The Sankalan Event - FAQs

What does the Sankalan Programme entail?

Sankalan consists of the following 5 Programmes -

1. Being Empowered, Finding Joy (for children aged 13 – 16 years)

Children today are flooded with information and what is considered entertainment – social media, TV, addictive games and more. Yet we find that children do not get a sense of joyousness from them. Learning to enjoy life deeply can only happen as they engage with involvement in many activities while they discover meaningful relationships, value their connect with the world around them and discover more and more of their potential. In other words in a more holistic learning environment – which is what this Sankalan programme offers children.

2. Inner and Outer Ecology

This is a foundation programme, necessary as a first step to participate in any other Sankalan Internship Programme. This programme emphasises the many ways in which becoming conscious of Nature within and outside of us can contribute to our wellbeing.

The focus in this process is to explore the inner landscape of individuals in a group setting. Spaces are created for participants to look deeply within, ask unasked questions, relook at assumptions, review meaning making processes, become aware of unconscious patterns and connect with earth experientially through time spent in nature. Nature’s principles of diversity, interdependence, seeing the whole picture and cyclical processes is the backdrop for exploration.

Understanding the ways in which our unconscious is programmed by man-made meanings can help us discover our deeper selves and find pathways to meaningful living.

3. Role and Identity for Wellbeing

This is the second level programme to continue the journey of self-exploration. Our commitment to well being depends not only on our conscious understanding or choice making. A large part of our behaviour and decision making is determined by our unconscious ways of perceiving situations, the world around us and ourselves. This programme helps participants get in touch with these processes. The exploration is in the realm of identity patterns (propensities of thinking, feeling and acting) and the psychological life roles one takes. Re-examining these life roles one takes, offers possibilities for more choices and a greater sense of wellbeing.

4. Holistic Leadership and Wellbeing

We are used to ideas and patterns of leadership in a patriarchal, pyramidal system. What can leadership be like if we think like members of an ecosystem? Many of us get daunted with the notion of being leaders or even active participants and avoid living and working to our optimum potential.

This programme will help participants look at inner shifts, new perspectives, opportunities for well being as well as struggles and challenges that come with a new paradigm of learning from ecological principles. It also offers opportunities to participants to review their patterns of thought, feeling and action (often unconsciously held) that determine their relationships and roles.

5. Co-creating Eco-wise Communities

Eco-wisdom can go beyond renewable energy, recycling resources and reducing our consumption. Eco-wisdom becomes an integral part of the culture of a group or community when principles of ecosystems are embedded in it. Acceptance of diversity, collaborative and cooperative practices, multi-layered leadership, understanding of how we shape others responses to us and many other connections can help us co-create enlivening communities.

6. Oughts of Being a Facilitator

What will we do during the Sankalan Programmes?

For about 7 to 9 hours each day, you will be actively involved in group sessions that would include:

• Sharing one’s personal stories, thoughts and feelings. These programmes are stimulating and enjoyable because each participant joins in as she wishes to, with her concerns, stories and her own style of relating. Yet the sharing and learning are rich with new perspectives in practical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual aspects of our lives.
• Working with issues that emerge in the group during the programme; conceptual understanding of inner and outer ecology; reviewing our lenses and filters and re-looking at our world view as well as our identities / self-image Hands-on activity in the garden, Nature walks and Nature meditation; those who wish to can take up sketching, writing haikus or making music, salads or craft items during some of the free hours in the evening.

What are the Core Beliefs of Sankalan?

Some of the core beliefs around which the Sankalan Program is designed are:

• If we want changes in our lives or world, we need to make shifts within ourselves; we need to try to see the whole picture’, work with our own insights and make our own choices rather than merely follow the trodden path.
• We need participatory , reflective, holistic and inclusive group processes that can open up many possibilities for our being and becoming
• We need to understand Nature’s principles and learn to apply them to our self, work and communities – an essential but much neglected guiding principle for harmonious and long term sustenance of humanity on our planet.

The program is offered with the belief that aligning ourselves with Nature’s principles will enable us in co-creating more eco-conscious communities and leaders.

How will the Sankalan Program help me as a teacher/ leader/ facilitator?

Most of us have some intuition about what is meaningful and what is not. But the popular and mainstream directions in life often hold us back from exploring areas of work which truly enliven us.

During the program you will meet other participants and facilitators who will share their struggles and insights about carving out a greener, wiser path for themselves. The sharing, the concept sessions and the passion we would encounter in others is heart warming and often we end up discovering new insights and direction for ourself. Facilitators play the role of maintaining the tempo and focus of explorations.

These programmes don’t shy away from the need for humans to find congruence between their feelings, thoughts, beliefs and action. Exploring these - channelizing feelings, fostering beliefs, building convictions in a holistic way opens up richer possibilities for fulfilling and meaningful action.

What are the sources of this work?

The Sankalan programmes have evolved through the integration of:

• Process work and ‘meta labs’ as initiated in ISISD (Indian Society for Individual and Social Development) by Prof Pulin Garg who was a Professor of Organisational Behaviour at IIM Ahmedabad.
• Understanding of application of Nature’s principles from work done at Prakriya Green Wisdom School, the work of Fritjof Capra on a Systems view of Life and on Holistic Science at Schumacher College, UK.
• Teachings of Shri Ramana Maharishi, the Mahavakyas of the Upanishads and ideas from Buddhist and Zen traditions.
• The works of Gandhiji, Tagore, Satish Kumar, Gaia Theory of James Lovelock as well as the works of other ecologists and thinkers on ecological living.

Who are the Facilitators for the Sankalan Programmes ?

The Sankalan facilitators are deeply committed to fostering wellbeing through holistic and intensive programmes and have been involved for the last ten to thirty five years in conducting and evolving workshops and programmes for personal and collective learning. All of them volunteer their time for Sankalan Programmes.

The facilitators and resource persons for the Summer and Winter Events 2016 will be drawn from amongst the following :

Anupama Thakkar, Durga Sitaraman, Farah Khan, Geeta Prabhu, Ishita Bose Sarkar, Kalpana Kotwal, Padmavathi Rao, Rema Kumar, Reva Malik, Sambamurthy M.S, Seetha Ananthasivan, Sudha Ravi

What are the requirements for me to become a Sankalan facilitator?

The Sankalan program offers you the opportunity to become an accredited Sankalan facilitator after completion of the following requirements:

• Satisfactory participation in at least 5 of the programmes* offered at Sankalan events.
• Submission of a written personal review of these programmes.
• Participation as a co-facilitator in at least 2 Sankalan programmes.

* Inner and Outer Ecology, Role, Identity for  Wellbeing, Eco Leadership and Wellbeing,  Deep Ecology, Co-creating  Eco wise Communities and Oughts of Being a Process Worker.

More about the other programmes to be offered in future?

The following programmes are planned at present for future Winter / Summer Events:

1. Deep Ecology - Learning from Wilderness: This programme will be held at a retreat centre in the Sharavathi Rainforest in central Karnataka or at Bhoomi's Gumlapuram farm, which is about 40 km from Bangalore, a few kilometers beyond Anekal Town. It is meant for adults over 20 years old; apart from learning from living as a community with bare minimum man-made facilities but plenty of Nature’s resources, this programme will provide opportunities to commune and connect with Nature as a student-pilgrim and not as a tourist or adventurer.

Some focus areas will include, understanding and relating to Gaia, our living earth, through solo time in a rainforest; accepting our embeddedness in Earth and learning to think and feel like an ecosystem, and then to apply our learnings to our lives and work.

Can I have some more information about Bhoomi Network?

Bhoomi Network is a sister organization of Prakriya Green Wisdom School, both units of KNA Foundation for Education, Bangalore.

Bhoomi Network is focused on engaging with individuals and groups to move towards ecologically wise living in multiple ways. Towards this end, it has launched:

• The Eternal Bhoomi e Magazine
• The Bhoomi College at Bangalore
• The Bhoomi Gurukul for Organic Farming, Gummalapuram, Tamil Nadu.
• The Sharavathi Rainforest Education Centre, Sagar Dist., Karnataka

All the above Bhoomi initiatives focus on nurturing and supporting individuals, groups and organisations to build on their interests /concerns about ecological living and be better equipped for positive action.

Bhoomi’s work has been made possible by several people and organisations that collaborate with us, generously sharing their knowledge, experiences and skills.

For more information please contact:

The Coordinator, Sankalan
c/o Bhoomi Network
No. 70, Chikkanayakanahalli Road,
Off Doddakaneli, Sarjapura Road,
Bangalore – 560 035

Phone : 080 28441173, +91 9449853834
Write to us at bhoomicollege@gmail.com