Even if you are a hardened digital nomad you need a break from time to time. Thailand is a mecca for wellness, peace and nature - and all three are on offer at Gaia Ashram in Eastern Thailand.

Situated between Udon Thani and Nong Khai - easily reached by air or train - visitors get to enjoy the nature, peace, and community rural Thailand offers. We had a chat with Cait Charles, a digital nomad well known in Chiang Mai and who spends much of her year at Gaia Ashram and manages their online communications.

Digital Nomads often look for something outside of their “normal” day-to-day - especially in Thailand. What do they get if they visit Gaia Ashram?

Digital nomads at Gaia Ashram get to experience community living very much immersed in nature as well as the opportunity to get their hands dirty by getting involved with Gaia’s permaculture gardening, agroforestry, natural building, and natural product-making projects, if they so choose.

They also have free access to daily yoga classes and meditation sessions, Tai Chi, varied afternoon activities that might include ecstatic dance, workout sessions, visiting the local market, and others, as well as weekend excursions, cultural events (when relevant), and evening activities some nights ranging from game nights to sharing circles to singalongs, movie nights, and more. 

Who are typically the people you see visit?

Gaia’s visitors come from all over the world; in the few months I’ve spent at Gaia, I’d (conservatively) estimate that I’ve met people from at least 30 different countries. They also come from very diverse educational and socio-economic backgrounds, and I’ve met people between the ages of 18-70.

If I had to describe a ‘typical’ visitor, it would probably be a female traveler from Europe in her early or mid-20’s, maybe on her first big trip, who is interested in getting closer to nature and learning about permaculture–but it’s really such a wide range that it’s hard to pinpoint an average.

We’ve had an Egyptian in his 40s on a quest to learn natural building techniques in order to build his own house, Burmese people who wish to bring home what they learn in order to help transform their war-torn society, a family who is ‘world schooling’ their children, and lots more very unique guests, volunteers, and course participants. This extremely diverse social environment in which everyone is encouraged to share their knowledge and skills with others creates very fertile ground for learning and broadening one’s perspective. 

Are they mostly people who stay for a few days, weeks, or even longer?

All three! We have some people who just come as guests for a few days, lots of volunteers who come for between 2+ weeks, a handful of interns who stay for at least 3 months at a time, and a few permanent or long-term core residents and staff. 

What common skills or experiences do visitors leave with?

It really depends how they spend their time at Gaia and whether they’re there as guests, interns, volunteers, or course participants.

They might leave having learned how to take care of chickens, ducks, bees, and compost worms, or how to make various types of compost, or how to do permaculture gardening and agroforestry in the tropics, or how to facilitate groups, or how to build a building using cob or adobe bricks or earthbags.

It also depends on what’s happening at Gaia at that time, and how long they stay. I would say that all visitors leave with some experience of what it feels like to live in community and collaborate with a very diverse group of people who all care about taking care of and connecting with nature. 

How did the Ashram come to be?

Gaia Ashram was started by OmSunisa Jamsiwet Deiters, who grew up in the village near Gaia and had a strong desire to take care of the land while doing something to help the village, and Tom Deiters, her partner from the Netherlands who shares similar values.

Ten years ago, they acquired a piece of severely degraded land that had been used for rice farming for a long time. Over time, they regenerated the land bit by bit, sometimes with the help of volunteers, and continued to buy more land around the original plot.

Now Gaia is a lush, expansive place with buildings of various sizes built mostly from mud, a food forest, permaculture gardens, and a wild zone, all teeming with life. In order to raise money to grow the project, Om and Tom started hosting courses, for example on natural building. Since then, they’ve begun to take on volunteers, interns, and guests, expanded the range of courses, been involved with educational projects in collaboration with a range of local and international stakeholders, and continued to regenerate the land and purchase more land.

Additionally, people who share the same vision have also joined, buying land for regeneration projects nearby. The community has gone through various iterations over time, and it continues to grow and evolve. Nowadays, I would describe Gaia Ashram as an education-based eco-community that highly values diversity and connection to/respect for nature. 

Can digital nomads come and work from Gaia or is it really a retreat and learning centre?

Yes, digital nomads can come work at Gaia. We have high-speed internet (although right now it’s malfunctioning, but we’re fixing it)! Digital nomads sometimes stay as guests for periods of a few days up to a month.

Guests can join the volunteers in their activities if and when they want to, but they’re not required to and can make their own schedule. Since they’re not volunteering, they pay marginally more than volunteers.

One thing that’s important to note is that we’re not a sleek coliving environment, we’re a rustic place in nature where some of the creature comforts of the city don’t exist. You’re not going to have an ergonomic chair or an air-conditioned coworking space, but you are going to have access to a lot of stimulating educational and social experiences.

We call ourselves a ‘community of all beings’, and for good reason; there will be lizards hanging out on your ceiling, but they’ll eat the mosquitos for you. There might be frogs who take up residence behind your suitcase, but they’re super cute. We have four dogs and sometimes they bark at night, but they’ll also love you and protectively accompany wherever you go when you walk outside of Gaia. So in short, yes, digital nomads can and do come and work from Gaia, and they’re typically people that enjoy living in simple, eco-friendly conditions, really close to nature.  

What is your favourite thing about Gaia Ashram?

Can I choose two? One of my favorite things about Gaia is the fact that it provides an environment where you’re interacting and connecting with so many different people, which means that you learn about things you’ve never even thought about before, and that you start to think differently about things you’ve already thought extensively about.

Another one of my favorite things about it is that it usually feels like Gaia is a place where you’re very free to be yourself and that you will most likely feel supported in doing so. If you’re in a bad mood one day, you can show up to morning circle in a bad mood and tell everyone during the check-in that you’re grumpy, instead of pretending to be happy. If you want to wear pyjamas all day, you can do that (and people will probably compliment your outfit). If you’re full of energy and you want to lead an impromptu game after the afternoon volunteer session, people will probably join you. 

What’s the next step if someone wants to visit?

They should email us at [email protected] and also check out these links:

Staying as a guest
Volunteering
Course schedule