Canada
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We are a small ashram and hindu monastic community living in the woods, working on developing our monastery. We sustain our simple lifestyle through an inventive lodging business which we share the task of maintaining. We're located an hour north of Montreal, residing in a beautiful, densely forested area. We have a calm, mindful and contemplative lifestyle here, with a lot of time dedicated to spirituality, yoga, silence, prayer and meditation. We also care very much about active, mindful, healthy living, eat vegan and gluten free.
Here's our present winter schedule :
6:00/6:30 : Hatha yoga, self paced
7:00 : 1h meditation
8:15 : Puja / Prayer / Singing
9:15 : Reading and discussion on Hindu philosophy
9:30 : Breakfast
10:30 - 1:30 : Karma Yoga / work or self-care and study time
1:30: Lunch and nap time
3:00: Karma Yoga / work or self-care and study time
4:30: break
5:30: Evening meditation
6:30 : Dinner
7:30 - 8:30: Puja / Aarti /Satsang
Self-Care is priority
As a Karma Yogi (volunteer) it is not mandatory that you attend every activity, we encourage you to make self-care your number one priority and to come to the activities that you feel are helpful for you and feel like attending on a day to day basis.
Let discipline grow on you
We highly value discipline, yet we feel it shouldn't be forced on anyone neither should you force it onto yourself. Instead, we created an environment where one will gradually grow to enjoy discipline from taking it a step at a time.
If you like it here, you can stay with us for as long as you want as long as you appreciate our lifestyle and philosophy and follow the general guidelines of preserving a calm and introspective atmosphere.
We're looking for anyone who is interested in our lifestyle and spiritual philosophy and who are looking to step back from modern life and experience peace of mind and heart.
We require candidate to be willing to invest a minimum of two months taking part in the monastery's spiritual activities and to perform karma yoga/volunteer work mindfully in one of our departments of services about 25h/ week. Obviously tho, you can leave anytime if you come to find that our place and practices aren't totally benefiting you.
Most of the work here is basic house work: cleaning the main house and the cabins, and taking care of the animals. The other work is often gardening and construction based.
If you feel the calling for a simple spiritual lifestyle, write us and we’ll talk to see if our place might fit your aspirations :)
We are also offering the possibility of paid work for candidate interested in a longer stay (3 months and up) and in taking some managerial responsibilities.
We will also be looking for someone who would like to focus on gardening through out the coming summer and for people with construction skills to build new ashram buildings and accommodations next summer (starting around april/may).
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More info about us:
We live on a 34 acre (14 hectare) plot of land on which we've installed 5 experiential cabins which we rent (tipi, bubbles to sleep under the stars and an elven tree house). In the spring we will be working on completing the construction of a hobbit house.
We are a small community of Saivite Hindu Monks, that means we took vows of poverty, chastity and obedience to the teachings of our tradition, fulfilling most people's idea of what a monk is. Yet, unlike to christian monks, we meditate a lot, do yoga, sing in Sanskrit and Tamil, and practice rituals involving Murtis (statues) to help us connect with Gods. Saivite means that we follow the Saivite Tradition which is to pray to Siva, the One God, which could translate as "the universe", omnipresent love and transcendant reality, and that we also worship other Gods which we could be equated to archangels that manage different departments of human life and are often easier to connect with and get help from, since they are somehow closer to us.
Our life is dedicated to establishing ourselves in virtuous living, being good, doing good, staying out of drama, meditating to resolve our karma and to experience Divine Light, Divine Cognition and the Self God within. We also pray, chant and sing to the Gods blissfully, experiencing their presence within. We practice hatha yoga and pranayama to tune the physical body to higher energies and divinity. We work with chakras to gradually move our awareness through the many layers of human consciousness. We also invoke the presence of Gods through Puja and the use of statues for us and others to feel the blessings of Divine presence.
Monasteries are usually all men or all women, we're a mix group, open to both.
Karma Yogis (volunteers) who come to stay with us are here to experience peace of mind, meditate, pray, learn about hinduism, work through emotional issues or figure their life out. All are peace loving and kind hearted and can stay with us for as long as they want as long as they appreciate the lifestyle and follow the general guidelines of preserving a calm and introspective atmosphere.
We follow and and share the teachings of the Himalayan Academy Master Course program, which covers all kinds of Hindu philosophy, ranging in topics from yoga, meditation, karma, reincarnation, and dharma.
We can host you either in the main building, the adjacent tiny houses, a trailer home, or one of several camping tents in the summer. Most rooms are shared with other karma yogis.
Who are you going to meet when you visit ?
Kedarnathan, monk, 34 years old, born in Quebec, habla espagnol, parla Italiano and English. Head of the monastery, he organises and manages spiritual activities.
Ishva, monk, 21 years old, born in Ontario. She lives at the ashram since may 2018 and recently took initial monastic vows.
Stanislas, 30 years old, creative and visionary, he’s the manager of the construction work. Born in France, he moved to canada 8 years ago. He would be happy to practice english with you ou de vous aider à apprendre le français.
You will also meet many other karma yogis from around the world who share a passion for meditation, yoga, hindu philosophy and practices and nature.
Is this for you ?
Our place most fits people who :
Already have a daily meditation practice and are looking for ways to have more time to meditate everyday
Believe in karma and reincarnation
Are contemplative, introspective and intuitive
Are thirsty for spiritual growth
Have some emotional burden to resolve
Are interested in developing or deepening a relationship to the Divine within and without
Value discipline and following a schedule
Appreciate the idea of seeing God as omnipresent love and transcendant reality
Want learn new spiritual practices and philosophy
Feel a calling towards hindu spirituality, Gods, chants, philosophy, yoga, meditation
Value peace, harmony, and inner silence.
Are sensitive to other people's feelings and energy
Are aware of an inner world as real to you as the exterior one
Feel the need for a serious step back from modern life
If you feel like you fit in most of these criteria, please contact us!
Gardening
Building
General Maintenance
Cooking / shopping
Farmstay
Other
Help with Eco project
Help in the house
Animal care
Language practice
Art project
Help with Computers / internet
Yoga, meditation and Hindu philosophy are an important part of our daily life. You'll get the chance to improve your practice and learn new ones.
The Ashram is located is fully surrounded with the forest and stands at 200 meters (650 feet) from the public road, there’s a small creek that passes in front of the house and a small lake.
We love to learn languages and help learn french or english.
Might also be good to mention that we have many cats ;)
Help us build cabins, develop and maintain a small accommodation business, meditate and do yoga everyday.
Construction of a « hobbit » type lodge : earth sheltered geodesic dome : carpentry, mini-excavator work, insulation, finishing work.
We also work on improving the trails : digging ditches with the mini excavator, cutting down and harvesting dead trees for firewood.
We also have a mini donkey, pony, and 2 miniature pigs which all need daily care.
- Landscaping and forestry:
Trail management: digging trenches to the mini-power shovel, and maintaining the forest (cutting and harvesting dead trees for firewood).
Gardening, weeding, harvesting.
- Housekeeping:
Housekeeping at home (dishes, sweeping, mopping, etc)
- Welcome customers and answer questions when they come by the house (if you speak French)
French, english, spanish and italian
Two bedrooms with bunk beds in the main buildint house and two tiny house with room to sleep 2 to 3 people. You’ll share the common areas of the house with us (living room, kitchen, bathroom), wifi. Access to our 34 acres of woodland during your free time.
There’s a public beach at 2.5km and the town’s main street with some stores, at 5km.
If you want to come here, you will need to make your way to Montreal, and from there we may be able to pick you up if we're planning on going to the city that day. If not, you will have to take the bus or metro to the nearby city of Saint Jerome, where we will be able to pick you up.
We’re one hour away from Montreal and we go there at least once a week. You can come along if you wish to spend time there to visit.
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
More than two
Maximum 5 hours a day, 5 days a week
