Alan Rafael Seid grew up bilingual, bicultural in Mexico City, Mexico. At sixteen, he decided to be part of the solution rather than problem, and to learn whatever he needed to learn to live that solution. “At eighteen, I realized that my life needed to be about service and contribution,” he says, “And that that would probably look different than traditional employment.” At twenty-one, he began following the steps detailed in Your Money or Your Life, by Joseph R. Dominguez and Vicki Robin. The book “taught me how to be very clear with money.”

By twenty-seven he had amassed enough savings to — while living simply — embark on a seven-year, self-directed period of intensive research and learning. It was during this time that he became a certified trainer in Nonviolent Communication (NVC). He also acquired a certificate in permaculture design, took many classes with the Wilderness Awareness School, learned meditation, researched and visited intentional communities and learning centers, studied dynamic facilitation and conflict resolution, received permission to teach the 8-Shields Model, immersed himself in integral theory, conducted a search for our dream property (which we bought in 2002), and served in various volunteer leadership positions. Along the way, he gained valuable leadership skills.