In 2015, our family started Mount Mahabharat Homestay & Retreat with a simple idea: create a peaceful place in the hills where people could slow down, spend time in nature and experience everyday rural life in Nepal.
We did not imagine how difficult the years ahead would be.
Soon after we began, Nepal was struck by the devastating 2015 earthquake. In the years that followed, we faced the COVID-19 pandemic, periods of very low tourism, floods, landslides and other challenges that directly affected our small homestay and local community.
There were difficult periods when continuing would have been much easier to question than to justify.
But we continued.
We kept farming. We kept maintaining our home. And whenever travellers made their way to our part of the Mahabharat hills, we welcomed them.
Today, after more than a decade of this journey, we want to take Mount Mahabharat in a new direction: a simple, community-supported yoga and meditation retreat where participation is based on donation rather than a fixed retreat fee.
Yoga and meditation retreats can be wonderful experiences, but organised retreats are not financially accessible to everyone.
We would like to try a different approach.
Our long-term vision is to create a donation-based yoga and meditation retreat in Nepal where people from different countries, cultures and financial backgrounds can spend time practising, learning, helping and living simply.
Instead of turning Mount Mahabharat into a luxury wellness resort, we want to preserve what has always made this place special: simplicity, nature, local food, human connection and village life.
Those who are able to contribute more can help support those who cannot. In this way, we hope the retreat can gradually become sustainable without making someone’s financial situation the main reason they can or cannot participate.
We are starting with practical needs rather than grand construction plans.
With enough support, we hope to:
We want to develop these facilities gradually and responsibly while keeping the character of our family-run retreat intact.
Mount Mahabharat is not separated from village life. That is an important part of the experience.
Our retreat is located in the Mahabharat hills of Nepal at approximately 2,100 metres above sea level. From here, guests can experience forests, farmland, mountain trails, changing clouds and, when the weather is clear, distant views towards the Himalayas.
Life here follows a much slower rhythm than Kathmandu.
Food is prepared at home. Vegetables grow according to the season. People walk through the village. Weather determines many of the day’s activities. Some mornings are perfectly clear; others disappear completely into cloud and mist.
It is not a polished resort experience, and we do not want it to become one.
We want visitors to experience something closer to real rural Nepal.
Our organic farm has always been closely connected to Mount Mahabharat.
We grow seasonal vegetables and use local ingredients whenever possible. As the retreat develops, we want the farm to remain an important part of everyday life here rather than simply becoming something visitors look at.
Participants may have opportunities to spend time in the garden, learn about local growing practices or simply understand where some of the food on their plate comes from.
For us, mindful living should include our relationship with food, land and the people who produce it.
Our vision is not to fill every hour of the day with scheduled activities.
We hope to create a balanced environment where guests can participate in yoga, meditation, pranayama, walking and other mindful practices while still having enough quiet time for themselves.
A typical day might eventually include morning yoga or meditation, a simple breakfast, time outdoors or around the farm, shared meals, walking and another practice in the evening.
There should also be time to sit outside, read, talk to people, walk through the village or simply do nothing.
Sometimes simplicity itself is the retreat.
Mount Mahabharat has survived for years as a small family-run homestay. However, developing a proper retreat space requires facilities that we currently do not have.
We need additional beds, improvements to accommodation, a suitable yoga and meditation hall and continued investment in the farm and basic infrastructure.
Rather than transforming the property through expensive commercial development, we would like to build gradually with the support of people who believe in the idea.
This is why we are asking for donations.
Contributions to the project will help us work towards:
We understand that asking for financial support comes with responsibility. As the project develops, we want to keep supporters informed about what is being built, improved and completed.
Not everyone who believes in this project will be able to contribute financially, and that is completely understandable.
You can still help.
You can share our project with someone interested in yoga or meditation. You can visit Mount Mahabharat. You can volunteer, tell a friend about Bethanchowk or simply follow our journey as we develop the retreat.
A small project like ours grows through relationships as much as it does through money.
We hope Mount Mahabharat will welcome people from many different backgrounds: experienced yoga practitioners, complete beginners, meditators, travellers, volunteers, nature lovers and people who simply need a few quiet days away from their usual routine.
You do not need to belong to a particular religion or spiritual tradition to stay with us.
The foundation of the retreat will be simple: respect for one another, respect for nature and willingness to live together peacefully.
Mount Mahabharat began as a family homestay. Over the years, people from many parts of the world have eaten at our table, walked through our farm, explored the surrounding mountains, volunteered with us and become part of our story.
Now we hope to create something that can serve people for many years to come.
We know it will not happen overnight.
We will build it slowly, according to the support we receive and what we can responsibly maintain. What matters to us is that the original character of Mount Mahabharat remains: simple, welcoming, connected to nature and open to people.
If that idea means something to you, we would be grateful to have you as part of the journey.
If you would like to contribute financially, you can support the development of Mount Mahabharat through our PayPal donation page:
Support Mount Mahabharat Retreat via PayPal
If you cannot donate, sharing this page with someone who may connect with our vision is equally appreciated.
Thank you for reading our story and for supporting independent, community-based projects in Nepal.
With gratitude,
Mount Mahabharat Homestay & Retreat Family
Bethanchowk, Kavre, Nepal
