Last week I visited the Maia Earth Village in Palawan and planted my first tree:
Was great to do it in full consciousness–my friend Pi asked us to plant with intention, to plant not just the physical tree but along with it something that we want to take root and grow to bear fruit– maybe a dream, a part of ourselves we want to nurture, or general good intentions for everyone.
Maia, which “is short for Mama Gaia…[and] also based on the ancient name of the Philippines (Ma-I, or I Am in reverse) and its inhabitants, Maians,” is an eco-community in Bacungan, Palawan. Says Pi Villaraza:
We dream of a community on the hills surrounded by mountains and near a beautiful beach. Next door would be a yoga teacher, a raw food chef, some healers, artists, gardeners and ecologists all planting, all painting and sculpting, making music, writing poetry, healing, meditating, exercising, living, loving and learning. Everyone is taking care of their bodies, cultivating their minds and nurturing their soul simultaneously.
Maia is a dream for me too.
Pi and I reconnected from out of the blue last year, exchanging notes on green communities we wanted to build — he in Palawan and I in Tagaytay. I first visited him in Bacungan last August 2010, again in November, and a third time this June 2011. I keep coming back to Palawan, which has slowly become a home for me too. It’s a place where clarity is abundant and the beatings of my heart–even those carried from far away– make sense. The journey is towards sacred simplicity, and it’s in Palawan that I’ve found an overflowing well for it, and also a converging point for other hearts on the same journey.
More pictures of Maia Earth Village on facebook
Raw food album during that same visit
Nagtabon Beach album
Also visit: Back (and back again) to Bahay Kalipay – a house of healing