Experience Report Thailand Ashram Volunteer

Amazing how quickly you get used to composting toilets. Cold showers and a literally breadthless (but traveling) existence. On scratchy mimosas in the vegetable beds and hard mattresses (well, the latter took me a little longer and gave me some sleepy nights at first).
And then you find all of that beautiful. Like showering by candlelight in the evening, then looking up at the starry sky. At 6:40 watch the sunrise from the water tower. In general: getting up early is the order of the day - to meditate while it's still dark, and while doing yoga (or making breakfast) it's slowly getting light. A day according to plan, which hangs on the wall of the sala, the large meeting room and gives structure, and yet every day can be designed very freely. I was still allowed to learn: forcing yourself to do something here is something nobody does. Rushing doesn't help either - it's better to sit on the floor and take the time to see what needs to be done. That's what the permaculture principles say, e.g. E.g.: “Observe and (then) interact” and “small and slow solutions”.

Everyday life in the ashram

Step by step I am growing into this growing world full of green, rampant life. For the first time I see bananas growing on the tree, papayas ripening, peanuts in the ground, and wonderful: the harvest! The salad for lunch comes entirely from our own garden - and thus acquires a very special value. Just like our legacies, which feed the plants again in the form of "humanure" (manure: dung/fertilizer). And our plastic becomes eco-bricks for natural building. cycle. Just the thought that there is no waste in nature, everything is processed, decomposed, recycled, awesome. The evening ritual with the garden hose, meditative watering for the dry soil.

Living in harmony with nature

What remains for me now, at the very end of this trip, since I can see the whole thing better, from there, from the ashram, are above all the connections. A place that invites connections: between the people who come together there from different parts of the world, and also the connection to the living earth. That is also obvious – after all, we often rummage around in it when we are gardening and watch how something is created in it. And we appreciate them, the connections to all these beings around us.

This is lived in the ashram in mindful communication, in the morning circles and thanks for the food before meals, in the form in which each volunteer can get involved with what he or she can and would like to share (whether dance, campfire, singing, ideas for the garden or chocolate cake from the rice cooker), in cooking and cleaning together and all the moments that arise in between. If that gets too much for you, you can easily find a quiet corner in the garden.

Conclusion for the time afterwards

I think ideally you leave the ashram with the wish and the intention to turn things upside down in your usual life, be it just putting a pot of herbs on the window sill (or maybe a vermicompost or reducing your own waste production to zero? ). In my case: Detergent made from horse chestnuts is my new autumn project!

Planning and organization

A few words about the organization after all the poetry: I was picked up when I arrived after the long flight, received a warm welcome and was able to settle down in peace. Since I like to be by myself from time to time, I chose a single room, which was ideal - but the shared dormitory was usually not overcrowded either. Since the program in the ashram was already intensive enough, I just enjoyed the free time in the beautiful surroundings on the weekends and didn't go on any big trips (just to do the laundry in the next village) - they don't really make sense either, because the Next towns Udon Thani and Nong Khai are not that attractive compared to other places in Thailand. It was good for me to add two more weeks to travel in Thailand afterwards. The ashram has a lot of international visitors, but it can easily be that you don't come into much contact with people from Thailand. I was lucky though, as there was a Thai group course taking place for two weeks during my stay. Whether the four weeks I spent at the Ashram was the right amount of time is hard to say - I probably could have stayed longer as it took me a while to adjust (heat, time change and demands on myself) at first didn't make it that easy) and after a few weeks I had really settled in and had also developed a better sense of the processes and what made sense to do. So it's quite possible that there will be a next time!

Experience Report Thailand Ashram Volunteer, by Sabine M., March 2019