Yossi Ghinsberg

Not many people realize that survival is a choice as deeply and intimately as Yossi Ghinsberg. In the midst of the uncharted Amazon, after losing his three companions, Yossi was tested to the extreme. Alone for three harrowing weeks of sheer survival against all odds, he ultimately lived to tell this amazing story as well as how the ordeal profoundly affected his understanding of himself and his life’s purpose. The most important thing he learned from this experience was that we all have the power to survive.

Years later, Yossi returned to the Amazon and made it his home. Working with indigenous forest dwellers for three years, they built Cha-la-lan, a model eco-tourism village that inspired the entire Amazon basin and the world. He also founded The Madidi National Park, the biggest biodiversity conserve in the Amazon.

Yossi now travels the planet sharing his universal messages of strength, hope and inspiration. His choice to connect rather than retreat has become his life’s journey. He serves the CEO of an Israeli / Arab Reconciliation Festival, where spiritual leaders of both Islam and Judaism conduct special prayers for peace.

His first book, Heart of the Amazon, now published as Jungle, based on his harrowing adventures in South America, soon became an international bestseller. The Discovery Channel released a documentary film based on the book. Yossi is also the author of Laws of the Jungle.

In times of rapid change, markets go through massive transition and in the process even the giants shake – some collapse. As fear and insecurity rise, times like these can feel like sheer survival for many. As a speaker, Yossi’s permeating authenticity instills in people the power to trust themselves and engage in life fully and passionately regardless of the circumstances.

A riveting storyteller, Yossi leads audiences to a deep state of listening, allowing them to experience and process the content within their own environments and thus immediately integrate it in their personal and professional life. His delivery is a powerful multi-sensory experience, evoking emotions and challenging commonly held concepts. He teaches that survival is a choice…one that comes with results that may not look as we had originally expected or planned.

Yossi believes that nothing promotes growth more than an unexpected experience and unconventional thinking. In these times of great challenge and change, his ‘Power to Survive’ message is timely.

Yossi was born and raised in Israel. He served three years in the Israeli navy on the Red Sea, where he befriended the Bedouins of the Sinai Desert who greatly influenced him with their wholesome philosophy and nomadic lifestyle.

He graduated from Tel Aviv University with Philosophy and Business degrees, followed by a comprehensive study of the Kabala in academic as well as authentic environments. A truth seeker by an inner calling, Yossi Ghinsberg continuously studied religions and philosophy including the ancients, the classics, the Eastern and the Contemporary.

In 1992, Yossi returned to the Amazon to initiate “The Cha-la-lan Project,” demonstrating that the best strategy to preserve pristine rainforest is sustainable development in cooperation with indigenous inhabitants, rather than mere conservation. Yossi promoted recognition of intellectual properties for indigenous people and his contribution to the region won him international acclaim from Conservation International, the World Resources Institute and The Inter-American Development Bank.

In 1995, Yossi was appointed Vice President of The Center for Investigation & Treatment of Addiction (CITA). In this capacity, he promoted a new humanitarian approach to the treatment of opiate addiction, establishing 12 treatment and research centers around the world from Mexico to China. Yossi also established and managed his own clinics in Australia where he launched the “Alma Libre” initiative to educate society about opiate addiction and promote reintegration of rehabilitated patients.

Yossi has great interest in conflict resolution on personal, organizational and global levels. In 2001 during the peak of the Palestinian “intifada,” he was invited to return to Israel to produce a reconciliation festival. Despite the escalation of violence in the region, the festival managed to attract spiritual leaders of Judaism and Islam as well as unprecedented audiences.

Yossi is married and a father to three girls. He shares his time between his home in the heart of an Australian rainforest and the rest of the world.