Move beyond searching for perfection, and
Start building authentic connections!
Sculpt your path to meaningful community living through intentional relationships and shared purpose.
The Journey’s Begun
You’re taking the steps, following the bread crumbs, reading website after website, hoping you’ll find the “right one.”
You reach out to introduce yourself. Maybe you get a response. You schedule a visit. You meet one of the members and get a short tour. You know their time is precious. It’s not just a day for sightseeing. What should you ask? What are the core differentiating factors? Are your criteria too tight or too loose?
There’s always something – some reason to keep looking. What if it isn’t about “them”? What if you have more questions to ask yourself first?
Are you really ready to immigrate to another world?
To be changed by that place?
If you want your answer to those last two questions to be “yes,” then this book is your guide!
This is a Comprehensive Guide to Finding Your Place in Communal Living
Available at a Pay-What-You-Wish Price!
There are hidden challenges that even thoughtful seekers encounter
Too many smart, well-intentioned people approach community seeking with patterns that sabotage their success.
Examples include:
The "Perfect Community" Trap
You’ve developed a detailed vision of your ideal community, complete with the right location and natural resources, the perfect governance model, shared infrastructure, and more.
This clarity feels empowering, but without deeper self-assessment, it can blind you to opportunities that might actually serve you better than your imagined ideal.
The Timeline Miscalculation
Your eagerness to create positive change in your life can lead to rushing decisions that deserve more contemplation.
Conversely, endless happenstance searching for a community that matches your vision perfectly, based on which communities have savvy enough SEO agents to put them on the first page of your Google search, can leave you exhausted and disenchanted.
The Assumption Gap
Your values around sustainability and cooperation are well placed, but you might be making assumptions about what community living actually looks and feels like day-to-day.
Strategic research and self-discovery will help determine which styles of decision-making, conflict resolution, and cultural integration are most in alignment with your sensibilities.
The Consumer Mindset
You’ve done all the right research, but you might be unconsciously evaluating communities like you’d choose a vacation destination.
Are you asking:
- “What can this place do for me?”
or - “How can I contribute to something meaningful here?”
Your Transformation from Seeker to Co-Creator
“The community you’re seeking likely exists, just not in the form you’ve imagined.
Finding (or helping create it) may require adjusting your understanding of what you’re looking for.”
This guide will help you realign your approach from seeking perfection to building connection. Instead of chasing an impossible ideal, you’ll learn to shift from seeking a “perfect” community that serves your needs to becoming someone who integrates into thriving communities through authentic relationships.
Inside the Handbook
Part 1: Broadening Perspectives on Community and Ecovillage Living
- Why there is no “right” way to build community, and how this liberates your search
- How to replace common assumptions with insights that prevent costly mistakes
- The evolution of “community” in our modern age and what this means for your journey
Part 2: Exploring Ownership Models That Shape Community Experience
- The fundamental frameworks that shape how communities organize themselves
- How to evaluate governance models from consensus to sociocracy to governing boards
- Why understanding scale and decision-making structure is crucial for your satisfaction
Part 3: Discovering Diverse Community Models Attending To Member Needs
- Different community types and how their focus shapes daily life
- The emerging concept of bioregional community hubs that extend beyond property lines
- How to assess family-friendly, senior-focused, and rental-based options
Part 4: Assessing Your Readiness for Community Living
- Foundational self-assessment questions that most seekers never ask themselves
- How to research communities contemplatively before making direct contact
- The difference between your non-negotiables and preferences (and why this matters)
Part 5: Evaluating Communities with Confidence
- The essential questions to ask communities that reveal their true character
- How to identify red flags and green lights during the vetting process
- Common vetting mistakes that waste time and emotional energy
Part 6: Recognizing Immigration's Impact on the Local Community
- Understanding gentrification and how to mitigate it
- Local perspectives on foreign-led projects and how to honor existing communities
- The neocolonialism mindset and how to transcend it
Part 7: Practicing Ethical Immigration and Cultural Integration
- Essential practices for respectful integration into new cultures
- How to create economic opportunities that benefit locals
- Reframing your role from consumer to co-creator
What most communities really need are new members who understand the landscape and are prepared to do the work.
Deepen your understanding and arrive as one of those people.
Meet Your Guide
Jason Thomas brings a rare vantage point to community living, combining over 17 years of hands-on experience in Costa Rica’s community movement with systematic research across dozens of communities with close attention to their different approaches.
As co-founder of a permaculture land cooperative and education center that operated for 12 years, Jason understands both the challenges and rewards of community building firsthand. His current role as Ecovillage Tours’ CR program director and lead guide has given him unique access to diverse community models and hundreds of conversations with both founders and seekers.
As a Community Connections consultant and creator of the Invisible Infrastructure Program, he offers a take on community living that’s both expansive and practical, challenging assumptions while offering actionable steps to overcome them.
This handbook distills insights from those hundreds of conversations and years of observation into a practical framework, built to save you years of trial and error.
Reader Reactions
“Jason’s approach challenged me to look beyond the details I thought I was looking for to understand what’s most important to me in choosing a community. I also found what he shared about cultural integration to be especially valuable as I consider my move to Costa Rica.”
“I was curious whether Jason’s workbook was significantly different from others out there. It turns out that it is, especially in its awareness of how much we gringos impact the local tico community. It’s made me more conscious of my own footprint here.”
“I started the handbook hoping to get through it quickly. At first, the clickable links referencing other material slowed me down. But after following one and listening to the interview with Brave Earth, I understood the benefit.
Since reading the book, I’ve started focusing less on how I might be accepted by a community, or what talent I have to offer, and more on what community is really about. That perspective serves me better. It‘s left me feeling less judgmental and more self-compassionate.“
“The Community Seekers Handbook is a gem if you’ve begun the path and are earnestly looking to shift your way of life towards living in community. Jason addresses the inevitable questions from a super practical perspective.
The chapters are bite-sized and paced for easy reading and reflection. The added bonus is his lived experience in Costa Rica, especially if you’re looking to move there. Either way, the core and fundamentals of living in community are baked into this book regardless of location. I’m grateful he wrote this and consider it a touchstone for all community seekers.“
Pay What You Wish
This guide represents years of research, writing, and synthesis of over 20 years of community living experience. I’m offering it on a pay-what-you-wish basis because I believe this information should be accessible to everyone exploring intentional community, regardless of financial circumstances. Too much vital time, money, and enthusiasm are lost by dedicated community seekers looking past the most important details.
Your contribution supports:
- Continued research and content creation about the community movement
- Production of podcast interviews with community founders
- YouTube content featuring presentations from ecovillage tours
- More free resources for the broader community of community builders and seekers
Suggested Contribution:
A guide of this length (written by a person) typically sells for $10-$20.
However, I’m offering the complete Handbook for a contribution of anywhere from $1 to $111. This is an invitation for you to support independent content creation and the revival of the Regeneration Nation Costa Rica podcast and YouTube channel.
I’ve recorded more than 20 founder presentations from our first four Ecovillage Tours and would love to produce and share them with you. However, with all the other work I have at hand, I’ll need to hire a professional editor to go through them with the care they need, separate out all the highlight reels, create the artwork, and publish them across all the various channels.
Each episode costs around $200 to produce, in addition to the day or two I spend on it myself. You can consider this book a fundraiser to bring you more free content. Every dollar helps fund my ability to support this movement and inspire others on similar paths.
Thank you for your support!
A More Empowered Community Journey Starts Today
Whether you’re in the early stages of exploring community living or ready to make serious commitments, this handbook provides the framework to navigate your path with confidence and wisdom.
Stop searching for perfection. Start building authentic connections.
Questions? Email jason@regenerationnationcr.com
Ready to visit communities in person?
Check out our Ecovillage Tours (save $200 with code RNCR),
or schedule a Community Connections Call for personalized guidance.