The New Life Foundation, Thailand

New Life is an international mindful recovery community for people who are suffering because of addiction problems, stress, burnout, relationship issues or abuse. We aim to provide a unique learning environment based on mindfulness and sustainable living, where residents can learn to nurture and maintain their recovery. With support from the community and guidance from the staff, each individual develops their own action plan that enables them to discover their potential and develop a new healthy lifestyle based on mindfulness, truthfulness, responsibility and respect.

At New Life we are all connected by a common purpose and actively engaged in learning from each other: staff, residents and volunteers. Our community provides the best possible environment for healing body and mind: mindfulness practice, which forms the heart of our recovery program, sustainable agriculture, as well as a choice of many different types of group and individual activities.

We have an experienced team that will help you discover your potential, regain your sense of self-worth and find happiness with your New Life. We believe that all of us have suffering and problems in our lives, but that we can use these experiences as a foundation to gain understanding of ourselves and life in general.

It is our mission to cultivate a lifestyle that fosters inner growth and helps people to find meaning and purpose in life again. We believe that all of us have everything it takes to create a peaceful, equitable and sustainable existence. All we have to do is renew our relationship with ourselves and our environment.

History of New Life Foundation

The New Life Foundation was founded by Johan Hansen, a Belgian entrepreneur. The foundation opened its doors in June 2010. Johan embarked upon his path towards recovery at Thamkrabok monastery, where he first discovered the healing powers of mindfulness practice. Johan continued to study Buddhism and mindfulness at more retreats and workshops around the globe, becoming more and more convinced these practices could help others as well on their path towards freedom and happiness.

Johan decided to share his experience by founding a community to help people in need with an affordable, mindfulness-based recovery program. He bought 63 acres of land in Chiang Rai province, near the Golden Triangle, and donated this magnificent property to establish a community where people from all over the world could take the time to start a new life.

For a New Life Through Mindfulness…

Our philosophy is that we believe that mindfulness will help us face our everyday and long-term loss, disappointments, and difficulties. We enjoy the life we have, instead of escaping or fantasizing about some other life. By being more aware of our body, thoughts and emotions we will receive signals about what’s out of balance. Mindfulness teaches us to respect these signals and welcome them instead of pushing them away.

Over the past decades researchers and mental health professionals have been discovering that mindfulness practice can alleviate many kinds of psychological suffering. Mindfulness helps us understand what lies at the root of our behavior and thus it has the power to transform negative habits, making our lives rich and meaningful.

At the foundation, we are dedicated to practice mindfulness during all our daily activities. We are confident that this is the best medicine that will enable us to build our New Life.

Mission of New Life Foundation

To create a recovery community for people who are suffering because of addiction problems, stress, burnout, relationship problems, abuse, depression or people who are looking for personal development.
To develop a unique mindfulness based recovery program and offer it at an affordable price.
To create individualized coaching programs that help our residents discover their potential and develop a healthy and sustainable lifestyle.
To create an organization where atmosphere, environment and activities all help to cultivate mindfulness and inner growth.
To create an organization where the staff members have a love for learning and spiritual growth and are roll models in living a mindful life.
To create a sustainable farm that will offer healthy food choices to all of our members, provide an opportunity to our members to practice mindfulness in physical work and provide an additional income for the foundation.
To become an educational center for everyone who wishes to learn about mindfulness or other activities which cultivate inner growth. New Life will also allow other organizations to use the facilities to organize workshops and seminars on mindfulness related subjects.