Visit

Come to
Ṛtavan.

What Ṛtavan is, how to arrive, what to expect, and how to begin. Everything a serious visitor needs before they come.

Ways to Participate

Contribution,
not consumption.

There is more than one way to be part of Ṛtavan. Some ways require time. Some require commitment. Some require only the willingness to arrive and pay attention. Ṛtavan is not a service. It is a place in the process of becoming something — and the people who participate in it are part of that process.

Visit the Campus

Come for a stay. Walk the forest. Eat at Gaonfornia. Attend a practice session. Sit by the river. Leave having spent time somewhere that is actively becoming something.

Enquire about a visit →

Study at Dakshinamurti

Enrol in classical yoga education at Ṛtavan's permanent school. Daily practice, teacher trainings, and intensive programs in the Hatha and Advaita traditions.

Explore programs →

Support Restoration

Contribute to the Miyawaki reforestation and food forest development. A tree planted here will be here long after the people who planted it. We welcome both financial support and physical participation.

Support the forest →

Volunteer Residency

Ṛtavan hosts community volunteers for ecological restoration work, food forest maintenance, and campus development. Real work, in exchange for accommodation and meals. We work with Worldpackers for placements.

Enquire about volunteering →

Become a Member

Membership is a sustained relationship with a living place — access to the campus, the school, the community, and future developments as they emerge. Entry begins with a conversation, not a transaction.

Begin the conversation →

Partner With Us

If your work — in ecology, education, food, or community development — is aligned with what Ṛtavan is trying to become, we would like to know. We are looking for fellow travellers, not sponsors.

Start a conversation →

What to Expect

A day in
Ṛtavan.

This is not a resort with a schedule. The following is an honest description of what a day here is like — written so that the people who arrive know what they are arriving into.

First Morning

You wake before the forest does. The light changes slowly — the coconut canopy filters it for some time before it becomes full morning. The shala is open before six. Practice is not optional so much as it is simply what the campus does at that hour. The sound of the river reaches the shala when the wind is from the east.

Morning

Breakfast at Gaonfornia. The food comes from the food forest and from the farmers and fishers of Canacona and the surrounding villages. Someone at the table will know who grew what. This is not incidental. It is the point.

Late Morning

Pranayama. Philosophy class. A session with Vipul Ji that will require you to slow down further than you thought you could. Or work in the food forest — tending, planting, learning the names of things. Both are forms of the same practice.

Afternoon

The afternoon is yours. The riverfront in the afternoon light of South Goa in October — post-monsoon, the land saturated and green — makes an argument for the existence of Ṛtavan that no text can fully make. You will not find language for it immediately. The land does not require you to.

Evening

Evening practice. Then dinner at the long table. Gaonfornia at night is a different room than Gaonfornia in the morning — darker, slower, more inclined toward long conversation. People who stay for weeks find the evening meal has become, without their noticing, the social centre of their day.

Practical Information

Before you arrive.
What to know.

When to Come

October to May is the best season — post-monsoon Goa is green and the land is at its most alive. The forest is at full saturation. November through February is the most settled period. Monsoon season (June–September) brings intense rain but a different, rawer experience of the land. We remain open year-round.

How to Arrive

Ṛtavan is located in Canacona, South Goa. The nearest airport is Goa International (Dabolim) or Manohar International, approximately 60–90 minutes by road. The nearest railway station is Canacona (Chaudi). We will send directions once your visit is confirmed.

Accommodation

On-campus accommodation is being developed for residents and students. For now, we work with trusted nearby accommodation in Canacona and the surrounding area. Arrangements are made as part of the visit planning conversation. We do not take transactional bookings. Every stay begins with an exchange.

What to Bring

Light, natural clothing. Comfortable footwear for uneven forest terrain. A notebook — the practice here tends to produce things worth writing down. An appetite for meals that come from the land around you. Leave expectations of a resort behind. Bring the willingness to be somewhere that asks something of you.

Duration

There is no minimum stay, but shorter than four days is rarely enough to settle into the rhythm of the campus. Most visitors who come for a week find they understand better why they came on the last day than the first. Student residencies run from two weeks to several months.

Who This Is For

People who want to spend time somewhere serious. Students of yoga, meditation, or classical philosophy. Ecologists, writers, practitioners, or anyone willing to be in a place that is growing and not yet finished. This is not for people looking for a spa break or a packaged retreat. It is for people who are looking for something else.

Questions

Frequently asked.
Honestly answered.

What is Ṛtavan?+

Ṛtavan is the first Living Forest Campus developed by TodoForest — a five-acre site in South Goa integrating ecological restoration, yoga education, food culture, and community life. It is not a resort, not a retreat center, and not a tourism business. It is a long-term attempt to build a place where these things develop together, on one piece of land, over a long enough time to find out whether it works.

Is it a retreat center?+

No. A retreat center is a place you book for a week of structured programming. Ṛtavan is a permanent campus with a school, a café, a forest, and a community. People come here to study, to practice, to contribute to the land, and to be part of something ongoing — not to consume a packaged experience.

What is Dakshinamurti Yoga School?+

Dakshinamurti is an operating yoga school that now has its permanent campus at Ṛtavan. It offers daily practice, 200-hour teacher training programs, pranayama intensives, and long-term residential study. The curriculum is grounded in Hatha yoga tradition and Advaita Vedanta philosophy. It is a serious school, not a lifestyle program.

What is Gaonfornia?+

Gaonfornia is the café at Ṛtavan. The name brings together "gaon" (village in Hindi) and "fornia" — reflecting the meeting of local Goan culture with a more international sensibility. It uses local and foraged ingredients, prepared slowly by a chef who understands both Italian technique and Goan produce. It is the social and cultural heart of the campus.

Can people volunteer?+

Yes. Ṛtavan hosts community volunteers for ecological restoration work, food forest maintenance, and campus development. We work with Worldpackers for volunteer placements. Volunteers contribute real work in exchange for accommodation and meals. This is not voluntourism — the work is substantive and the land requires it.

How is the project funded?+

Through a combination of membership, yoga school programs, café operations, and community support. Ṛtavan is designed to sustain itself through its activities over time, not through grants or philanthropic dependency. We are in the early phase — the campus is generating income through the school while the café and membership infrastructure develops.

What happens throughout the year?+

Daily yoga practice is available year-round. Teacher training programs run in scheduled intensives. Seasonal workshops happen throughout the year. The café operates according to the seasonal rhythms of the campus. Community gatherings, ecological restoration work, and food forest maintenance happen continuously. The campus is alive throughout the year, not just during "season."

What is the long-term vision?+

A mature native forest. An established yoga school with a serious body of graduates. A café that is a genuine community institution. A model that has been proven across generations and can take root in other landscapes when the conditions are right. We have written about this in detail in the Horizon section of the homepage — and more fully in the Founding Document.

What does Ṛtavan mean?+

Ṛta is one of the oldest ideas in recorded language — from the Rigveda, composed before civilisations had names for themselves. It describes the underlying order by which the natural world organises itself: the pattern by which seasons return, rivers run, and forests regenerate without requiring instruction. Van means forest. Together: Ṛtavan is The Forest of Cosmic Order — a place where people, land, learning, and community are cultivated in alignment with that deeper order. Ṛtavan is often written simply as Rtavan or Rta Van in everyday use.

Begin
the conversation.

We read every message. Tell us who you are, what draws you to Ṛtavan, and what kind of time you are considering. We will be in touch within a few days.

Write to Us →

hello@todoforest.com · Entry begins with a conversation, not a transaction.