What If…?

What if we were able to slow down and re-member our lost relations with earth, water, fire and sky? What if our identities were again determined not by what we buy but what we co-create organically with our communities and the lands that tend to us? 

What If…?, is our most popular course. It offers an invitation to reawaken our lost relations with the greater than human world and to reimagine what it means to be “home”.

A special on-going collaboration between Panya Forest, Pun Pun Farm of Mae Taeng, Chiang Mai and the P’gakenyaw village of Hin Lad Nai, Viang Papago, Chiang Rai we will share a journey together into ancestral memory via the telling of Seed Stories, the re-enacting of embodied Myth, the activation of art as medicine, poetry as education and Land Herself as the ultimate classroom.

We will challenge modernities limiting understandings of what can be and attempt to awaken again ancient notions of an intergenerational, inter-species ecology-of-self, asking…

What if… a more beautiful world is already possible?

There are two courses in a year, presented in two seasons. In June we offer, a Rainy Season of the Planting Moon course and in November we offer a Dry Season of the Harvest Moon course. Both invite participants into unique embodiments with Land and Story as determined by the changes of Time.

June Session: What if…?: Planting Moon @ Pun Pun and Hin Lad Nai; June 6-11, 2026

November Session: What if…?: Harvest Moon @ Pun Pun and Hin Lad Nai

Courses are bilingual, offered in both English and Thai

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What if we were able to slow down and re-member our lost relations with Earth, Water, Fire and Sky? What if our identities were again determined not by what we buy but what we co-create organically with our communities and the lands that tend to us? 

“Forgetfulness of origins results in cultural amnesia, which generates a kind of loneliness new to the Human Story. What if we could again bring together the right conditions to regenerate soil, community, good Story and a genuine wellness of interbeing?

The “What If…?” The course offers a unique chance to re-cultivate a deeper understanding of how our external relationships with eARTh impact our relationships with our inner self. A safe space will be held for us to explore and process emotions and feelings of which typical modern life seldom offers space for. We will explore, via storytelling and ritual the relation between grief and praise, memory and habit.

In addition to learning the foundational hands-on skills such as seed saving, wildcrafting, organic farming, slow cooking, etc. that Pun Pun and Panya Forest are known for, we will explore intergenerational relations with ancestral indigenous seeds and song, not only examining their role in the foods we eat but also in forming human identity. We will explore how ritual/traditional farming practices such as rotational farming impact community life and feed the basic human need to feel belonging. We will learn about wild honey bee keeping and consider the major role bees play in our world.

This course offers time away from the “daily grind” to experience life more slowly, to examine our interconnectedness with self, soil, and community. We will touch the earth and our ancestors. We will look deeply into the importance of land-based, indigenous worldviews. And we will consider together ways in which we could incorporate such ways into modern life.

The P’gakenyaw indigenous people of Northern Thailand continue to carry a worldview that challenges modern convictions. In an era of rapidly declining diversity of view, they generously offer us another view, one that suggests a possible alternative to business-as-usual and suggests a more sustainable, ancient future rooted in reciprocity and reverence for all life. We are incredibly grateful to be able to have them welcome us all into their world and are deeply honored to be able to share this unique opportunity with you.

What you can expect from this course:

At Pun Pun Organic Farm:

• Seed Stories: We will revisit our timeless relationship with seed throughout the course, including those of myth and culture. We do this with storytelling, song, dance, etc.
• Natural Farming: Participants will learn how to grow and harvest food in a mindful way that develops a deeper relationship with soil, water, ancestral memory, seed lineage, the vast unseen underground mycelia kingdom of microorganisms etc. 
• Slow Cooking: We will learn how to respectfully harvest from the garden, cook from scratch and eat in mindful ways, looking particularly at root vegetables and their relationship with the land and people..
• Waking the Wild: We will attempt to wake our wilder, ancient self through shared, embodied exercises that aim to push us out from our comfort zones.

At Hin Lad Nai village:

• Ritual/Rotational Farming: We will revisit our ancient relationship with the forest, learning about indigenous techniques of living harmoniously with land in a way that benefits both land and people. Through ceremony, poetry, song, and story, we will look deeply into natural rhythms, our deep relationship with rice, indigenous seeds and cultural roots.
• Returning the Sacred: We will explore the concept of “rematriation”, exploring modernities increasingly severed relation with land and consider how best we might make efforts to restore again a sacred balance with life, taking specific interest in the P’gakenyaw tribe’s view.
• Tree hugging/Forest Bathing/Greif-Metabolising: We will connect with “Khun Yai Lumpoo”, the tree of life, the only tree not felled by a logging company years ago who now serves as a powerful reminder of our roots and resilience. Here we set aside time to grieve and to praise that which we love.
• Wild Honey Keepers and Ancient Teas: We will learn about the unique role bees and tea have with forging a relationship between humans and earth. We will taste some to the worlds most unique and medicinal honey and drink delicious teas harvested on site from ancient trees.
• Calling Our Soul Home: We will participate in the Baisi ritual of “Connectedness Threads” to seal our time together and prepare us to integrate all we learn into our lives back home.

Course Cost:

We wish to experiment with a sliding scale fee: In the spirit of Gift and Reciprocity, in order to ensure that all people who wish to attend can, we encourage people who are more secure in their financial reality to offer more, as to support others who currently have less.

Suggested fees: 

-12,000THB or more for friends more financially privileged.

 -7,000-10,000THB for friends able to afford this amount

email us at panyaforest@gmail.com for details and to register

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Come. Join us as we together explore the Ecology of Self.