Rosa’s ATB Journey in South America
From the Jungle to Auroville: Rosa’s Journey with Awareness Through the Body
For almost two decades, Rosa lived in Auroville, India, immersed in the transformative work of Awareness Through the Body (ATB). Before she found the conscious movement practice, her spiritual journey began in the villages and jungles of Guatemala, searching for deeper meaning in a corner of the world marked by existential intensity.At 17, Rosa first traveled to Guatemala as a volunteer. By 20, she had become a teacher and moved permanently into the jungle, where she would live for another 11 years. It was a time of civil unrest and trauma. Her work extended beyond education: she accompanied exhumation teams and provided support to workers and surviving family members. In her final two years in Guatemala, she was asked by a bishop to take testimony from torture survivors, community leaders targeted to instill fear and dismantle resistance.
Many of those testimonies shared a haunting common thread: a detachment from fear, an inner clarity even in the face of death. Some victims, in their final moments, asked their torturers, “Brother, what are you doing?” Rosa realized that beneath these violent stories, there was a hidden force, an inner freedom and awareness that sparked her own transformation. After participating in the exhumation of 97 individuals, she felt hatred for the first time in her life. But instead of letting it consume her, she began to wonder: Is it possible to not hate? To see the soul of those who commit harm?
This question led her to India.
Discovering the Inner Landscape
Rosa immersed herself in India’s spirituality, traveling to far away temples and Vipassana retreats to find stillness. In the deep stillness of Vipassana practice, she found a continuation of her previous experiences. “What are you doing?” her mind asked, “You’re wasting your life.” But in the silence and sweat of meditation halls near Pondicherry, something shifted. In the deep stillness, the presence of the inner witness became stronger. With this new sense of clarity, Rosa discovered ATB.
ATB was the missing piece. “This is it,” she thought. “The path where you stop being a puppet.” With ATB, Rosa found a way to channel that clarity and detachment she had once seen in survivors into embodied awareness. The work wasn’t therapy, yet it was deeply healing. While practicing, she felt her body release tensions she didn’t know she held. How powerful this could be for war survivors in Guatemala, she thought.
Her first ATB students were children. Then came teenagers. Then adults. After more than 15 years in Auroville, Rosa knew it was time to return and share the gift of ATB.
The Call of South America
It began with a group of women from Patagonia visiting Auroville. Their leader asked for “just a few hours” of ATB. Rosa gave them two. Afterward, someone said: What a pity this never arrives to Patagonia. That simple comment seeded an idea.
She asked asked Aloka, one of the two creators of ATB together with Joan Sala, to mention this on their website, just in case anyone was interested. Within a week, she was receiving messages from across Argentina: Buenos Aires, Mar del Plata, Patagonia, Córdoba. “ I am not a very organized person, but I do know how to follow signs. I trust. I know clearly it’s all about surrender.” – Rosa followed the signs.She invited Francesco, a fellow ATB facilitator, to join. He stayed for three months; Rosa stayed in South America for two years.
Together, they planted the seeds of ATB across the continent. Over the last eight years, Rosa has offered workshops in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Guatemala, El Salvador, and the Dominican Republic. Even during the COVID pandemic, trapped in a mountain ashram in Argentina, she continued the work, recording and sharing daily practices on YouTube.
Mexico and the Signs That Guide Us
Eight years ago, someone from Auroville told her she must go to Mexico. She didn’t. When she finally arrived, it wasn’t for a formal training, it was to visit a couple from the ATB Saturday group in Auroville. In Ciudad de Mexico, she found communities wrestling with youth suicides.
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She offered a weekend intensive. Participants felt the need to expand on the weekend training: This needs to be a full training. Others echoed the need. Another woman from Mexico had already been attending Colombia’s ATB trainings. Rosa felt a calling.
Still, organizing formal training in some places was not yet possible. In rural Guatemala, for instance, the women she worked with came with babies slung to their backs. During one paired exercise with blindfolds and sound, even the babies began to hum. The humming of the children was so powerful, it amplified the experience of the class. Her dream is to one day provide child care so these women can fully participate in trainings.
Workshops and Breakthroughs
In Colombia, a woman attending a basic training invited Rosa to deliver ATB 1 & 2 to 20 employees from her large company. Rosa was hesitant, these participants hadn’t chosen the work. For the first two days, they struggled. Many had never meditated. But something shifted. By day five, people were in tears. “I never knew this space existed inside me.” A true breakthrough had happened.
Rosa has learned to surrender. She doesn’t make detailed plans. She follows signs. Sometimes, when she’s unsure, a whisper comes at night. Or someone reaches out. The path unfolds.
The First Advanced Workshop in Colombia
During April 2025, Rosa and Francesco co-led the first advanced ATB training in Colombia—held in an ashram and spread over nine days. They emphasized not assuming participants arrived with refined attention. The workshop began by restoring attention and concentration, then explored the five elements, and finally ventured into the evolution of consciousness, drawing on the teachings of Mother and Sri Aurobindo.
Despite many being unfamiliar with those ideas, the group entered deeply into the work. Participants came from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico. From a basic course with 13 participants, the network expanded to 36 people attending fundamentals. Now, many are becoming facilitators in training—each preparing to extend ATB in their regions.
HELP ROSA CONTINUE HER WORK, SUPPORTING ATB STUDENTS IN COMPLETING ADVANCED TRAINING THROUGHOUT SOUTH AMERICA.
Europe and the Next Chapter
After 18 months in South America, Rosa is returning to Europe. In August and September 2025, she will lead workshops in Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary. In Bulgaria, she will work with facilitators serving youth in areas affected by war and poverty. A Europe-wide ATB project has also been approved, gathering selected participants from across the continent.
Back in South America, the work continues. In Rosa’s words, it’s not about organization or control. “Maybe that’s why this work was for me” she says” Just to follow the heart guidence”
And so she follows—each whisper, each invitation, each quiet call from the soul.
The First Advanced Workshop in Colombia: Deepening the Work
In 2025, after over a year of basic ATB workshops across Latin America, Rosa and Francesco reunited to offer their first Advanced ATB Training in Colombia. Held at an ashram nestled in nature, the nine-day retreat provided the ideal setting for deep inner work.
Rather than diving straight into advanced content, the training began by restoring participants’ attention and presence—what Rosa called “sharpening the attention.” Only then did they move into exploring the five elements—Earth, Water, Fire, Air, and Ether—through embodied practices that linked outer nature with inner awareness.
The final days focused on the evolution of consciousness, drawing from the vision of Mother and Sri Aurobindo. Despite many being new to their teachings, participants engaged with remarkable openness. Rosa described it as powerful and sincere: “You could feel the depth of their aspiration.”
On the closing day, reflections revealed how transformative the experience had been—not just as training, but as a personal transformation. Participants from across South and Central America left not only with tools, but a sense of belonging to something greater.
For Rosa, the most moving part was the unity that emerged: “We’re not just different nationalities. Ultimately, we’re one.”
