Mission
Mindful Kala aims to empower teens through easily-accessible intercultural education, support, and mind-body movement to be happier, healthier, and more resilient beings. The primary way in which we accomplish our mission is through training & practice in Indian Classical Dance and mindfulness meditation, both in-person and virtually.
History
Since Fall 2018, we have led in-person and live workshops to over 600 students; Mindful Kala is integrated into Middleton High School’s health curriculum. Through a research study on an 8-week Mindful Kala course, we found statistically significant increased overall quality of life outcomes, and increased cultural awareness - results published in Advances in Global Health and Medicine Journal and presented at the Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health.
Today, we host virtual workshops at the Good Life Center. With Dr. Laurie Santos & Dr. Elizabeth Goldfarb, we conducted a randomized controlled trial (research study) on our 4-week virtual Mindful Kala courseware, and had over 50 registered participants.
Using seed funding from the 2021 TSAI City Accelerator, and winning the Rita Wilson Prize & Audience Choice Award at StartUp Yale, we digitized our 4-week curriculum and created a clickable prototype of a Mindful Kala Web-App. With our Northwestern research team, we are conducting focus groups with students & educators on the app’s UI/UI interface. With a grant from HSA, a national nonprofit, and collaboration with the Good Life Center, we are adapting our curriculum into an interactive storybook for children in rural India.
What is Bharatanatyam?
Bharatanatyam is an Indian Classical dance form, originating from Tamil Nadu, India 2000 years ago. The name of the dance form combines two words: ‘Bharata’ and Natyam.’ Bharata is divided into ‘bha,’ meaning emotions (bhava), ‘ra,’ meaning music (raga), and ‘ta’ meaning timing (tala). ‘Natyam’ means dance in Sanskrit. Thus, Bharatanatyam is an elegant conglomeration of raga (music), bhava (mood), and tala (rhythm).
Our vision is to foster a love of learning, movement, and inclusion through classical Indian dance.
“Diversity and Inclusion, which are the real grounds for creativity, must remain at the center of what we do.”
— Marco Bizzarri
