Auro.games is an educational initiative based in the international town of Auroville in South India. The idea of Auroville is to be a living experiment for sustainability and human unity, where people from all over the world, with different cultural backgrounds, can grow more conscious individually and collectively.
Auro.games is a tool designed for Integral Education, the new educational model being researched in Auroville, that aims to serve a conscious and positive evolution of humanity. Such an education strives to build self-awareness, working on mental faculties such as openness, flexibility and attention to detail to widen and deepen our consciousness. To view life and learning as a kaleidoscope of systems, forms and natural hierarchies in evolution.
Auro.games are created to promote inclusiveness and an experience of unity in diversity through colourful and creative puzzles. Activating both right and left hemispheres of the brain, the puzzles engage reasoning, imagination and emotions alongside each other. The plasticity of the brain will begin to form new structures, expanding mental abilities, helping embrace unity in diversity, a quality that humanity is now adapting to. This is why we call Auro.games YOGA FOR THE MIND.
When we think of Yoga we think "exercise for the body”, meaning sequences of movements, stretches and breathing for flexibility, focus and strength. Auro.games creates flexibility, focus and strength for our minds, and in the process, we develop the power of our consciousness.
Like the turn of a kaleidoscope, every pattern created is unique and different. The puzzle pieces show infinite solutions, and all the answers are correct. Two people playing with the same puzzle pieces will create two different patterns. Both solutions are correct and at the same time, different. They can also build a pattern together, creating a third correct solution, that is different than the first two. Auro.Games puzzles challenge our minds to become conscious of multiple solutions and find harmony in the diversity.
PUZZLES THAT CHALLENGE OUR
MINDS TO BECOME CONSCIOUS.
Maya - Integral educator & Creator
Maya has worked in the field of education for more than 25 years and is presently doing research on education for human unity and sustainable development in Auroville. She has a B.Ed. in Sciences of Education, a B.Ed. in Pedagogy and an M.S. in Education for Sustainable Development (Integral Education) - University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Ishay - Creative & Creator
Ishay has a B.Ed. F.A. in Photography, Visual Arts and Teacher Education - WIZO Haifa Academy of Design and Education in Israel.
Auro.Games prototypes were created by AuroCulture (Helga Ahy). Her adventure in puzzle creation began in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Puducherry in the 1970's and continued in Auroville where she moved in the 1990's. She worked on inspiration until a puzzle materialized, and created over 40 beautiful handmade educational material prototypes and sketches. AuroCulture's wish was for these materials to be shared with the children of the world and of the future. She expressed that her role had been to create the seeds for this work through the prototypes, but did not have the knowledge or ability of how to take it forward beyond that. For many years she stored the game prototypes, waiting for "the people who will be a part of realizing this project to come together at the right time".
In 2015 she put the game prototypes in the care of Maya, who built a team to start to explore how to take the project forward. After an initial few years of experimenting with the games and trying to understand the prototypes, Ishay joined Auro.Games as creative director, to build the strategy needed to share Auro.Games with the world. During the past years Maya and Ishay (both working as volunteers in Auroville) have taken the games far beyond the original prototypes into a variety of different functionalities to reach people of all ages, everywhere, as well as schools in India and beyond. AuroCulture followed the work and development with enthusiasm until her passing in 2020.
Auro.games is funded mainly through donations, and is run by volunteers residing in Auroville.
Do you want to help contribute towards this Auro.games? Donations are welcome! (90% of all donations go toward project implementation, 10% goes to cover transaction fees, platform fees and administrative costs).