Yoga Ranch Internship in New York

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Sivananda Ashram Yoga Ranch Internship in New York – 2019

Yoga Ranch Internship

Sivananda Ashram Yoga Ranch is seeking summer interns in one (or a combination) of the following land areas: organic vegetable garden/food forest, flower garden/landscaping and trail maintenance on our 77-acre Catskill location. The ashram has a large vegetable garden, food forest, herb and berry patches all of which are organic. There is an extensive floral garden with an emphasis on attracting pollinators. The 77-acre ashram has hiking trails and ponds. The yoga ranch internship offers practical skills, work experience, room and board, an on-site library, a curriculum based in Sivananda philosophies with an emphasis on sustainability and an ashram experience in a purposeful spiritual community while living close to the earth.

The yoga ranch internship is for students who want to participate in a formal internship or independent study through their college program. Evaluations will be provided by the liaison with department head input and ashram management oversight. This is ideal for a student of the environment, agriculture or landscaping who is interested in a vegetarian yogic community for personal and professional development.

Our food gardens provide organic sustenance for the body and mind, our flowers provide a beautiful, colorful haven, which nourishes the spirit, and our trails provide opportunity for developing a relationship with nature.

Yoga ranch internship duties may include: seeding, transplanting, weeding, watering, harvesting, washing, composting, maintaining pathways, mulching, pruning, plant propagation, deer control, pond care, insect and pest control, weed whacking, hole digging for fence posts, tree care, maintaining wood piles, splitting logs, forest clearance, landscaping and tool usage (training provided), soil preparation.

Our gardens relationship with the kitchen is integral to our way of life. Composting, harvesting and a once-weekly working with the kitchen are part of the weekly ashram food cycle. 

By the end of the season you will have attained a practical understanding of the day-to-day practices of sustainable gardening and be skilled in the basic tasks required and a philosophic understanding of your relationship to food and the earth. As yogis we eat with awareness, choosing food that has the most positive effect on the body and mind and the least negative effect on the environment. We are very glad to share this way of life with you.

Yoga Ranch Internship Qualifications: strong work ethic, serious desire to learn and practice sustainable agriculture and land maintenance, ability to work outdoors in all (summer) weather, having an understanding that repetitive tasks are the basis of agriculture as well as an opportunity to develop one’s own character and skill, the ability to work precisely and with care, and a willingness to take personal responsibility for assigned tasks or independent projects. Interns may develop a special project of interest in consultation with management. Projects will be approved by the ashram and are welcome to include small independent agriculture experiments, research, documentation, and environmental education. Please do note that skills need not be developed but the sincere effort and interest to do so will ensure that they will be acquired by the end of the season. Most importantly, we are a purposeful community striving to work together for inner knowledge and responsibility towards each other and the earth. We believe that selfless service or Karma Yoga is the foundation on which all yogic practices are based.

The three department heads as well as an administrative liaison guide internships. 

Sivananda Ashram Yoga Ranch serves a lacto-vegetarian diet with accommodations for vegans. No meat, alcohol or smoking of any kind is permitted on the property. The daily schedule includes an asana class, 6 hours of intern duties as well as the participation in the 2-daily Satsangs. We maintain silence from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. daily. 

START/END DATES: Mid/end-June to Mid/end-August 2019, specifics to be arranged individually. 6 – 10 weeks, 6 days a week with one afternoon devoted to research and writing. NOTE: should any students wish to consider a year in agriculture/land maintenance at the ashram, we are glad to consider the possibility with the summer being a trial/planning period.

COMPENSATION: room and board, supplies for projects as approved, stipend for the Ashram Boutique (snacks and gifts), daily yoga class and satsang and, as your schedule allows, participation in our educational programs. Tents provided though you may bring your own tent/equipment. There is an on-site wood-heated sauna.

Contact Martine Bisagni at ranchinterns@sivananda.org for an application, further information or should you have any questions. Completed signed application, 2 references (one academic), area of interest list and cover letter required for processing.

Sivananda Yoga Ranch   500 Budd Road Woodbourne NY 12788    www.sivanandayogaranch.org

 

• Learn more about farming and food jobs and internships, or learn how to post a job, internship, or apprenticeship opportunity on beginningfarmers.org by going to https://www.beginningfarmers.org/internship-and-employment-opportunities/