Spiritual people sit and meditate… and advocate!

What an interesting question to ask ourselves as a community! Yes, we sit and meditate twice a day, and even more sometimes. In our philosophy, called Ananda Marga, meditation is one precious key on the path of self-realisation. 

But, what would be self-realisation without concrete action? We are convinced that, by caring about both our personal wellness and spirituality, we get more prone to serve the world that surrounds us.

We are a community but are very conscious and willing to serve and collaborate with the neighbourhood and the world around us. In fact, we aspire to use our land as a model for an ecological, social, economic, cultural and spiritually regenerative way of life. 

To do so, we broaden our impact by collaborating with villages, municipalities and local associations. We organize and participate in diverse events, programs and projects linked to ecology, education, culture and social integration.

Education is probably the most impactful area in which we can invest our energy. Our children are the future of our society and we need to give them insights and tools to face the multiple challenges of our current History. First and foremost, we think that connection with Nature is one of the best ways to help these young souls to be aware of the importance of taking care of the environment. We organize and create programs and events in Pequena Ilha Verde, a neohumanistic and forest school, so children can develop their emotional intelligence and their own personal potential as humans. Visit their website to learn about their way of teaching the youngest ones.

Cooking for Cozinha Solidaria

Yoga in Prison, Covilha

Inequalities are unfortunately still really present in our modern world and it is part of our responsibility as humans to collaborate and help those in need. We take action locally with AMURT Portugal, working with refugees, giving yoga classes at local prisons and cooking food for the solidarity kitchen. We are convinced that little meaningful actions have a real and direct impact on the world, nothing is too little to try! Learn more about all projects that AMURT is involved in by visiting their website below.

We believe that human beings can continuously improve their relationship to the environment. To do so, we need a holistic vision and action in order to better understand how to live in a regenerative way instead of a destructive one. Together with Ecoativo, we organize programs and activities about environmental education, they also design and implement regenerative projects and develop policies for environmental conservation. This year, the focus is based on ecosystem regeneration with young people.

Society as it is nowadays cannot be a sustainable way of living, we need to think and design new models where justice, sustainability and prosperity can be people and nature-centred. This is why we collaborate with the Prout Research Institute of Portugal, standing for a new system that gives every individual the possibility to develop holistically in a society that values well-being, self development, collective development and local economy. 

We often underestimate the power and wisdom that cultural events can bring into the world. More than entertainment, cultural activities are building new paradigms, new hopes, new ways of thinking and perceiving the society. Artivos is our hub for art and culture in which we organize concerts, festivals, workshops and exhibitions in our land and other cities such as Covilha or Lisbon.

Spiritual practices are really present in our daily life, daily we practice yoga, meditation, singing and music activities. We think that our body is a precious temple that we should take great care of to live a more peaceful and accomplished life. This is why we created Ananda Room in Covilha and Fundao, an invitation to practice yoga and meditation but also to give the chance for people to host their own workshops. Find your yoga and meditation classes by clicking one of the buttons below.

We are really happy and proud to have an impact not only in our community but on a larger scale involving municipalities and regions. These small local steps are for us a huge beautiful progress to share our vision of a fair and sustainable way of life, to show that it is actually possible to create a better society. 

Don’t forget, small steps are sometimes more impactful and sustainable than making one big leap. Ricochets are easier to make with little flat stones than with thick heavy rocks 🙂