Robyn Hewson
Permaculturist
Robyn is a permaculture educator and soil agroecology coach. She spends her time between Australia and India, working with farmers and designing evolutionary experiences – offering opportunities for people to participate in a different way of being in the world.
She sees permaculture as a way to understand the natural systems and patterns that permeate life – to grow in our understanding of what is and how to work in harmony with it. Not only in how we care for the world around us, but as an approach to inner work and social cohesion.
Upcoming Courses with Robyn
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Kanika is an artist and a certified Expressive Arts Therapy practitioner. Bringing together visual arts, movement, theatre, and nature connection, she facilitates collective spaces where people can anchor into presence, calm, play, and joy; and improve their emotional well-being through authentic expression. She also works with non-profits and marginalized communities, offering expressive arts workshops as a tool for social change. She was awarded the Arts as a Catalyst fellowship in 2024 for her work with rural communities in Himachal Pradesh.
Binita Modi is a psychotherapist, facilitator, and supervisor whose work spans India, the United States, and Bangladesh across diverse community and humanitarian contexts. She has worked extensively with children and women, particularly within the gender-based violence space, alongside engaging with practitioners and organisations navigating complex care environments. Her current work brings together therapy, facilitation, and supervision through workshops, reflective circles, and longer-term engagements that explore embodiment, relationality, and sustainability within care work.
Mrinal is an Embodied Play Practitioner. He works at the intersection of spontaneous expression, play, emotional intelligence, and inner transformation. Trained as a designer from the National Institute of Design, he integrates design thinking with psychology and theatre to create spaces for deep and safe inner exploration. His work draws from transformational improv, Meisner theatre, sacred clowning, the Navarasa of the Natyashastra, and Kashmiri Shaivism. Having facilitated both intensive and short-term workshops, he has worked with hundreds of people across offline and online spaces. With a balance of playfulness, honesty, and care, he supports people in meeting hidden hurts, understanding their inner parts, and moving toward greater freedom, connection, and flow.
Pooja Rani facilitates immersive biodiversity experiences that foster a deeper connection between people and the environment. As the co-founder of Khoj-aao! Adventures, Rani has spent over twelve years educating, exploring, and connecting learners with nature across the Americas and Asia. Her passion for travel and community drives her conscious, intentional lifestyle. Recently, Rani's focus has shifted inward as she explores ideas of identity as an American-born Punjabi living in India since 2008. She is fascinated by the idea of 'home' and 'belonging' in our rapidly changing world. Rani loves funga, futsal, and language learning.
Robyn completed her first permaculture design course (PDC) online with Geoff Lawton in 2019, and attended a month-long permaculture internship with him at the Greening the Desert site in Jordan. She is now a teaching assistant for his online permaculture design course. In 2024, she completed a second face-to-face PDC at Aranya Permaculture farm in Telangana, India.
Robyn spent 2020 at Navdanya Biodiversity conservation farm outside Dehradun, working in the fields and seed bank.
She is a certified lab tech with the Soil Food Web School, and has worked with small farmers and market gardeners in Australia.
Anshul Khatkar is a BITS Pilani alumnus and a certified Classical Hatha Yoga teacher trained at Sadhguru Gurukulam. His teaching journey includes working with Isha Health Solutions, the Indian Army, IIT Bombay, IISc Bangalore and the Narayana Group. Over the last few years, he has been traveling across regions, offering authentic yoga and exploring conscious living as a way of life.
Anup’s work as an architect has taken him through rural India - building in villages, schools, and community spaces with a focus on hands-on practice, participatory design, and vernacular wisdom. His time at COSTFORD and the Laurie Baker Centre grounded me in humility, collaboration, and people-cantered building. Across all his work, he strives to integrate technical clarity with empathy, and design with social purpose.
Parul is a designer and architect, who joined Dharmalaya Institute’s team in 2024. The call of alternative materials is not merely a curiosity for her; it is a journey she is deeply committed to continuing, crafting spaces that honor both tradition and the earth. She is also a trained Hatha Yoga Teacher from the Isha Sadhguru Gurukulam, having completed 1,750 hours of intensive teacher training in classical Hatha Yoga.
Trained by Didi Contractor herself and her team of artisans, Shivraj is a treasure trove of detailed knowledge on the Kangra vernacular construction with 20+ years of experience as a carpenter. Much of the woodwork on Dharmalaya Institute’s campus is a result of his keen eye and workmanship. (He also makes amazing channa daal.)
From crafting outer scapes with earth to nurturing the inner scape, her journey now continues as an offering to live and share Yoga. A Bachelor’s graduate in Architecture from SOA, MSRIT, Bangalore, she spent over two years immersed in earthen masonry and eco-architecture at Dharmalaya. After completing Sadhanapada and the Classical Hatha Yoga Teacher Training at Sadhguru Gurukulam, she has been offering and assisting in Classical Hatha Yoga classes across varied groups and initiatives.
Daphne is a holistic architect, a certified Passive House consultant, a licensed Biogeometry practitioner, natural builder & craftsperson. She leads Dharmalaya Institute’s Architecture and Design faculty, and is cofounder of Dharmalaya’s sister school in the USA, Earthville Institute.
Mark Moore is an experiential educator, natural builder, meditation retreat facilitator, composer-producer, and writer-editor. Founder of the Earthville Network in the USA and cofounder of the Dharmalaya Institute for Compassionate Living in India and Earthville Institute in the USA, he has been launching and nurturing altruistic and creative projects around the world since 1997.
A cofounder of Dharmalaya Institute, Mai-Linh has been studying and practicing Buddhist teachings, yoga and meditation for decades. Living in Switzerland and doing service work internationally, she facilitates meditation programmes as well as workshops in communication and soft skills development. Her passion is to support people to grow into their potential.
Naresh is a builder from Rakkar, HP, with over 30 years of experience working with esteemed eco-architect Didi Contractor.
Surya is a ‘Structural Engineering with Architecture’ graduate from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. In his words: ‘I spent a long time in a world that was far removed from natural phenomena. In finding Dharmalaya and truly internalizing our philosophies, I found the patience and commitment to observe, reflect and finally act from a place of intention and cultivated wisdom.’
Sourabh is a mason and architect who has been a member of the visiting faculty at Dharmalaya Institute since the beginning and has led courses, workshops and earthen construction projects around India. He is currently studying at the School of Traditional Arts in London
Tsunma Kunsang Palmo is a nun in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition who has completed several years of retreat practice. She teaches meditation and facilitates retreats in India and Nepal and online with Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche’s Tergar Learning Community.