Daily Life at Sadhana

I have woken up every Monday-Friday at 5:30 am to the sound of loving music which is played by the "wake up caller." Singing, guitar, drums, etc are played by the same person for a week at a time. I enjoyed having a human alarm clock and many mornings I laid in bed a few minuted contemplating my gratefulness for the choices I have made that had gotten me here.

After waking up, I have 30 minutes to dress myself, eat a banana, use the bathroom, wash my face and and brush my teeth before joining everyone as they meet in the Morning Circle. In the Morning Circle, each volunteer leads everyone in a stretch and the sevas (volunteer work for the morning) are chosen. The morning circle ends as everyone goes around the circle and hugs each other, lots of "good morning"s and lately we have been having morning ginger lemon tea together before seva, as well!

First seva begins at 6:15. Since the sun is only starting to come up, this is the time in which we can do the more active, physical labor such as planting trees, mulching, patching bee holes in the huts, cutting overgrown plants, and digging holes before the sun comes up and becomes scorching hot. First seva is considered more challenging work because it may involve carrying heavy tools or cans of water, or digging in rock hard ground, for example.. but half way though we usually all hang out for a few minutes and have a banana break!! The sevas are done with a spirit of motivated collective love for the project and have always felt rewarding to me.

Breakfast begins at 8:30. Community announcements are commenced at this time, followed by a chime to indicate a moment of silence. I have been taking this time to think about how amazed I am that so many people sit around me from all over the word, each with completely unique stories, cultures, and physical geography that they have experienced, as well as to contemplate the organic farms in the villages that have grown the food, and all of the lengthy work that the volunteers ave put into preparing food for 50-150 people during first seva. Breakfast usually consists of multiple kinds of chopped fruit, and some kind of pourage or grain with coconut and syrup (locally sourced jaggery aka palm sugar).

Volunteers gathering together for breakfast 

Second seva begins at 9:30. For me, this period had usually been spent managing the Zero-Waste Hut and sorting trash. Other people do work such as cooking, gardening or tree care. Sevas during this time of day are less intensive, but equally important! I often find these shifts to be enjoyable because I can easily chat in addition to my work and learn where people come from, what their plans are.

Lunch time is at 12:30 pm and then we are free to do what we like for the rest of the day, unless we have other community shifts that we have signed up for, such as main hut cleaning, solar panel turning, welcoming new guests or dish sanitation, for example. During my free time, I have been tending to spend a lot of time enthusiastically learning about each of the people who volunteer their time here, meditating, attending workshops or involving myself in events in town, visiting local shops and restaurants, visiting local farms and eco-minded projects, and swimming in the mud pool.

Every Night of the week, there is some kind of event going on after dinner. Monday night there is a Q&A about Sadhana's goals and values (usually led by the founders), on Tuesday night volunteers gather for the Sharing Circle, on Wednesday night entertainment pursues into the late evening in the main hut as the Open Stage AKA the Non-talent Show commences, Thursday is a night out in town, and Friday night people from the villages and town are invited to come and take a full tour and learn about Sadhana Forest as well as join us for dinner and join us for the Eco-film Club, where we watch a film related to human unity and/or ecologically-minded living. On weekends, breakfast and dinner is offered at Sadhana Forest but we are free to do as we like.