Spirit Of Service Retreat
Location: Ahmedabad
Duration: --
"Service is the work of the soul. It is what the soul must do to be itself." — Rachel Naomi Remen
What if the revolution the world needs most is not fought with force, but woven with presence? What if the medicine for our fracturing is not found in grand gestures, but in the tender decision to see each moment as a doorway to belonging?
Service begins with a question the heart has always known: What can I give? Not because the world is broken and we must fix it, but because life is whole and we long to honour that wholeness. When we serve, we're not standing above anyone — we're kneeling beside them, offering not our surplus, but our very selves. Our wounds serve. Our uncertainty serves. Even our fumbling attempts at love become threads in the fabric we're mending together.
The world speaks endlessly of its disconnection — loneliness touches one in six people, trust dissolves, communities fray. And yet beneath every statistic pulses an indestructible truth: we are built to care. In crisis, strangers become family. In silence, a listening heart becomes sanctuary. Science confirms what ancient wisdom whispered: acts of compassion rewire not only our biology but our very sense of who we are.
Perhaps service is how we remember that we belong to one another — not as a philosophy, but as lived experience. It shifts us from asking "What's in it for me?" to discovering we never stood alone to begin with. Each small act — a genuine smile, full attention, a shared meal — becomes a quiet rebellion against the myth of separation. These aren't leftovers we give when convenient; they're offerings from the most alive part of ourselves.
The greatest gift we have to offer isn't our expertise or our solutions. It's our presence — the courage to show up fully, to slow down enough to see another person, to meet fear with tenderness and cynicism with steadfast care. This is the intelligence not of the mind, but of the heart. Not speed, but stillness. Not power, but the willingness to serve something larger than ourselves.
In a time when the world measures worth by what we accumulate, perhaps the deeper invitation is this: How much can we give — of our attention, our kindness, our whole-hearted presence — before we discover that service was never something we did, but who we've always been?
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This December, we invite you to explore these questions not as theory, but as lived practice — through a three-day retreat held December 18-21, woven into a ten-day global immersion with kindred spirits from Vietnam, Japan, America, and beyond.
Together, we'll engage head, hands, and heart:
Head — Learning from inspiring guest speakers and global thought leaders who illuminate pathways of service.
Hands — Stepping into the world with local immersions: village visits, spontaneous acts of kindness on streets and buses, connecting with grassroots NGOs doing transformative work on the ground.
Heart — Coming together in silence and song. Morning yoga and tai chi. Stories of transformation from our own turning points. Contemplative meditation. And closing with a sacred "three steps and a bow" pilgrimage — walking the questions we've been living.
The retreat will unfold on a beautiful campus nestled in nature, a place with its own legacy of service. This is where Ishwar Patel — a Gandhian who revolutionised sanitation across India — lived his quiet philosophy: "If an act leaves residue, it is not an act of service." His life was a testament to what we're gathering to explore: that the smallest acts, offered with wholeness, can shift everything.
And here's what makes this gathering unique: it's entirely volunteer-led. Every facilitator, organiser, and guide is steeped in the same spirit we're exploring together. No one is being paid to care — everyone is here because service itself is the reward.
Whether you're eighteen or eighty, new to service or a longtime practitioner, skeptical or seeking — there's a place for you in this circle. All that's needed is your willingness to show up, to wonder, to offer what you have, and to receive what arises.
To join the retreat, please click on the 'Apply For Retreat' button below and complete the application below and we'll get back to you.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
- Inspiring participants. Lots of great hearts are coming together!
- Uncommon questions. For quick-fix, binary, either-or answers, we already have Google; we aim to hold questions to lean into its nuances first.
- Noble Friendships. Our hope is to nurture a rich matrix of friendships among unlikely friends.
- Gandhi. Being on sacred Gandhian land in Ahmedabad, we hope to tap into vast reservoir of inspiration and practicing Gandhians. (More: Standing Up)
- Volunteer Run. It's run entirely by volunteers, so there's no solicitation, pitches, agendas. Just practice of love.
The retreat formally begins on 4:00PM (IST) on Dec 18th (Thursday), 2025. Please ensure you reach the retreat venue before that. If needed, outstation guests are welcome to arrive on the previous evening.
Retreat ends at Sunday, Dec 21st @ 3PM (IST). Most participants will leave during the evening, but in case you need to stay back for the night, we will be happy to arrange that.
Please note that is mandatory to be present with us for the entire duration of the retreat. And during the retreat, you won’t have space to take other meetings or step out of the campus.
Through our time together, we will sit in circles to learn from each other’s experiments and challenges; hear and engage with some innovative speakers across sectors; engage in many group practices that nurture our collective inner transformation. Plenty of opportunities to engage the head, hands and of course the heart. Plus a few surprises!
Over last twelve years, thousands have joined from a wide-ranging backgrounds. Perhaps what brought them together was a simple organizing principle: We are not merely what we do, but who we become by what we do. If you resonate with the notion that inner change and outer change are intrixicably intertwined, and if you are moved to cultivate deep connections with kindred spirits, this retreat will likely speak to you! Beyond that, we'd recommend leaning in your heart's intuition -- more often than not, 'heart knows today what the mind will know tomorrow.' :)
To facilitate deeper connections, we limit the group size of our gatherings -- and give priority to project initiators who are anchoring local projects in their contexts.
If you have any questions, please contact us anytime. To co-create our sacred field of emergence, we welcome you join us!
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