new-mexico – bodymovin.net

It’s been more than a year since I left Sri Lanka. Since then, I spent about a year back in the valley. I feel like this was another bardo chapter in my life, not knowing exactly what to do next. I knew that I wanted to work more towards natural building. I spent the year substituting, being with family and family, and facilitating a meditation group.
Eventually, sometime in June, after the school year ended, I had the thought that rather than travel to learn natural building and then coming home to make money, I ought to just move out to a place I could do both. Upon doing some research, I found the best place to do this would be Taos, NM. I chatted with a friend of mine in Santa Fe and serendipitously got the chance to house sit in Taos. This would serve as a 3 week period to research the area to see if it was conducive to moving there.

The drive to Taos was long. I left from San Antonio. There are a few routes to take to get there. The nicest part of the Texas drive was between Junction and Eden, after that, the hills cease and there are less trees and greenery. There were many oil rigs and fields with pivot irrigation systems. This part looked desolated.
I made a detour through Roswell and checked out the UFO museum. The town is odd.

I’d been to Taos about 7 years previously to work on earthships. The town is quaint, and at the same time there is a lot happen in and around it. I found a lot of resources and communities to plug into.
Veterans off-grid is an organization that builds natural structures out on the mesa, the area west of Taos, past the Rio Grande Gorge, that is a high flat plateau, that has amazing 360 views of the Rocky sub-ranges.
I have worked on a couple of natural builds, including a hyper-adobe house out on the mesa.
There are a couple of dharma centers in the area.
There is a famous Pueblo, Taos Pueblo, that is a living Native American community and one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in the US.

I stayed in a yurt during my house sit, and cared for Penny, the dog, and Anakin, the kitten. After the three week house sit, I decided I would move here. I went back to Texas to pack my things and returned three weeks later.

There is a beautiful and famous ashram in town, the Neem Karoli Baba Ashram. People travel from all over the world to visit. It’s an amazing place to meditate. They offer seva, selfless service, opportunities. People can work in the kitchen to help prepare vegetarian food, much from their own organic garden, which they prepare for the public three times a week.
This is such a beautiful and inspiring place to be. The ashram is always offering something, whether it be meals, chai tea, fruit, nuts, dried fruit, or flowers. The temple is a kind of embodiment of continuous generosity.

Taos is most famous for its art. There are constant artist festivities in the summer and some in the winter. Despite having a population of only 6,500 people, it boasts 11 museums and countless art galleries.

Two of the main building projects I’ve been working on have been a wooden palate shed and a straw bale house. I still haven’t created an exact prototype of the home I want to build for myself, but I feel like it could be a hybrid that includes features from each of these.