ABOUT US
One Yagna is a working process bringing together people from many walks of life to work for the vibrance of the Aravallis and the indigenous cultures this range is home to. This means building alliances and establishing new frameworks to create alternatives that strengthen the local tribal village economy, recognize and revive tribal culture and practices and conserve the regional forests, rivers and land. We believe in a process of on-going evolution of the purpose and approach through continuous learning, re-framing and practical action.
Values
Respect of tribal people, their culture, their knowledge and their practices while prioritizing their revival.
Following the lead of the local tribal community to achieve local ecological conservation by continuously engaging the community.
Recognition of the intricate and extensive skills of local artisans and working to pass these down to the next generations.
Recognition of the forest and the diverse life forms it encompasses as sacred and critical to our physical and spiritual survival.
Our Team
Mihir
Mihir is the Founder of the Aravalli Kendra and Director of Yeti India. He is a sacred geographer and photographer who leads retreats and workshops at the interface of wilderness education, indigenous culture and ecological knowledge, history, economics, eco-mysticism, adventure, and astronomy. He got disappointed with the mainstream educational system in India early in his life and started traveling for long periods of time at the age of 12 to learn from the natural world, indigenous tribes and local artisans. During his youth, under the mentorship of Vijay Bharatiya, Mihir spent time at Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad. In 1992, he completed advanced training in mountaineering from Mount Abu Swami Vivekananda Mountaineering Institute and went on to establish a wilderness education and adventure company, YETI India. He has travelled extensively across India with the youth programming of Gandhian practitioner SN Subba Rao and was instrumental in formulating alternative youth
educational programs such as Indi-Corps and Swaraj University. He is deeply influenced by Ravinder Sharma (Guruji), who was one of India’s foremost scholars on traditional village cultural systems, and Kishore Saint, a Gandhian philosopher and environmental activist who worked closely with rural tribal communities in Rajasthan. He travelled for several months as the local cultural expert with National Geographic to capture the nomadic life of the Rabari tribe in India in 2007. Mihir braids the above strands of his own growth together in the retreats and programs he leads for children, teenagers, college students, adults and families. He has hosted hundreds of programs in the past 20 years including several residential retreats and programs for CEPT, Ahmedabad University, and Centre for Heritage Management. He is devoted to reviving the traditional arts and education system of indigenous tribes in the Aravallis because the integrity of the ancient ecosystems depends on it. He and Mackenzie, his wife whom he met in 2010, find themselves committed to be in relationship with Bhil tribe and an India-wide network of people working to strengthen village based tribal systems. check out an interview on a recent course we held: Mihir Bhardwaj and Mackenzie Shreve - YouTube
Mackenzie
Mackenzie is a farmer, teacher, cofounder of Aravalli Kendra, and educational innovator. She was born and raised in Chicago in the United States. After graduating with a degree in Theology from Loyola University Chicago, she came to India in 2009 for an internship to understand the challenges small farmers are facing in an emerging economy like India. Upon arrival, she dedicated herself to learning Hindi and Indian culture as well as exploring Gandhian framework for socio-political change. Mackenzie is now building a network and programming to conserve local seed varieties in Udaipur District and is dedicated to teaching this work to the next generation. Her experience is that creating joyous space for children and youth to connect with the soil and their ecosystems is the gateway later to addressing the ecological and cultural challenges of our times such as the climate crisis, deforestation, species extinction and loss of indigenous sovereignty. She partners with Mihir in designing courses and curriculum as well as alternative education modules focused on nature and farming for schools. She is a champion of traditional Indian cooking and working on reintroducing local millets in the region. She finds herself committed to be in relationship with children and small farmers. Please email Mihir and Mackenzie at oneyagna@gmail.com.
Inspiration
Our work is guided the following visionaries & practitioners.
