Ellora rath
Founder
BODH is a creative initiative by AIC (Alive in Connection), a learning and Organization development consulting firm, supporting in capability building of individuals, groups and organizations.
Ellora Rath, the founding consultant at AIC, is a certified Intermodal Expressive arts practitioner and is pursuing MA-Expressive Arts Coaching, Consulting and Education from European Graduate School (EGS), Switzerland.
Ellora has been working with people for over 15 years, supporting them in their learning and development requirement in various roles- as a consultant, facilitator, coach and educator. She looks at Art as an interdisciplinary subject and is passionate about the quality of richness and depth it adds towards leading a more conscious life.
Touched and enamoured by her own experience of being in Arts,
she aspires to bring its application to the mainstream, her vision behind the birth of BODH.
Ellora designs and facilitates creative interventions through the aesthetic lens that focuses on Expression, Experience and Exploration. A poet and storyteller, she finds her expression in curating poetic explorations that narrates the experiences of one’s stories thereby weaving the blanket of belongingness and inclusion, supportive of human centric practices and healthy culture building.
A Yoga and Reiki healing practitioner, vocalist under training, indulging in something creative stimulates her soul and adds to her aliveness.
Starting Point
My journey with ARTs
ART acknowledged the presence of questions and answers both within me.
I am the answer guiding my questions and I am the question validating my answers.
ART supported me in better managing the relationships of life
in my giving, rest choices of my living
in my taking, lies the acknowledgement of my needs.
ART held and validated the polarities in me, that makes me a human.
Finding my small in the big and losing my big in the small,
I create a space to hold infinity, to deeply listen to the soul’s call.
ART releases me from the pressure to ‘fit in’ and binds me to the possibilities from ‘standing out’.
As I set myself free from the ‘NO’s and ‘NOTs’, I get KNOTTED to my roots.
ART instilled the confidence in me to set out in trust and venture the unknown.
My hibernating resources in the caves of fear found meaning in the light of freedom.
My perceived limitations broke the chains to meet the long awaiting limitlessness.
ART gifted me the creative freedom and the clarity needed to step forward.
Uninhibited by fear and doubts, wearing the blanket of courage.
All set to tread an uncertain path, to live my dreams abode.
ART offered a space to experiment, make new meanings and expanded my capacity.
I am the cacophonous mix of toughness and fluidity
I carry the whole world within, from lovely colors to shades of grey.
ART and Humans- both dive deep into possibilities and purposeful transitions.
Rising point
BODH’s learning philosophy
In the process of making and shaping, the learner gets made and shaped.
Do you think ‘Doing’ and ‘making’ are the same?
‘Making’ aims at creating something which is different from the act of ‘Doing’. Learning by making has two things, the act of making and what is being made (the end product). ‘Doing’ aims at simply acting, where the end product is the act itself.
According to the great philosopher, Aristotle, there were three ways to learn-
- Learning by thinking called Theoria, that supports theoretical and conceptual understanding
- Learning by doing called Praxis, that supports practical understanding
- Learning by creating called Poiesis, that supports creative understanding
At Bodh, we focus on all three types of learning with emphasis on ‘Praxis’ and ‘Poiesis’. Praxis is a practice and application of skill that leads to mastery. Poiesis is an action that transforms, bringing forth a moment of ecstasy when something becomes another.
In the process of making, the learners are not the product but co-producers of the situation. This supports knowledge transfer by Learner’s participation through action to create something which is relevant to the situation. This takes care of all three aspects of learning – content, concept and context.
High point
BODH’s methodology
We use multiple art forms to enable flexibility and create a personalized learning experience.
We consider ART as an interdisciplinary domain and the learning experiences are created and approached through Intermodal Expressive Arts methodology, integrated with other experiential and creative learning tools.
Expressive arts is a resource-oriented discipline based on low skill-high sensitivity, which does not need prior exposure to Art making.
The EXA methodology considers lived experience in the process of ART making as the ultimate source of all meaning and value. With an organic, diverse, and experiential structure, it uses the ART making process as a resource for learning, well-being, and transformation.
Action Point
The BODH Approach
‘Creative Play’ as a learning enabler
We approach Art based learning through the idea of ‘Creative Play’, a concept as essential for adults as it is for kids.
Creative Play fuels imagination, creativity, problem solving abilities and emotional well-being. By allowing oneself to indulge in the moment without worrying about the outcome, the structure, the environment, the expectations while being fully engrossed in the process builds creative intelligence, improved relationships, effectiveness, and productivity, reducing burn out all along.
‘Creative Play’ enables the learner to delve into the unknown without fearing the outcome, enables experimentation, access spontaneity and become open to multiple perspectives.
“Play builds the kind of free and easy/ do it yourself character that our future needs.” – James L Hymes Jr
The space for ‘Creative Play’
We create and hold space for ‘Creative Play’ by designing and facilitating creative processes based on the learners’ need, and by focusing on the three important aspects of Human centric learning.:
Free flowing acknowledgement of who and what we are in every moment.
Encountering and participating in every moment with complete presence to live one’s own truth fully
Discovery of the possibilities and resourcefulness inside out (newer ways of thinking, doing and being in a highly changing complex and uncertain world)
And while we engage in Creative play with an openness to express, experience and explore, we do so with an objective to
- engage with our inside world of what supports/holds good and what needs to be changed
- engage with our outside world of how similar/unique we are to/from each other