Inauguration
We are happy to announce that the School of the Inner Way has been present in Auroville for over 35 years and continues to thrive. Its existence began in the late 1980s, when Geneviève (now Turiya), newly arrived in Auroville, started offering Taï Chi sessions. A year later, she invited one of her teachers, Nicole, to come to Auroville. Subsequently, two Aurovilians, Heidi and Mauna, spent a summer at the school, which was then still located in Portugal. Other Aurovilians (Hans, Serge, and others) soon followed, drawn by the deep inner exploration proposed by Vlady.
Later, Mauna, a Dutch pioneer who had settled in Auroville in its very first year, joined the school’s teachings for eleven months in centers across Portugal, France, Belgium, and Switzerland, often hitchhiking from one place to another, with a list of the 108 postures tucked in her pocket. Encouraged by Vlady, who named her a Monitor, she began to share the art with her community in India in June 1992.
At that time, Auroville (an experimental international township founded in 1968 and recognized by UNESCO) had already existed for more than twenty years, and Taï Chi was known there in various forms. However, probably due to Mauna’s great enthusiasm and deep conviction that the school’s approach oered a perfect system of body awareness for Auroville, Vlady’s practice took root more and more deeply—and has remained ever since.
Parallel Vision
The original vision of Auroville invites its residents to work collectively toward a more conscious society while cultivating an individual psychic and physical inner search, applied within the framework of work and other outward activities. Aware that the Taï Chi approach through the «Inner Way» of the School — and in particular its intensive work with the Chi — would be an excellent tool for the development of the future city, Mauna set out to make this practice widely known by creating a network of about ten different locations within Auroville in order to share whatshe had learned.
At that time, Auroville consisted of around fifty small communities spread across 20 square kilometers, and Taï Chi sessions were held in many different places — schools, sports elds, community buildings, terraces, and rooftops. As the number of participants grew, Mauna tirelessly traveled the sandy roads under the sun to reach one place after another. Over time, the need for a space dedicated to practice became evident.
The Need for a Dedicated Space
In the mid-1990s, a couple of new residents arrived: Marco and Liliana, originally from Italy, and they joined the offered classes. Marco quickly became deeply involved, drawing on his prior experience in a Zen monastery in Italy, where he had learned breathing, concentration, and meditation techniques that had become part of his daily practice. He studied the School’s forms intensively and took part in numerous summer sessions in Oppedette to be trained by Vlady, Michèle, and other teachers.
Eventually, Marco and Liliana built a house with a large garden, and its terrace finally became home to the Auroville branch of the School of the Inner Way…
Naturally, Marco became a teacher himself. Around 2003, he took over from Mauna in a spirit of friendship, and since then, he has trained between 20 and 40 people a year for over two decades.
Continuing the Practice
The following twenty years were enriched by Michèle and other teachers from France (Hedwige, Françoise, Nicole, Vanessa, Paul, Laurent, Fabien, Madeleine…) who came to Auroville to other popular training workshops or simply passed through to inspire us. Many of Marco’s students (Binu Kumar, Divya, Etel, Kaarthikeyan, Krishna, Marie, Savitha Rani) were encouraged to join the School thanks to these visits.
Starting in 2009, Marco (who had become a Professor) established a rigorous schedule. Every morning, for an hour and a half, he taught Taï Chi on the rooftop of their home in Sharnga. In addition, he organized workshops for beginners and intensive courses to train students aspiring to become teachers. His regularity, offered by Marco for over 15 years, has allowed the practice to be sustained, enriched, and deeply rooted within the Auroville community, where classes are offered free of charge. The sincerity, volunteer spirit, and dedication seen today in the group of regular practitioners who begin their day with
Chi and Form (the three Forms are taught in alternation) follow the path Marco laid out until his recent departure.
While kingfishers and peacocks may sometimes enliven our sessions in the golden light of Auroville’s early mornings, it is above all the seriousness and authenticity of what is learned and experienced that catch the attention of passersby drawn by simple curiosity. In this way, the study of the Inner Way, as proposed by Vlady, is also shared with Indian and international visitors intrigued by the Auroville experience.
