le design studio

alicia and vanessa at our vastu design studio
(vastu means space in hindi; and it hints at the aliveness and personality of a space that breathes, loves, and has relationships..)

~ the studio is an exploration and experimentation of creativity and collaboration and making the spaces we want to live and work in ~ it in an invitation to those interested in in the spaces in-between you and me, where the possibilities lie ~

the "studio" is a hub of experimentation and by "design" we mean designing spaces, conversations, processes, ideas into actions ~ all with an underlying challenge of transformation and learning

~ our wish is to create a studio that personifies who we are in the world - and the world we want to live in.

head, hands, heart.

~ eating together, sprouting in the kitchen and growing food on our rooftop, hosting, talking and reflecting, planning and co-creating, this is a space for stillness and contemplation and practice, and for community and collective acttion...

saklanaji, forest sadhu

ravi, alicia and i wove our way up the himalayas up up up from the town of dehra dun to visit saklanaji, an 85-year old sadhu whose life has been devoted to planting trees on the side of these mountains - they are our lifeline, our oxygen, we breath because of trees, we are alive because of them - he met us with a prayer, tears streaming down my face in the recognition of being in a sacred place, in the orbit of a sacred mission
with the will and vision of a self-proclaimed madman, saklanaji mourns and loves and every day, lives his prayer to the forest for the trees... he takes us through the paths of the oaks he has planted with his own hands singing at the top our lungs
"ek beti, bricth hazar" have one child and plant a thousand trees
"wake up" we sang to the village below, "wake up and plant trees!!"
three seeds into every hand-made hole, one for each of the gods, vishnu, brahma, mahesh ~ every act, every seed planted, an act of devotion
mostly blind, saklanaji knows the mountains like his own skin - the curves and textures, moisture and drainage, he moves through his forest deftly, confidently, joyfully
he tells us the secret of the forest's sadness, the road that cuts through her body, and the trees whispered to each other their fate. and saklanaji takes their vyog into his heart, and seeds their future, shows another possible future for the trees, and for us. they can live without us, but we can't live without them.
he takes us to a hole in the ground, the grave that he has dug for himself- HA! he laughs, i am a madman who has dug his own grave. a hindu, he will not be cremated as tradition goes, instead he crawls into his grave, lies face down and asks that we drape him with flower petals he has brought for this occasion, this performance. in his death, he will join the trees instead of burning them. he tells us he would love to come and see our forests in canada, and thank you for our invitation - he will be there, he will come, but he hopes we will understand that it won't be in person.

sacred kiss of chaos

Lying on this rooftop with the roar of the Arabian Sea seeping through my every pore. Under the luminescence of the fulling moon, the stars shyly make their imprint on the velvet sky. My back is warm against the suntoasted cement; I am swimming in the warmth within and around me.

The ocean was wild and voluptuous this evening, thick waves crashing shorewards and spiralling backwards into pirouettes of foam and splash. I floated and swam and left my body to powerful rhythm, pulling and cycling me up and down, in a luscious dance. The water’s surface mirroring the soft pink and lilac of sunset, liquid beauty, changing in every moment into a canvass of supreme mystery ~ what are these patterns, these colours, this changing palette of sky and water…

I felt completely embraced by the lull and lush of the heaving water. I am part of this creature; I am IN this water and I AM this water. And I felt elated to be so connected with, to be truly part of this element, my surroundings, myself. Being in one’s element. Singing to the setting sun and the mountain of cloud descending into evening.

And now on this roof, with the moon in her glory of light and shadow.

I relish the sweetness of a still moment in this country where the sacred kisses chaos and turns our insides out ~ and yet the sacred kiss of chaos leads to urgent conversations with newfound soulmates about love, unconditional, pure, connection and caring, and to this feeling of having found that part of myself that lay dormant - the love, acceptance, celebration of all that I am at this moment~ all I can be and all that I can share here and now.

So it is with Bala and Kate, these new people who have soared into my life unexpectedly, who have come to me and I to them in this moment that our whole lives have brought us to. This moment that will dissolve into the next moment, and we will be new again. Our whole lives, all of our lives, have brought us to this time, these connections, these lessons of living and loving.

And isn’t it ever so simply, in all its complexity and mystery, about love. The water loves - in its passion and fury and calm, the stars love in their play of light and constancy, the moon loves in her rhythm of push and pull, and the sun with his heat that burns and nourishes.

And we make love in every moment, but we forget and mask the love because we fear we will be burned, that we can’t be constant, that our fury will shadow our calm, that our natural rhythms will stand in too stark contrast to this artifice we call time. And all we do is hurt ourselves and each other, when underneath, always, is this love - this light in all of us that shines brighter still when we share it.