Sadhana Forest is a volunteer-based community. People of all ages and abilities are welcome to come and volunteer!!!

Our experience with volunteers, from all over the world, has been very positive. They have created here a vibrant community atmosphere. Living and working together and sharing our experiences brings us into harmony with nature and ourselves. One of our volunteers put it very nicely in her letter to us when she left: “May there be many forests to grow people”.

We warmly welcome volunteers any time of the year, and always have available space for them. We are fully committed to accepting everyone who wishes to volunteer here and help us create the forest. Please plan your trip so that you arrive at Sadhana Forest Monday to Friday, before noon.

Accommodation for volunteers is in exchange for a 20 hour work week, 4 hours a day, 5 days a week.

Free facilities for volunteers include: a small swimming pool, free unlimited access to the internet with your own computer, a small informal library, daily yoga classes, a limited number of bicycles to share, and a playground for children.

In the planting season volunteers mainly plant, mulch and water trees, and work in our little vegan-organic vegetable garden.

We appreciate creativity and initiative and welcome ideas you may have to improve our project and our community.

We practice an eco-friendly way of life including veganism, alternative construction, use solar energy, biodegradable toiletries, and compost toilets.

Sadhana Forest is a nonprofit ecological project that does not generate any income. Therefore, we cannot provide free food for volunteers. We have communal vegan organic meals. We all equally share the cost of the organic food ingredients we purchase. The total cost of food per person (including 3 meals a day) is 150 Indian Rupees per day ($3 US). In the future, when we grow more of our own food, we hope to charge even less. Everyone takes turns organising and cooking meals. Depending on the number of people here at a given time, each meal has one or more cooks, plus help from whomever is around.

Sadhana Forest is a 100% vegan environment, so we ask volunteers not to bring or eat any non-vegan food in the forest. A vegan is a person who avoids the use of any animal products for nourishment or for any other purpose. Vegans do not eat meat, fish, eggs, dairy (milk) products, honey, or any other animal products. As vegans we aim to reduce animal suffering, move toward a more sustainable and rational use of land resources, and reduce the high level of “greenhouse gases” produced by vast numbers of farmed animals.

We expect volunteers not to use drugs and alcohol during their entire stay at Sadhana Forest, whether inside or outside of Sadhana Forest.

There is a cigarette smoking corner just outside the forest’s main entrance.

Please bring the following with you (for your convenience we are mentioning the local prices of the items in the nearby town of Pondicherry, so you can decide whether to buy them at home or locally):

1. A mosquito net (preferably rectangular, not round). Local price 150 Rupees (Approx. $US3).

2. A torch (flashlight) preferably with rechargeable batteries. Local price 50 Rupees (approx. $US1), extra for batteries.

3. Ecologically harmless, biodegradable toiletries: soap, laundry detergent, toothpaste, and shampoo. Local price 120 Rupees (Approx. $US3) for a sufficient supply of all toiletries for two weeks. We buy such toiletries in bulk for 80 Rupees, and you may get them from us, at that price, if you wish.

The minimum stay at Sadhana Forest is 2 weeks, though some volunteers extend their stays for few months. From January 1st to March 1st every year the minimum stay is one month.

We are very interested in longer term volunteers/interns staying with us for a period of three months or longer!!!

We are part of the international community of Auroville, 6km north of Pondicherry, in Tamil Nadu, South East India.

Auroville offers a wealth of courses, including: classes, workshops and treatments in many areas of interest i.e., yoga, meditation, tai chi, shiatsu, watsu (water shiatsu), free dance and many other kinds of alternative healing therapies.

We look forward to seeing you!!!