Volunteer at the Sat Yoga Ashram

Volunteer

Work/Study Opportunities

We are currently transitioning from our Volunteer Program to a newly developed study and service opportunity called the Ashram Sevadhari Program. This is a long-term program for those seriously seeking an intensive period of serious and authentic spiritual study and selfless service as part of a dedicated yogic community.

Ashram Kitchen Food Preparation Assistant| Greenhouse & Organic Food Growing |Food Processing & Preservation | Media Team

Overview

Are you ready to dive deeply into your consciousness and attain Self-Realization while living and serving as part of a flourishing spiritual community?

Our volunteers are an integral part of the Sat Yoga family, enjoying nourishing connections, participation in classes and community life, as well as retreats and events, while supporting our daily work and helping us to sustain a thriving model for human community and spiritual transformation.

What is needed?

The specific skills and experience required for the volunteer position you are applying for (see below);
A clear desire to practice karma yoga (selfless service) as a tool for growth and transformation;
A strong connection and resonance with the teachings and philosophy of Shunyamurti and a regular engagement with his teachings, online retreats, member’s section, etc.
The commitment to engage in meditation, self-reflection, inner work, one-to-one transformational sessions, and adherence to the Ashram Guidelines and the Yogic Vows.

How does it work?

When you volunteer at Sat Yoga Ashram, you are not only living and serving as part of a spiritual community, but you are also entering into a transformational wisdom school. In general, we encourage all interested participants to join our Immersion Program, ideally for 4 weeks, before starting as a full time volunteer.

Throughout your time here you will join daily classes to stimulate and develop your level of intelligence, critical reasoning, creativity, understanding of resistances to psycho-spiritual growth, and strengthening of will to attain Self-realization. Another important aspect of our approach is our offering of one-to-one transformational sessions.

Work/Study Ratio & Fees

We offer, in exchange for karma yoga (approx. 36 hours per week of community service) and a small monthly fee, a program that includes meals and housing as well as participation in all retreats, daily classes, meditation sittings, films, music, hatha yoga and other physical exercise classes, theater games, and other cultural and community activities. The schedule is typically Monday – Saturday. Sundays are generally a day off, with a small amount of service such as helping with meal preparation or clean up.

The cost for a full-time volunteer is $650 for the first month of the program, and $400 per month after that. This fee does not include one-to-one transformational sessions, laundry facility charges, and personal expenses such as medicines, visas, etc.

Why Fees?

Sat Yoga Ashram is not for profit. We exist to serve souls who sincerely want to attain spiritual Self-realization and live in divine love.

We know that your resources are limited, and we strive to keep this monthly fee as low as we possibly can. Still, to cover the costs of accommodations, utilities, and meals, we must ask for this small monthly fee in order to continue offering this opportunity. If our community ever becomes financially able to offer lower fees or more scholarships, we will do so.

Duration & Start Date

The program goes for a 6-month period.

Daily Sample Schedule

A typical workday is about 5 – 6 hours long. Start and finish times are specific to each department.

4:00 – 4:45am – Morning Meditation
5:00 – 6:30am – Free Time or Yoga
6:15 – 8:00 am – Seva
8:00 – 8:35am – Breakfast
8:45 – 11:45am – Seva
11:45 – 12:10 – Personal Time for Showering
12:10 – Midday Meditation
1:00 – 1:45pm – Lunch
1:45 – 2:30pm – Seva (Lunch Clean Up)
2:30 – 5:30pm – Free Time
5:30 – 7:00pm – Evening Class/meditation
7:00 – 7:30pm – Evening Meal (help with dinner clean up 1x per week)
9:00pm – Lights Out

Individual Transformational Sessions

All long-term students at the ashram participate in one-to-one sessions with a Sat Yogi who is trained to help you get to a deeper level of self-understanding and empowerment to liberation. These meetings are designed to help you integrate and metabolize everything that you will learn here, give you the tools to eliminate the resistances you encounter, enable you to release unwanted habits, give you the keys to attain mastery over the mind, inner peace, clarity of purpose, and the capacity to function in a state of grace. As a volunteer, you will be required to have at least two individual transformational sessions each month. There are variable levels of contribution that will be asked in exchange for these sessions, which are not included in the program fees.

Health Care

Overview

We are actively seeking to attract doctors, nurses, paramedics, dentists, naturopaths, physical therapists, chiropractors, and those skilled in other health care professions, to join us either as volunteers or as full members of our community.

Because our small and humble community is working hard to become reliably self-sustaining in all aspects of life, and because we are preparing for all possible scenarios that may arise in the near future, such a health care professional would have to:

REQUISITES

Be willing to adapt to practice in off-grid conditions, should they occur;
To work and live in a relatively undeveloped, and remote, rural area;
To offer emergency and infirmary services to members of our community as part of your seva (charitable service);
To offer, when needed, pro bono help to neighbors in our area;
To develop, or at least work congruently with, an integrative approach that includes an understanding and treatment of the underlying social, psychosomatic, karmic, bio-energetic, and spiritual dimensions of symptoms as well as the physiological and chemical determinants of illness and injury;
To learn to work with herbs and other elements of Nature, should a system collapse cut off supplies of pharmaceuticals and other taken-for-granted tools and materials;
To want to be part of a transformational community engaged in ongoing learning, growth, and relational deepening, as well as committed to the regular practice of meditation for Self-realization;
To want to be part of a lively culture focused not only on the highest wisdom, but also on artistic expression, as well as real science, and the delight of self-discovery;
In sum, you must want to live in harmony with Nature, in truth, simplicity, authenticity, creativity, unconditional love, goodness, and joy.

If you fit this description, and you recognize that time is of the essence, and you are ready to leap through a unique window of opportunity, please contact us today!

Ashram Kitchen Meal Prep Assistant

Overview

We have an opening in our ashram kitchen for an enthusiastic food preparation assistant. Each day, our bilingual kitchen team prepares plant-based, healthful meals for it’s 25 plus residents and guests. General tasks for prep assistants consist of meditatively slicing fruit for breakfast, and transforming our daily harvest and mindfully sourced roots, vegetables, and leafy greens into ready to be used produce for meals. In addition, as part of the community teamwork, you will be assigned to a few meal clean-ups per week and assist with dinner shifts in the evening.

REQUISITES

Love for plant-based healthy cuisine
Basic experience handling food and working in a kitchen or cooking, inc. basic knife skills
Able to prepare foods according to recipes and to follow instructions
Comfortable to be on your feet for several hours a day with mild lifting
Able to work at a safe, steady, and energetic pace while maintaining a clean and orderly workspace and following safety guidelines
Abides by the ashram protocols and etiquette
At ease and appreciative of a silent work environment
Devotion to egoless service, embodying the spirit of altruistic love and familiarity and resonance with Sat Yoga teachings

DESIRED SKILLS & ABILITIES

Bilingual in English and Spanish (or at least a basic level in Spanish)
Experience of working in a professional kitchen
Experience of working on a sustainable farm
Experience with vegan and gluten-free cuisine, food preservation and fermentation
Knowledge of ingredients native to Costa Rica or tropical environments

Greenhouse & Organic Food Growing Assistant

Overview

We have an opportunity for an enthusiastic, botanically inclined and physically strong individual to join our agricultural team. Food growing assistants must have at least one green thumb and be fit and comfortable in our – often humid – cloud forest environment. Your role would be to support the greenhouse team with the daily tasks of bed and plant care: mostly watering, weeding, and mulching. Other tasks include seeding, transplanting, planting, and harvesting, which are sweat-inducing and muscle-building activities.

REQUISITES

Appreciation and love for organic farming
Physical fitness, with no health limitations
Some previous outdoor manual labor experience
Conscientious attitude, with care for the safety of others
Devotion to egoless service, embodying the spirit of altruistic love and familiarity and resonance with Sat Yoga teachings

DESIRED SKILLS & ABILITIES

Previous gardening experience
Familiarity with organic pest control
Knowledge of soil building and ecosystem growth
Seed saving experience

Media Team Assistant

Overview

The wisdom teachings that we share across many platforms (we are reaching a global audience exceeding 10,000) requires the work of a vibrant, imaginative, and organized person. If you can help us achieve a more robust online presence and produce innovative and inspiring content, please apply. The main task in this position is to process the many hundreds of Shunyamurti’s teachings, making simple edits (or more creative framing) to the video (i.e., syncing audio with visual) in preparation for publication. Additionally, you would be supporting the media team with simple website updates, possible graphic design, and content creation as well as archiving and backing up media files.

REQUISITES

Ability to follow protocols and work carefully with expensive equipment and priceless teachings
Work productively, contentedly, and independently for many hours at a time, as well as in a team
Shares the feeling of importance for this work
Embody an attitude of service, friendliness, cooperation and a willingness to change gears at a moment’s notice if a decision changes
Predisposed to self-organization and open to receive feedback working as part of a team

DESIRED SKILLS & ABILITIES

Experience with the Adobe suite on PC (Premiere Pro, Audition, etc.)
Experience with simple photo editing
Experience with creating websites on WordPress
Basic understanding website code (HTML, CSS etc.)
Experience Producing short video projects
Experience as a Videographer
Experience with live streaming video content

Note: Please apply only if you feel fully competent and comfortable sitting at a computer and working independently for most of the day. Let us know that you are willing to adapt to our schedule and that you want to participate in classes, retreats, and meals with the community.

Volunteer