Vadivam - Space for life design has created a space with the intention of reaching out to women, children, youth and couples - the whole extended human family - in such a way that their individual and collective potentials can be released and enriched.

In our years of work with different groups and people we have found that the average individual is getting more and more fragmented from his / her human family. In the social system, particularly in the larger cities, people are losing touch with their collective identities. Most individuals are being trained both in the home and in the educational / work environments to live a completely isolated life. Connections with friends, social institutions, religious bodies and the natural environment are getting completely eroded. Individuals see themselves as disconnected from the larger whole or collective, struggling with realities without a sense of belonging to the physical context and the larger environment. The rapid changes and the stress levels prevalent in every day living, further intensifies the loneliness, and fragmentation. More and more people require simple human contact outside the focus and preoccupation of task and work. Traditional societies offered multiple social institutions which helped to replenish the human psyche / spirit.

For example, the Panchayat system where local problems, celebrations, and announcements were handled by the collective and enriched over time through dialogues. Even as recently as the 70s every neighborhood in Tamil Nadu had Harikatha programmes which helped the individual to place his / her problems in the larger matrix of human sorrow. Through this process the individual understood unconscious coping skills to handle the everyday trials. But today, when an individual comes home after a hard day's work or study there remains only a neurotic engagement with "TV entertainment" which frequently adds to the stress and prevents genuine dialogues from taking place.

We offer a workshop space for like-minded individuals to come together and create an ambience of sharing and collectively inquire about life, relationships, roles, meanings, aspirations, and dreams.

The Institutions of the Vishwakarma

Many years ago, I went on a journey of discovery into the traditions of my ancestors. I already had some knowledge and experience of the philosophies and practices of both Hinduism and Budhism, the one into which I was born and brought up in, and the other which was part of my spiritual quest. After my architectural education, I faced deep conflicts and ambivalence within myself. My university education was in a westernized format while my spiritual and emotional movement was deeply anchored in its Indian roots.
Who am I? Am I a combination of both these separate streams? How do I integrate the being?

As a result of this self-enquiry I decided to walk down the path of tradition and rediscover my root self.

My husband Raghu and I took up this journey simultaneously and began to delve into Yoga, Vedanta and Vaastu. I followed the Vaastu stream for over 10 years with a teacher, and he followed the Yoga stream for the same number of years with his teacher.

Around 1992 we decided to put this knowledge together into our personal work systems. We also started our organization called `Vadivam’ at this time. (It means form, in Tamil). I wrote an article for one of the Architectural magazines on `The Institutions of the Viswakarma’ which you can find attached to this introduction. Through my interaction with the artists, designers, scholars and craftspeople belonging to this community known as Viswakarma. I learnt many things about design and building. Today I have come a long way down this road, and many books and teaching tools have been developed by our organization using the paradigm of Vaastu and Yoga.

For further details about temple design and buildings visit www.sthapati.org hosted by my friends Ponni & Selvanathan Sthapati.

-- Sashikala Ananth
-- Manu Ananth
-- Raghu Ananthanarayanan

-- www.taoknoware.com  
-- www.clayful.net

š E-mail us at info@vaastuhealing.com 

? Write to us at 

  Maitri, 2 / 544, 4th Street, Sriram Avenue, Natesan Colony, Kottivakkam, Chennai 600 041.   Ph: +91 44 24927954