Integral Education Workshop at Neevam – March 2026

Date: 27 Mar - 30 Mar, 2026

Location: Neevam The School, Amravati, Maharashtra

The Sri Aurobindo Foundation for Integral Education and Research (SAFIER) conducted a three‑day Integral Education workshop at Neevam – The School, Amravati, Maharashtra, from March 28–30, 2026. Facilitated by Shivakumar (Director, SAFIER) and Priti (Co‑Project Facilitator, SAFIER), the program brought together 25 teachers, including senior staff and board members, to deepen their understanding of Integral Education (IE).

This annual training is part of SAFIER’s ongoing work to help the school management and its educators integrate the approach of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother’s vision of education into their lives and also classroom practice.

On 27th of March, the school management hosted a two-hour interactive workshop led by the SAFIER facilitators for the parents titled "One Child, Two Worlds: Weaving a Collaborative Path between Home and School". The session emphasized that home and school must harmonize to build a resilient inner foundation—intelligent mind, balanced emotions, and robust health—so that children can thrive. Practical parenting practices were highlighted, with a strong insight: parents’ own inner work and high ideals are the most powerful influence on a child. Neevam’s approach was presented as a slow but sure, collaborative partnership with families, to nurture soul‑qualities alongside academics.

This event was designed to educate and motivate parents on the significance of both the school’s and the parents’ influence on the child's development.

Workshop Highlights

. Foundations of Integral Education: The workshop began with the emphasis that a better human being makes a better teacher, and that Integral Education starts with self‑education and inner growth. Facilitators guided participants to re‑examine the current system shaped by industrial and utilitarian models, which often reduce children to raw material for exams and careers. In contrast, IE . places the child’s soul at the centre, nurturing the whole being—body, emotions, mind, and psychic self. As the Mother wrote, “To learn for the sake of knowledge, to grow in consciousness, to discipline oneself to become master of oneself….”—this is the true purpose of education. Shivakumar and Priti also shared the inspiring life sketches of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, showing how their discovery of the inner genius laid the foundation of Integral Education, guiding humanity toward greater perfection.

. The Science of Living: A key insight by the Mother was shared was that “the first thing to do, in order to be able to educate a child, is to educate oneself, to become conscious and master of oneself.” Teachers reflected on what kind of education is truly needed to master oneself—not another degree, but the practice of ‘knowing and controlling oneself’. This begins with the Science of Living, a two‑step process: to know oneself and to control oneself. The session emphasized that self‑education is the first step, laying the foundation for teachers to become conscious role models and inspired guides for their students.

. Psychic Education: Recognized as the heart of IE, participants explored the “Inner Friend” as the guiding centre for self‑growth and teaching through experiential activities. The session on “Aim of Life” encouraged participants to look beyond career success and focus on spiritual growth and service to a higher purpose. In this way, by discovering one’s highest ideal, one get closer to one’s psychic/soul. Once teachers started the aspiration for this, they will be inspired to create a psychic atmosphere within and without, and thus help children to go closer to their psychic and live from there.

. Physical Education: Session based on Physical Education emphasized that the body is the primary means of fulfilment for a beautiful life. It focused on developing physical discipline, coordination, and agility not just for sports teachers, but for everybody! The 4-Point programme which consisted of the main energy sources of Physical development: food and Exercise, Breathing, Sleep and Conscious movements were discussed shortly.

. Experiential Activities: Creative Self‑Introductions, Mantra chanting, Journaling, Rangoli‑making, Body‑awareness games, Obstacle races and Yogic-Exercises helped teachers connect with themselves and their students at a deeper level.

Conclusion

The workshop concluded with an aspirational candle meditation session. Participants reflected on their learnings from the three-day workshop by closing their eyes and revisiting their experiences mentally. The session created a deep sense of gratitude and fulfilment among all participants. Thus, this workshop at Neevam reaffirmed that Integral Education is not a set of techniques, but a way of life. It calls upon teachers to first transform themselves—becoming conscious, balanced, and inspired—so they can guide children toward discovering their own inner genius.

Teachers shared that the sessions left them feeling refreshed, centred, and motivated. Activities such as the obstacle race and creating Rangoli (kolam) designs on the floor helped them experience how the body, emotions, mind, and psychic being can collaborate seamlessly in a single act. This gave them a sense of joy, completeness, and harmony, reinforcing the essence of Integral Education. They also expressed that practices like mantra chanting, journaling, and conscious body work gave them tools to bring greater awareness into their classrooms. They felt more connected to the idea that education must be about integral growth of the whole being, not just academics, and that their role as teachers is to be living examples of inspiration.

The workshop was a meaningful journey of self-awareness, learning, and integral development. These learnings will help the facilitators to work on themselves, be inspired and thus create inspirational classrooms. The core team of facilitators led by Hardik and Bharti will throughout the year introduce other practices through training sessions, such as introduction to Cooperative and Sensorial games, that were introduced during the earlier workshops, inculcating the habit within the teachers to always look at the main approach and ideal.