Raphaël

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  • Travel information

    I am currently

    Travelling

    My next destination:

    Taiwan - from Dec 2023 until Mar 2024
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  • Description

    [WHO AM I]

    Hi, I'm Raphaël, a 30-year-old Ayurvedic Yoga Massage and Dynamic Thai Massage therapist, permaculture practitioner focusing on seed saving, tea artist, and poet from Martinique – a beautiful French island located in the Caribbean.

    Between April 2017 and September 2020, I had the opportunity to travel and volunteer within projects and communities around Europe and Asia as I was initially driven by a desire to enrich my knowledge and get more inspiration about permaculture, natural farming, agroforestry, natural building, as well as sustainable and regenerative solutions.

    Those experiences were transformative in many respects, and turned into a beautiful, fertile, and inspirational journey fueled by the numerous and precious encounters I made along the way. They were a powerful catalyst for personal growth, nourished by the life lessons that were gifted to me. Being a naturally open-minded and curious person, this also helped me to broaden my horizons and better cultivate gratitude.

    Coming back home in the midst of the pandemic helped me to further refine my interests, especially permaculture-wise, where I am now aiming to specialize in local, artisanal seed saving and production. To this end, most of my efforts will focus on several initiatives that will cover the educational [1], practical, and communal aspects of seed saving while building resiliency, food sovereignty, and preserving the cultural heritage that comes with it. I had the opportunity to hit the road again in July 2022 and I'm now based in Penang, Malaysia, crafting a small home base around a community of permaculture, tea, and therapists friends, where I'm able to make my humble contribution through a synergistic use of my skills while materializing my projects in a meaningful way for the benefit of all.

    I'm a certified Ayurvedic Yoga Massage and Dynamic Thai Massage therapist offering – through my own practice (Kůra Růka - www.kuraruka.com) – private massage sessions and special packages for the wellness and hospitality industries. If you are running a spa, hotel, retreat center or another wellness facility, I would be very happy to collaborate with you. Feel free to get in touch with me (raphael[at]kuraruka.com).

    [1] One of these seed saving-related projects I have been working is a free educational platform aiming to help gardeners and permaculture practitioners to learn how to save seeds for their community and future generations. The platform can be accessible at www.learnseedsaving.com (still a work in progress).

    [WHAT NOURISHES ME]

    I am interested in:

    – Permaculture, natural and regenerative farming solutions
    – Natural building (especially material such as adobe and bamboo, structures like domes and kerterres, as well as traditional seed storage solutions)
    – Self-sufficiency
    – Alternative ways of living and consuming
    – Primitive skills & ancestral knowledge (especially pottery and basket weaving, which I would eventually like to use for some future projects)
    – Rewilding
    – Writing poetry, more specifically haikus that I shared through "Le vagabond bleu", a literary project created in January 2016. My poetry work can be found at www.levagabondbleu.fr and www.instagram.com/levagabondbleu.
    – Leading gōng fu chá 功夫茶 (the Chinese art of serving tea) sharing sessions for friends and fellow souls I meet along the way, with a focus on Taiwanese teas and tea drinking traditions. An interest that I also capture through photography and would like to further explore through tea cultivation. My tea offerings and related projects can be found at www.le-cerf-volant.com and www.instagram.com/lecerfvolant.tea/
    – Meditation (mostly using a "just sitting" formless method, referred to as shikantaza, mozhao, or zuowang in Zen Buddhism, Chan Buddhism, and Daoism respectively) and yoga (hatha and yin).
    – Massage and holistic therapeutic practices, mostly through my own private practice (Kůra Růka - www.kuraruka.com) where I offer Ayurvedic Yoga Massage and Dynamic Thai Massage therapies aimed to individuals as well as the wellness and hospitality industries. My therapist friends from Malaysia as well as my volunteering experience back in March 2020 in Myanmar helping with physiotherapy within a Buddhist village were great sources of inspiration in the materialization and professionalization of this interest.
    – Reading books about permaculture, seed saving, poetry, non-dualism, tea, and holistic health.

    [ADDITIONAL INFORMATION]

    – I am a Permaculture Design Course certificate holder (course took in Thailand in March 2018).
    – I speak French (native language), English (fluent), and Spanish (I can understand and read the language without much difficulty, but I still lack practice when it comes to speak it). I am also hoping to learn Mandarin eventually.
    – I do not smoke and usually do not drink alcohol. While I was pescatarian for 7 years, I no longer have a specific diet. In that respect, I am quite flexible and am always grateful for whatever healthy and nourishing food Nature unconditionally provides.

    Most of my Workaway volunteering experiences from my 2017-2020 journey were very positive, and I am thankful for all of them, as all lessons are life lessons. I hope that I could be useful to you and that you would be willing to welcome me and count me as your friend.

    I'm looking forward to meeting you,

    With gratitude,

    Raphaël

  • Interests

    Photography
    Music
    Writing
    Charity work
    Gardening
    Books
    Art & design
    DIY & crafts
    Hiking
    Yoga / Wellness
    Farming
    Nature
  • Languages spoken

    English: Fluent
    French: Fluent
    Spanish: Intermediate

  • Skills and knowledge I'd like to share or learn

    Some knowledge of:  

    Gardening
    DIY and building projects
    General Maintenance
    Life at a Farmstay
    Eco Projects
    Animal Care
    Charity Work
    Art Projects
    Helping with Computers/ Internet
  • More details about your skills

    Permaculture, seed saving, natural building, massage therapies, arts (poetry, music, gongfu cha), photography, general maintenance, online marketing, translation, computer-related tasks

  • Age

    30

  • Some more information

    • Smoker

    • Driver's licence

    • Allergies
      No

    • Special dietary requirements
      No

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