Story: In conversation with Michela di Savino
Dance and meditate with headphones, in contact with nature, to feel free in energetic places in the Onsernone Valley.
In Ticino’s most beautiful spots, let the power of nature boost your energy through meditation, ecstatic dance and headphones. Spiritual yet worldly, packed with fun and diversity, the Innerwalk Project will change you forever.
Michela di Savino, founder of Innerwalk Project
People can sense it’s not just a spiritual event; it’s more about having fun and enjoying the stunning surroundings.
Your downtime starts at the group meeting point. The initial walk helps you leave everyday life behind to concentrate on nature. Upon arrival, you get ready and get to know one another, before putting on headphones to shut out the outside world and pave the way to your inner self. A voice in your ear guides you through the meditation. The music starts; it’s time to dance.
Innerwalk is a project developed by Michela di Savino, combining meditation, sound healing, mindfulness, ecstatic dance and tourism in a new way. This dance and team-building expert organises group outings to places of spiritual energy in natural settings with waterfalls, cliffs and lakes. She is accompanied on these tours (which last between 3 hours and a whole weekend) by DJs for the dance sessions, yoga teachers and occasionally local guides.
Where did the idea come from?
“I’ve been dancing since the age of 9. When I lived in Zurich, thanks to conscious dance I discovered a whole community that shared the same life philosophy as me. Group travel and workshops then brought me to the Goa Ecstatic Dance Festival, which was the first time I danced in the sea while wearing headphones. What a revelation! Back in Zurich, I went to a dance session in the forest, where I discovered the real potential of headphones.”
Headphones are used for music, but also for meditation, communication and silence. Michela is convinced that people can go deeper inside themselves when their ears are covered. The headphones also play another important part: they signal to others that the person is engaged in an activity. Passers-by can see the person is part of a group that is currently busy enjoying an experience. And that’s important.
Michela is sure everyone is capable of doing more in company than they would do on their own and she states: “All the participants go further than they normally would, and that’s great.”
The headphones make it easier to search within your soul. They offer silence, meditation and music.
Ecstatic dance out in nature must be Innerwalk’s most spectacular component. But it’s not the only one. How are the programmes put together?
“There’s always meditation and self-reflection with headphones, and sometimes yoga. The walk from the meeting point to the final location – normally in silence – is another component. But the core element is the team-building part – my work together with the team with exercises to get to know ourselves and others better.”
The core idea when she founded Innerwalk was to combine spiritual experiences with tourism – but always in spectacular locations and with different DJs who create great soundtracks especially for each individual event and location. She is accompanied by a range of experts in yoga, meditation and other activities such as canoeing and even paragliding. It’s full of wonderful locations where the energy just flows. Ticino also offers a range of different backdrops: sandy beaches, high mountains, lakes, rivers.
According to Michela the Locarno District in particular just radiates something that brings you peace and a feeling of security.
All kinds of people from all over the place participate in the activity: some from Ticino, other regions in Switzerland and Italy. Both women and men. The common language is English. Michela says that: “Many come alone, which helps promote communication between everyone. Every group has its own dynamics. We grow together over the course of the day or the weekend, not just spending all our time in silent thought. Our communal meals in a grotto have been known to end in tears of joy.”
“We call it transformative tourism: something will have changed in you by the end of the experience.”
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