Grants and donations play a very important role in the development of the study center. Over the years, the development of the center has been supported by thousands of people. In addition to grants, we finance the operation of Lilleoru from operating income and entrepreneurship.
Your donation will help us continue to:
- sustain and further develop the work in the Lilleoru study centre
- maintain a unique Flower of Life Park
We sincerely thank all our friends who help us with donations and invite you to do the same. DONATE HERE
“Through my activities, I help people who come to Lilleoru. I would like them to feel good here and understand that this is the place where they will find what they have been looking for.”
This is how Helena Lass, a psychiatrist and Practical Consciousness I-II teacher, describes her support for Lilleoru.
She is complemented by Indrek Verro, coach and Practical Consciousness I-II teacher: “For me, helping in Lilleoru is a natural way of doing things. I contribute to the development of this place and the spread of teaching, and I will do so as often as possible.”
Helena arrived in Lilleoru already in 2004 and has been involved in local activities and teaching ever since. However, Indrek arrived in Lilleoru in 2018 after completing Practical Consciousness courses I-V.
Helena points out that she helps with everything, if necessary, because “Lilleoru is my home and the place where my most important activities and life are.”
They both emphasize that the financial donation to Lilleoru has special meaning to them and that they have given their full support to the projects carried out. They have even helped with the construction and renovation of the Flower of Life, although they have not had any professional experience with construction before.
Helena, a psychiatrist, adds: “In my work I see every day, how scarce people’s practical skills are in terms of their emotions, thoughts and consciousness. With the knowledge gained from Practical Consciousness courses, people can create a much smoother and happier life and make a positive impact on both their mental and physical health. That is why I am making a full contribution to the development of the birthplace of the teaching.”
Helena and Indrek would like the new people arriving in Lilleoru to feel that everything created here, has also been created for them.
Architect Kadri Kerge and interior designer / filmmaker Maris Kerge came to Lilleoru through Practical Consciousness. However, as they practiced, their interest in yoga, grew, and they noticed the possibilities to contribute to the development of Lilleoru.
Kadri and Maris describe: “Over time, our tasks here have become more and more related to our specialties. And we feel the sincere joy for this coincidence. We are glad that we have opportunity to contribute with our skills, to ensure that the physical environment of Lilleoru reflects the world-class teaching given here.
As people, we are looking for a community – other people with whom we have something in common. Some people join a ball team to feel part of a sport, some find a balance in sharing their reading experiences or singing.
The search for the common part brought us to Lilleoru. We wanted to find not only representatives of a certain view or a place for a hobby, but a whole system that explains how the world works. As a physical environment, Lilleoru is a place like a versatile laboratory, where everything you learn through words can be put into practice immediately. You can test it immediately.
We started actively participating in the activities in Lilleoru a few years ago, so there are a lot of giants on whose shoulders we rely. For example, the Flower of Life Park, the Ashram house and auxiliary buildings, the forest paths and the school building, and at the same time the techniques of Practical Consciousnesse polished into diamonds. These were already here thanks to the leadership of Ingvar Villido Ishwarananda and the contributions of many people. Leaving aside the special opportunities for personal development, it is self-evident to us that we now also contribute to the preservation and improvement of Lilleoru. In order to do so, we are willing to share our professional experiences as well as skills acquired throughout our lives.”
Kadri Kerge is an architect. A graduate of Vienna’s Die Angewandte, SCI-arci in Los Angeles, and a local Estonian Academy of Arts, has been working in New York for more than a decade, planning high-rise buildings around the world. Recently, she has been moving along the Estonian architectural landscape in parallel.
Maris Kerge is an interior architect and filmmaker with a background in Tallinn-Moscow i.e. Estonian Academy of Arts, Marina Razbezhkina school and Baltic Film Media and Arts School. As a freelancer, she designs environments on various scales both in cooperation with architectural firms and independently. Over the course of a week, she helps to keep moving the Estonian beach volleyball couple Nõlvak-Tiisaar and two architectural short docks.
“It was the year 2005. The members of NPO Lilleoru wanted to come to live in the countryside and build a home near Lilleoru.”
This is how Eve Soppe describes the beginnings of the Taevasmaa village.
“That’s how we got together with a couple of dozen people. We started the process of creating houses and living environment that was close to nature and this process lasted for many years. We even went to see the Finnish-Swedish-Danish ecovillages and study their life. Real estate is the that I know and I am glad that I was able to contribute my knowledge to the planning of the village as well as to the subsequent administration.
A special memory for me is the construction of a school building. It was nice to be able to help build the house myself and also document what we did. I have considered Lilleoru my second home since 2001 and I consider it self-evident that I contribute as much as I can – with my own skills, and also financially. ”
“Lilleoru is the home of goodness – this is the experience that swept me off my feet a few years ago when I was here again for kriya yoga initiation. That genuine, sincere benevolence reflected back from the faces of Ingvar, Ave, Arno, Marta, Ain, Ann, Merle, Iivi and Küllike that day. After that day, it was clear to me that the “nest” of goodness here. There are more than 160 regular people in this nest today, who consciously study here and take care of the place so that goodness has no reason to leave this place. ”
This is how Heidi Grenman, a member of the board of NGO Lilleoru and a Practical Consciousness teacher of I-II, describes Lilleoru and the people here.
“I’ve been an entrepreneur for most of my life, and I’ve been characterized as ‘multitasker.’ It always seemed that I was able to do more than the others, but I also had my limits, and I didn’t realize those boundaries until I burned out. I needed a restart. And that’s what I did. I came to Ingvar Villido Practical Consciousness course eight years ago and from that day on, everything changed.
With the help of Practical Consciousness, I revised my whole life and in 6 months I removed from life everything that did not add an actual value. I gave up my well-paid managerial position in an international organization and exchanged the profit-oriented entrepreneurship to the mission-based non-profit sector. I became very efficient, and that gave me a lot of free time.
At one point, I realized that I had embarked on a journey where all my dreams were being fulfilled, all the conditions were being created, all the resources were being given … it was time to convert my free time into something that could benefit other people. So I became a volunteer in Lilleoru, first to lead the fundraising team, then to lead the business and finance department. In addition, together with other students of Ingvar, we are building a unique international school, the goals of which are ambitious. This school will contribute to the growth of humanity in the world.
The contribution of one person may not be valuable alone, but if we work in good cooperation, simplicity and goodness, then changes will take place day by day. ”
Read how Kai Laanmets, interior designer, designer and teacher of Practical Consciousness I-II, describes her connection with Lilleoru:
I have been a self-employer for 20 years and have worked mainly alone, being responsible and decisive. This solution is well suited to me as an introvert. As a child, I enjoyed watching people and trying to understand, what motivates them to act, talk and behave. I also looked at myself, but I felt that I could not find exhaustive answers to all my questions in this way. At one point I gave up looking for them, but the interest in human nature still remained.
In 2015, while listening to the lectures of Radio Night University, I discovered two lectures by Ingvar Villido, and I quickly realized that this is where I can get clarity on my unanswered questions. From here I found my way to the Practical Consciousness courses and completed all 5 courses in a year. I realized that I had opened a box of knowledge that could no longer be closed.
Using the techniques learned in the courses, life started running more smoothly and the obstacles that occurred became easily managed. I felt the inner peace and joy. Practical Consciousness courses ended, but my need to improve my knowledge led me to Lilleoru in 2017. Here, I took part of the initiations and open lectures. As I visited Lilleoru more often, I got acquainted with the people who take care of Lilleoru. My journey to Lilleoru has been smooth and natural.
The supportive environment here has helped and taught me a lot. Therefore it was also natural for me to contribute to the activities here and give something back to Lilleoru. As a student and a member of the community, I contribute my time and skills here. I help with design, photography and communication. By now, as a teacher of Practical Consciousness I-II, I am also passing on the teaching that has helped me. Lilleoru has offered me opportunity to learn about co-creation and co-operation. Here, I am also discovering the joy of working together with other people, which I had already forgotten as a person working in the home office for years.
I consider balance to be the biggest incentive to operate here. I have received good knowledge and possibility for self-development from Lilleoru. Therefore it is important for me to contribute to the development of this place.
Leader, entrepreneur and teacher of Practical Consciousness I-II Kristo Reinold describes his journey to Lilleoru:
I have been a leader throughout my professional life, which means for over twenty years. As my career progressed, so did the responsibilities. Management decisions became more difficult and that generated various tensions and emotions. Externally, I had learned to control myself, but internally, my peace and stability had been lost. As a leader, I had an understanding that everyone else around me needed to change. I asked others to change, but I couldn’t do it myself.
About five years ago, I got into the Practical Consciousness course, thanks to my wife. She had finished the course and introduced me the topic at home. It took me about a year and a half to finish all the Practical Consciousness courses. Thanks to these courses, initiations and Practical Consciousness teacher training, I have the ability to cope with my own inner world today.
Today I am more aware, more confident, more balanced and I have found my inner peace. Today, I can also adapt these teachings to my leadership techniques and relationships with other people. As I can keep my inner peace in crisis situations, it brings significantly better solutions to tense situations.
The teachings of Lilleoru and Practical Consciousness have supported and developed me in such a way that today it is unthinkable to return to the former life. I contribute to this development with my own presence, time, knowledge and skills. I am grateful to have been given the opportunity to help and contribute to the development of Lilleoru. This place is unique, encouraging you to get to know yourself.
Ave Oit, board member of NGO Lilleoru, writes about her journey to Lilleoru:
I arrived to Lilleoru back in 1993, when no center was here yet. I went to high school then. My interest in deeper meaning of life, my own nature and yoga started already earlier, but it wasn’t easy to find these learning possibilities. I was really lucky as such a young person to start studying with Ingvar Villido in the autumn of 1992.
He invited us already next summer to help in the place called Lilleoru and pretty soon we started to create a common learning center together with him and a small group of students.
I have been blessed to be part of the experience of creating here a very beautiful center with several buildings, sacred sites, unique Flower of Life park and permaculture garden.
It has been very special to see how thousands of people have received answers, help and solutions from here and how Ingvar Villido’s teaching has grown into a complete learning system and reached out to the wider world.
I am very grateful that I had a chance to participate in all of it for almost 30 years now and to learn to apply awareness and many other valuable things in cooperation with many different people. In India, it is said that acting for or supporting such a spiritual place creates good karma and I am experiencing this blessing in my life continuously.
Madis Mägi, a real estate and construction entrepreneur, writes about his journey to Lilleoru:
I have been a seeker in life, specifically a seeker of happiness. I am grateful to be blessed because I have a supportive family, a beautiful home, faithful friends, good health, free time for hobbies, and a job that I enjoy. A few years ago, I realized that I had everything that would make a middle-aged man happy, but something was still missing, I was dissatisfied and solved the problems. All I realized was that I was experiencing life too one-sidedly and needed a new perspective.
Not knowing anything about yoga, changing my inner world, Lilleoru or Ingvar Villido, I went to the Practical Consciousness course without any prejudice. And what I got from that course was not just one new perspective, but a whole new perspective on life.
Having previously physically conquered the high peaks, I realized that in the Art of Conscious Change course, Ingvar Villido handed me a map and a compass and promised to be my guide to help me conquer my Mount Everest – my personal human development.
For the last few years, Lilleoru has been a place for me to learn and become a better person to hopefully reach the highest level of human development, because I know that there is the happiness I have been really looking for.
I have made new friends and companions in Lilleoru who are also heading towards the top of the inner world, where there is silence, peace, balance and happiness! And since the journey may be long and difficult, we must help each other.
Lilleoru and the teachings I have received from there has helped me, and I will gladly help Lilleoru with my construction experience, knowledge and financial resources. I plan to constantly help and financially support Lilleoru learning center, so the center could develop and it will be easier for all seekers to find their way to happiness and themselves.