Meditation & Volunteering

16/04/2019

Who?
Gaia Ashram is a small international community living project based on 6-hectares of land which is being developed using deep ecology, permaculture and ecovillage design principles in the North-East of Thailand.

At Gaia Ashram we experience community living and we aim to live holistically using the Ecovillage and Permaculture values as our guideline. At Gaia Ashram we generally have between 6 to 10 long term community members living at the project. These community members are helping to hold the space of our daily life and structures. Many of the community members are in training to become facilitators and we work on educating ourselves and sharing our knowledge with each other in order for us as individuals and for the Gaia Ashram project to grow.

At Gaia Ashram we work together to learn and practice regenerating the land using agroforestry, organic farming, natural farming, regenerative agriculture and permaculture techniques. We aim to grow a lot of our own food and live as sustainably as possible. We also are learning how to do natural building and are looking into alternative energy.

Where?
Gaia Ashram is the base of Gaia School Asia and is located in the North-East of Thailand. We are between the small cities Nong Khai & Udon Thani. Gaia Ashram is also located near Vientaine, the capital of Laos.

You could come by train, bus or airplane to the destination on the main road, Nam Suai. Make sure that they repeat /Nam-Soy/ and not /Nam-Som/ as that is somewhere very different

Help/Meditation?
Generally we have three kinds of activities at Gaia Ashram building, gardening & nature regeneration. The work depends on the season. We have three seasons in Thailand and below are the seasons and the activities related to the seasons:

Rainy Season July until October
In this time we are planting lots of trees and some water-loving veggies. There might be some ongoing building projects going on that we will be working on.

Cool season November until February.
This is the main time for vegetable production and organic gardening. But we are also building during this time as it is dry.

Dry/Hot Season March until June. This time is a bit slow and generally it is a time for building and this is also a good time for us to go places that are not so hot.

We rediscover and deepen our connection with nature, with all living beings and with our own selves. We meditate twice a day and we encourage everybody to do their own spiritual practice.

Food, accommodation, etc?
As volunteers you will cook breakfast and lunch together in shifts. In the evening we have Om’s sister in law Gig cook for us. We cook vegetarian at Gaia Ashram and there are always vegan option for vegans.

We ask volunteers for a financial contribution to help to cover the cost of food & other daily living expenses (such as electricity, groceries, water etc.) as well as paying for Thai staff that are supporting the project & the volunteers. Your contribution helps us to sustain the project, your contribution also supports us to have volunteers stay with us and pass on our knowledge how to sustain and regenerate the world.

We value if volunteers stay longer and therefore the contribution goes down the longer you stay with us. We created the following pricing scale for staying in our dormitory:
- Stay with us as a volunteer (min. 2 weeks), 2,000 bath/week or 275 bath/day.
- Stay with us as volunteer for a month, 1,750 bath/week or 250 bath/day.
- Long-term volunteer (after a month), 1,300 bath/week or 175 bath/day.

If you stay longer then 3 months there is the possibility of joining the residents team. If you have an interest please check in with the community core team.

Work per day/week?
We ask of volunteer to do a minimum of 5-hours of work a day.
Check our daily schedule:
• 5:45-7:15 Meditation & Yoga
• 7:00-7:45 Breakfast Preparation
• 7:45-8:30 Breakfast
• 8:45-11:30 Morning Work Session
• 11:30-12:30 Lunch Preparation
• 12:30-13:30 Lunch
• 1330-15:00 Break
• 15:00-17:30 Afternoon Work Session
• 18:30-1900 Sunset Meditation
• 19:00-20:00 Diner
• 22:00 Lights-Off

Minimum time/commitment?
The minimum time for volunteering is two weeks.

Additional info?
＊＊＊No Alcohol or Drugs: We ask volunteers not to drink alcohol or use drugs on the land. We ask smokers to smoke out of sight away from other Community members at a designated spot for smoking.

Contact details?
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gaiaashram/
Website: https://gaiaschoolasia.com

Gaia Ashram is an ecovillage and education center on Permaculture, Ecovillage Design and Deep Ecology.

24/01/2019

Who?
Thabarwa Nature Center EU Italy is the Italian branch of Thabarwa Center based in Yangon, Myanmar. The center is a historic and beautiful house built in 1890. We have a large forest, and we are in a quiet and beautiful place. The house is undergoing renovation, so we cannot accommodate many people right now. We bought another house in front of the center, which is the female housing. On our website there is a registration form to be able to volunteer.

Where?
Località Crenna Superiore 54, 15069 Serravalle Scrivia (AL), Italia.

Help/Meditation?
The activities are varied and range from the management of the house (kitchen and cleaning) to creative workshops, to the arrangement of the forest (wood collection) and we do Vipassana meditation twice a day.
Food, accommodation, etc?
Accommodation, food, teachings, everything is free but we do have a limit of bed available.

Work per day/week?
Up to you :)

Minimum time/commitment?
No minimum

Contact details?
Website: https://www.thabarwanaturecentre.org
Manager profile: https://www.facebook.com/dony.barbagallo.5
Tel: +39 339 6757777

14/01/2019

Who?
The farm is run by a former Thai monk, Pi Nan, and his Japanese partner, Noriko, who have a little girl, Nobara born in 2011.

More than 2,000 people from all around the world have stayed at our farm as a volunteer since 2011. We live like a big family, and cook, eat and work together in nature. We are like a Sangha, open to both Thai local people and travelers from every part of the world to empower each other and bring progressive harmony on the planet.

Our farm has integrated mindfulness into its daily life. Mindfulness is a word used in connection with Buddhism and meditation, meaning to be in the present moment. It is being very aware of what we are doing while we are doing it.

As a method for cultivating mindfulness – meditation is a vital part of the daily routine at Mindful Farm. We believe that promoting organic farming and a vegan diet is the only way to preserve our Mother Earth.Thick Nhat Hanh says that mindfulness must be engaged. We will be able to achieve inner peace by working day by day with mindfulness for a better world for the future generation.

Where?
MINDFUL FARM, our community for organic farming, vegan food and Dharma teaching, is situated in a peaceful valley near Samoeng, 75 km north-west of the Chiang Mai city:
123 Moo 4, PANG TERM VILLAGE, T. MAESAP, SAMOENG, CHIANG MAI
Samoeng Nua, Chiang Mai, Thailand 50250

Help/Meditation?
In exchange for your volunteer work on the farm, we will teach you organic farming methods, methods of building with natural materials, Buddhist teachings, and meditation instruction. You can also learn vegetarian cooking and recognizing wild edible plants, and experience the Thai local village life.

We will learn all together how to live a simple and mindful life on the farm, close to our Mother Earth. We want you to feel as if you were at your second home. We would like to be your second family in Thailand.

Food, accommodation, etc?
The farm stay costs 200 Baht / night per person, which includes three healthy vegan meals.

Accommodation is very basic and in various states of improvement and upgrading. Staying at Mindful Farm is similar to camping. We have a few small partially open mud huts and a few completely enclosed rooms. There are no personal guesthouses. While older people are welcome to stay at the farm, they may not find the accommodation and sleeping arrangements comfortable.

Work per day/week?
The daily routine is:
06:30 Get up
07:00 Meditation, yoga, cooking breakfast,
cleaning the common area
08:00 Breakfast
09:00 Morning work
12:00 Lunch and Rest
15:00 Afternoon work / Skill sharing / cooking dinner
18:00 Dinner
20:00 Group Meditation

Minimum time/commitment?
We strongly encourage visitors to Mindful Farm to stay for a minimum of 5 days. The longer you can stay, the more you will learn from your time here, and the more you will be able to contribute to our community. You also have the opportunity to experience a day of silent meditation alone in the forest. We would love to welcome you to Mindful Farm for any time you have available – please email us if you have any questions about visiting.

Additional info?
While staying at the farm, we request that you follow a mindful lifestyle: refraining from smoking and alcohol, refraining from excessive noise and loud talking, and not playing loud games or loud music. Also please dress modestly to respect the Thai culture. This helps a good environment for meditation.

Contact details?
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Mindful-Farm-124677660941519/
Website: http://www.mindfulfarmers.org/

farm　

02/01/2019

Who?
Laurence Kimberly Manchee who want to see a healthier, happier world through the practice of Yoga, sustainability and producing food. Whilst working in the rat race, Kimberly and Laurence always struggled to keep up their yoga practice, reduce their carbon footprint and to be as healthy and stress free as much as their hectic lives would allow them.
They have been teaching yoga, growing their own food, and travelling and learning wherever possible. After three years of planning, in early 2016 they travelled to Portugal with plans to buy a plot of land. After almost a year of travelling and volunteering, they have finally bought an 18 hectare magical plot of land in Mata Da Rainha, central Portugal.
The land is being transformed into self-sustainable yoga retreat and eco-farm. Using permaculture principles, they are turning agricultural land into a food forest which will enable them to grow a wide range of edibles, providing the kitchen with healthy organic ingredients. Keela are also reforesting part of their land. They already generate their own energy, have their own water supply, supplement their food with their own produce and have built a yoga deck, greenhouse, toilets, hot showers and chill out spaces.
Where?
Mata Da Rainha, central Portugal.
Help/Meditation?
Depends of the schedule (http://www.keelayogafarm.com/permaculture-and-yoga-volunteer-portugal/) but could be natural building volunteering, cooking, preparing materials, gardening, preparing and running a Yoga retreat… or assisting with community tasks (cooking, cleaning, lighting fires etc).

Food, accommodation, etc ?
Contribution of EUR 55 per week or EUR 200 per month paid in on arrival to cover healthy food, yoga and running the farm costs + additional for caravan or tent hire please visit our accommodation page

Work per day/week?
• 5 days volunteering at keela yoga farm
• 1/2 a day volunteering at a local project every other week month as part of our community help program
• 5-6 hours per day working

Minimum time/commitment?
2 weeks minimum

Additional info?
We have also several community facilities:
• Community stone house – large house with the kitchen, dining room
• Lizard lounge hang out area with projector, sofas and wifi
• Yoga Deck with a view
• Compost toilet, washing machine
• 3 showers, 1 Indoor shower room with wood fired hot water, 1 outside solar shower open to nature, 1 natural waterfall (cold shower and only during winter and spring)
• 45 acres (18 hectares) of land to walk with many chill out spots, hammocks and viewpoints

Contact details?
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/keelayogafarm/
Website: http://www.keelayogafarm.com/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ55T1HU2bycUkDlT27dK_Q/

Keela is a sizeable 18-hectare off-grid homestead & permaculture farm with courses and consultancy in Portugal.

Our project has a market vegetable garden, agroforests, food forests, animals, natural buildings and many established permaculture systems.

31/12/2018

Who? Where?
Thabarwa is a meditation center located in Thanlyin, Myanmar, and also non-profit humanitarian organizatio where volunteers can practice meditation and donate their time, effort and energy to help others and do unlimited good deeds.

Help/Meditation?
The volunteers are helping patients with general care, washing and physiotherapy but also in the maintenance and building activities at the center. Teaching English to locals, making art projects, cooking, gardening and taking care of children is also something that we do. You will have the opprotunity to follow guided Vipassana meditation, learn more about Buddhism or practice on your own. Meditation and yoga teachers are always welcome to join and organize lessons for all volunteers.

Food, accommodation, etc ?
Volunteers will be hosted in separate male and female dorms. Bed linen, security lockers and mosquito nets are provided. Breakfast and lunch are provided by the center and a kitchen is available for the volunteers to prepare the dinner together. Free R/O filtered water is available free throughout the center. There are also several restaurants and shops in the center for any extra needs that you might have.

Work per day?
Basically each volunteer is free to participate in every activity as they like or to learn a new skill so no minimum or maximum of hours of work per day.

Minimum time/commitment?
No minimum, no maximum. We can provide a meditation visa, 70 days, with some requirements for you to agree.

Additional info?
We request people who come here, even for a short time, to follow the monastic code of morality which includes:
- Not harming any living being.
- Not taking what is not given.
- Not sexual misconduct.
- Not harmful, harsh or false speech.
- Not taking drugs or alcohol during your stay here.

Contact details?
Have a look in our website http://thabarwavolunteering.com and in our page https://www.facebook.com/thabarwavolunteering/ to understand more what is happening here.

THABARWA CENTRE
Practice Meditation and Help Others in Myanmar
https://m.facebook.com/ThabarwaAnimalShelter/

31/12/2018

Who?
The Mindfulness Project is a radical new approach to a holistic life style. We combine proven methods of the fields of meditation, yoga, psychology, Permaculture, natural building, arts and combine them to a healing system of transforming ourselves and the environment.
This amazing system has been scientifically researched by the University of Murcia, Spain and has shown amazing results! So come in and be part of the worldwide change!

Where?
Ban Muang Wan
Amphoe Nam Phong
Thailand

Help/Meditation?
We operate since 2012, but we will move in January 2016 to a new site. So we will start from the very scratch. It will be a fascinating process and you can learn everything with hands-on experiences like water harvesting structures, natural buildings, starting permaculture gardens, installing alternative energy, building with natural stones, earth bag building and so much more! And the whole community will have mosaic on every building. Incredible art! We will rock it and it will be a once in a lifetime experience!
Also you will get daily teachings in Yoga, Meditation and teachings about topics like Psychology, Non-violent communication, Permaculture and much more!

Food, accommodation, etc ?
The accommodation and food is free in exchange for the work you do. But for the yoga (45 Minutes/day) and meditation teaching (up to 2.5 hours/day) as well as the evening lectures (up to 2 hours/day) we charge 200 baht a day. The remaining three days, or more if you decide to extend, can be paid later in your stay.
The facilities are very basic. You will be living in dorms with people from all over the world together. We have 3 inside showers and toilets and 3 outdoor showers. Mosquito nets, mats and pillows as well as Yoga mats are provided. But please bring a blanket to sleep on.

Work per day?
Depends

Minimum time, commitment?
Our minimum stay is 10 days and we ask volunteers to pay the first 7 days upfront upon arrival.

Contact details?
Website: http://www.mindfulness-project.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mindfulnessprojectthailand/

German charity, volunteering community
Learn about ancient Buddhist wisdom in conjunction with modern scientific developments
Become happy, content and really free!

31/12/2018

Who?
Watchara Farm is a volunteer farm, especially oriented for budget travelers but also very family friendly. At our farm visitors can learn all about Thai food, planting and gain meditation skills. We enjoy a healthy living. In our farm we also have a herb sauna which is very good for the skin and general health. Everything we cook is organic. Not only do we value physical health, but we think mental health is very important too. For instance, in the morning visitors can join a walking meditation session and in the evening we do a sitting meditation around the campfire. Everyone is welcome, young and old, solo travelers and families.

Where?
The quiet and peaceful location is approximately 60 km from Chiang Mai, Thailand, with transportation to and from the airport and around the area available for a small fee.

Help/Meditation?
A communal atmosphere is facilitated at the farm, and guests are welcome and encouraged to help with chores or farming and to participate in cooking and upkeep. Meditation practice and assistance is offered, with a corresponding insight into Buddhism.

Included?
For a contribution of 200 Baht per 1 person per a day, you will have 3 vegetation meals and accommodation. This money will help poor children in the village.

Work per day?
The volunteers work is about 5 hours per day with a free day to trek in the jungle.

Minimum time, commitment?
1 week minimum.

Contact details?
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/watchara.farm.1
Webiste:

About Watchara Farm