Learning Labs in Auroville (16)
Serendipity
The Serendipity project originated from the will of Giovanni and Stefania to manifest a synergic community defined by the power of Kindness, Sincerity, and Generosity.
The community intends to be an experiential learning sangha of proactive and spontaneous people who are eager and ready to dedicate their lives for the manifestation and spreading of Mother’s Dream on Auroville and Sri Aurobindo’s teachings on Integral Yoga.
Therefore, They commit to joyfully work and progress together in synchronicity with the Divine work of Mother Earth while giving freedom of expression to each one’s Unique needs, Vocation, truth, and Soul purpose.
Treehouse Community
The treehouse community shares the skills needed to build treehouses in our intensive practical training courses. They offer various workshops for first-timers getting to know treehouses and the community, for those interested in learning simple construction techniques, or for ambitious builders looking to become certified in bio-construction and treetop design in a 3 Level System. Upon completion of all courses, one can become a part of the 500 treehouse project and its network.
Auroville Art Service
With its commitment to the Charter and the Dream of Auroville, the Art Service aims to ignite a flame of consciousness and joy in Auroville through the arts. Our mission is to nurture and support the arts in Auroville, and to create an integration of the arts with each other as well as with other disciplines, deep in this community, and in the world.
Tai Chi Inner Way School
The Inner Way Tai Chi School was founded in 1988 by Vlady Stevanovitch. His intention was to train teachers and to propagate, as faithfully as possible, the techniques of the Inner Way, of this ancient art which traces its origins to the beginnings of Chinese culture. Since March 2000, Michele Stevanovitch directs and co-ordinates the activities of the School, which now includes four Training Centres for Teachers (two in France, one in Portugal and one in Quebec). Five teachers dedicated themselves to the transmission of this teaching to those, who at some point in their lives, decided to make it their way of life and to offer themselves fully to this research. Among those who learnt from them, there are today, about 300 teachers who teach these techniques to more than 5000 students around the world.
Since 1990 Vlady’s School of the Inner Way has had a presence in Auroville and it is evident that it will continue to do so. The teaching is quite compatible with some aspects of the ‘integral yoga’ underlying the Auroville experiment and both Auroville residents and guests are benefiting from it.
This yoga has often been described as "an adventure of consciousness and joy” and all serious practitioners of T’ai Chi will recognise that quality of the teaching of The School of the Inner Way.
The school arrived in Auroville thanks to one of Vlady’s pupils, Turiya, who came to join Auroville in July 1990. Through her, Nicole Bernard came to teach a workshop in the beginning of 1991. Her professional and dynamic teaching made a lasting impression. In April of the same year two Aurovilians, Heidi and Mauna followed a course with Vlady in Portugal. Mauna then took courses in Belgium and France with different teachers, – practicing the 108 while hitchhiking from one place to the other. In the back pocket of her jeans she carried a rolled up list of all the postures and she practiced her way through Europe.
On her return to Auroville, others were interested in sharing her practice. She wrote to Vlady who gave her the go ahead…,”Bonne chance, je suis avec toi!".
Slowly a steady core group developed and every year, during the warm ‘winter’ months of December and January, we were fortunate to have intensive courses with teachers from the School. In successive years Edwige, Nicole, Piero, Christine and Ann Gerard graced us with their presence and teaching. Meanwhile Aurovilians went to Vlady’s summer course, and other courses as well.
Sometime in ’95, two students of Vlady who were coming to live in Auroville observed that it was crazy not to have central place for the teaching Tai Chi. They suggested they should build one and they did!
Marco and Liliana, a dynamic and artistic business couple from Italy, created a beautiful Tai Chi Hall and a smaller ‘dojo’ for the inner Chi work. These are located amid trees and gardens near the centre of Auroville in a bilingual French/English speaking community called ‘Shamga’ which is well equipped for receiving guests. The school is now in good hands, is firmly established here in Auroville, and part of an increasing worldwide network. With the help of a steady influx of teachers from Europe made possible by the much appreciated Solidarity fund, an increasingly high quality of training is being achieved.
Today the Inner Way School in Auroville is run by Marco, who conducts classes 6 days a week and organises regular one-week long and three-week long workshops for beginners. More information about these classes and workshops is available on taichi.auroville.org
The School practices three forms of Yang style T’ai Chi Chuan: the 24 form; the 108 form; and the 127 form. Each form is practiced daily for at least a week; so every week a different form is practiced.
The work of the School is essentially directed towards:
1 - Mastery of the body through breathing and muscular relaxation
2 - Improvement of movement through balance and coordination
3 - Learning to mobilise Chi. First perceiving it, then guiding it in one’s body with the use of three factors: will, imagination and muscular activity.
Length:
At the Tai Chi Hall, daily classes are offered, in which each form is practiced for one hour (except Sundays).
When courses are organised, they are for 6 days at a stretch, for three hours per day. In a three-week course, the full 24-form is taught.
Swahansa Expressive Arts
Swahansa Expressive Arts India is an accredited member of the International Expressive Arts Training Network.'Swahansa' meaning 'I am a swan' or 'Fire-swan' is the vehicle of Saraswati, the goddess of creativity and knowledge. Swahansa offers courses in Expressive Arts in India in co-operation and support with the founders and pioneering faculty of Expressive Arts Therapy at the European Graduate School in Switzerland. Expressive Arts is a field that places the Arts at the centre of change. The Expressive Arts field invites you to explore multiple art forms such as painting, poetry, movement, music, theatre, photography and experience the interplay between these art forms to discover what unfolds in the creative process as a way of understanding the self and the human nature through creative action, thereby applying this knowledge further in the field of Therapy, Education, Conflict resolution & Peace-building, Self-Discovery and Coaching & Consulting. In collaboration with some of the leading practitioners from around the world as guest artists in our India module the courses reflect and carry within its framework the deep soulful culture that India offers to the world, drawn from the essence and wisdom in the Arts present here over centuries.
Auroville Film Institute
Auroville Film Institute is the manifestation of the long-standing dream of the Mother (Mirra Alfassa – the founder of Auroville) of having a “cinema studio, a cinema school…” in Auroville. Dedicated to the cinema of awakening, the Auroville Film Institute has the following guiding principles.
- Unending education and constant progress
- Technical training for mastery over art and craft of Filmmaking
- Time travel
- Courageous flights between dreams, realities and alternatives
- Critical appreciation, mentoring, and production of conscious Cinema, also of innovative experimental multimedia artforms.
- Human Unity
Auroville Film Institute offers a series of film appreciation and film-making courses in collaboration with India’s premier film institutes, including Film and Television Institute of India, Pune (ftii.ac.in). They also hold film study groups, individualized mentorship, and student exchange programs.
MeDiClown Academy
Founded in 2013, MeDiClown Academy is a registered activity of the Auroville Foundation, incubated as a social startup by Fif Fernandes and Hamish Boyd. The Academy aims to transform health and social well-being through Medical Clowning in rural and urban India. The Vision of MeDiClown Academy is ‘Healing through Love, Laughter, Play and Humour: A Healthy Happy India for All.’
Currently, hospitals, healthcare and corporate sectors, and educational institutions are some of the key beneficiaries of its services. MeDiClown Academy is now offering a “Fellowship in the Arts and Science of MeDi Clowning” accredited by Saveetha University. First of its kind in India, an Accredited & Certified Fellowship Program for aspirants in health & well-being, education, social sector and corporate organizations. With this, MeDiClown Academy aims to create a new stream of career opportunities for the aspirants in various fields.
Auroville Botanical Gardens
The Auroville Botanical Gardens are situated in the International township of Auroville. Established in 2000 they cover 50 acres and now have a collection of over 1,300 plant species displayed in a number of thematic gardens.
Environmental education programs run at the gardens for local school children and we have had over 50,000 children visiting us.
Anveshan
Anveshan's mission is to inform, inspire & impart integral learning & leadership, where mind, body and soul are aligned to create harmony with all life. It does so through sustainable experiential learning courses for self-development and leadership development for children, youth and adult of the world. Some of their famous courses are experiential travel courses like the Ganga Yatra.
Auroville Jiva
“Jiva” is a growing collaboration of highly experienced therapists and facilitators living in Auroville.
Jiva works with clients with most diverse issues, be it emotional, physical, or on the mental level, and more so… the questions of the soul.
We are deeply involved with Integral Yoga, sharing our inner journey and conscious discovery professionally.
We are highly qualified, adhere to highest standards in therapeutic work, and often work and teach internationally.
Jiva offers training, classes and therapy sessions, as well as retreats and webinars in
- Natural Horsemanship, Horse Assisted Therapy with Mirrabelle Lindemann
- Acupuncture, Shiatsu, QiGong with Andres Lokuta
- Integral Regressiontherapy, hypnotherapy, advanced classical Homeopathy with Sigrid Lindemann
- Shiatsu, Taijichuan,advanced physiotherapy, and healing with Sami Latzke
- Yoganidra with Egle Borchardt
- TaijiChuan, Shiatsu with Michael Winkler
- Medical Clowning with Fif Fernandes
- Yoga – all styles with Bala Sivaprakasam
Auroville Jiva is a group of therapists and facilitators, .
Jiva works with clients with most diverse issues, be it emotional, physical, or on the mental level, and more so… the questions of the soul.
Their workshops and trainings empower and transform.
The life paths, nationalities and backgrounds of JIVA therapists and facilitators are very colorful. What brings them together is the perspective of integral Yoga, lived in Auroville, and offered as integrated approach into our therapy, workshops and trainings.
The purpose of JIVA is to bring about change…. to grow as a person, to grow in awareness, to grow into connection with our souls.
Auroville Green Practices
Auroville Green Practices aims to bring together various stakeholders to envision future townships that offer a habitat that is ecologically, socially and economically nurturing. Distinguished professionals in the field share their vision and experiences in the form of plenary talks, participatory sessions and a panel discussion addressing the key question concerning sustainable integrated human habitats. Auroville Green Practices is managed by Auroville Consulting, a unit under Auroville Foundation
Sadhana Forest
Sadhana Forest started its ecological revival and sustainable living work on December 19th 2003.
The vision of its founders, Yorit and Aviram Rozin, is to transform 70 acres of severely eroded, arid land on the outskirts of Auroville. In a spirit of human unity, their aim is to introduce a growing number of people to sustainable living, food security through ecological transformation, wasteland reclamation, and veganism. Our energy and resources are focused on the creation of a vibrant, indigenous Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest (TDEF).
Sadhana Forest won the third place in the Humanitarian Water and Food Award (WAF) 2010. The ceremony took place in the Marble Hall of the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, on November 25th, 2010. Shri Ashok Kumar Attri the Ambassador of India to Denmark honored Sadhana Forest by attending the ceremony.
This award is an international recognition of the quality of the ecological and humanitarian work done by Sadhana Forest in India and Haiti.
YouthLink
YouthLink is a collective space for youth to progress in the Auroville spirit of service and evolution of consciousness.YouthLink is an organization that provides information and space for young adults to organize events, education, and projects.
YouthLink is an educational activity and a service under the Auroville Foundation.
Auroville Earth Institute
The Auroville Earth Institute (AVEI) is a non-profit organization specializing in the research, development, promotion, and transfer of earth-based building technologies, among the most cost-effective, low-carbon, low embodied energy solutions for sustainable development.
Over the last 31 years, AVEI has become one of the world’s top centers for excellence in earthen architecture, working in 36 countries to promote and disseminate knowledge in the construction of sustainable habitats. As the Representative and Resource Centre for Asia of the UNESCO Chair “Earthen Architecture, Constructive Cultures, and Sustainable Development”, AVEI aims to empower local stakeholders through an international network of experts. The work of the Earth Institute has attempted to revive traditional skills and to link vernacular traditions of raw earth construction with modern technologies of stabilised earth.
The various courses held in Auroville aim to introduce and promote the technology of raw and stabilized earth to build with. The AURAM equipment for earth construction and the technologies taught have been developed by the Auroville Earth Institute.
The Institute conducts Theory and Practical oriental intensive courses On-Campus and Online Theory and Design class.There is a special blended course with online theory components and on-campus practical components.
All the courses are offered on the two following components
CSEB = Compressed Stabilised Earth Blocks
AVD = Arches, Vaults and Domes
Svaram
Svaram brings together the rich tradition of Indian Music and Craft and international academic musicology, sound studies and research, contemporary design and innovation with the unique spiritual, futuristic aspiration of Auroville and its experiment of Human Unity.
Svaram offers plethora of offerings such as
A Guided Tour to know Svaram better- Arranged through the Auroville Visitor’s Centre
Instrument Building
Drum Circle
Sound Experience
Sound Retreat
Music Creativity
Vocal Coaching
Instrument Classes.
All the details are provided in the website and one can register for the courses via the website.
Purnam Centre for Integrality
Purnam Centre for Integrality has a two-fold purpose:
- To facilitate the emergence of Auroville as an International Univers-city Campus for Transformative Living. Towards this goal, Purnam is holding Campus Platform (https://edu.auroville.org), Integral Education Portal (https://ie.auroville.org) as well as the Disha Desk for Auroville Youth.
- Its second mission is focused on creating transformative long-term higher educational learning courses for youth of all ages.
Some of its present courses are:
- Swadharma (https://swadharma.auroville.org),
- Svadhyaya (https://svadhyaya.auroville.org),
- Savitri Painting (https://savitripainting.auroville.org),
- Prayoga (https://aci.auroville.org/prayoga). for an Integral Living.