Bartosz Bajer
founder, chairman of the board
I graduated in philosophy from the Faculty of Social Sciences at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan. My area of special interest was and is the exploration of various spiritual currents from the intersection of philosophy and religion. I have been practicing meditation since 1999 – in the first years it was gnostic meditations, later in the soto zen and vipassana traditions. Since 2018 I have been practising in the tradition of the Vietnamese Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh. To complement my practice, I have completed a postgraduate degree at the School of Social Sciences and Humanities – Mindfulness and Compassion Studies. I am in the process of teacher training for MBLC (Mindfulness Based Living Course).
I am a trainer of empathic communication and passionately promote Marshall Rosenberg’s Nonviolent Communication. After many trainings, I try to put it into practice and also pass it on to others – I prepared for the profession of trainer at the Empathy Communication Trainer School.
The welfare of animals and the planet as a whole is also very important to me, and the principles of Deep Ecology are very close to my heart. I am a graduate of the School of Integral Ecopsychology, and I have been active in the Open Cages Association to change the situation of farm animals.
On a daily basis, I am the guardian of an adopted female dog, Sati.
Maria Sitarska
vice chairman of the board
Firstly, I am a philologist after Polish philology within the framework of the Interdepartmental Individual Studies in the Humanities (MISH). Secondly, I am a psychologist (Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan) and a psychotherapist (in my work I combine systemic thinking with a compassion-focused approach – Compassion-Focused Therapy and an ecological context – ecotherapy. Of the most important trainings for me, I have completed a holistic 4-year training in the Wielkopolska Society for Systemic Therapy (I am in the certification process), as well as a certified course in Compassion-Focused Therapy and I am closing the certification process in the Ecotherapy course. I am also a graduate of the School of Integrative Ecopsychology.
In my therapeutic and workshop work, I work with people and at the same time for the welfare of all living beings and the Earth as our common home. This is also how I understand systemic thinking extended by an ecological context. This is also how I understand the practice of compassion.
For many years I co-founded the Centre for supporting the oldest male and female residents of Poznań. I ran senior citizens’ groups as part of the University of the Third Age, and supported people with chronic and terminal illnesses at the Care and Treatment Centre in Poznań. The history of my professional and social involvement also includes assisting in running Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) courses, as well as supporting refugees as part of the Humans of Aleppo collective, working with the LGBTQIAP+ support organisation, and authoring meetings for social parents (sometimes called stepmothers).
I co-edit a portal promoting knowledge about psychology and psychotherapy – opsychology.pl. From time to time I transform experienced life into poetry.
I practice mindfulness and compassion on the path of the Vietnamese zen master, Thich Nhat Hahn.