Earth & People Care (Rainy Season 2023)

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Jenna, USA: Reflecting back on my four weeks spent at Jiwa Damai, I feel a sense of peace and gratitude. We went into this experience (our first time WWOOFing) with only some information, so I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect, but our decision to come was an easy one.

We began each morning with movement (usually a yoga video), and ended it with a very special heart meditation which progressed over the four weeks. This practice was very powerful for me, and I will take it with me wherever I go! I think I will always be reminded to “go to the heart”. This part of the experience really feels like a gift, especially when paired with some of Margret’s transpersonal psychology books, which dive deep into ideas on the Self and personality & other psychodynamic structures (which I highly recommend reading to add to the experience, especially “Our Inner Actors”). 

The rest of our time was spent working outside in the gardens and creating bamboo fences, creating a video montage to celebrate Jiwa Damai, and eating fresh, home cooked meals. I so enjoyed time spent with Margret, the local Balinese staff (who are so kind and fun to work with), and the other volunteer, Natalie! My four weeks were filled with peace, connecting to the heart, movement, and interesting and thought-provoking conversations. I will look back on this time fondly and with deep gratitude. 

Tinder, USA: I am closing out on a month spent here at Jiwa Damai. It was an incredible month, and I shall not forget it. I learned first hand the danger of snakes-that they must be respected and watched for. I learned intimate details about the lives of local balinese people, which was an experience I feel extremely lucky to be a part of. Being invited for a karaoke night will be memorable forever. I appreciated the jungle noises: frogs, geckos, birds, and maybe even spirits…it blended into a beautiful cacophony of chaos and natural order, and was very soothing for my dreams. Margaret’s encouragement for morning yoga, and her evening meditation sessions were a type of disciple that I was not used to. I struggled with this for the first two weeks, but now I have struck a rhythm that feels very beneficial for me. Working outdoors and with my hands was nothing new to me, but always appreciated. A jungle garden, however, was a new work space that was relaxing and fulfilling. The only thing about this experience that I will not miss is the fire ants, but even they weren’t that bad. Thank you Jiwa Damai!

Natalie, Germany: Thank you Margret for this amazing time. 4 weeks of yoga, learning and practicing the HeartSelf-Intelligence meditation and permaculture in such a peaceful place helped me to grow inside.

Discover your Heart through Permaculture

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Discover your Heart through Permaculture

The ethics of earth care, people care and sharing surplus are one of Permacullture’s unique contribution in our today world. They actually point the way to a new paradigm, from survival and lack of, to abundance and sharing.

Permaculture design provides a system which allows us to move deeply into our abused eco-systems and release their inherent potential.

Read More

Connecting to myself

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I had the privilege of having an incredible volunteer experience in October 2018. I will be eternally grateful to Margret for allowing me to stay 30 days in this little paradise called Jiwa Damai. In this experience, I had the chance to connect even more deeply with nature and myself, in a very transformative way.


The days were calm, quiet, always surrounded by birds and silence. With yoga practice in the morning, afternoon meditation and plenty of time to read or walk in the garden, enjoy the fruits and plants and play with the animals.


The food was magical, curative and very delicious. I was looking forward to it every day by the time of meal! The kitchen girls and the others staffs made me feel at home and allowed me to experience some of the local culture through our conversations and mutual help.


In addition to the immeasurable exchange I had with my volunteers friends, I was able to improve my English, discover new cultures, exchange experience of life and advice from people with realities so different from mine.


I can say that it was one of the best experiences of my life.

Thank you Margret and the whole team Jiwa Damai. I bring you in my heart.

With love ... Paula

Goodbye picnic for Kerstin

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Kerstin was our volunteer at Jiwa Damai. When she left, she prepared a picnic for the local team. Here is her message.

‘Thank you for being and giving me a family. I realized how much I miss mine after 9 months apart and it was so nice to get lots of new brothers and sisters and cousins and aunts and grandfathers here, at Jiwa Damai.

One picture from the good-bye cake picnic I invited them to. Komang is taking the picture. He is also just such a sweet person. So so shy but very hard working and a great talent for drawing.

The night duties made it possible to get to know each of them one on one. Really nice. And Laura is really like a sister to me.’

We are so grateful for all the volunteers and interns who stay at Jiwa Damai.

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Shiatsu techiques

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We have started to introduce some basic Shiatsu relaxation techniques this lat week. Margret is showing our volunteers how to make it a moving meditation. Each movement and touch and pressure is done with the out breath and as such it becomes a relaxing meditation in movement and receiving. Our two wonderful Mexican volunteers, Ana and Pao with Evan from Australia. Presently Ana is working with Evan on  a short video about each and soil and Paola is supporting the new HeartSelf-Intelligence website(www.heartself-intelligence.me) with graphics.

Join us as a volunteer at contact@jiwadamai.net

BioChar, the Miracle Ingredient for the Organic Garden

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Being blessed with many coconut trees, coconut oil is one of the main products of our organic garden. So far, only the shell and the flesh have been used, while the remaining coconut husks have been burned. Considering the fact, the dry season is just about to start, we wanted to try out making biochar out of coconut husks as a soil supplement.

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Biochar adds many benefits to your garden and helps building up a healthy soil. Millions of microscopic holes provide a living environment for many different microorganisms and help holding back plenty of water. Also Nutrients are effectively locked up and are slowly released according to the requirements of the plants. This way, a loss of nutrients caused by too much rain can be prevented. Biochar can also be used in compost toilets, as a water filter or simply as a burning material. 

If you want to use biochar in the garden, it is recommended to saturate the biochar with nutrients before applying to the soil. This can be done by adding biochar during the composting process, mixing with fresh compost or watering it with compost tea. Applying unsaturated biochar directly to the soil could give plants a harder time to grow, because the majority of nutrients may be adsorbed by the char in first place.

The Principles of BioChar Production - Pyrolysis

If you want to make biochar, it is important to understand the physical principles behind the process. If you light up a fire, it is not the wood that burns in first place, but the released gases driven out by heat. The fire will burn these gases in a clear flame consuming all oxygen while forming a protective layer around the wood. As long as there is a lack of oxygen, the wood underneath will carbonize and turn into char. This is called pyrolysis. If no more freshly dried material is added and gases are no longer produced, oxygen can penetrate towards the coal, and the coal will slowly turn to ash. The key point to make biochar is to prevent coal turning into ash while maintaining a clear burn. It’s important to maintain a mostly smoke free fire in order to gain biochar with a good quality and less toxic substances caused by smoke.

To achieve the right process conditions, the physiology of the fire and the geometry of the pit are crucial. Lighting up the fire in a pit or a barrel helps suppressing oxygen flowing from underneath, causing the produced coal to turn to ash. As dry coconut husks are a good material to produce biochar, it can be hard to maintain a clear constant flame by just using husks. Therefore apply easily burnable material just as dry bamboo or wood in the middle of the fire and place the coconut husks around. This creates a chimney effect in the middle that will guarantee a good burning process.

We invite you to read the entire article from our German volunteer Phillip, who, with the help of Ella from Croatia and Evan form Australia demonstrated twice the process of bio charcoaling and enriched our Jiwa Damai soil with this precious fertilizer.

And if you like to visit our garden, or take part in our permaculture workshops, send us an email at contact@jiwadamai.net

Volunteers at Jiwa Damai

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Here is our wonderful April/May volunteer team with its many different skills.
Phillip on the left from Germany, Evan our permaculture wizard from Australia, Ella from Croatia making the new critter control liquids from garlic, ginger and chilis, Margret, Jiwa Damai caretaker, Regina, our Hungarian recipe collector of indigenous local foods and Norbee, our website and video producer from Romania.

If you would like to join us, send us an email at contact@jiwadamai.net

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Inside the Earthship inspired build

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The run off rainwater is flowing through a net with gravel before entering the tanks. The wet cells in these are nearly finished and the wood structure as well. Follow us on Instagram to see the latest developments.