Yossi Ghinsberg

Biography

Born and raised in Israel, Yossi served 3 years in the Israeli Navy on the Red Sea. During these years he befriended the Bedouin of the Sinai desert and was greatly influenced by their philosophy and nomadic lifestyle. After the service Yossi ventured the world as a backpacker traveling for 2 years mainly in South America. Returning to Israel, Yossi graduated from Tel Aviv University with Philosophy and Business degrees.

His first book 'Jungle', based on three harrowing weeks lost and alone in the Amazon, was first published in 1986 and soon became an international bestseller. The Discovery Channel has now released a documentary film based on the book.

In 1992, Yossi returned to the Amazon to initiate "The Chalalan Project" proving that the best strategy to conserve bio-diversity is sustainable development in cooperation with indigenous forest dwellers. Chalalan is one of the most celebrated Eco-Tourism resorts in the Amazon.

Yossi is the founder and director of EthnoBios S.A., a bio-diversity prospecting company that is based in Bolivia. The projects Yossi initiated in the Bolivian rainforest helped to form the biggest nature reserve in the Amazon, known as The Madidi National Park. His work on the protection of intellectual properties and sustainable development of the Amazon won him international acclaim from such organizations as Conservation International, the World Resources Institute and The Inter-American Development Bank.

In 1995, Yossi practiced 'adapting to change' and accepted a position as Vice President of The Center for Investigation & Treatment of Addiction (CITA). Yossi promoted a new approach to treatment of opiate addiction, establishing 12 treatment and research centers around the world from Mexico to China. In 1999, Yossi founded 'The Alma Libre Foundation' based in Australia, dedicated to assisting opiate addicts in their re-integration to society. Yossi's website, www.philosphyinaction.com contains an innovative interactive smoking cessation program.

In 2001 during the peak of the Palestinian intifada, Yossi returned to Israel as CEO of a reconciliation festival. Despite the escalation of violence in the region, the festival managed to attract unprecedented audiences. Spiritual leaders of both Islam and Judaism conducted special prayers for peace. Musicians from around the world came to perform and support the cause.

In between projects Yossi's passion is directed at exploring remote corners of the planet, guided solely by the atlas and his own personal desire for places of inspiration. His travels have brought him to the islands of Papua New Guinea and Madagascar, to the sub-continents of India and China.

Publications

Lost in the jungle!--told with a hearty emphasis on endurance and terror. In 1982, the author, an Israeli then in his 20s, was backpacking around South America. After some typically youthful escapades, Ghinsberg fell in with Karl, a self-proclaimed Austrian geologist who offered to take the author and two others- -thoughtful Marcus, a Swiss, and stalwart Kevin, an American--deep inside the Amazon rain forest. Flying out of La Paz to a remote town, the four were soon hacking their way through dense foliage, dining on smoked monkey meat, and panning for gold on an isolated riverbank. But the adventure was marred by tension between the travelers, spurred by Karl's bossiness and Marcus's whining, and eventually the foursome split up, with Karl and Marcus planning to return to La Paz while the author and Kevin were to raft down the treacherous Tuichi river. It's at this point, midway through the narrative, that Ghinsberg's tale takes flight: Almost immediately, he and Kevin lose their raft and are separated in the river's white waters. Carrying on alone, equipped only with a small bag containing matches, bug repellent, rice and beans, etc., Ghinsberg suffers through a horrific ordeal of starvation; jungle rot; attacks by hornets, leeches, and biting termites; torrential rains; slashing wounds; a jaguar stalking; and maddening loneliness. But after 20 days of being sustained primarily by his will (``I can go on''), the author, near death, spots Kevin approaching in a boat: ``I was safe''--but Marcus and Karl (whose surprising real identity is later revealed) are never seen again.

Titles

The Power to Survive
After a tragic separation from his friends, one man is lost alone for weeks in the heart of the Amazon with no food or weapons in the midst of the worst rainy season in decades. Through this amazing experience Yossi Ghinsberg penetrates a new level of understanding of life and himself.
A master storyteller, Yossi takes his audiences on an emotional experience of inner strength and self-discovery.
This keynote presentation is based on Yossi’s international bestseller ‘Jungle’, now also a documentary by the acclaimed producers of ‘Touching the Void’ and the Discovery Channel.
Apart from the sheer excitement and thrill of Yossi's presentation his delivery encourages audiences to review and reevaluate their own personal and professional circumstances. Audiences are empowered to adapt to circumstances with a sense of adventure. Yossi believes we are co-creators of our reality and hence fear and worry are not likely to improve any situation, however right action can always be taken. Adversity is part of life; being a victim a matter of choice.
Yossi feels there is an inherent hero in each one of us ready to emerge; there exists a well of wisdom far greater than our own knowledge ready to be made available. Never, ever give up for life is never short of a miracle.
This keynote presentation sows long-lasting seeds of empowerment with its audiences.

The Laws of the Jungle: Jaguars Don’t Need Self-help Books
The only specie that separates and alienates itself from nature is our own. Isolated in that seclusion we either try to dominate nature or protect ourselves from it.
Yossi asks his audience to expand their horizon and see ‘the big picture’. Our life has become ‘life in a box’ and we've forgotten that it is our birth right to be and feel part of our planet and the entire universe we live in.
A master practitioner of corporate spirituality, Yossi Ghinsberg introduces this pioneering work of incorporating principles and guidelines from nature, the natural world, the planet as a whole and the cosmos and draws their relation to the management of our personal and professional lives.
Audiences are intrigued by the unique cutting-edge human thinking that provokes and challenges the conventional, suggesting an alternative outlook on life and a new path of action toward wellbeing and success. Empowering and encouraging, Yossi’s ‘Laws of the Jungle’ teaches that we are the co-creators of this life, assuming responsibility will yield power, what we tend to resist persists, acquiring a new perspective and casting our vision upon the future will form a new path.
Yossi’s 'Laws of the Jungle' are well researched and source from an array of interdisciplinary sciences and fields, such as quantum physics, Buddhism, Kabala, anthropology and environmental sciences. Nevertheless most of the insights can be discerned through simple contemplations and observations of nature.
Having lived in the Amazon rainforest for three years and now living in the Australian rainforest, Yossi knows how to bring to life the natural world and relate it to an audience in a fascinating way.
The teaching of the 'Laws of the Jungle' to audiences has a tremendous and direct impact, bringing breakthroughs and transformations to both individuals and organizations.
This topic is highly entertaining due to Yossi’s ability to tell stories and create mind images with his audiences, and at the same time the material can only be described as life-changing.
The Laws of the Jungle is a topic packed with content and can be delivered as a 60 to 90 minute keynote allowing time for interaction and Q and A. Alternatitvely it can be extended to a 3 hour breakout session.

Sailing the Seas of Change
‘It is not the strongest of the species that survives nor the most intelligent, but the one most adaptable to change.’
Charles Darwin
The famous adage says: ‘change is the only constant’. Indeed it is impermanence that is the essence of our existence in a word that is always in flux. As inherent and inevitable as change is, it is perceived by many individuals and organizations as a problem.
Accepting change as a natural phenomenon is the basis of sanity, knowing how to flow with the change is the greatest of virtues. This is the most basic and relevant wisdom that can help us better manage our lives.
Understanding change; welcoming change; adapting to change; not clinging to passing experiences; going through changes and adversity maintaining responsibility and power - all this is possible when an understanding and acceptance of change is incorporated into one’s life.
Quite paradoxically when such understanding is inherent, change ceases to seem so personal. There is no aversion to trouble and no clinging to fleeting pleasure. Instead there is acceptance of the new circumstances and an adaptation based on action.
The other and more common path of resisting change, chasing fleeting phenomena and being its victim comes from ignorance and promotes a sense of helplessness followed by involuntary reaction.
Surrendering to the power of change doesn't mean one is helpless or powerless, on the contrary change always represents opportunity for growth.
A master storyteller, Yossi’s keynote on change is not a lecture but rather a journey taking audiences far away from their mundane reality and far above their judgmental minds, and allows access to new perspectives and reflections.