Spacious interior of a retreat with wooden beams and large windows in Virginia.

Anahata Education Center

  • Communities

About the Communities

  • Established
  • Ecological
  • Rural

Founding year

  • 1995

What we do

Anahata is a intentional community and gathering place situated on 22 pristine acres along the Little River in Floyd County, Virginia. We have adjoining properties with extended community member-owners on an additional 25 acres.
Since 1995, we have explored the sacred interrelation of people, nature and the cosmos. Our aim is to create a sustainable and mutually thriving connection with nature and each other. We invite you to come explore, learn and share with us as we live from the Anahata Chakra – a Sanskrit word for heart center.

Our Mission

OUR CORE VALUES:
CO-ENLIGHTENING KINDNESS ~ We practice being fully present to one another, deep listening, truthful sharing, and mutual encouragement. We commit to loving communication and skillful conflict resolution, supporting and one another to do and be our best.
SELF-DISCOVERY ~ We explore the inner dimension of self, cultivating a humble heart, ‘beginner’s mind’, self-reflection, self-responsibility, self-empowerment, self-healing, and self-actualization.
CO-EMPOWERMENT ~ We share responsibility and leadership, each person making a significant contribution to the overall vision and activities of the community, with consensus decision-making wherever practical.
SACREDNESS ~ We deepen in our chosen spiritual paths, find our place within nature/the cosmos, commune together in spiritual brother-sisterhood, serve the greater good, and celebrate the deeper meanings, rhythms and passages of life.
CREATIVITY & CELEBRATION ~ We flourish through the arts in our playful ‘renaissance community’, which cultivates merrymaking and creative expression through song, music, dance, visual arts, games, crafts, and the practice of living fully in each moment. Co-enlivening!
LEARNING & EVOLUTION ~ We strive beyond our current parameters of understanding to embody the dynamic flow of new ideas, skills and attitudes that will enable collective evolution, while appreciating our individual dreams and perspectives, styles of expression, and unique contributions to the common good.
HOLISTIC WELL-BEING ~ We strive for a mostly organic, whole food, locally sourced diet, active lifestyles, connection to nature, and use a variety of holistic healing modalities to cultivate full-spectrum well-being.
ECOLOGICAL SUSTAINABILITY ~ We work toward ecological sustainability through permaculture landscaping, organic gardening, food preserving, wildcrafting, green construction methods, alternative energy production, supporting the local economy, and more.
ECONOMIC THRIVANCE ~ We seek individual and collective economic well-being, through stewardship of various enterprises, including our educational and guest programs and member-initiated cottage industries. We encourage economic self-responsibility and autonomy while celebrating expressions of interdependence as we share resources and simplify our lives, in gratitude for present moment abundance.
CONNECTION & SHARING ~ We reach out to others, sharing our many gifts, network within the local and global new-paradigm community, and create space for the larger community to gather to celebrate, learn and share.

  • Purpose
  • Ecological
  • Community type
  • Cohousing
  • Coliving
  • Ecovillage
  • Sustainability practices
  • Permaculture design
  • Activities
  • Property management
  • Farming
  • Education
  • Experiences
  • Networking
  • Services Business

Commemorative dates

  • January 1, 1995
  • Started planning
  • January 1, 1998
  • Started living together

Gallery

  • 4 Total members
  • Open to new members
  • Open to visitors
Total
10

How to join

We first get to know each other. We share information, a visit and orientation, and ask for an interested person to fill out a sharing form or two. We meet, visit, work and play together, and really get to know each other. A visit, then time apart for some reflection seems to work best. Then we ask that someone live here for 6-12 months minimum to see how it flows. There are check ins and mentoring along the way.

Basic expectations or agreements for members

Contact us to book a stay with us at a mutually convenient time. We have Airbnb links on our site, or contact us directly. Warm season camping and van/RV/camping are an option. We are part of an intentional communities tour in early September 2024.

Primary decision-making authority

  • Small Leadership Group

A few people (not elected by the broader community) make the major decisions.

Decision-making process

  • Leadership Decides

A single person, couple, or small group makes most major decisions.

Governance structure

  • Founder/Leader-led

Primary authority rests with the community’s founder(s) or designated leader(s).

Conflict resolution approach

We are moving into a phase of self-governance through the taking on of leadership domains with the support, input and feedback of the group. We also hire out basic tasks that support the community and retreat/event center.

Economic model

  • Independent Finances

Members maintain separate personal finances with minimal sharing.

Economic scenarios for this community

  • There is a one-time fee, investment, or share purchase to join the community separate from accessing housing
  • Members need to pay fees, dues, or similar to live there on a per month or per year basis
  • There is a labor obligation
  • Members typically need to have their own job or other personal source of income to cover their expenses while living in the community?

Additional economic information

Join fee: $25000
Regular fees: $125
Labor: Yes (3 hrs/week)
If not (yet) an owner of one’s own space, a community member pays a monthly ‘community contribution’ akin to rent. Once an owner, a smaller community contribution helps to cover the costs of repair and maintenance of community roads and driveways, shared tractor, truck, tools, equipment, spaces – also property taxes, property insurance, utilities of the ‘community co-house’, etc. The membership council, consisting of all owner-members, determines how the community contributions are spent.

Shared resources and amenities that are accessible to everyone in the community

Common House, Garden(s), Greenhouse(s), Vehicle Share, Library, Workshop, Outbuilding(s), Swimming pond or pool, Hot tub or hot springs, Outdoor Kitchen, Large Scale Kitchen, Tractor & Farm Equipment, Stage or Auditorium, Fire pit, Swingsets & play areas, Recreational vehicles, Waterfront access, Internet

Frequency of communal meals

  • About once a week

Significant food acquisition practices

  • Locally sourced
  • Wildcrafting / Foraging

Dietary restriction

  • People can cook and eat what they want in their own residence

Community activities and engagement

  • School, Educational Institute or Experience
  • Volunteer, Internship, or Apprenticeship, or WWOOF’ing
  • Neighborhood, Community Housing, or Homeowner's Association
  • Ethical Business, Investment Group, or Alternative Currency
  • Organization, Resource, or Network
  • WWOOF'ing, Guest Farming
  • Festivals, Conferences, Events

Substance use culture

  • Substance use occurs primarily at celebrations or ceremonies
  • Substance use is prohibited in the community
  • Religions
  • Buddhist
  • Hindu
  • Sufi
  • Native
  • Wiccan, Paganism, or Earth Religions
  • Unitarian Universalist

Gender composition

  • Roughly balanced (no group over 60%)

Age demographics

  • Multi-generational (all ages well represented)

Property status

  • Privately owned

Property owner

  • By a single individual, couple, or Family Trust

Setting

  • Rural

Countryside locations with significant distance from urban centers.

Community type

  • Cohousing

    Private homes with shared common facilities, designed for neighborly
    interaction while maintaining independence.

  • Coliving

    Shared living spaces with private bedrooms/bathrooms and communal
    kitchens, dining, and social areas.

  • Ecovillage

    Integrated communities designed around ecological principles with sustainable living practices.

  • Spiritual Retreat Centers

    Residential communities focused on providing space for meditation, spiritual practice, and personal growth retreats.

Sustainability approach

  • Permaculture design

Land practices in our community

  • The community practices permaculture

Self-produced energy

  • 33 - 66%

Energy sources used

  • Photovoltaic Solar

Self-produced food

  • Up to 33%

Local, organic, or fair trade food

  • 33 - 66%

Food systems

  • Community garden
  • Greenhouse / aquaponics
  • Livestock / poultry
  • Land area size
    47 acres

Guest Book

Written reviews are available for plus members. Click here to upgrade.

Location

  • Virginia, United States

Anahata Education Center

Needs and Offers

Connecting people and communities through an intentional online marketplace

Offer
  • Real Estate For Sale
5 days ago

Co-housing Unit For Sale in Portland Oregon

Light-filled 976 sq ft, 3-bedroom, 1-bath end unit in Columbia Ecovillage, Portland’sestablished cohousing community in the Cully neighborhood. With windows onthree sides, this ground-floor home gets natural light all day, even onPortland’s grey ones. The open living and dining area has warm hardwood floors and flows into akitchen with solid wood cabinets and granite counters. The dining roomwindows look straight into a native vine maple — a wall of green from springthrough fall. There’s good storagein the unit, plus an extra storage space in the community storage building.A ductless mini-split provides efficient heating and air conditioning, andthe plumbing was fully replaced in 2026. The primary bedroom has a full-width closet behind a sliding barn door; thesecond bedroom’s closet sits behind a pair of French doors. The thirdbedroom has no closet, which makes it a flexible room — guest room, office,or playroom. Step out the sliding glass door onto your own covered patio, which opens onto the community grounds: organic gardens, personal garden plots,greenhouses, a grape arbor, a bamboo grove, native plantings throughout, andtrees everywhere — including a truly massive old black walnut. The orchard alone is a reason to live here — to name a few:apples, pears, plums, figs, mulberries, chestnuts, walnuts, grapes,blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries, in several varieties each. A75,000-gallon rainwater catchment system keeps it all watered through thesummer. Kids have a playhouse, sandbox, small soccer field, a favorite climbingtree, and a parking loop where bikes can circle but cars can’t; adults havea workshop, garden shed, fire pit, quiet space and big community porches. The common hall is the heart of the village: a commercial kitchen anyresident can use, a kids’ play area, pool table and ping pong, and asoapstone stove that burns every winter evening. Residents can reserve it forevents for almost nothing. The historic farmhouse has guest rooms owners canbook for visiting family (about 30 nights a year). Shared laundry rooms(three washers and dryers) come with indoor drying racks and outdoorclotheslines, and there’s a craft room and a trade room where things you nolonger need find a new home next door. Potlucks, communitymeals, work parties, and acres of safe space for kids to roam makethis a rare chance to own a home and a neighborhood at the same time. Built in 1973 and fully remodeled in 2008–09 for energy efficiency and healthy indoor air — metal roof, HardiePlank siding, and standard community-built finishes throughout. Nothing to update, nothing deferred. The $522 monthly HOA coverswater, sewer, and garbage, plus the roof, siding, exterior paint, and allstructural maintenance — and it’s what pays for the grounds, the common hall,and everything else described above. And it’s close in: Cully’s cafés andparks are a short walk or bike ride away, the rest of Portland’s food,music, and neighborhoods are minutes beyond that, and the commute downtownor to the airport is easy by car, bus, or bike – 3.7-acre grounds with organic gardens, personal plots, greenhouses, native plantings, and mature trees (huge black walnut)- Orchard: apples, pears, plums, figs, mulberries, chestnuts, walnuts, grapes, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries- 75,000-gallon rainwater catchment feeds the gardens year-round- Workshop, garden shed, fire pit, quiet space, community porches  
Need
  • Forming Communities
2 weeks ago

A call for pioneers, trade-builders, and the four Elemental Elders to construct our first cooperative village prototype.

Intake Open: Flagship WE Network Village in Clubb, MO Call for pioneers, trade-builders, and 4 Elemental Elders to construct our first cooperative village prototype. WE Network is opening ground zero in Clubb, Missouri—our living model to build trade shops and train leadership teams for nationwide village rollout. We are building a self-sustaining, salvaged homestead ecosystem operating as a parallel society alongside existing systems. Bring your own living setup (tents, micro-campers, trucks, schoolies, tiny homes) to secure your lot within the co-op village. The 3×3 Exchange: Mental, Physical, & Spiritual Maintain your lot via our 3×3 exchange (3 hours/day, 3 days/week = 9 hours total): Mental: Classroom teaching, strategy, skill-sharing, and village instruction. Physical: Hands-on labor building active land and shop projects. Spiritual: Participation in our weekly Friday Fellowship Fire Circle. Trade Shops & Lot Placement Every member contributes directly to our local micro-economy: Trade Holders: Set up your specific service shop for the co-op. Transitioning Members: Assigned a trade lot to focus on constructing the physical shop structure. Weekend Operations: Retail open Saturdays and Sundays. Mid-week is reserved for building and life. Priority Intake: The Four Elemental Elders We are recruiting four foundational Elders: Earth Elder: Land, soil, livestock, permaculture, and natural materials. Air Elder: Building structures and Eco Junk waste-to-material upcycling. Fire Elder: Spiritual health, Natural Law, body healing, and Fire Circles. Water Elder: Resource flow, food storage, bookkeeping, and services. How to Apply 👉 Visit fffc.wtf to submit your intake request today.
Need
Offer

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