What next?

Developing the next 4 mandalas and experiences.

User testing
Selling and marketing

Learnings
1. The positive effects of nature on mental and physical health- whatever we see,
think and imagine, it gets reflected on our physical body as well.
2. The best experiences are made when all the five senses are involved.
3. How to make spaces better by adding biophillic elements .
4. Recalling positive memories of good times/ time spent in nature can heal even
traumas.
5. Colours can heal powerfully, both our mental and physical ailments.
6. Mandalas are great self expression and self analysis tools- our strengths,
weakness, thoughts come out in form of symbols.
7. Nature can be experienced at home and in our own personal spaces.
8. People always look out for products which give the best experiences.
9.

Reflection

This project, Biodiversity has been quite fun and challenging. Since childhood, I have always
been attracted to nature and whatever I'd do, I'd it outdoors, whether it was studying, drawing,
playing or whatever. Gardening, morning walks, had become a part of my daily routine. Having
grown up in Government townships, with few people around, larger and distanced homes,
gardens and parks and everything at walking distances , I felt very connected to nature.
In 2015, when I came to Srishti , Bangalore had a completely contrasting image . When we
began working on the project, the first idea that I immediately got was the healing benefits
nature offers and why connection to nature is so important.
I was already aware of various healing therapies of nature, like aromatherapy, colour therapy,
the five elements therapy, Ayurveda etc. but incorporating that into a book and making it
multi-sensory was quite challenging and required immense amount of research.
The learnings that I got from the research, and few of the books that I read, are going to be
valuable throughout life. Reading about healing experiences of nature , stories of people and
how they came out of life-threatening diseases and emotional issues by just spending some
time in nature was a great learning. Reading about various experiments, importance of different
elements and visuals of nature and how everything that we see feel and imagine has a direct
affect on our physical health.
Constructing mandalas was the toughest challenge in the project as mandalas- what I
understood are very mysterious and a lot about their origination and construction still remains
hidden. Mandalas contain a lot of information which is coded in form of symbols, shapes and
motifs, and are very complex objects. After reading so much about mandalas and various
therapies of nature, there was a stage when I was completely lost . I connected everything to
everything- mandalas to colours- colours-to aromas-aromas to chakras-chakras to colours-
chakras to mandalas-mandalas to stories, five elements, colours, aromas and everything new
that I found out from my research.
Thats when everything crashed and I had no work done. Throughout the process, I was very
grateful to the faculty for giving constant guidance, feedback and ideas. Instead of getting
irritated , they kept me motivated and going. During this entire process I also learnt a lot about
myself, how I function and how I like to function, how can I keep myself motivated to work,
importance of planning everything, my likes and dislikes.
This entire project has given me great insights about nature and myself, and I'm really looking
forward to taking this ahead.