a crystal temple forest retreat

The forest experiment

can carefully designed environments influence the way we relate to ourselves, to one another and to the natural world?

The forest retreat is an experiment in exploring this question.

Rather than beginning with a prescribed programme or a fixed answer, the project asks what might happen when the environment itself becomes part of the experience - when the forest, the pace of daily life, the way people come together and the spaces they inhabit are deliberately shaped to encourage a different way of seeing.

The intention is not to create an isolated sanctuary, but to learn from the experiment.

What works can be observed, refined and shared. The forest therefore becomes a prototype: a small-scale experiment in whether carefully designed natural environments can influence how we live, relate and reorient ourselves - and whether what is learned here can inform similar spaces elsewhere.

The aim is not to build one exceptional retreat, but to develop a model that others can take, adapt and make their own.

Purpose

To establish a non-profit forest retreat in Provence offering a non-clinical environment for combat veterans and others living with the long-term effects of trauma, including PTSD and moral injury.

Existing Foundation

acrystaltemple.space an immersive interactive digital artwork

An 8-acre forest environment

Non-profit association Un Temple de Cristal · RNA - W044007234 · Siren - 108660283

Location

Protected forest property in the Verdon region - Provence, France.

Donation requirement

Approximately €100,000 is required to create and secure the forest retreat for 10 years.

The Invitation

There are places that ask nothing of us except that we arrive.

Places where silence, forest, music, food, conversation and time invite us into a different relationship with ourselves, with others and with the living world.

Come in.
Nobody here has the answer.
Let's see what becomes visible when the noise stops….

A Crystal Temple Forest Retreat is proposed as such a place.

Situated within a protected forest in the Verdon in Provence, France, the retreat is offered as an environment dedicated to reflection, restoration and reorientation.

The primary purpose of the retreat is to support combat veterans and others living with the long-term effects of trauma, including PTSD and moral injury - the deep emotional and psychological impact that can arise when experiences conflict with a person's values, identity or understanding of the world.

Rather than offering another programme of instruction, the retreat aims to create the conditions for people to pause, reflect and explore new possibilities through direct experience.

Through time in nature, shared meals, music, film, conversation and quiet spaces, participants are invited to step outside the pressures of everyday life and experience a different pace of life, attention, connection and belonging.

The project is deliberately designed to remain small, light and replicable. It is not intended to become a large organisation or a conventional retreat centre. The ambition is simply to establish the environment, learn from its use and share what is learned, so that others can borrow, adapt and recreate the model in their own places and communities.

Background

A Crystal Temple emerged from a personal journey through trauma, reorientation and a sustained relationship with food, forests and the living world.

Earlier in life, the person behind the project worked as a specialised support and social worker, working with homeless teenagers and young offenders.

checkyourfood.com was subsequently developed as an approach to deep nutrition for overall health, including mental health. It is operated by a Community Interest Company registered in the UK.

What followed was not a new therapeutic method, but a profound reorientation through a new relationship with food and the living world, particularly forests and trees.

These experiences became the foundation of acrystaltemple.space an online immersive digital artwork and sanctuary exploring perception, symbolic systems and humanity's relationship with the living world.

This is not presented as a clinical claim, but as a personal journey that has informed the project.

One of the forest retreat's early collaborators is a British Army veteran (John) who served with the British Army on two tours of Helmand Province, where he was wounded during his second tour in 2008. He has subsequently lived with PTSD and has also worked voluntarily in recovery support within the NHS.

“My PTSD lifts when I am in the forest or watching the film at the centre of the digital crystal temple.” - John

The proposed retreat centre grows directly from these lived experiences.

Its purpose is to offer a place of refuge for combat veterans and for people living with the long-term effects of trauma who have exhausted conventional paths to recovery.

It is not presented as a replacement for clinical care, but as a complementary environment in which connection, nature, symbolic experience and contemplative practice may support new possibilities for reorientation.

Why This Place?

Many people living with the effects of trauma describe feeling disconnected from themselves, from others and from the natural world. For some, conventional approaches provide significant relief. For others, reorientation remains incomplete despite years of treatment and support.

Modern life can demand continual vigilance, rapid decision-making and constant reaction. For some people living with trauma, these patterns can become deeply ingrained, making it difficult to step outside the pace and pressures of everyday life.

The retreat offers a contrasting environment where time, nature and shared experience encourage a different pace of attention.

The retreat does not promote a doctrine, belief system or therapeutic programme, nor does it operate as a commercial wellness destination.

Instead, it brings together time in nature and shared experience within a peaceful forest setting.

Its purpose is simple: to create conditions in which participants may rediscover curiosity, perspective and a renewed relationship with themselves, with others and with the living world.

The Retreat

The retreat is centred on an eight-acre forest that is home to the physical Crystal Temple. This woodland has been central to the development of the project over many years, providing both the inspiration for the digital artwork and a place for reflection, walking and contemplation.

In order to comply with forestry regulations in the Verdon region, the retreat infrastructure will be entirely mobile and designed to leave no trace, including the management of grey water.

A townhouse situated in Aups a village less than 10 kilometres from the forest is proposed as an operational base, housing an office, equipment, cooking facilities and accommodation. This would be rented from John who is in the process of buying the property.

A mobile sanitary/service vehicle would be needed for shipping equipment and providing an onsite shower and toilet facility.

Together, these form a connected landscape: the forest offering a deeper encounter with the living world, while the townhouse provides a practical base close to the forest, housing all the equipment required and providing accommodation for participants who may need greater privacy, comfort or access to facilities that the forest site itself cannot provide.

Rather than being separate destinations, they represent different expressions of the same intention.

Initial retreats would be small-scale and carefully facilitated, allowing time for meaningful connection with the environment and shared experience. As partnerships develop, the retreat may expand through collaboration with veteran organisations, charities, researchers and wellbeing professionals.

Who It Welcomes

The primary focus of the retreat is to support combat veterans and others living with the long-term effects of trauma, including PTSD and moral injury.

The retreat is intended for adults seeking time away from the demands of everyday life to reconnect with themselves, with others and with the natural world. It is designed as a non-clinical environment that complements, rather than replaces, existing sources of support.

Primary beneficiaries

Combat veterans and others living with long-term effects of trauma.

Secondary participants

Carers, healthcare/emergency professionals, artists and researchers who may participate through specific programmes, residencies or partnerships.

Participation would always be appropriate to the retreat's non-clinical purpose and, where appropriate, developed in collaboration with veteran organisations, healthcare professionals, charities and other partner organisations.

Guiding Principles

Curiosity is encouraged over certainty.

Engagement with the natural environment underpins every aspect of the retreat.

Time in nature is considered an important part of the experience.

The forest offers a setting where reflection can unfold naturally.

Quiet spaces and periods of silence are available throughout the retreat.

People from different backgrounds and life experiences are welcomed.

Participation in every activity is entirely voluntary.

No products or services are sold as part of the retreat experience.

Meaningful reorientation is supported through connection: with self, with others and with the living world.

A Living Future

Your support will help create a place where these experiences are freely available to those who may need them most, including combat veterans and others living with the long-term effects of trauma.

Together, we can create a place where engagement with the living world and meaningful human connection create new possibilities for reflection and reorientation.

A Crystal Temple Forest Retreat seeks to provide this space in a contemporary, inclusive and non-commercial form, welcoming people of every background, culture and belief.

Governance

Un Temple de Cristal is a non-profit association established to hold and develop the project for public benefit. The retreat will be governed independently from personal ownership, with appropriate oversight, financial transparency and collaboration with relevant professional partners.

Transparency

The forest is currently privately owned and already made available to the association for the purposes set out in its articles. The proposed acquisition would convert this existing arrangement into permanent ownership by the association.

The operational base will be rented for a ten-year period.

The opportunity

The project already has its digital temple, audiovisual installation, forest and non-profit association. What is now needed is the funding to bring these elements together into a permanent place.

Approximately €100,000 would allow the association to acquire the forest, secure the operational base for 10 years, establish the initial retreat infrastructure and create the foundation for subsidised retreats.

The ambition is deliberately modest: to establish one good place, care for it well, and allow it to grow through experience, partnership and evidence.

Donations will help transform an existing body of work and an existing landscape into a lasting place of refuge, reflection and connection.

To register your interest in supporting this project, please contact: info@acrystaltemple.space

Or you can make a donation direct using the account details below

Name - UN TEMPLE DE CRISTAL

Account number - 27769510

Sort code - 60-84-64

IBAN - GB11 TRWl 6084 6427 7695 10

Swift/BIC - TRWlGB2LXXX