Kadek, one of our Balinese Team member is picking and packing the shells left after opening the coconuts in bags. We use them in our gardens or we sell them.
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Tyron is opening the kernel of the coconut and Sabine our Austrian Yoga teacher is harvesting the precious water which makes a most nutrient rich drink.
Jiwa Damai offers it Balinese and Indonesian Team English classes during their lunch break. Here you see Sabine, our volunteer teaching an enthusiastic student body. This class is for English beginners, we also offer one for a bit more advanced students.
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Taking good care of
i’s elephants. Shannon, our volunteer, and Sabine, our Austrian volunteer have taken on the task of cleaning one of our elephants lads from the dust fallout from the volcanic ash which came down a few months ago. The elephant lady is getting a thorough bath and cleaning to let her shine agin in her grey coat.
taking care of elephants at Jiwa Damai
Our lovely yoga teacher volunteer, Bee at Jiwa Damai is sharing some of her thoughts with you regarding her experience here. She has been our “busy bee” for the last couple of months helping us start the day with yoga in the morning and teaching our local team English. Originally from Austria, Bee has been traveling in order to find her path as a yoga instructor. We are very grateful for all the positive energy she has brought to this place.
You can find out more about our volunteer program here or just follow the stories from our volunteers on the Jiwa Damai blog. In the meantime, we invite you to discover the way Bee has experienced her stay at Jiwa Damai.
What made you chose Jiwa Damai? I was searching for a place to practice yoga and to teach, for a healthy environment. I believe that yoga is a lifestyle and in order to follow it, you have to select carefully your surroundings. At the same time, it is hard to find a place where you can start with teaching when you don’t have prior experience. I was reading that Jiwa Damai is looking for volunteers and that they offer yoga in the morning so I thought that I could start to teach and also learn more about yoga here. The beautiful part is that they offered me this chance! I’ve been at Jiwa Damai for almost two months now. And I am happy to say that I had my first yoga students here.
yoga at Jiwa Damai Bali
What are the things that you appreciated most in your experience at Jiwa Damai? At Jiwa Damai I liked the fact that I could get new experiences. Not only as a yoga instructor. Margret asked me if I can teach also English. When you are not very confident with speaking a language, you would not expect such an invitation. My English is not perfect but by preparing the lessons, I had the chance to improve it and share my knowledge with others. I could develop new skills in an area where I could not imagine that I would be able to do so.
I also appreciated the fact that I could eat food from the garden. At the same time, I worked in the garden and saw how the things are growing. I’ve cleaned the elephants and the stones. One does many things. But this is how one gets a feeling for plants, for the environment, for the nature. I think there is a lot to learn at Jiwa Damai and two months is not enough.
It is nice to see how the plants grow, how people grow, not only the volunteers but also the local team. Even after the first three weeks, you can see a difference.
What should a yoga teacher volunteer expect coming here? I think a yoga teacher volunteer should just be opened. If you want to learn something, there are so many things you can learn. It can be gardening, teaching, interacting with people with different cultural backgrounds. I believe everyone experiences Jiwa Damai in their own way.
On the one hand, you live here, you find new friends, you feel at home (when you are traveling you really need this), and on the other hand you are traveling in your days off and you can discover Bali and its rich culture.
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What do you think it is unique about the volunteer program at Jiwa Damai?
What I really like actually is that people get here their own projects and Margret lets them discover it by their own. People get here projects according to their interests and skills. Cat did a wonderful research on the coconut beetles, Cedric is researching on cacao. I was developing teaching skills. So if you are curious, Margret gives you the space and the support to explore and create something nice on your own.
Bee (yoga teacher volunteer)
After working hard Kadek, Tyrone from Germany, and Maxwell our American volunteer with Made, the coco nut oil fairy. Today they have been opening lots of coconuts, which we will use to produce our own
organic certified coconut oil.
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Both Tyron and Maxwell enjoy a healthy lunch.
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Sabine, our Austrian volunteer Yoga teacher is visiting our cat Orchid in her home the Garden Lumbung. Orchid has made this her home and is receiving every volunteer staying there with joyful greetings and meowing. She talks a lot and takes immediately to the warmest place where the person sleeps.
She is a great companion and extremely gentle.
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Preparing the soil for seeding long beans are our Balinese gardener Kadet with our Canadian volunteer Catherine.
Here is Catherine also setting up the bamboo stick to give the beans guidelines how to grow.
Jiwa Damai was awarded the Trip Advisor Certificate of Excellence 2015 as a direct result of its consistently great reviews from its guests, being one of the 9% places in Indonesia receiving this award in a highly competitive market.
Jiwa Damai Organic Garden & Retreat is more than a hospitality business. It offers sanctuary in an idyllic, powerful environment, in the heart of Bali where the guests can reconnect to the life-giving qualities of the earth. Travelers can experience tranquility by taking part in yoga classes in the morning and evening meditation.
Jiwa Damai is also a place of personal development and of learning by doing. The garden is opened for the Permaculture Design Courses through the Heart which are organized in October. Through the Lagu Damai Bali Foundation, Jiwa Damai hosts interns who develop personalized projects in various fields under academically qualified supervision.
TripAdvisor used a complex algorithm in order to determine the Certificate of Excellence winners, taking into account the quality, quantity and recency of the reviews offered by the travelers, as well as their rating. The aim of the Certificate of Excellence is to reveal exceptional spots of happiness as recognized by travelers.
At Jiwa Damai we take care of our garden. A team of 12 people strong began to clean out the area next to our meditation place in order to create a field of vegetables and other edibles. We collected the initial growth of greens, bushes and plants and made them into a large compost heap, which, after a while will be used to cover the earth and render it more fertile.
Garden at Jiwa Damai bali
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Sometimes plants need more than healthy earth. At Jiwa Damai we also try alternative methods of taking care of the coconut trees which are attacked by the Rhinoceros Beetles, among other strategies, like feeding the roots and cleaning the leaves.
For instance, as science has already proven that water is influenced by emotions, by words or by thoughts, we try to help our coconut trees by hugging them. We send them our support thoughts and we ask them if there is something they might need. We also ask the Rhinoceros Beetles to retreat because they are harming the trees.
Coconut hugging
We are preparing a new Permaculture Design Course Through the Heart in October. Join us at Jiwa Damai!
Jiwa Damai is a hands-on, socially responsible organic garden and retreat center.
We are located amidst lush tropical vegetation in the heart of Bali (20 mins from Ubud).
