SUMMER OF LOVING SERVICE 2024
We will open the applications for next year (Summer of 2024) at the end of November.
We do our best to provide you with all the necessary information needed in order to complete our application form. It includes a detailed overview of the camps, prices, teams, special roles, and accommodation options that are available for you. We’re excited to warmly welcome you to join us for this heart-opening experience!
AS A SUMMER VOLUNTEER
- You will explore what it’s like to bring presence and joy into ordinary work.
- You will arrive a few days before the event begins and you will leave one or two days after the event has ended – or stay on for the next festival (You agree to arrive and depart on the designated dates for the camps you are attending, to support the flow of the organisation).
- You are invited to attend all of the offered activities outside of your working commitments.
YOU AGREE TO
- Contribute with five hours of working meditation per day, except on your days off.
If you join for 1 – 2 camps you will have 1 day off per week if you join for more than 2 camps you will have 2 days off per week.
- Join the practice of sharing every day, except on your day(s) off.
- Attend morning meetings every camp morning, 09:00-09:45.
YOU RECEIVE
- A discount on the festival ticket in exchange for your contribution to the work.
- Three vegetarian meals each day. You can sign up for vegan and gluten free alternatives.
- A camping spot for your tent, or depending on availability a bunk bed in one of our shared dormitory rooms or tents.
Service
During your stay at Ängsbacka, we invite you to explore the mindset of service. Not as a concept, but rather as a way of living. Service to your fellow community members, to course participants, to the planet and all its inhabitants, and to yourself.
We believe that through selfless service, through connecting back to our deep need to contribute to the world, we grow in compassion and joy.
Working meditation
Working Meditation is our shared daily practice of service and togetherness. We encourage everyone to use their working hours as active explorations of the present moment. Everything that comes to our minds and bodies is welcomed into the moment. We support each other to remain light-hearted and connected.
Ideally, the time spent in work is happy and fulfilling, regardless of the task. The realisation to be discovered is that the enjoyment of the task comes from within ourselves, not from the nature of the task.
Sharing
Sharing is at the heart of Ängsbacka, and supports everybody here. It is considered a sacred space for speaking and listening from our hearts. It invites you to be seen in your truth and to see others in theirs, without judgement, advice or fixing.
One person shares, while the others sit in silence paying attention to the person sharing. Everyone in the group will have the same amount of time available to them, and everything that is said or done stays in the group. We do not bring it up again outside of sharing.
Sharing is an essential and honored practice at Ängsbacka, and we welcome you to this special space with the sensitivity and open-heartedness that is at its core.
The volunteer experience
ALCOHOL-FREE & DRUG-FREE
Ängsbacka is best experienced in full presence and therefore we are a completely alcohol- and drug free environment. If you are found under the influence, or if you bring drugs or alcohol to Ängsbacka, we will ask you to leave immediately.
OUR SUPPORTIVE STRUCTURE
As a volunteer you are fully responsible for your own health and wellbeing during your stay. During our summer festivals we do, however, offer support from professional nurses, coaches, and therapists if there is an immediate need.
We encourage you to participate fully and devote yourself to the daily program and the exploration of how the tools offered in meetings, workshops and sharing can be of support for you.
YOUR TEAM
You will meet your team at the welcome meeting at the beginning of every festival camp. From this point your team coordinator is your first contact for everything concerning your volunteer experience, working tasks, times etc. If your coordinator can’t help you, the Volunteer Office will support you.
ACCOMMODATION
Depending on how long you are here for, we offer different types of accommodation. When given accommodation by Ängsbacka, you will sleep in a bunk bed in a shared space with others. The longer you choose to stay at Ängsbacka, the more choices you will have. Bring your own (warm) sleeping gear!
We encourage you to bring your own tent! There’s a big camping area at Ängsbacka.
WHEN YOU ARE NOT WORKING
You are most welcome to join the festival program outside of your working meditation hours. Leading up to the festival, there are activities & workshops for the volunteers to connect and set the tone for the festival.
Ängsbacka is a very social environment, and it might have an overstimulating effect. Remember to take time for yourself during your days off and to have some time away from all activities. Some great options are for instance taking a walk in the forest or a swim in the lake.