Speaker: Ragu and Nisha

California to Coimbatore: Life Natural

On their blog, Ragu and Nisha describe their life as "our experiment in laying a new path on an old road that leads to simplicity, sustainability and dare we say, spirituality."  All three words came alive when Suchi Shenoy recently visited; she wrote, "Home schooling takes time. Food-based care demands patience. The only thing more strenuous than Ragu’s 'do-nothing farming' may be doing nothing -- practicing meditation with the dedication that Ragu, Nisha and Aum bring to it. All their activities seem to involve extended gestation, an awareness of rhythms and cadences almost forgotten in Twitter-time. And everything is done with passion, grace and good cheer."

Many years ago, both Ragu and Nisha had successful careers in California's Silicon Valley.  Always known to walk their talk, when their son, Aum, arrived into the world, they thought of stepping things up even more.  They moved to a barren plot of land on the outskirts of Coimbatore (South India), decided to regenerate the soil through their practice, and "farm school" their son.  When Dr. Neil Patel visited them, he wrote a detailed account of his time there: "They jumped in with the intention of living and being in a way better aligned with their inner voices, and learning what they needed along the way. Many people talk about such a shift, very few actually do it. By my count, I only know these two."

Over the years, they have planted tens of thousands of trees and their farm is thriving, build their own house with entirely local materials, Aum is growing to be a very compassionate kid, and a lot more.  As Ragu says, "It's a story I don't want to sell," but they don't have to.  Everyone who goes there ends up being profoundly transformed, and that transformation inevitably, and organically, ripples out.

In recent years, they have started applying farming principles to the ecology within our own bodies -- natural healing, they call it.  It has healed and radically altered the course of uncountable lives, but they don't charge for anything, they don't have a list of testimonials posted anywhere, they have no products to market, and they don't have any particular ambition for its future.  They are just being the change they wish to see, and allowing the rest to unfold naturally.

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