Peace for peace

There’s no such thing as having a perfect life but there are near-perfect solutions.

Between all the deadlines and the dramas, it’s easy to just numb your worries in a bar. The hangover and your potential friends’ shame and regret will come back to haunt you the following morning. There’s no fun in that.

Everyone has a secret solution to getting out of a funk. Some say exercise saves all, some girl friends will say that your wounds will be healed if you buy a tube of expensive lipstick or perfume, mothers tell you to just eat kare-kare; but generally, the universal solution is to get wasted.

With the holiday season coming up, the malady du jour switches from dengue to nervous breakdowns. I have already booked my two December visits to The Farm in San Benito. Somehow, looking at a peacock (the signature bird of The Farm in San Benito) while sipping ginger tea for an insane amount of time makes everything go away. It goes beyond the bittersweet remedies of gentle showers during cloudy days.

I know. You’d expect me to say my favorite place in the world would probably be Ibiza or any mall in a developing country in Asia. I’ll tell you something: I load my iPad with movies and TV shows, get my dog and drop some clothes in my gym bag and leave my watch. No fuss, no passports, no airplanes. I run to The Farm and suddenly all seems well. The Farm is my favorite place in the world. It’s a place that dispenses a never-ending amount of new beginnings.

It understands the searing pain of a heartbreak, the claustrophobic effect of a full-on 9-to-9 job, the chagrin that comes from a less-than-enchanting implosion with your family and just those moments when you want to lock yourself in a bathroom forever whilst lying down, fetal position, in the bathtub. The Farm won’t medicate your family’s mental health, nor will it give you a new lover but it does provide you a better place to lie in a fetal position. Depending on the drama, I sometimes call it “fatal position.”

I have been going to The Farm for years. In the beginning it was because it was something nice to go to during long weekends. The five-star accommodations (the newly built Narra villas are a sight to behold), the insane service and just the sheer beauty of the place (I have a thing for peacocks) made me feel like I was a proper human being. Correction: I felt like a blessed proper human being. I would drink buko juice all day and live on a raw food diet for a bit. I liked how I would sleep at 9 p.m. and wake up by 9 a.m. My skin would be clear in a few days, my moody belly would stay flat and I would write all day. After all that writing it’s amazing to just go to the garden and stare as the day turns into night. Over the summer I learned Mindful Meditation.  This I practiced when I would just stare at the beautiful gardens. I would notice the glossy leaves and take in the polite breeze of fresh air and getting lost while listening to an orchestra of night insects. Everything is just so pure and simple. Little by little, those noises in my head quiet down.

I’m not saying that I’m all Zen and shit. I’m saying that I need some repairing. The Farm is a haven for real people with real-life problems. I found that some people who have not visited yet think it’s a yogi retreat or somewhere where you can say Gandhi was your homeboy. The truth is, it is anything you want it to be. It’s a place where real people like us can find the blessing of calm. Even an overnight visit can change you. I did a 10-day stay there last year. I came home feeling like a well-loved teddy bear.

I used to try to find answers while emotionally eating at McDonald’s. My days at The Farm as time went by became more profound. It is the place where my dog Milo and I would bond. We would both wake up and eat breakfast at the garden together. I loved eating at the Alive! Restaurant but with the battalion of ducks swimming about, Milo, as beautifully trained as he is, will go about trying to “play” with a duck or two (Milo grew up with a Pomeranian so he really does think he’s a small dog). By the way if your dog kills a peacock, that goes on your bill. Golden Retrievers are ridiculous and impossible to walk on a leash, but I tell Milo that this is a small price to pay.

Then I would grab my book and read while Milo swims at the waterfalls. For two hours while Milo gets his cardio, I would get my sanity back. The silence and stillness blows the day into a long nurturing experience. We really don’t know how much noise we have in our heads, the effect of the blue light that is emitted from our devices and the poison from the fast food we eat (a detail from the urban dweller pathos of having not enough time) can wreak havoc not only on your body but as far as your spirit. For a fatalist like me, The Farm makes me feel like no problem is ever that big. Forget the existential questions, just looking far into the sky with the endless grass as my bed and Milo’s torso as my pillow. Everything wrong seems so small and everything right seems so immediate and ready.

 Even the raw food that they serve at The Farm seems healing. Hey, I love my KFC but eating raw for a couple of days is a major Photoshop for your skin and body. I try to bring it with me by following the Raw cookbook at home (so amazing everyone who has a plate in their homes should get a copy). There’s just something so purifying about it. You are what you eat, after all. I say this to myself when I dine on raw food. I never say this while I’m tearing into a KFC chicken drumstick.

There’s no downside about going to the farm. Don’t feel guilty if you spend half of the day thinking about what you’re going to have for dinner. This is the ultimate “me” place. Aside from the raw food and enjoying God’s gift to man, The Farm is also known for its amazing spa Salus Per Aquam SPA that offers all different kinds of massages using coconut oil (that thing is the natural equivalent to the magical Elizabeth Eight Hour Cream), colonic treatments and amazing homeopathic treatments (I love the vitamin C transfusions). They also have cooking classes that I intend to take for my longer stay there in mid-December, yoga, meditation and all kinds of athletic activities. Each day has a special activity for you, your kids and sometimes even the dog.

There may be the Maldives for falling in love with someone else. However, The Farm at San Benito is made for falling in love with yourself and the life that you have.

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For inquiries, call 8848074 or e-mail info@thefarm.com.ph or visit them at www.thefarm.com.ph.