Gompa Apartments

Great location, nice accommodations, fun projects, great opportunity to learn new things. Guest help with projects including learning new skills such as how to build a battery pack for an e-bike or how to cook medicinal food for your body type. Volunteers can enjoy great natural wonders, boating, hiking in the area, local hot springs (very inexpensive and healing). The place is in the middle of town, and one can walk most anywhere, and nearby there are trails and natural spaces. One can also enjoy Elephant Butte lake state park nearby. We are a sustainable community with a focus on mental well being and mind body awareness. This is a place where people can take time off and go inward. The town we are in is called Truth or Consequences. There are spiritual places of pilgrimage that are hard to find in most towns and some people say the Turtleback mountain itself has a special spirit. It is also extremely beautiful and unique in its natural features and history. The area has thermal hot springs right under the town and many houses have private hot springs in them. The town used to be called Hot Springs NM and of course there are established hot spring soaking spots for the public including a free hot spring in one of the town parks. The area historically was always a place of peace and restoration. Different Native tribes peacefully shared this area (and still use it to this day). Geronimo is one famous historic patrons of the healing waters here. The Geronimo museum is a few blocks from Gompa Apartments with many artifacts and historic information including one of the largest Native American pottery collections in North America. The Rio Grande River flows through the town and a few miles up there is the historic Elephant Butte Dam built in 1911. The Elephant Butte Lake State Park up river from the dam has boating fishing and hiking and camping and miles of beaches for swimming and water sports making it the playground for New Mexico, yet because of the less dense population of the state and southern location, it is never too crowded and one can really enjoy having finding one's own almost private beach in the park. The town has many art studios and also spiritual centers including a very rare Stupa monument for peace and healing nearby. There is art hop nights where all the art studios open up and offer wine and cheese and sometimes have live music. There are unique shops and cafes in the town as well and a historic theater that also has live music concerts and interesting films. There is always something interesting happening here. Part of the vision of Gompa Apartments is to provide psychologically nurturing resource for both visitors and the local community. Our mission for helping local people who have had mental challenges is partially based on the work of Shoma Morita, a Japanese psychologist who in the early 1900s developed a four-stage progressive therapeutic method. Gompa Apartments is a work in progress and we are fixing the place up. We are hoping to transform the landscape and have organic gardens as well. We recycle water and use it for the grounds. We like working with volunteers who share our vision of a sustainability and healing and living fully. We are building a healing center in the large house on the property where we can have visiting natural paths and doctors from around the world give lectures and have clinics. We currently teach classes on mind body synchronization, music and art, Asian Medicine and cooking. (I am a licensed acupuncturist with a degree in Chinese Medicine and also a Degree in Psychology and Music Therapy and also uniquely trained in Tibetan Medicine). We also have shared Theater classes on mind body synchronization. Volunteers who stay are given their own free efficiency (studio) apartment, each apartment has a kitchen shower and all the basic necessities. Volunteers help out about 15 -20 hours a week. We cook lunch every day for everyone staying here (mostly vegetarian) and there is never a lack of healthy meals around here We have done both longer term stays and very short term worldpackers stays. Before applying please read our entire listing details and that will help you know if you will like it here.

I am into so many things and so I do not narrow myself into one profession. I mostly devoted to trying to gain wisdom and grow my heart towards a bigger picture of what life is about. I took time off in my youth to study many subjects outside of what most other people did, but now in this town I have met so many people who also are multifaceted and have diverse interests and talents unique skills, histories and paths. I have learned a lot of how to choose the right path in life to create positive outcomes and great relationships. Volunteers can expect to be treated in a friendly professional manor. We do like mature volunteers with good work ethics, we expect honesty and self awareness from volunteers and volunteers to treat all other guests and people on the property here with respect. We expect everyone to follow the house rules. Please read the entire listing to know what your responsibilities are and what to expect. Depending on projects we are doing, sometimes we might suggest slight changes in start or end dates, for the best overlaps of worldpacker's schedules and have multiple guests here at once to do team projects and create more community vibe. A few things to consider if you are new to worldpackers: One way to be successful is to request a shorter duration to see if you like it here, and if all goes well, then extend longer. Worldpacker.com gives us flexibility in modifying dates when we all agree so it is possible to extend, shorten, or end a stay very easily even after the stay has begun. We have done all of the above in different situations with different worldpackers. We try to be flexible and try to keep or listing updated to reflect our needs and what is going on here. Please understand while we love to be the first place to host a person brand new with no worldpacker's experience, if you have no reviews, it makes it more of a leap of faith. We have had both positive and not so positive work trade experiences when trying to work and live in community on the property together. Sharing meals, exploring the area having fun and being social and getting work done together means that we try to find people who are honest and straightforward and positive to be good matches. We live here so the wrong person or negative experiences of a person with negative attitude or bad intentions can effect the entire community and our lives, and the opposite is also true where really great amazing relationships and experiences have formed where guests have really brightened and enlivened and helped create good karma, so to speak for everyone else here. And it also affects the future of the place how the world packers have helped do projects here that endure to make it even better for everyone. For example you might be staying in an apartment another world packer cleaned and fixed up, so their work has contributed to the quality of your life. Each persons contribution has helped us build this place together. We strive to have positive social mutual growthful experience where we all learn and thrive. We try to be great hosts and make it a positive experience.