Awakened Life Project (Quinta da Mizarela)

Quinta da Mizarela is a restored farm inside an ecological reserve in the mountains of central Portugal, near Benfeita in the municipality of Arganil, Coimbra. It's home to the Awakened Life Project, which is a residential intentional community, a working permaculture farm and an integral education and demonstration centre all at once. It started as the rehabilitation of an abandoned rural estate. The Quinta was founded in 2009. The project names four global problems it responds to: ecological destruction, resource depletion, economic instability and a collective crisis of meaning. It draws on the idea that no problem can be solved at the level of consciousness that created it. So it puts the evolution of human consciousness first, as the basis for genuine and lasting change. The community believes people have limitless potential for goodness, awareness and co-creative action. It doesn't look to political, religious or institutional authorities. Instead it invites participants to take radical personal and collective responsibility for shaping a new, more enlightened future. The project works on several fronts. It is a place of spiritual inquiry and practice, a centre for permaculture education and ecological design, and a growing network of like-minded individuals and communities in Portugal and further afield. Visitors and residents take part in workshops, trainings and immersive experiences that link inner transformation with practical sustainability. Researchers, practitioners and seekers come to the Quinta from around the world.