An engaging, holistic residential programme to empower the creators of a more compassionate and sustainable world.
This module’s special focus is on Permaculture: A contemplative approach to natural design for sustainable living
Overview
Dates: Rolling admissions, with next intake tentatively scheduled for 10th March, 2025
Duration: This introductory module is three weeks, and can be taken either as a stand-alone workshop or as a part of our long-term programme. For those who wish to gain further experience and deepen learning, it is possible to stay longer.
Location: Dharmalaya Institute, Bir, India (with some sessions available remotely)
Course type: Immersive residential
Modular structure: Ongoing series of workshops, retreats, and other events with practicums and breaks in between.
Facilitators: Dharmalaya faculty and long-term volunteers, plus special guest instructors: Robyn Hewson for the Permaculture aspects (in-person) and periodic remote sessions with Dharmalaya cofounders Mark & Mai-Linh (over Zoom).
Cost: Sliding scale (see below)
This is a contemplative and embodied course that seeks to engage the whole of us in the exploration of responsible local and global citizenship and the arts of sensitive and effective changemaking.
Course synopsis
Dharmalaya Institute is partnering with Earthville Institute in the USA to bring you ‘Building a Better World’, a unique long-term programme specifically for caring people like you who want to make a positive impact in the world. This precious opportunity is designed to empower you as an insightful, sensitive, and effective agent of change, and to help you develop your skills for making your inspirations into realities.
Each of us has our own unique contributions to make to this world, and if you’re reading this right now it is because you want to make a difference. But how can we make the best contributions we can make? Where do we focus, and how do we improve? How do we meet the human challenges of working with others effectively? How do we communicate successfully? How do we reach people? How do we inspire others to action? How do we make it work financially? How do we take care of ourselves along the way? And how do we do our work as sustainably as possible?
This programme will address all of these essential questions and more, supporting you to make greater beneficial impacts while also evolving as a caring human and a compassionate local and global citizen.
What’s more, you will have opportunities to apply the skills and sensitivities you’ll be developing in the course in the real-world context of the work of Dharmalaya Institute itself (with the option of gaining experience at Earthville Institute in the USA as well). And, in that process, you will have the opportunity to be a part of the team that will shape the future of the Institute — a rare and precious opportunity to make a major impact.
What we’ll be learning & exploring
Building a Better World integrates theory and practice, and supports participants to do the same through a diverse array of training exercises and real-world projects supported by a multidisciplinary syllabus of complementary studies to add depth, detail, dimension to the ideas and practices we’ll be exploring.
Special focus of the March 2025 workshop: Permaculture design & philosophy
We are fortunate to have experienced Permaculture instructor Robyn Hewson with us for this three-week intensive training. Robyn will be providing a broad and deep introduction to Permaculture philosophy and design, using the Dharmalaya eco-campus as the real-world training ground. For more information on the Permaculture aspects of this programme, see the Permaculture course’s event page.
Five elements of effective compassionate changemaking
Building a Better World explores five essential elements that support us to make our best impacts:
Balanced sensitivity: Opening the heart and mind with understanding and empathy for the experience of all beings (including oneself)
Informed compassion: Discerning awareness of individual, local, regional, and global issues and their impacts — including the increasingly important skill of how to discern what’s really going on in a time when there’s so much misinformation
Skillful means: The practical wisdom of engaging effectively, the capacity to get results efficiently and elegantly — including communication skills, negotiation and conflict resolution, and moving from vision to reality
Sustainable thriving: Cultivating shared prosperity while preserving ecological balance, nurturing human flourishing in ways that support all other life on earth to flourish, too
Responsible global citizenship: All of the above elements come together to empower us to do our part, to heed the call of our times and circumstances and respond with insightfully conceived and effectively executed action to relieve suffering, bring meaningful change, and inspire others to do the same. In other words, putting informed compassion into action: making our best efforts to understand local and global issues, to act with sensitivity about them, and to change ourselves and our world for the better.
A key concept for this programme: ‘Responsible Global Citizenship’
Today, more than ever before, life must be characterized by a sense of universal responsibility, not only nation to nation and human to human, but also human to other forms of life.
— H.H. the Dalai Lama
In this age of globalization and increasing interconnectedness, our lives impact one another’s — for better or for worse. Through learning, connection, and service, we can make the best possible impact on our world. Through informed, compassionate choices and actions, we can minimize our harm footprint and maximize the benefit we create for ourselves, for others, and for the planet.
To live without a sense of global responsibility is to turn away from the suffering of others and to waste many precious gifts we could give to the world and receive from it.
To live with a sense of global responsibility is to seek to understand and embrace the world as it is while working diligently and joyfully to make it better.
For a deeper look at Responsible Global Citizenship, see this article from the Earthville Network.
For more detailed information
To explore the Building a Better World syllabus in more detail, see the main page for the long-term BBW programme here.
Who is this programme for?
Anyone with a caring heart and a passion to do some good in the world, who aspires to empower yourself to make the best possible impacts in the best possible ways. Whether your passion is expressed in the fields of education, sustainability, the arts and creativity, well-being, nonprofit NGO work, social activism or altruistic entrepreneurship, this course is designed for you. For those who already have significant experience, this course will serve as an integrated personal and professional development programme to refine your skills and sensitivities and enhance your effectiveness. And for those who are either looking for a career change or just beginning to find your paths in this world, this course will meet you where you are and help you find fruitful and satisfying ways to focus your energy and gifts.
Additionally, this particular module is especially well-suited for people interested in learning permaculture design and organic gardening.
What to expect
Two of the keys to happiness are: (1) to have realistic expectations to begin with; and (2) not to be too attached to those expectations, but rather to stay flexible as life unfolds. With that in mind, here are some of the things participants should expect (while remembering to keep a flexible attitude):
Full-time programme focus: This programme is called ‘immersive’ because the point is to be completely focused on the programme. While there will be some time for rest, reading/journaling, and personal reflection, there won’t be time for pursuing other activities unrelated to the programme. While you’re here, the expectation is that your full attention will be focused on the programme experience from start to finish.
Collaborative project work: This course will require working in groups – with people of various backgrounds, skills and experience – in order to complete various tasks and projects. This can be challenging, but incredibly rewarding when we are able to integrate and fully harness the diverse strengths and different perspectives that people bring to the group.
Supportive routine: A daily rhythm of contemplative practice, outdoor activities, discussions, and silent meditation time.
Natural simplicity: Rustic accommodations in natural earthen buildings or comfortable tents in a beautiful forest setting.
Yogic lifestyle: Clean and simple ashram-style lifestyle in which everyone contributes to the running of the place, including cleaning, washing dishes, etc.
Healthy food: Natural and mostly organic, purely vegetarian meals (100% plant-based, vegan). No junk food or packaged snacks, etc.
Digital detox: There will be no use of mobile phones or internet from 9-5 or during evening sessions so that everyone stays focused on the group tasks, and present with one another — and with our own experience. For those who are normally glued to your phones, it may take some adjustment at first but soon you’ll be amazed how much better you feel engaging with nature and good work with good people rather than the screen.
Campus life and the experience of living in community
Most of our past long-term participants tell us that experience of being a part of the Dharmalaya community, living and working together, is one of the best parts of the experience for them.
We emphasize a culture of kindness and cooperation rather than selfishness and competition, and it’s great to live with kindred spirits in that kind of atmosphere.
Dharmalaya maintains an environment in which everyone is supported to learn and grow in this way, and this kind of learning truly changes lives for the better, because few lessons are more valuable than those that help us understand ourselves and others better and learn to relate with others more sensitively and skilfully.
So one thing to understand is that learning to be a healthy part of a healthy community is one of the most important aspects of all of our residential programmes — and of compassionate living more generally — so that kind of inner work and social evolution should be something that appeals to you strongly if you’re thinking of applying for this programme.
We’ll be spending a good bit of time talking about it and asking you to self-reflect, journal, and share with others about your experiences, which benefits everyone.
Schedules & dates
Start and end dates
The programme is tentatively scheduled to begin at 10:00am on 10th March, 2025 [SUBJECT TO CHANGE; PLEASE CHECK BACK IN MID-FEBRUARY FOR CONFIRMATION]. All newly arriving participants will be required to arrive sometime between 9:30am and 9:45am on the 10th itself (we will provide detailed timing, instructions, and travel tips after confirming your registration). Note that it is not possible to arrive at Dharmalaya on a Sunday, so if you arrive in Bir before the 10th, you would need to stay at a hotel or guest house in Bir until the morning of the 10th and then leave Bir between 9:00 and 9:15 am on the 10th in order to reach Dharmalaya at the correct time. We will provide detailed instructions and travel tips after confirming your registration.
The programme will conclude at 3:30pm on the last day. Participants who are leaving after the programme should plan to depart between 3:45pm and 4:30pm.
Participants who complete this programme successfully may apply to remain longer as a volunteer (with reduced fees starting after the end of the fourth month - see below for details).
Daily schedule: What will the days be like?
Although the day-to-day schedule will vary a bit, the schedule for a typical day during this programme would more or less as follows:
6:00 Wake
6:30 Morning practice (meditation/yoga)
8:00 BREAKFAST
9:00 Morning work session (or learning activity)
12:30 LUNCH
1:30 Afternoon work session (or learning activity)
5:00 Personal time
6:00 DINNER
7:00 Evening activity or personal time (various depending on situation)
9:30 Lights out, silent time until breakfast
Programme fee
Dharmalaya Institute is a not-for-profit charitable and educational organisation, and as such seeks to make its programmes accessible everyone. Recognizing that our participants come from diverse backgrounds, we are providing a sliding scale with three tiers, to make it possible for each participant to give according to their means.
Total fees for this three-week workshop-retreat (inclusive of shared accommodation, three healthy meals daily, and tea), at each of the three tiers are as follows:
Standard rate
(For most participants)
Rs 30,000
For transparency: This standard rate is essentially a break-even rate, just enough to cover the Institute’s total average monthly costs in providing this service-learning opportunity.
Subsidized rate
(For low-income participants who can’t afford the standard rate)
Rs 20,000
For transparency: This subsidized rate is approximately 33% below our break-even rate, which means it is not enough to cover the Institute’s costs in providing the programme, though that shortfall might be covered by participants who choose to pay the ‘Supporter rate’.
Supporter rate
(For those who can afford to help subsidize low-income participants)
Rs 40,000
For transparency: This supporter rate is approximately 33% above the break-even rate, and 100% of that surplus will be used to support lower-income applicants to participate at the subsidized rate. We thank you sincerely for your generosity in choosing this rate if you can.
We do not want cost to be a barrier to anyone’s participation, so if you have exceptional financial hardship and cannot afford even the lowest subsidized rate, you can contact us to let us know your situation and your needs.
Note that advance deposit of at least 50% is required to secure one’s place in the programme, and deposits are nonrefundable because the funds received before the program will be spent on food provisions and supplies well before the programme begins.
RECOMMENDED EXTENSION: STAY ON AFTER THE PROGRAM ENDS TO DEEPEN YOUR LEARNING
For those who might wish to gain additional experience by staying on after the three-week intensive training programme ends (subject to available space and acceptance of application), there would be an additional daily fee for each day after 29th March, for which the sliding scale is as follows: Rs 1500/day standard rate; Rs 1000/day subsidized rate; and Rs 2000/day supporter rate.
For those who stay as a volunteer beyond four months, there will be the opportunity for a reduced work-study rate of Rs 25,000 per month (including all meals and shared accommodation) beginning with your fifth month, in exchange for taking on a few responsibilities to help with the work of the Institute. And for those who stay six months or longer (or who have extraordinary financial hardship) will qualify to apply for work-study scholarships (subject to availability) to cover between 50% and 100% of the cost of your room and board.
Application process
Participation in this course is by application and subject to acceptance. Due to space limitations, we will be admitting only a small number of applicants with each batch. Therefore the application process will be even more selective than usual, to make sure we find the applicants who are truly best matched with the programme.
STEP 1 — APPLY: Submit the application form here on our website and wait for our reply. We evaluate applications in batches, so it may take a few weeks before your application is reviewed. We may email you to ask follow-up questions if necessary.
STEP 2 — INTERVIEW: If your application is selected for the shortlist, the next step will be for us to schedule a time to do an interview on a video call. During this interview, you’ll have the chance to ask whatever questions may be on your mind, and we’ll have a chance to get to know you a bit better. If necessary, there might be a second video interview for final candidates.
STEP 3 — ACCEPTANCE & DEPOSIT: If you are selected for the programme after your video interview, then at that time we will send you more detailed information about the programme and how to prepare for your time at Dharmalaya Institute. You will then have one week from the date of acceptance to make your nonrefundable deposit to hold your place in the programme. The minimum deposit is 50%, but it is also possible to prepay in full.
If you have any questions after reading all the material here on our website, feel free to contact us and we’ll be happy to address your questions.
We look forward to connecting with you!
NOTE: THE APPLICATION BUTTON BELOW IS FOR THE THREE-WEEK INTENSIVE WORKSHOP-RETREAT.
(DETAILS & APPLICATION FOR THE LONG-TERM COURSE AVAILABLE HERE. )