Applications for Earth Shastra 2024 are now open

Click here to Apply (Deadline: 10th Feb)

प्रोग्राम विवरण को हिंदी में पढ़े

As we enter 2024, the world is on an edge. We are experiencing multiple crises converge simultaneously including environmental, social, political, economic and personal. Media is full with news of climate emergency, wildfires, droughts, wars, political oppression, and mental health crisis. While these crises might look separate and distinct on the outside, they share many common roots.

How do we respond to such crises? It’s clear that just dealing with the symptoms is not enough. The governments and corporations of the world are naively running after technological solutions that will supposedly take us out of the crises without realizing that the challenges run deeper. There is a need of more fundamental questioning and understanding of the systems from where these crises are born. But there are hardly any spaces for youth where such introspection can happen.

Earth-Shastra is a 9-day immersive journey in the lap of mountains, that will bring together 30 young changemakers from across India – to do precisely that. To slow down with a community of like-hearted people amidst nature and make sense of the climate emergency and converging crises of our times. Its a leadership experience to orient one’s life path as a response towards greater harmony with oneself, others and nature. The focus is to develop the capacity to understand the big picture and the humility to start with small actions. It inadvertently involves focus on personal transformation and nurturing deep community over the 9-days and beyond. The immersive journey will involve nature connects, reflective circles, hands-on activities, creating everyday solutions. After six remarkable editions in Palampur, Palghar, Udaipur, Uttarakhand and online, we are launching the 7th edition that shall happen in Kumaon region, Uttarakhand from 6th – 14th April, 2024.

This edition is being created in partnership with Kautik (a Kumaon based conscious retreats company) and Tautik (our friend-mentor in the Himalayas).

Details

Dates

• 9-day immersion program
• Begins at 11 a.m. on 6th April 2024 in Rudrapur, Uttarakhand and ends at 7 p.m. on 14th April 2024 in Kathgodam, Uttarakhand.

Location & Weather

• We will be in Rudrapur and Nainital region of Uttarakhand.
• Temperatures shall vary predictably between 22°C to 32°C.

Travel & Accommodation

• Food, stay and all other mandatory requirements during the program will be taken care of.
• Stay will be basic with shared accomodation and baths.
• We will camp for two nights in a forest as part of the program.
• Participants will have to reach the venue by Day 0 night or early morning on Day 1 on their own.

Financial Contribution

Putting together all the different parts of this whole program incurs significant financial cost, which includes costs of Facilitation, Program Design, Food, Accommodation, Transport, Material & Logistics, Mentoring etc.

The actual total cost for hosting 30 participants for 9 days is 42,000 INR per participant. Due to generous contributions of our donors and previous participants, we are able to subsidize the cost to Rs. 30,000 per participant. We hope that you are able to cover the full cost of the program. However, we understand that for some participants, this amount might be difficult, so we have a few options of partial financial assistance available to those who truly need it. The details of the same are available in the application form. While we have limted capacity to support all financial assiatance requests, we will try our best. So do not hesitate to apply if you align with the program.

An Invitation: For those who have the means, please consider stretching your budget a bit more so that we can offer more financial assistance to those coming from challenging and marginalised backgrounds. We wish to make this program accessible to people from all backgrounds and your generosity will go a long way towards that.

Cohort Composition

We are intentionally trying to create a diverse community of participants from across India to enable rich exchange of ideas and perspectives. The preferred age is 18-35 y/o (exceptions case to case basis).

We have 20% total diversity slots for individuals from disadvantaged communities. We encourage individuals from region, religion, ethnic, sexual, and cultural minorities and people from other such structurally marginalised groups to apply.

Application Process

We work with the principle of mutual selection to invite participants to our programs. The hope is for the program and community to be in the service of the participants’ journey and viceversa. The Application process is a three step process:

• Step 1: Filling the application form
• Step 2: A short call (around 10-15 min)
• Step 3: A longer conversation to understand each other better (around 30-40 mins)
• Note: We will confirm your selection on a rolling basis, so apply early!

APPLY NOW (DEADLINE 10TH FEB 2024)