Yoga teacher and organic farmer Teruko Maehara from Japan visits Native Place.

Yoga instructor and practicing organic farmer from Hiroshima, Japan visited us in February.  She shares her experience:

My yoga friend Ivan Stanley from India told me Native Place was definitely a nice place to visit. Its India but not the India we imagine – people find India crowded, chaotic and noisy but that is the city – this place is a tranquil space. 

Being close to Pune – Iyengar centre she found it convenient and practical to visit the Iyengar Yoga Center in crowded Pune and return to the peaceful atmosphere at Native Place

Its good for permaculture, meditation and yoga.  Local food, garden veggies good for yogis.  One can also have a paragliding experience

My travel -  I took a plane to Delhi and a domestic flight to Pune. The guesthouse organised a taxi to pick me up from Pune airport – one hour’s drive. So, it was all very convenient. Not difficult at all for a single traveller.

I hour from the crowded city of Pune Native Place is a fresh oasis of green. Filled with many beautiful native trees and lots flowers, birds and overlooking has lots of greenery. It is dry and brown outside but a fresh green oasis here.

What to do here - If you wish farming, cooking, paragliding, swim in the lake, enjoy the sunset by the lake or from the terrace, join a workshop is one is going on. There are many hidden places to spend quiet time and be alone. To read a book or meditate when you need Or enjoy conversations with other guests from all over the world and local people . The air is fresh and unpolluted, there is lots of place for kids to play so it’s good for families as well.

Most can speak English, so it makes it easy to converse with guests and staff.  I would think / recommend it as a good place to escape the winter for people from Europe and Japan. I came end of January and it was sunny in the day time, dry weather, I could walk barefoot. In the evenings and early morning its cool and fresh.

 I found people visiting the Native place to be like a family – Saturday night reunion of paragliding pilots and friends, a community atmosphere, chill out, catch up with each other.  It’s definitely a  nice place to meet people as well.

I’m really happy I came and spent a quiet week here – my next stop is the Vipassana center in New Bombay after which I travel back home to winter in Japan.