Jiwa Damai Organic Garden & Retreat Center

This place provides you the ability to connect with yourself and environment on a level unlike any other. You're surrounded with the true beauty of the jungle. There is much to learn about creating and tending to the gardens and land. Along the way self lessons and connections are discovered also. A blissful place.

Wow. Where to begin. I spent a little over one month at Jiwa Damai. I thought I would learn about permaculture( I did...) I thought I would get to know the beautiful Balinese locals and culture ( I did...and they are so beautiful and kind)...but what i didnt know is that Jiwa Damai is a place that would change my perspective forever. It is a place on earth that is so intentional, so in line with the human heart, and the heart of Mother Earth. It isnt just about working in the garden, enjoying organic food. Margret the Founder and caretaker of this land has set up a place for souls of all walks of life to internship, create, experiment, volunteer, woof, retreat...and get away from the noise, wavelengths, and chaos of the technological world and reconnect with the natural noise of nature and ones own rythym and heart beat. With yoga in the morning, regular organic meals, different projects either in the garden, researching, scrubbing stones/statues that are algae invaded, to sharing new ideas and information, then finishing the day with the heart meditation, the body and mind reconnect in a very deep way. Personally i tend to be expansive, helping everyone and thing except myself. Jiwa Damai and Margret, helped me to go back in. Redefine. and stregthen who I am. Who I am becoming. So if you would like an experience to gently take you out of your comfort zones, push a few buttons to release things you probably dont need anyways...go to Jiwa Damai. Thank you again...whoever may read this, for being curious and full of life.

I had had the honor to visit Jiwa Damai a few times over the years. It is a magical and healing place where you can find anything that has to do with wellness.. which includes not only meditation and yoga, it also teaches permaculture… and the list goes on!! Needless to say it is a fascinating place with so much to offer! The owner Margret is one of those people that movies are made of. If you ever go there, you might want to ask her about her life journey and all she is doing for women and children in need. I highly recommend this place and look forward to my next visit!!

pending a long weekend at Jiwa Damai permaculture garden, participating in a daily wonderful morning yoga class and in the heart meditation in the evenings will accompany me for some time to come. searching for for inner and outer peace, this is the place to visit and enjoy.

I just finished a 3 day intensive workshop at Jiwa Damai in HeartSelf-intelligence. The center is very beautiful and we were located in the middle of the thriving permaculture garden. Leaving today with much joy in my heart, I can recommend this place and seminar highly for personal growth.

As a lawyer and ambassador for SDGs, I work with colleagues on a sustainable world. I do that as chairman of 7Senses and among other things as a volunteer at WWOOF to apply that in practice. Also on Jiwa Damai. From February to mid-April 2019, I have been fairly active both in the gardens and throughout the entire organization. From growing seeds to peeling coconuts. From thinking about the organization as following the meditation sessions. Based on the permaculture design principle and applying it, I learned and seen that we can turn problems into solutions. An eye for the margins, because the greatest creative innovations can be found when looking for boundaries. Just as two ecosystems touch each other. I have seen this dynamic working both in the early stages of development and in the way in which people on Jiwa Damai are able to deal with it in a natural way. In that sense, they know how to coordinate with each other based on the application of permaculture principles. In my period I have experienced a quiet place where with a certain strict eye for the alignment with nature, her rhythms and love song, I have found a place in my heart. Jiwa damai intends to grow further into an institution for personal growth based on permaculture design. I am convinced that a stay at Jiwa Damai will change your life if you absorb the wisdom and apply techniques. It will improve your personal and professional relationships and help you design better projects. That is a major step forward in permaculture thinking and therefore has my full support. Jan van der West, Netherlands Feb-April 2019.

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

Jiwa Damai was just what I needed at this time in my life. Total rest and relaxation with no distractions, just beautiful surroundings. Each morning I joined the yoga group for meditation, followed later by a delicious organic breakfast. The opportunity to swim and relax by the pool, read a book or wander through the permaculture garden was wonderful. My host Margret was lovely, as were all the staff. Some highlights were a Balinese cooking class with Yani, attending a traditional Balinese dance performance and visiting Mother Mountain Temple. My batteries have been recharged and I can face the real world again.

I stayed at Jiwa Damai as a volunteer this October. In Indonesian, Jiwa Damai means peace of soul. As the first volunteer from mainland China, I felt this was my place since the first day I came here. It is not only an idyllic garden, a powerful place with lots of love and blessing from nature, a quiet retreat center you could find peace, but it is an amazing place with profound wisdom about how to live a better life. Margret runs this project as well as some other permaculture projects in Bali. She is so kind, knowledgable, and warm-hearted. I felt a lot of love and gratitude from her and from this place. The way she led the meditation everyday is so powerful and inspiring, making me aware of my true self, and learn how to treat myself well, and other people well. She also encouraged me to touch the earth and plants back in the garden, to build up connections with nature. What applies in nature also applies in our human society as well. She is a great mentor to me. All other volunteers here I met were lovely and we learnt a lot from each other. The food they offered was so delicious. I miss the flavor even after coming back to China. Everything was so fresh, picking from the garden, cooked with fresh-made coconut oil, and full of flavor. I love the girls in the kitchen, too. They prepare for different kinds of dishes and they have cooking class as well. Other excursions like tours are provided with a friendly price. The place was only 20 min from Ubud, which is quite convenient. This experience at Jiwa Damai was so incredibly profound, which makes me a better person, a complete soul. Everyday there was a great gift. I wish I could go back once in a while in future to contribute more, learn more, and to devote help to the world more.

I came to Jiwa Damai to teach Yoga and learn about Permaculture. I planned roughly to stay for a couple of weeks and ended up staying until the very last day of my 60 day visa. This place is pure magic. I felt a little challenged the first week but my persistence paid off and rewarded me with an experience that touched me very deeply. The place itself is beyond beautiful. It is true paradise where you do not hear any man-made noise (besides the temple that you hear 3 times a day like in any other place in Bali). The nature that Margret, the owner, is protecting and allowing to flourish here is incredible and so soothing for the soul. It doesn't matter where you look you only see beauty and lushness. As if that wasn't enough already to make this place truly special, you will also meet the most amazing people. Margret the owner has become very very dear to me over the course of my stay and I got to support her with very exciting projects. She lead an amazing meditation every evening for us and I am so grateful for having been introduced to her technique. She is also really great at picking people for the volunteer programme and the other volunteers quickly became close friends. The staff is incredible and so sweet and kind and friendly. I feel I have gained a new home and a new family with lots of new brothers and sisters, cousins, aunties and a granddad ;) I had so much fun, I learned a lot of new skills and also about myself, I made meaningful and real connections with people and nature. My heart is so full after my stay, I was not ready to leave when the visa expired and feel almost homesick now after I left. I can highly recommend staying here. If you come here with an open mind, ready to learn about yourself and ready to challenge yourself and understanding that how you perceive reality is always up to you, you will be rewarded with a very beautiful and profound experience.

I stayed one month at Jiwa Damai and It was an amazing experience, the staff are really nice and friendly, they will smile at you all the time. Margaret, the owner, is very sweet, she is very welcoming and she makes you feel as if you were at home. I loved her. The food was one of my favorite parts of the day, it is vegan and was really delicious and also you can get tea and water for free all day. The room where I stayed was very clean and the bed was comfortable, it had a fan also. To join, coperate in the garden and learn about permaculture was incredible, I really enjoy it, in the morning I would work in the office and in the afternoon in the garden so that make it very relaxing. Meditation and yoga class were another thing that I was looking forward to doing every day. I just loved it! I felt in love with Ponono, one of the cat's at Jiwa Damai, he is so sweet and well behaved. The place is so beautiful and realxing, you can really feel it, and an extra plus is that you have ricefields 15 minutes walk so it is a good activity for the day, also you have minimarkets very near, 10 minutes walk. 100% I recommend this place, you will spend an incredible time.

I spent a month at Jiwa Damai as an intern. My intention was to learn about permaculture as part of my Holistic Nutrition studies, but what I found was so much more. The daily yoga and meditation, and meaningful conversations embedded my growth and learning and the work in the garden in this lush, peaceful space. The name Jiwa Damai translates to "peaceful soul" and I honestly feel they chose the perfect name, for this is what I found.