Facilitators: Dharmalaya staff, including Anushka Joshi
Description: Volunteer work period, beginning with a six-day residential workshop to provide introductory hands-on training in some of the foundational skills of compassionate living as practiced at Dharmalaya Institute, including meditation, earthen building, organic gardening, and permaculture landscaping, followed by two weeks of volunteer work (which optionally can be extended for another one or two weeks if you wish, until as late as 9th May). The actual training activities will depend on weather and the needs on site at the time. There will be a two-week practicum after the initial training workshop to support participants to deepen your skills and understanding further through practice on site.
Topic: Sustainable Thriving: principles and practices for better living, including permaculture, earthen building, and creative life design
When: 11-28 June 2019 (must attend from the start and stay for the duration), with an optional extended practicum afterward.
Language: English (with Hindi translation if requested)
Facilitators: Mark Moore and artisans from the Dharmalaya community
Description: An eighteen-day residential training workshop exploring key principles and practices of “sustainable thriving,” including voluntary simplicity, permaculture, earthen building, and creative life design. The first six days will provide initial training with hands-on workshops during the day and presentations/discussions in the evenings; the middle six days will be a practicum for improving skills and deepening understanding through morning and afternoon work sessions, while continuing our discussions and explorations in the evenings; and the final six days will be organized according to the needs on site and the interests of the group. For those desiring even more hands-on experience, there will be an optional extended practicum providing an opportunity to improve your skills and understanding further by working alongside our team of artisans. There will be group meditation sessions in the mornings and evenings, and opportunities to practice yoga or chi kung.
Topic: Designing a life of compassion in action, integrating personal and professional development with a lifestyle of sustainable thriving
When: 15-26 April 2019 (must attend from the start and stay for the duration)
Language: English (with Hindi translation if requested)
Facilitators: Mark Moore and other members of the Dharmalaya faculty and community
Description: Twelve-day residential workshop-retreat focused on creating a more compassionate life, through opening the heart, informing the mind, developing our innate qualities of sensitivity and compassion, and putting that compassion into practice by reducing our harm footprints and increasing our help footprints in all spheres of life. The primary emphasis in this programme is on identifying areas of our lives where we need to change and grow in order to become more compassionate citizens of the world and more effective agents of positive change.
What: Intensive Service-Learning Workshop in the Vernacular Eco-architecture of the Himalayas Activities: Hands-on training in earthen architecture When: 15-29 October 2015 (must attend from the start) Where: Dharmalaya Institute, Bir (Ghornala) Languages: English (with Hindi translation if requested) Facilitators: Dharmalaya faculty and artisans, e.g. Mark Moore, et al.
Description: Residential service-learning programme at the Dharmalaya Institute with hands-on training in earthen building and more. Learn to build eco-friendly structures in the neo-traditional Kangra style of esteemed eco-architect Didi Contractor, while contemplating our relationship with nature and the values of sustainable and compassionate living.
After the introductions, orientation, and general overview of the programme, we will get straight to work doing various hands-on projects around the Dharmalaya campus, including work on several earthen structures that are in various stages of construction. The two main focal points during this programme will be raising the walls of a new earthen structure while doing some finishing work on another. The work will include adobe and other earthen techniques, and may also include stone, bamboo and slate, as well as mud plaster, landscape architecture, and possibly other activities. We will also have theory discussions and other presentations and explorations. If circumstances allow, we may also have a small participatory design process (depending on the needs on site at the time).
What: Volunteer service work opportunities Activities: Earthen building (primarily interior work), organic gardening, and tree planting When: 16 July – 13 October 2015 (Volunteers may arrive and depart anytime during this period, with a minimum stay of one week) Where: Dharmalaya Institute, Bir (Ghornala) Languages: English & Hindi
Description: Volunteer opportunities at the Dharmalaya Institute, open to both residential and non-residential participants (though, during the monsoon, we highly recommend staying on the Dharmalaya campus). During this period, volunteers have the opportunity to learn the arts and methods of sustainable living in the Himalayas by doing physical work related to earthen building and organic gardening.
Due to frequent rains in the monsoon period, most of the work will happen indoors. This usually includes:
Various aspects of traditional earthen building (e.g. interior mud plasters, tile work, wood/bamboo work, and fine finishing work)
Organic gardening and natural landscaping (as weather permits)
Possibly some tree planting
Dharmalaya is a beautiful place to get your hands dirty and learn about sustainable living and Himalayan culture in the process.
What: Intensive service-learning workshop Topic: Earthen building methods & techniques Where: Dharmalaya Institute in Bir, HP, India When: 22-27 June 2015 (must attend from the beginning) Language: English (with Hindi translation if needed) Facilitators: Mark Moore, Sidney Rosario, et al.
Description: Week-long, residential service-learning programme at the Dharmalaya Institute providing hands-on training in traditional, eco-friendly earthen building techniques of the Himalayas. Learn by doing, in the real-world context of helping to build a few new structures on the Dharmalaya campus. Activities will depend on the needs on site (and the weather), but are likely to include earthen renders (mud plasters), foundations and plinth, stonework, and possibly other methods and techniques of earthen building.
After introductions, orientation, and general overview of the programme, we will get straight to work doing various hands-on projects around the Dharmalaya campus, including work on several earthen structures that are in various stages of construction. The main focus during this programme will be on plastering and weatherproofing our newest buildings so they will be protected from the rains. The work might include mud plasters, foundation work, stonework, and possibly other techniques. We may do some water flow management as well, in preparation for the coming rainy season.
Workshops and groups sessions may include the following (depending on weather and the needs of the site):
Hands-on education in traditional earthen building methods of the Himalayas
Earthen renders (mud plasters)
Foundation and plinth work
Other natural building materials and methods (e.g. stone, bamboo, wood, etc.)
Natural landscaping and water management
What to expect:
Practical, hands-on training focus (no theory classes in this workshop).
Opportunities to learn traditional methods by working alongside village artisans.
You will be working with your hands and body for approximately six hours per day on most days of the programme, so it is recommended to be in reasonably good physical fitness when you arrive, and to bring work clothes.
Beautiful, rustic, village setting with a simple lifestyle.
What: Informal, minimally-structured volunteer opportunities Activities: Earthen building, organic gardening, and natural landscaping When: 10-30 May 2015 (Volunteers may arrive and depart anytime during this period, with a minimum stay of one week) Where: Dharmalaya Institute, Bir (Ghornala) Languages: English & Hindi Who: No formal facilitation, but as-needed guidance from Dharmalaya staff and artisans, e.g. Sidney Rosario, Raj Kumar (‘Raju’), et al.
Description: Informal volunteer opportunities at the Dharmalaya Institute open to both residential and non-residential participants. During this period, there is no structured educational or training programme as such, but there is plenty of physical work to do — including earthen building (adobe, bamboo, etc.), organic gardening, natural landscaping and possibly some tree planting — and Dharmalaya is a beautiful place to get your hands dirty and learn about green living and Himalayan culture in the process.
What: Sustainable Living in the Himalayas — A Service-Learning Retreat When: 1-8 May 2015 Where: Dharmalaya Institute, Bir (Ghornala Village) Who: Mark Moore, Sourabh Phadke, et al.
A week-long mindful adventure in sustainable and compassionate living, providing opportunities for exploration of both inner and outer sustainability. We will practice meditation not only sitting on the cushion but also in action, performing mindful service work doing organic gardening, eco-friendly earthen construction, and natural landscaping around the beautiful Dharmalaya campus.
Groups sessions may include the following:
Sitting meditation (instruction and practice)
Explorations of various aspects of sustainable and compassionate living
Conscious movement: Hatha yoga and/or chi kung (morning/evening sessions)
Hands-on workshops in traditional earthen building, organic gardening, and natural landscaping
Space is limited, so advance registration is required. For information and registration, use this form.
What: Informal, minimally-structured volunteer opportunities Activities: Earthen building, organic gardening, and natural landscaping When: 15-29 April 2015 (Volunteers may arrive and depart anytime during this period) Where: Dharmalaya Institute, Bir (Ghornala) Languages: English & Hindi Who: Facilitated by Mark Moore, Raj Kumar (‘Raju’), Naresh Kumar Sharma, et al.
Description: Informal volunteer opportunities at the Dharmalaya Institute open to both residential and non-residential participants. During this period, there is no structured educational or training programme as such, but there is plenty of physical work to do — including earthen building (adobe, bamboo, etc.), organic gardening, natural landscaping and possibly some tree planting — and Dharmalaya is a beautiful place to get your hands dirty and learn about green living and Himalayan culture in the process.
For more information see Dharmalaya’s volunteer page, read the FAQ, and then complete the volunteer application if you’re interesting in joining.
Bir (HP) — India is playing host to the birth of a renaissance of vernacular eco-architecture. Hundreds of people of all ages and backgrounds are awakening to both the urgent socio-ecological crises of our time and the potential for us to find solutions in India’s own rural traditions.
Case in point: To preserve and advance the distinctive and beautiful forms of traditional earthen architecture of the Kangra District of Himachal Pradesh, the Dharmalaya Institute, in partnership with esteemed vernacular architect Didi Contractor, established a formal, academically-supervised Internship in Vernacular Eco-Architecture in May 2013.
Not quite two years later, the Dharmalaya Institute has grown to become one of the most popular vernacular architecture training centres in India and South Asia. Though it has not yet even completed the construction of its campus, it has already attracted scores of architects and civil engineers from across India, Europe, the Americas, and Australia, most of whom learned of the institute either through the recommendations of their architecture professors or by word of mouth spreading far and wide among the green-minded designers and builders of India and beyond.
What: Training and Volunteer Work Period
What: Intensive workshop-retreat (residential)
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