Seva Foundation
The School of Environmental and Vocational Arts
A Community of Beauty and Peace
SEVA
School of Environmental and Vocational Arts
Welcome to SEVA Foundation
Promoting Education
Health, Fitness, and the Environment
SEVA promotes education in health, stress reduction, art, and earth-friendly ways of living in balance with our environment. We cherish the study of ecology - both of the surrounding environment and the inner ecology of the mind. We strive to live and help all live in the full consciousness of ecological living in both the exterior and interior environments. SEVA welcomes you to attend our classes, workshops, seminars, and retreats, and to reconnect with nature on our beautiful and peaceful oasis in the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York.
For over 40 years our ever-changing array of classes, workshops, seminars, and retreats, running from May through November, focus on being good stewards of the land, our earth integrated greenhouse, cultivating sustainable and organic gardens, wild plant preparations for first aid and aromatherapy, and healthy living through holistic practices such as Jin Shin Jyutsu, mindfulness, and meditation. We share ancient wisdom and cutting-edge knowledge - respecting and integrating the old and the new.
SEVA, an acronym which means in Sanskrit, selfless service, sums up the life of our founder, Hilda Charlton, and all she inspired. We offer classes and workshops benefitting both the local community as well as the extended national and international communities for three seasons every year.
Our Mission
SEVA is an educational foundation inspired by the teachings of Hilda Charlton, which support a community dedicated to the art of living. Its vision is to promote the understanding and practice of harmonious, healthy, and sustainable living through service, instruction, and demonstration. We choose to celebrate the diversity of life and belief and to foster an ecological worldview in which humans can thrive in love and in peace together.
Our Founder
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Hilda Charlton was the creative force behind SEVA, our school, which was organized to demonstrate and teach living harmoniously with the earth and each other.
Hilda Charlton (April 8, 1906 – January 29, 1988) was a spiritual teacher, author, dancer, and healer who taught classes in meditation and the art of living in New York City for 21 years. Hilda gave practical lessons to thousands of people who came to her lectures through the years, for living a life of truth, courage and love. She was invited to teach weekly classes at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York City in the Art of Living from 1976 to 1988. From 1969, Hilda taught these same classes at St. Luke’s Church on Hudson Street in Greenwich Village.
In 1980, a group inspired by her teachings purchased property to build a school where people could learn skills for living in harmony with the environment and each other. This would become the Seva Foundation.
Hilda Charlton was an extraordinary master teacher who inspired all who came into her presence to become their best selves. Hilda taught that the vital goal for living on this Earth is to be in harmony with oneself, with others, and with the environment. At SEVA, we endeavor to understand and put into practice Hilda’s very humorous, very heavenly, and very practical lessons of life.
Our Vision
Embracing Growth and Learning
SEVA envisions a community where we live in harmony and balance in ourself, our families, workplaces, communities, and our shared inner and outer environment in the service of the greater good for all.
We choose to celebrate the unity in diversity of life and belief and to foster an ecological world view in which humans can thrive in love.
We are non-discriminating in our practices, welcoming all regardless of race, color, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religion, national origin, age, or disabilities. SEVA is a drug-free, alcohol-free, non-smoking campus.