourself and be one with Mother Nature. At The Hidden Oasis, time slows down and every moment can be savoured, making it the perfect antidote to ever-busy urban life.
Additional Info about food and accommodation
- Room and Board Price will include all three meals and snacks.
- We will serve plant based food(Vegan) and mostly Gluten Free
The first meal offered to participants on 20th February will be Lunch and the last Meal will be lunch on the last day of the retreat, on the 26th of February. On the first day as you arrive there will be a Welcome Fruit and some snacks for you all.
The welcome session will begin post lunch.
Those traveling long distances who may need to come a day early can contact the venue and make their arrangements for stay and food at an extra cost that is to be paid directly to the venue. Same will apply if you want to leave after the last meal, you can connect with the venue and make the needed agreements for it.
Bed Linen, Soaps and towels will be included in the price
If you are coming on your own and have a preference about and person from the retreat to share your room or tent with, you can let us know so we can try our best to support you to have your chosen room/tent stay partner.
Financial structure: Working Creatively with Money
Integrating inclusion with sustainability
It’s our desire that this program be accessible to all those who want to come, irrespective of their financial resources, especially those who have been systemically denied access to them. We would like the costs of organising the program to be covered – and the organising team who is putting in their heart, time and energy – to be nurtured and taken care of. We are wanting to look for creative ways to be inclusive as well as sustainable.
If the idea of spending six days in this retreat inspires you or you are curious to know more about it, you are welcome to pre-register and we will reach out to you and share more information with you. You can do this without making any financial commitment, by clicking below.
Who is this Retreat for?
Whether you're married, single parent, in a committed partnership, or single and could be seeking partnership, this retreat offers valuable insights and practices for you. More so if you believe in a world of choice and shared power while living with your dear ones, especially in your families. Bring along your partners, children or parents for this unique community gathering.
Is this your challenge too?
There are moments that we get stuck and feel lonely, when we are not able to find a pathway to deal with our challenges.
With my coaching for the last few years, I have found that some of these challenges come often in relationships and I have been working on certain pathways with some of my clients. There have been some positive shifts sometimes and also at times things didn't move forward or moved 'too' slowly. Either ways, it has given me the tools and processes, that can make a difference, and I want to offer some of the learnings in this retreat. We have designed the flow of the retreat, so it addresses some of these challenges that are experienced much often by people in relationships with their partners or children. If you struggle with some of the challenges mentioned below, then this retreat could be an opportunity for you to break some of the impasses that you experience in your day to day life. We have chosen the facilitator team and curated the program in such a way that we can hold space for people experiencing these or similar challenges in their day to day life.
PAIN
Do you feel drained out by the end of the day?
You might be giving more output and
having less input to nourish yourself.
PATHWAYS
Experience food that is easy on your body and get energised with plant based and consciously prepared foods. Learn about the value of rest. Find ways to become mindful when your input-output balance is off.
PAIN
Do you constantly feel that you give more and hardly get any appreciation?
PATHWAYS
Bring in a culture of empathic listening and sharing of gratitude in your family with your children and partner.
PAIN
You and your partner have triggers from your past that come in the way of your day-to-day interactions, and things get out of control?
PATHWAYS
Learn to do Trigger Mapping. Talk about your past and understand your triggers. This can help you be mindful
of your own triggers and also hold space for your partner
when they are triggered.
PAIN
Are you catching yourself asking your kids to do everything ‘faster’ and ‘jaldi’ and unhappy about it? You hardly have any time to slow down.
PATHWAYS
Track your roles and what all tasks they entail. Get a sense of what all you have signed up for and reflect on your capacity to fulfil those roles. If there is an imbalance, it's time to course correct and have your roles in sync with your capacity.
PAIN
Are you aware of your own or your partner's moon cycle and consciously take steps to address the challenges it brings in the relationship?
PATHWAYS
Learn more about moon cycles and be conscious of the impact it has on physical and emotional wellbeing. Learn to take care for yourself and your partner with awareness of different parts of the moon cycle.
PAIN
Would you want to make food that is healthy and exciting at home without adding to your overwhelm? You wish to create a culture of such food at home so children can be weaned from Junk food but are not able to do it?
PATHWAYS
Learn to see food choices from the place of needs. Find ways so that you can create food that meets the needs of your children and yours, there is a lot of scope to come closer to them, and that too with ease.
PAIN
Are you overwhelmed by house chores around running the kitchen, cleaning, organising clothes, etc? Even after having house help/s and support staff, your own overwhelm of managing them is never ending.
PATHWAYS
Learn how to set up systems for the households which reduce your engagement so you can find time to engage with your children and family in other meaningful ways.
PAIN
Would you like your children to take responsibility in running the households, so they learn these skills and also contribute in running the household with greater shared responsibility.
PATHWAYS
Organise the household chores with effective collaboration and mutual consent where no one person feels resentful. Give space to children to explore and make mistakes while learn to handhold them. This may need some unlearning on your part.
PAIN
“There are a lot of issues to talk about but where is the time?” Your life seems to be on a roller coaster and unresolved issues pile up to eventually explode, in ways that there is no space to repair?
PATHWAYS
Learn the tools for processing tensions without blaming the other person and collectively find ways to address them with consent. These have been taken from Holacracy and simplified so they can be used in our families.
PAIN
Are you struggling around screen time issues with your children? It is difficult for your child to find something meaningful to do and screens are a big pull where they hardly have any self control.
PATHWAYS
This is a challenging topic, learn from the community on how some of them are able to navigate this with consent and collaboration. It is also about creating a world where children have something meaningful to look forward to in their day to day life, which they enjoy doing with a sense of choice.
PAIN
Issues come up between your parents and your partner or your partner and your child or between siblings and you are lost in how to show up in those times without sounding like taking sides?
PATHWAYS
Learn to listen empathically without taking sides. Its supportive in such situations to have mediation skills, that will be share in the event.
PAIN
Scared to express your displeasure at things and hold resentment inside or act passive-aggressive.
PATHWAYS
With the consciousness and skills of Nonviolent Communication(NVC) you can learn to talk in ways that don't sound like blame and criticism, while expressing yourself honestly. Learning to connect empathically with each other also helps in creating a space where you can express fully.
Special features of this Program
During the gathering there may be times when you feel low and want to be heard by someone without any judgment. A listening that may even give you clarity on what you are looking for. We will be having Empathy Angels within the community who are trained in listening deeply and you can reach out to them. At times you may get triggered by some thing and would want some one to hold space for you. We will have some empathy angels who would be available for listening when you need that support.
This will be a time and place on each day where you can come to a small group people who have a shared interest with you. We will form groups which want to explore a particular area of their relationships and support each other. We will have focalizers for each group to help you facilitate the meetings in the beginning, till the group can be self organised and is able to make space for all the members. While you are part of one Home Group you can also go and mix with people from other groups too and interact with them.
This process is inspired by https://theworldcafe.com Shammi has been working on this process for more than a decade and Urmila also likes to play between formal and informal spaces, more so as she is coming from the space of Unschooling.
This For example there could be a Home Group that wants to work on screen time and one on Junk food, or some may want to work on how to organise the home without overwhelm. These topics will emerge from the people themselves based on their day to day challenges. We are all in different places in our journey and can learn from each other. Besides, if you are part of one home group you dont have to be restricted for six days in one of them. You can be a bumble bee and move from on group to the other, and if you want to go deeper you can be a butterfly and stay with one group. Bumblebees fly from group to group cross-pollinating the discussions while Butterflies sit around looking relaxed--interesting discussions emerge around them as people find them and pause to chat.
We wish to create an inclusive space for children and also have Niom, who will be supporting the children in navigating the space and engage with them. We would want people to be open to movements of children in the learning spaces while also supporting kids so they can support us in connecting with each other. This is some thing that we will have to address during the gathering, so we can be inclusive and also have ease for learning during the sessions. This could be one of the live topics that we as a group navigates using the same tools that we are learning in the program.
The space will not have a strict demarcation between the space for sessions and spaces for kids. It is not possible to keep the children away from their parents as they would want to connect with the parents throughout the day. So the facilitators will be sensitive to this fact and we would want participants to not hold expectations of having strictly formal adults attended sessions. Though we will try to support the learning for all we also want space and ease for children to feel comfortable. This is like practicing the spirit of NVC where we try to hold the needs of the diverse people there.
For some of us having pets is like a member of our family and we can't travel without them. We fully understand that and want it to be an inclusive space.
The space is pet friendly and you can bring your pets, if you can also take care of the safety of the people there. You can fill the info in the registration for your pet and let us know if you need any additional support.
Pets can also be great contributors by connecting to the people and bringing their energy to the community there.
Come learn about healthy food with Lyla FreeChild, where we'll go over useful tips for organising meal preparation, designing your kitchen, and creating menus. In order to support household staff without micromanaging them, we will also go over how to create a culture of self-management at home. Additionally, we will practise making menus together, allowing kids to participate and learn from the process.
You are invited to join us in supporting the kitchen and other preparations by taking on volunteer roles. This is a wonderful opportunity to become more deeply involved in the event and take ownership of the process, fostering a sense of shared responsibility among participants. As we work together, we will integrate our heads, hearts, and hands, building meaningful connections with one another. Additionally, we will set up a separate fruit counter for the community, which can be managed by the children, allowing them to engage in real, hands-on activities.
You are welcome to bring in your music instruments and co-create jams to bring more fun and play to the community.
You are all 'experts' in some area or the other that you have been exploring by your lived experience. This is an opportunity to enjoy sharing your gifts to the community in a safe space. Someone is willing to share how to make an amazing mud plaster, or some one is talking about taking baby steps in Art, some one is great at playing collaborative games, one of our participant is great at communicating with animals. We will have the most amazing gifts amongst the participants at the Retreat.
We have kept a dedicated space where You are all invited to come forward share your gifts at the Co-Learning Mela. Please share about your gifts and offerings in the Pre-Registration form so the community knows what else is in store at the Retreat.
Besides, if you are the kind of person who has been doing some thing exciting for some time, and have a desire to share it at some point in your life but feel unsure and hesitate in sharing. You can turn to our hosts for a conversation to figure out what and how you can share and come over your fears of being out there with your offering. We want it to be a nurturing space for you to flower and grow.
If the idea of spending six days in this retreat inspires you or you are curious to know more about it, you are welcome to pre-register and we will reach out to you and share more information with you. You can do this without making any financial commitment, by clicking below.
Our Approach: How We Work
Learn by Doing, Not Just Theory
This course goes beyond theory; it offers you the chance to put what you learn into practice in a supportive environment. You'll engage in small group discussions, role plays, and hands-on activities. We will also address any real-time challenges that arise during our time together, applying the collaborative principles we're here to explore. If necessary, we'll hold facilitated circles to navigate and resolve conflicts that emerge, doing so with care, compassion, and a focus on collective growth.
Powered by Community Support
You'll have the chance to meet people who appreciate developing authentic, genuine connections as much as you do. Finding empathy buddies, developing stronger relationships, and joining a helpful community where everyone can benefit from one another are all things that will happen during the course. A large number of participants are parents who are interested in learning about and living in sustainable ways. Peer support will also be available here, and you'll depart feeling that you're part of a group that has a shared vision that will motivate you even if you move to various towns and areas.
About The Venue
The Hidden Oasis is Nature’s amazing gift to us. Just an hour’s drive from Pune is this ideal destination to rejuvenate yourself and be one with Mother Nature. At The Hidden Oasis, time slows down and every moment can be savoured, making it the perfect antidote to ever-busy urban life.
Our Support Team
We will have our team members who would be offering logistical support to the participants. We have Vaishali, Nimmisha and Mohit to support when you need anything to make your stay easy at the space. We will have team members from The Hidden Oasis to offer you support around stay and food.
Food
Menu Design by Lyla
We would be serving plant based foods made while keeping it healthy and exciting and integrating the local cuisines in it. The dry rations are mostly organic and we will be making mostly gluten free.
Besides, at the retreat we are consciously working on the food.
-We are going to have abundant fruits, salads and veggies. There will be a special fruit stall run on gift culture where you can take fruits throughout the day and pay as you wish.
-We would not be using oils made with solvent extraction method and get regular traditional cooking oils.
-There will be mostly jowar and ragi for chapatis and if there is white rice, we will also have brown rice for those who dont want what rice.
-We will also have some organic supplies from the farm at the The Hidden Oasis.
8 AM
Breakfast will have fruit options along with some cooked snacks with Herbal Tea.
11 AM
Herbal tea/drink with some snack or fruit
1 PM
Lunch with veggie, curry, gluten free grains, salad and sometimes a dessert.
4 PM
Snack and Herbal Tea/drink
7 PM
Dinner with salad, veggies, gravy/dal and some grain (chapati or rice).
If the idea of spending six days in this retreat inspires you or you are curious to know more about it, you are welcome to pre-register and we will reach out to you and share more information with you. You can do this without making any financial commitment, by clicking below.
Financial structure: Working Creatively with Money
Support & Teal Family Retreat Participants
I have always tried to experiment with money, sometimes it has worked and sometimes it was difficult.
As an organiser of the upcoming International Teal Family Retreat, the decision about pricing is not an easy one for me. I want the price to be able to recover the costs and also offer some amount for the organisation and the facilitators so we can all be nurtured as we offer our time, energy and resources. At the same time we want the event to be accessible to all those wanting to join, irrespective of their financial resources. The challenge is, how do we meet the varied needs to the best of our capacity.
Here, we have tried creative ways to deal with money and one of them is to offer discounts to the participants who find it challenging to pay the full amount. We are giving preference to those who are on the receiving end of the structural inequity in our scoiety and the ones, who are community contributors and have made choices to serve the community, even as it does not offer them ‘enough’ financial resources.
We are sharing about some of the participants for the Retreat, who have received the discounts just to give an idea about the community members who would be benefitting from this program.
While we are offering the discounts, we are also reaching out to the larger community members and people like you, to offer contributions so we do not have a shortfall and can take care of our own needs as well as those of the participants.
At present our shortfall is INR 1,95,000 (2252 USD)
We believe that this gathering is going to contribute to create a more humane, compassionate and collaborative world. If you wish to see our world transform and want to support those who want to take this journey along with their families, you are welcome to contribute to this event.
Any amount that you offer is going to be valuable for us, don't hesitate to contribute if you think that your contribution is just a drop, coz we believe that every drop contributes to make the ocean.
We have a few single mothers, nature art practitioners, unschoolers, eco architects, educationalists, community book club hosts, musicians and many more who will be benefitting from your support.
Thank you for your generosity and belief in the power of community!
To make your contribution click on the tab below.
Pre Registrations
If the idea of spending six days in this retreat inspires you or you are curious to know more about it, you are welcome to pre-register and we will reach out to you and share more information with you. You can do this without making any financial commitment, by clicking below.
