Maria Gaian, Founder of the Gaian Oasis 

What’s the Gaian Oasis? I’m so excited to tell you all about it! 

My journey started waaaay back in 2005, when I began a therapeutic riding school and care farm for kids with autism and ADHD. It was my dream business and we changed the lives of many children through our animal assisted therapy work.

But then 2013, it all came to an end.

I had a mental health breakdown that meant I lost my income, my rented farm and my gorgeous business. Losing everything broke me and I slipped into severe depression.

In the last decade, I’ve worked on my mental and physical health, moved from the UK to Spain for a better life, studied a lot and certified in coaching, counselling and a bunch of different therapies.

I started an online business called ‘Ditch the Black Dog’ helping people struggling with depression to heal and thrive through following the Gaian Path to wellness.

But for the longest time, I’ve dreamed of rebuilding my physical business and bringing people together with animals again.

I always loved being able to meet with people face to face to share how Mother Nature, Gaia, and her gifts, can help us to heal and thrive in a world that’s often chaotic, confusing and stressful.

It felt like just a pipe dream. But in early 2025, after ten years of living in a tiny rented farm in inland Spain, our landlady gave us notice that she wanted her house back.

At first we were devastated, then optimistic. Maybe this was just the kick up the bum we needed to look for a place where our dreams could come true.

We were devastated all over again when we discovered the reality of the housing crisis in Spain.

It seemed impossible to find a home that

one –  we could afford and

two – would house 7 of us plus 3 elderly dogs, a bunch of cats, 2 ponies and 4 ducks.

Our search for a home felt impossible and overwhelming. 

Every single property came with a compromise. If we could afford it, it wasn’t big enough.

It would be big enough but then the owners would say they didn’t accept pets.

We needed to decide what we could compromise on, so we could find something that wouldn’t break up our family, or bankrupt us!

I’m a pretty good at manifesting what I want, so I made a list of everything we needed in a new home and carried on searching, even though what we were looking for didn’t seem to exist.

I wrote a note on a post it and stuck it to my whiteboard. It said,

‘Everything is going to fall into place. Believe in miracles.’

This scruffy scrap of post-it survived the move and so I put it back on my white board.

Long story short

(If you want the long story, here it is: 

After a year of searching, being rejected, not having enough money, pets, or too many kids, we found the place we’ve been dreaming of. It has everything on our wish-list and we can afford it.

The compromises? We aren’t able to buy it yet, we can only rent it for now.

And the biggest issue is that the house and land are in need of complete renovation.

Luckily, we’re not afraid of hard work, and we’ve renovated properties before.

Our miracle happened and I’m writing this at my desk in my new home!

We moved into the house in January 2026.

At the grand old age of 54, I’m getting a second chance to restart my dream business and I can’t tell you how excited I am!

I have so many plans for this place.

I’ll be able to offer ecotherapy, animal assisted therapy with horses, dogs, cats and birds, plus a beautiful space for people to come and take part in events and workshops.

The Gaian Oasis isn’t ready to open for you to visit yet, but if you’d like to follow our journey  we’ve started a YouTube Channel showing you what we’re doing to create our beautiful sanctuary where wounded, lonely and lost souls will come to heal and thrive through the power of Gaian Magick!

Join the waitlist

If you’d love to know more about when we open and what we’ll be doing at the Gaian Oasis to help people ditch the black dog of depression, please join the wait list and I’ll keep you in the loop.

If you want to follow our journey turning this beautiful but neglected farm into a safe sanctuary and wellness space, you can do that by subscribing to our YouTube Channel or joining the community on Substack. 

The links are below. I’d love to have you join us on this exciting journey!

With love and magick always,

Maria xx

Join the waitlist to find out more about the Gaian Oasis and when it will open its doors to help people with depression.

Subscribe to the YouTube Channel to follow our journey as we build the Gaian Oasis and get ready to open our doors

Don’t forget that you can join me over in the Black Dog Cafe community. It’s an off facebook, safe space for you to get support, tools and techniques to help you survive depression.