Lucas Babinec

 “The moral covenant of reciprocity calls us to honor our responsibilities for all we have been given, for all we have taken. It's our turn now, long overdue....Whatever our gift, we are called to give it and to dance for the renewal of the world” (Robin Wall Kimmerer – Braiding Sweetgrass).

Hey there, I'm Lucas (he/him). I grew up in Silver Spring ~ Takoma Park, Maryland near Washington DC, playing sports, practicing instruments, and being quite academically minded. An introduction to meditation on a high school field trip to a Buddhist temple opened me up to an experience of life beyond anxiousness, low self-esteem, and disconnection. My time at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota featured disparate lives as an economics student, baseball player, inebriated partyer, and spiritual aspirant. A transformative semester abroad in Granada, Spain led to the commitment to live more intentionally and heartfully. After graduating from university in 2015, I spent a year in IT at a massive healthcare software company and learned that this work did not fill my soul's cup. I left to go on an international baseball odyssey, with the goal of improving enough to play professionally back home.

For a few years I chased summer: hopping between hemispheres, working odd part-time jobs, coaching baseball, teaching mindfulness meditation to athletes, and throwing 1000s of pitches. Baseball communities in Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, and Germany took me in and made me one of their own. In 2020, I was ready to return and try out for a minor league team. Then, covid happened and plans were derailed. With path and purpose taken away, I felt lost, disassembled, and began searching for new ways forward. Fortunately, a passion that had been growing slowly for years started to really sprout up with enthusiasm. A movement into a different story: being in co-creative, healing relationship with earth, land, and all of the web of life.

2021 brought a dive into a 200hr yoga teacher training where I gained clarity about my next chapter. Through some auspicious serendipity, I became aware of Rancho Mastatal. On the road to greater and deeper authentic, heartful living, this apprenticeship will be/is my most worthwhile and audacious adventure yet.

“el muchacho se sumergió en el Alma del Mundo y vio que el Alma del Mundo era parte del Alma de Dios, y vio que el Alma de Dios era su propia alma. Y que podía, por lo tanto, realizar milagros”

(Paulo Coelho – El alquimista).