CREATING AN EDUCATIONAL CENTRE IN COSTA RICA: ANATTA VILLAGE

INTRODUCTION

Hello, it's Ålam here. I will first make a very simple introduction here about what the essence of this dream, vision and project is about. If you are interested in learning more about the “specifics and poetics” behind it all, feel very welcome to read this in its entirety. Otherwise, I hope to write enough here in this little intro to give you a sense of what I am bringing into creation.

First of all, it feels important to share with you that 5 years or so ago I had a strong vision come to me whilst living in a Vipassana meditation centre to create a community that would have the shared practice of meditation at its core. This dream has evolved over the years: I have had different experiences and met different people who shared similar visions, both of which changed and refined this dream.

Now, I am living in Costa Rica, near the town of Puerto Viejo, on the Caribbean side of the country near the Panama border. It is a place that I enjoy very much and feel at home in. It’s beauty, abundance, intensity … it feels very safe to live here in the sense that food grows here all year round, it is always warm enough to be outside, very pure and fresh water is abundant and it is surrounded by pristine national parks on all sides that are protected. It could be one of the most pristine places on the earth. If our civilisation was indeed to crumble I can't think of a better place to be! Although it comes with the challenges of living in a tropical place, there is a type of paradise here. What’s more, there is a huge thriving international community that lives here too, and a big part of that community is very open to living life through a more “spiritual” intention. With this, there are endless opportunities and a lot of people are drawn here to experience ‘something deeper’.

I am living in a particular valley, where there are so many communities and projects popping up. There is a lot of support already around. Many of the projects are interested in food-consciousness, permaculture, agroforestry and retreats. Also, the land here is still affordable to buy and building permits are easy to obtain. Everything makes sense to be here.

So, the other evening as I was meditating, it became very clear to me that this is the place, and that I should now devote all of my efforts and attention into prioritising the creation of this project.

So what is the project? I would like to create an educational retreat centre, that allows others to come experience and learn about silent meditation, alongside the benefits of learning to live in a way that allows our physical, emotional and spiritual health to truly thrive. This centre will allow people to immerse themselves into a living practice and atmosphere of meditation, as well as learn to heal the body of any obstruction or physical ailments primarily through the proper education in how to transition to a more simple fruit-based diet correctly. The centre will also provide opportunities and education on how to heal the body responsibly and safely through methods such as water-fasting, juicing and holistic bodywork therapies.

The land that will be home to this project will in itself be a huge support and reflection of that wisdom that the centre hopes to mirror. A thriving place of pristine nature, abundant and diverse. The land will be home to a growing food forest, full of tropical fruits that will eventually feed the community, and the care of this forest will become a big part of the centre’s educational language.

I envision on the land a meditation hall at its centre, an open communal kitchen, open classrooms and “yoga decks”, simple huts for people to live and retreat in. A place in relationship with nature and a part of it, yet also comfortable and with the proper facilities to not feel overwhelmed by the intensity of the jungle. It will be a place of retreat, but also a place of community too. It is a big dream, though the first steps are finding and acquiring the resources, the land and then beginning to plant the first trees.

I need help to do this. Help on many different levels. If this dream stirs something up in you, some curiosity, some resonance, or simply an inspiration enough to help in some way or another, please do not hesitate to be in touch. This is an ever-evolving dream, that perhaps you are also a part of. I’m looking forward to hearing from you.

Sending my best wishes to everyone reading, wherever you are,

Ålam

ps- I hope a website and dedicated online spaces will soon follow too. For now, you can find me sometimes on Instagram @poetryoffruits.

Also, on a practical note, until the land comes to the project, any donations will be put aside into a savings account dedicated to the project. All donations will be spent directly on the project and an account of all costs will be recorded.

THE “SPECIFICS AN POETICS”

An Invitation

This is just the beginning of an invitation. My own invitation to myself... to invite the space for the economic generosity and gifts of others to assist me in the creation of a dream that has guided my steps for a long, long time. It is therefore also an invitation for you, to become a part of this dream, and in its realisation.

What is clear first of all is that a land is a necessity - to focus and hold the intention of these dreams - with the right space and environment to plant fruit trees, so that this dream in itself can support and sustain itself.

The Dream

As you probably know, this dream is very much informed by my experiences of Vipassana meditation and the physical, mental and spiritual rejuvenation I have experienced through predominantly eating a diet of fruit for the last 3 years and different experiences of fasting.

Over 5 years ago when these dreams first appeared in their conscious form, during my time in a Vipassana mediation centre in Spain, I wrote the following words:

“Out of the silence a community can be rebuilt...

 

This can be something magical.

This can be another fraction of the earth opened up to heaven.

Where the people whom dwell there are devoted and committed to the remembrance and spread of the innate peace that dwells within humankind.

A place that adds its own tiny momentum to the multiplication of good in the universe.

A patch of land that believes in Love and the potential of its essential manifestation in Being.

A space that lends a small but fierce hand in the spinning of the wheel of Dhamma, and assists all beings in reverting the wheel of suffering and rebirth.

A community that lives by example and is supported and founded upon the great pillars of the noble eightfold path that lead to the full liberation of all beings and the cultivation of inner peace through the practice of Sila, Samadhi and Panna".

There are little words that need to be added. Not all of them may make sense to you if you have not experienced a Vipassana course but since that moment, life has led me on a beautiful journey of arriving to this moment that sees me typing this message to you now, surer than ever that this is what I came to invite into my life and ready to ask for help. I am in Costa Rica, where I believe, at least in this moment, that this dream ought to come into creation.

The Spirit of the Gift

I have lived my last years as much as I can in "the spirit of the gift" ... I give freely my time and gifts (whether it be my poetry books, different workshops, massages, treatments, English classes online, courses etc.) and invite the recipients to “pay” not for what I have given to them and what they have directly received, but to “gift” their donation with the intention that it is to support me to continue to be able to do what I love and came here to gift to others.

Now the invitation deepens. That your donation is not only to help me continue giving and sharing what I love, but that it becomes invested in a dream and place, that becomes a living example of this gift in and of itself.

A Place of Sanctuary, Refuge and Health

So what I see right now, is a piece of land, that dwells and breathes in the tropics, with a growing food forest of fruit trees, big enough to support a small community, that in itself teaches gifts of sanctuary, refuge and health to those who will come and play their role in its co-creation.

Aside from the fruit trees, this will be a place for people to find deep rest in the stillness and silence of themselves and the nature around them. It will be a place that allows for serious meditation, and absorption in a pristine tropical environment, amongst some of the cleanest air and water in the world, and a centre of education in how to live a truly balanced and healthy life, good for oneself and good for others. Learning how to eat simply and truly clean and heal the physical body will be a foundation of what is shared on this land.

This in part, is a big part of the wisdom I feel I came to share with people here. This centre will embody and teach how we can simplify what we eat and learn what to eat in a way that elevates our awareness and creates no harm to ourselves and others. Other practices - of what some people call “natural hygiene” - such as water fasting, and also the wisdom and knowledge within the cosmology of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the Five Elements and the meridian system are also a big part of the language and way this education will be shared.

Alongside the focus on supporting the foundation of physical health, this centre will offer an absorption in an atmosphere informed by the wisdom of Dhamma and the practice of silent meditation. What that means is that this place carries the intention to foster a supportive sangha (community) of brothers and sisters all together walking a path of devotion in cultivating a moment-by-moment practice of awareness. A practice that bears the fruit of peace, compassionate love and equanimity. This will be a sanctuary free from the use of any stimulants or intoxicants, and a place that is built on the very strong foundations of Sila (morality) and the five precepts (to not kill, steal, lie, take intoxicants or partake in sexual misconduct). In many ways, this place and dream is one of a living Vipassana community, self-sufficient and yet at the same time devoted also to an awareness of how to support the perfect health of our bodies and the ecosystem around us so that we may all thrive together.

I imagine a humble but comfortable place. Small huts for people to retreat in, scattered around the land. A central living abode. A classroom. An open kitchen and communal eating space. A meditation hall and meeting space. All informed and coloured in by the land; a river to bathe in and a luscious green panoramic all year round, brimming with vivid tropical fauna and flora.

This story will inevitably evolve, as the momentum of this dream gathers and the resources manifest.

Ultimately this is a dream dedicated to allowing others to find true physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health, so that they may thrive and come into their own realised gifts so that they can then serve others from a profound authentic place and from the purest of intentions.

A place that meets the individual where they are in their journey.

This is a place of Eden, a place of Dhamma, and above all else a place of simplicity.

From a Place of Necessity

Dreams normally come from a place of necessity. Which means they are normally born out of something not existing. Vipassana meditation centres have been such a place of refuge in my life. A place of home, a place of community, a place where I can explore silence, myself and reality at the deepest levels. However, since I began to eat a more simple diet, and especially since I transitioned to eating almost only fruit, the centres became less and less accessible to me. It is not possible for me to sit a Vipassana course anymore without having to make a big compromise in what I would ideally like to eat. The centres are not designed to cater to individual needs. They are designed to cater to the general population and there is quite a large inflexibility around this topic, which is both understandable and yet to some degree frustrating.

As my understanding and dedication to eating in this way has become stronger, this compromise has become less and less enjoyable to make. I can’t help but know deep within me that it should be possible for me to deeply immerse myself in a silent meditation course to clean my mind, without putting foodstuffs in my body that dirty it. The meditation practice in my life will always be the priority. It is the practice of meditation that creates peace and ultimate liberation. I will never free myself from eating a perfect diet. However, I have experienced, thanks to my meditative experiences in Vipassana, that a simple fruit-based diet, hugely supports the practice of meditation and the path of liberation.

I no longer want to choose between nourishing my mind and nourishing my body. I simply no longer want to consume any cooked foods. I also meet more and more health/food-conscious people who feel they can not sit a Vipassana course because of this reason too. So I know, for my own sake, and for more and more brothers and sisters who are simplifying their diets in order to support their inner journeys, there is a necessity to create a place that can provide both deep silence and non-obstructing simple foods.

The Experiment

Put very simply, the dream you are invited to become a part of is in the creation of an educational centre, here, in the pristine Caribbean of Costa Rica. An educational centre dedicated to spreading and fostering the wisdom of silence, natural hygiene and the elements. What happens to our experience of life when we devote ourselves deeply to a path of silent meditation? What happens to this experience when we walk this path in a body that is thriving on a physical level, without obstruction or illness, due to proper simple eating and periods of rational fasting? And through what universal language can we communicate and educate about this experience? I would like to find a home where the answers to these questions can be explored and experienced for those who feel called, on some particular level, to be a part of this experiment.

I call it an experiment because deeply within myself I feel a big shift within our species as a collective, to re-understand health and ourselves at a fundamental level. I see so many brothers and sisters around me suffering from this or that problem of “dis-ease”. Very often the disease has a digestive foundation, meaning it is food-related. What I also see, is so many brothers and sisters, especially of the younger generation, that share some deep knowing within them that disease is not an inevitability of life. That experiencing a body that truly thrives is a birthright and that there is a way to eat that doesn’t cause harm, to oneself or others. This is the journey I have personally been on over the last 8 years of my life when I began to notice that what I ate had a direct effect on how I felt.

I am more and more aware of a huge openness in people to begin to experience what happens to this body when we move away from more complicated and denser foods so that the body becomes less obstructed, and lighter so that it can absorb the energy and life from food more efficiently, along with the other more subtle sources of energy we have access to (air, water, sunlight and life itself: the Chinese call it “qi”). I see it when I speak to people about my own experience. However, I also see that with so much confusing information about health and food, it is very difficult for many people to trust and understand how the body truly heals and comes to a place of true rejuvenation and health. It takes a huge process of letting go and un-conditioning to accept that there is nothing to “add” to the body in order to achieve health, but it is what we are prepared to take away.

Less is truly more when it comes to health, and water-fasting, which is the most effective and natural method of healing chronic illness, is the perfect symbol of this. When an animal becomes unwell in the wild, their natural response is to rest, remain still and stop eating. As we fast and stop to eat, all of the digestive energy is freed up. We get out of the way of our body's natural capacity to heal itself. Every time we eat, especially certain types of “foods” we prevent our bodies from going into cleaning mode. As we fast, our body gets to work, eating up all of the old and toxic material within the body that was creating the “dis-ease” in the first place. Although long-term water-fasting should not be attempted without either proper assistance or proper education and experience, it is undoubtedly the principal way to clean the body at the deepest levels. The organs begin to be able to function more efficiently again and the blood becomes cleansed and purified. In turn, this allows the whole system to become more efficient and begin to absorb the energy and other sources from food much more effectively.

As the body becomes cleaner the experience of water fasting also becomes easier and less of a physical experience. Naturally, higher states of awareness become more accessible as the body is free from any obstruction. Fasting in the past was a very common practice in many spiritual traditions in order to achieve greater insight and experiences. In the past, most people were healthier in their bodies, due to the lack of complexity to their diets, less abundance of food in general, and also lack of pesticides and chemicals in the food and environment. I suppose therefore it was a much less intense physical experience for people to enter a fast than it is for the average person today.

The Inner Experiment

What’s more there is also a huge call in people to experiment with discovering their inner worlds. Once understood correctly, meditation can offer us a very grounding practice of getting to know ourselves and how our body-mind functions. With proper effort, we can learn to come out of the habitual patterns that cause us to experience suffering (and the people around us whom we in turn share this suffering with). What’s more, as we clean our bodies and eat a simple diet, we begin to become much more sensitive. A grounding practice of meditation therefore becomes essential in maintaining an inner balance.

The Importance of Community

The educational centre proposed here is dedicated to the fascinating experiment of what happens when we merge two paths together: one path that cleans the physical body of obstruction so that it can function at its greatest capacity; and the other path that cleans the mind of it’s negative habit patterns at the deepest levels. Both paths support one another, yet takes proper understanding, education, devotion, effort and dedication to practice continuously. Though more than anything else, it takes support: the support of the community. Fellow brothers and sisters walking the path with you that share your core values. This is what this dream hopes to create and birth. A community, dedicated to living in accordance with natural law, so that it can be in full service to the world. A community that educates about two fundamental and universal paths in order to experience true liberation.