Tree of Life - A Living Place for Health, Learning & Research
An emerging health center creating the conditions for research, learning, and accessible approaches to health to grow together.
The Tree of Life is a natural building initiative and emerging community wellbeing center located in Barangay Bacungan, Palawan. The project was born from a long-standing partnership between Maia Earth and Wellnessland Health Institutein Cebu, founded by Dr. Romy Paredes, whose work has long advocated for simplicity in health, patient empowerment, and the integration of lifestyle, environment, and wellbeing. Over many years, this collaboration has brought together retreats, educational programs, and shared initiatives exploring community health, while Maia Earth's founder and Dr. Paredes also co-authored a book on Transformational Medicine. The Tree of Life represents a natural continuation of this relationship, providing a permanent space where these shared ideas can continue to grow through community engagement, education, and research.
Constructed primarily using earth-based building techniques, including mudhouse construction and natural bricks, the center reflects Maia Earth's commitment to creating buildings that are environmentally responsive, locally appropriate, and rooted in the communities they serve. More than simply providing a venue for future activities, the building demonstrates how natural materials and locally developed skills can contribute to healthier, more sustainable community spaces.
The building itself is the product of long-term collaboration. Construction has been carried out by members of Maia Earth's livelihood initiative, a program that has provided employment and practical capacity building for local community members for more than five years. As participants have developed experience in natural building, they have become skilled craftspeople whose knowledge continues to support new projects.
The construction has been guided by natural building engineer Ala Lug Lug, whose experience in earth-based construction also shaped the project's Natural Building Workshop. Held during the construction process, the workshop brought together participants from different backgrounds to learn and work alongside the construction team, creating opportunities to develop practical skills while contributing directly to the building itself. The project has also been developed in collaboration with local architect Vivian Gardose, whose architectural guidance has helped translate the principles of natural building into a functional community space adapted to its local context.
Together, the construction team, workshop participants, engineers, and designers demonstrate the collaborative nature of the Tree of Life. Rather than separating construction from education, the building process has become a means of sharing knowledge, strengthening local capacity, and expanding a growing network of people interested in natural building in the Philippines.
Learning & Research Center
As the center continues to develop, it is gradually becoming a place for learning, dialogue, and community participation, with learning being also central to the vision of the Tree of Life. Alongside consultations and wellbeing activities, the center seeks to create opportunities for people to better understand their own health through knowledge, observation, and shared experience. Whether exploring the ways sound influences the nervous system, discussing everyday practices that support wellbeing, or simply creating space for reflection and dialogue, the aim is not only to provide care but also to cultivate understanding. The Tree of Life is founded on the belief that knowledge can be an important part of health itself—helping people develop greater awareness of their bodies, minds, relationships, and the choices available to them. In this sense, learning is not separate from care; it is one of the ways care is practiced.
Alongside these community activities, the Tree of Life also provides the foundation for Maia Earth's growing research program. Developed in collaboration with research partners in the Philippines and Europe, the program investigates non-invasive approaches to wellbeing, with a particular focus on the relationships between sound, the autonomic nervous system, and subjective experience. As both the center and the research program continue to evolve, they seek to create a space where scientific inquiry and community participation can inform one another, contributing to knowledge that remains grounded in the realities of everyday life.
Project Partners
Wellnessland Health Institute – Founding partner and health collaboration.
Dr. Romy Paredes – Conceptual development and long-term health partnership.
Ala Lug Lug – Natural building engineer and workshop facilitator.
Vivian Gardose – Architectural design and project development.
Maia Earth Livelihood Team – Construction and capacity building.
Research partners (Philippines and Europe) – Development of the Tree of Life research program.
