11 Days at Sadhana Forest
My experience volunteering at a vegan forest community in India
This post will be a day-by-day of my time at Sadhana Forest, with information about the values, mission, and norms there. As the days go on, I’ll begin to skip over parts of my day I’ve already shared about. I’ve saved some details for later days, so everything isn’t front-loaded.
Many of these photos and videos come from other volunteers and the Sadhana Forest website, YouTube channel, and Instagram.
A Quick Overview
Sadhana Forest ( website and Instagram), with a home base in Auroville, India, is an organization focused on reforestation, water conservation, and sustainable living, operating as a community that practices and promotes a vegan lifestyle, natural building, and a gift economy. It started back in 2003 by a small family as a place to live, and expanded into much more.
Sadhana is a Sanskrit term referring to a spiritual practice or discipline that helps achieve a specific goal, such as spiritual growth, enlightenment, or self-realization.
Day 0.5 — Tuesday
After arriving via flight in Chennai, India, I spent 2 days walking around and enjoying the city and street food. I then went to Sadhana Forest via bus. Less than two dollars!
I took a quick tour, then joined a running workshop with some other volunteers.
Workshops are volunteer run and led, and can be anything from practicing handstands to DND to inner child healing or meditation. All free of course.
After the run, I went to cool off in the mud pool. The mud squished under the feet, and I enjoyed rubbing it into my skin across my body.
After changing, I went over orientation, to ensure I understood the expectations for Sadhana Forest volunteers.
Sadhana Forest runs on a few guiding principles that help maintain harmony and purpose within the community.
Here are some of those -
- No drugs, alcohol, smoking, both within and out of Sadhana Forest during your stay.
- No consuming of animal products, both within and out of Sadhana Forest during your stay.
- Minimum stay of 4 nights for Indians and 10 nights for non-Indians
- No competitive or war games (including card games and competitive sports)
- Cost: 600 rupees (around $8) per night for food. Long-term volunteers don’t pay this cost.
- Agreements about work expectations
The full list can be found here.
We then had dinner! At Sadhana Forest, we eat a vegan, mainly whole-foods diet (more info later).
After dinner we had the Tuesday evening sharing circle, an optional activity for people to share what’s on their mind and be heard. Similar to a group therapy session.
After forming into groups and finding a quiet, dark place, we began. Here are the rules of the sharing circle:
- 1 minute of beginning silence.
- The speaker begins with their name, which is repeated back to them in acknowledgement.
- Each person is given five minutes to speak. They can use that time to speak, or remain silent. Some wait for a few minutes before beginning. Some begin, trail off, and start again. Some speak the whole time, and some don’t speak at all.
- You can speak for over 5 minutes if that is what you need.
- Don’t interrupt the person sharing, just listen.
- No using people’s names in the community.
- No following up afterwards with the person based on what they said, unless they directly say they want that.
- The speaker ends with “thank you”, which is repeated back to them.
- 1 minute of ending silence.
I then got in a bit of reading, brushed my teeth, and went to bed in the dorm hut -
Day 1 — Wednesday
The day started with a beautiful 5:30 AM wake up call from one of the volunteers.
We then had about 30 minutes to get ready for the day, including brushing our teeth! At Sadhana Forest, that means using a naturally made tooth powder, which doesn’t include harmful chemicals for the surrounding plants and trees -
Tooth powder -
We then had our 6 AM morning circle, where the group comes together to volunteer for 1st seva assignments, group stretching, and hugging, wishing each other a great day (similar to in Catholic mass where you share signs of peace) -
So what is Seva?
According to Sadhana Forest:
“Seva is a Sanskrit word that means selfless service. It’s the act of offering your time, energy, or skills without expecting anything in return. The idea is to serve others, or the greater good, with love and humility. Seva is often seen as a powerful way to grow spiritually, reduce ego, and be connected. It’s considered a form of karma yoga: the yoga of action.”
At Sadhana Forest, there are many types of sevas, which I will explore as the days continue on.
The true value of Seva -
My 1st seva was breakfast hygiene, which exists to prepare the kitchen, dining area, and dishwashing stations for the breakfast cooking team. Over time, an instructional guide has been created for each seva. Here is the breakfast hygiene seva protocol, so you have an example -
We then had breakfast, which included fresh sweet lemon, papaya, pineapple, and watermelon. We also typically have oatmeal-like millets or vegan pancakes as well. To add some flavor to the millets, we use jaggery, a deliciously sweet juice made from palm tree sap. Refined sugar isn’t used here.
During breakfast, a duty manager comes around to see what people want to do for 2nd seva. My 2nd seva was with the firewood team, gathering, cutting, and moving firewood to prepare for the cook fires in the kitchen.
Rocket Stoves -
We then had lunch!
After lunch, unless you are scheduled for a 3rd seva, you have free time. This time is used for rest, study, meditation, exercise, socializing, or just browsing on your phone. I went on a run, took a dip in the mud pool, and then went to the shower.
After dinner, we had our weekly non-talent show!
This is an opportunity for people to share their non-talents (or talents).
Some of the kids living here showed off their card magic, people sang, shared poetry, danced, and more. Many of the activities were participatory, such as this salsa dance :)
I performed the day of the week math trick. One sing-along song we did that I particularly enjoyed is below -
Bedtime!
Day 2 — Thursday
My first seva was trash pickup, collecting any rubbish found throughout the 70 acres Sadhana Forest encompasses. Sometimes visitors or locals come and use the forest area for hangouts and parties, so we were able to collect a good amount of trash and drinking bottles. We then take the trash to the Zero Waste Hut for sorting.
My 2nd seva was accommodation cleaning, organizing the free store and the meditation hut.
The free store is exactly what it sounds like, a place for people to donate and get shoes, clothes, books, and other items free of charge. Sadhana Forest is based on the principles of gift economy -
“Gift economy is a form of exchange, outside of traditional economic markets, where goods and services are given freely without monetary exchange or expectations of a return or reward. Gift economy differs from an exchange or barter economy because there are no expectations of reciprocity or quid pro quo. Goods and services are given freely out of the willingness of the donor without the promise of a reward or return. Transactions within a gift economy are altruistic in nature; seek to see the value of goods and services beyond the market value or price, while trying to address the needs of others.”
After lunch, I led a workshop to teach how to find the weekday for any date, after people requested it. I really enjoy teaching math, and may consider it as a gig in the future.
At 3 pm I had my first 3rd seva, which was to deep clean the kitchen.
Thursday evenings are night-out nights, so dinner isn’t prepared in the community (although ingredients and leftovers are available for those who wish to stay). Instead, people go into town to eat. I went with some other volunteers to a delicious vegan Indian restaurant and a gelato place where we talked and shared food and played Jenga -
We had some interesting philosophical conversations, including this one which has stuck in my mind -
Q: In a hospital there are 16 people, all with the same deadly disease. There are four doses of the cure, so you can only save 4 people. The people are 4 children, 4 pregnant mothers, 4 elderly people, and 4 medical professionals. Who do you save? How do you make the decision?
It was interesting to discuss this, but also to have the meta conversation about why our society tends to be focused around competition and limited resources rather than abundance.
We came back late, and I ended up getting to bed around 11:30 PM.
Day 3 — Friday
Waking up tired, I started the day with breakfast cooking. My job was to shave coconuts with this really cool tool -
I also cut up pumpkins.
My 2nd seva was in the main hut, where our meals and large group activities take place.
We swept and cleaned pillows, and I got to climb up into the beams to clean spiderwebs and cobwebs.
After lunch I had a much-needed nap. I woke up just in time to go to the tea hut. The tea hut is open from 4 PM — 5:30 PM and offers free tea and laddus for everyone, and is meant to provide a connection to the surrounding community. When I say free, I mean completely free.
Laddu recipe -
Vegan Chai recipe -
Chandramouli shares why he likes the Tea Hut -
I then rushed back to attend the weekly large community tour. Sadhana Forest has ~30 minute tours available all the time, every day. However, every Friday a bus is arranged from Auroville for people to attend the full 2 hour tour. Attending this is mandatory for new volunteers.
After the tour we watched a few videos about Sadhana and then a Planet Earth desert documentary, as a part of the weekly eco-film club.
Sadhana Forest 20 Years On -
A Family and a Tree -
I Live in a Hut -
From my little hut in the forest by Yorit Rozin-
The bus ride, tour, food, and eco-film club are completely free.
This was the last night I saw 2 of my first friends at Sadhana, as it was their time to head back to their work. This is a difficult part of living in a community like this, where people come and go.
Day 4 — Saturday
On Saturdays and Sundays, we don’t have our normal 2 seva schedule, but are assigned to extra sevas to keep things running. I had a later wake up, and started breakfast hygiene at 7 AM. Afterwards, I attended cow connection in the gaushala, a community event, where I learned about taking care of the cows and where they came from.
Gaushala’s are protective shelters for stray cows in India.
I brushed Hari and the calves. I was very interested by how clearly they showed different personalities. The feelings and expressions you can see with a dog can also be seen with the cows, if you spend the time to see it.
I then went to the vegan cooking class and diet/nutrition discussion.
You can view the full presentation on veganism and nutrition here.
Afterwards I went on a long run, but when I got back I was really hungry. Luckily, bananas are always freely available to eat!
After dinner I was on dinner cleanup, which just involves preparing the kitchen for tomorrow and washing the dishes used during dinner prep.
Day 5 — Sunday
I started the day with a sound bath and yin breath-work workshop in the meditation hut.
We relaxed, focused on our breath, and let the lovely singing, flute, sound bowls, and gongs wash over us, all played by the long-term volunteer Annette (the same one who begins our mornings with song).
I then helped out a bit watching the children who stayed and a few who were visiting (their mom was helping lead tours). We played games and went to the mud pool! Afterwards I did my Sunday calls home to family and attended the community meeting, where I signed up to lead breakfast hygiene for the week and morning stretches.
Sadhana Forest gets its electricity from solar panels, but on cloudy days or at night-time, we don’t always have consistent electricity. Volunteers can then get on the kinetic energy system to charge their devices (no one needed to do this while I was here) -
Day 6 — Monday
I decided to wake up early to attend a 5 AM handstand workshop, which ended with a core workout.
For 1st seva, I got trained to lead the breakfast hygiene team for the rest of the week.
Breakfast! For each meal, people volunteer as servers as runners (after washing hands!), preparing and bringing people plates. Once everyone has their food, we have community announcements and a moment of silence, and begin to eat! 2nd servers (whoever wants 2nds) then go to each person with one of the dishes and passes around the food. Finally, a pre-assigned 3rd server is available for anyone who wants to come up and get more. I have never felt anything but full and satisfied by the end of a meal.
Once you’re done eating, just go to the dishwashing station and wash your dishes -
My 2nd seva was with the toilet team, in charge of cleaning the toilets, hand washing stations, taking out the compost, and cleaning the showers.
Dry Composting toilet system -
The hand wash station -
Lunch! No server responsibility allowed after toilet team -
Natural Learning
Every Monday night, there is a discussion about a core value of Sadhana Forest. This weekly core value talk was about unschooling and natural learning. The father of 2 children staying at Sadhana Forest talked about the benefits of natural learning and his experience.
“Natural learning in children is a self-motivated process driven by curiosity, observation, and play, where learning happens through hands-on exploration and real-world experiences, often within nature-based settings that foster cognitive, physical, social, and emotional development. This approach emphasizes the innate desire of children to understand the world, rather than relying solely on traditional instruction, leading to deeper understanding, enhanced memory, improved concentration, and a lifelong love of learning.”
At Sadhana Forest, the students aren’t made to go to school unless they request to. Instead, children explore their own interests, in their own time. It feels similar to the ideas of Montessori education.
Additional reading on these concepts -
- Learning All the Time by John C. Holt
- Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life. by Peter O. Gray
- With Consent: Parenting for All to Win by Jan Fortune-Wood
Day 7 — Tuesday
For my 2nd seva, my seva was play! This meant watching over and playing with the kids in the community. I watched over 4 kids, aged 5, 7, 9, and 11. We played blindfold tag, hide-and-seek, practiced acrobatics, and more.
At 3 pm I led a swimming workshop in the mud pool, which included 5 guys and 4 kids. They practiced getting comfortable playing in the water, treading water, back floats, and different strokes. I intentionally took a lesson from the ‘natural learning’ discussion the night before and let each person decide what they wanted to work and improve on. The main principles that I was able to figure out worked well to explain swimming:
- Move within the water by pushing it, not hitting or fighting it
- Moving in water requires pushing the water in the opposite direction from where you want to move
- When on your back, keep your body straight along the water, like a plate in a filled water basin. If the plate is flat it will float, but place it at an angle and it will sink
With that, I allowed each person to experiment and explore themselves, providing guidance on form only when specifically asked. Otherwise, I wanted to allow each person to find what works best for them.
Day 8 — Wednesday
Today was the 1st day I led morning stretches at the morning circle.
For 2nd seva I was on the laundry team! This meant doing communal laundry (towels, blankets, etc…) and organizing the clothes in the laundry area.
After work, I went with some volunteers into town to celebrate one of their birthdays! We got some delicious (vegan) gelato and cake and dinner.
Each Wednesday, one of the co-founders of Sadhana Forest, Aviram or Yorit, do a group discussion circle, where volunteers can ask questions or bring ideas about any topic they might have thoughts on.
This can range from administrative logistics to veganism to spirituality to personal issues. Aviram spoke with us, and he emphasized strongly that he was not a spiritual teacher or guide in any way, and hadn’t achieved the spiritual progress necessary for that, while at the same time providing really interesting insights coming from his own personal experience.
Here is a free book Aviram wrote, “Humanity 2.0: 10 Principles for a compassionate society” -
Day 9 — Thursday
After a morning of leading stretches, breakfast hygiene, and toilets, I led another swimming workshop and then went to a vegan cafe for dinner with some other volunteers.
During quieter days, volunteers like to hang out in the lounge areas. It’s my space to read, journal, and socialize -
I decided I would stay an extra night so I can be a part of the Saturday night potluck!
Day 10 — Friday
For my 1st seva, the duty managers were able to reassign breakfast hygiene lead responsibilities so I could do the gaushala seva.
A gaushala translates directly to “cow shelter”, but specifically refers to “a shelter for cows and other homeless, sick, injured, or abandoned cattle in India, providing care, protection, and a sanctuary for them”.
For this seva, my role was to:
- wash and scrub the food and water bowls, and refill them
- Pick up all the poop
- Brush the cows that wanted to be brushed
2 interesting facts:
- Sadhana Forest doesn’t use the cow poop for composting or manure. They want to show that a place like Sadhana Forest doesn’t need to rely on animal products at all to exist.
- The cows here don’t smell. The poop pile doesn’t smell bad, the cows don’t smell bad, the area doesn’t smell bad. This seems to be largely due to what the cows are fed.
For my 2nd seva, I was on the pathways team, clearing sticks, leaves, and litter from the walking areas.
For my extra assigned 3rd seva, I was on dinner cooking prep, helping cook and peel vegetables and lifting the heavier pots.
Day 11 — Saturday
I had my final seva starting late at 7 AM, doing breakfast hygiene. I spent most of my day preparing this newsletter, before beginning hummus preparation for the potluck.
I was lucky enough that for my last night Sadhana Forest hosted its monthly potluck! Here is a video recap from a visitor, featuring yours truly near the end -
The potluck featured some very special performances -
After the potluck, I enjoyed one last moonlight swim in the mud pool before going to bed.
Last Day — Sunday
After breakfast and goodbyes, I packed up my stuff and left Sadhana Forest.
I spent the day exploring Auroville and spending a few final hours with some other volunteers getting food and hanging out at the beach, before catching a bus to Ooty.
Final Reflections
I’m now writing from Ooty (in the Western Ghats), where I came to visit some friends I made at Sadhana. The 11 days I spent at Sadhana Forest felt like a crash course in intentional compassion.
If we were to build a community based on compassion, on care, what would that be? Care for the community we live in, care for the environment, care for our children, care for our bodies, care for animals, care for those in need, care for our spirit. That’s what I found at Sadhana Forest. A deep, thoughtful care towards what it means to live. I hope to keep that spirit of care in my own life, and when life aligns, I have every intention to return.
