Silvia Hagen
Life begins, where your comfort zone ends.
​
Since childhood, I have been drawn to exploring consciousness — not only as a concept, but as a lived reality. What shapes it? What limits it? And most of all: how can we expand it, both individually and as a society?
These days, nature is my greatest teacher. The forest shows us everything we need to know — about balance, interconnectedness, and regeneration.
​
My name, Silvia, comes from the Latin word silva, meaning forest. Maybe my mother sensed something when she chose it.
I was born in the French-speaking part of Switzerland to German-speaking parents and grew up bilingual. I’ve always been more interested in doing than theorizing. That’s why I chose not to go to university. Instead, I spent six vibrant years in the music industry in the golden 80s — a fascinating time of creativity, rhythm, and discovery.
Later, after becoming a mother, I shifted to the IT world and founded my own company, Sunny Connection. I became an author and consultant for large international enterprises, thanks in part to the success of my books on Internet technologies. Through this work, I gained deep insights into organizational dynamics, resistance to change, and the importance of holistic thinking. I realized that many of the dysfunctions we see in organizations mirror the fragmentation in our societies — a loss of connection, of communication, of purpose.
That insight led me to study integral and systemic organizational development. I was deeply inspired by the Agile movement and by Frederic Laloux’s book Reinventing Organizations. Around the same time, I discovered the twelve principles of permaculture — and saw how perfectly they apply not only to gardens and forests, but also to human systems.
With the creation of Panambi, my life’s strands are now woven together: consciousness work, systemic thinking, ecological understanding, and my lifelong love for the forest.
In nature, I’ve found not only beauty, but a blueprint for healing — for ourselves, our communities, and our planet.​