Vedic Chanting & Drawing Life (Seen & Unseen)— Two Parallel Workshops facilitated by Nicola Durvasula

1st – 5th December 2025

In this transformative 5-day retreat, we will explore two workshops on sound and line, running concurrently:
Vedic Chanting – highly structured, with strict rules and no scope for artistic license.
Drawing Life (seen & unseen) – free-flowing, allowing for creativity and invention

Within these seemingly disparate workshops, parallels may be drawn , whether through subject matter, rhythm, focus, awareness, or while drawing upon philosophical concepts such as the nature of consciousness and the interconnectedness of all things.

Vedic Chanting:
This workshop will include an introduction to Vedic Chanting and the practice of chanting as taught by pandits in South India. We shall look at the main rules that govern the recitation of Vedic texts and the effects and benefits of these chants.
Some short chants will be offered, including two beautiful mantras from the Yajur Veda, invoking divine energies to nourish and sustain one’s health.
The vast and deep wisdom of the Vedas dates back thousands of years. These sacred texts — containing prayers, hymns, and mantras in the form of mystical poetry — were revealed to the Rishis (great sages) in deep meditative states. Rooted in ancient Indian tradition, the practice of reciting these sacred texts has been declared by UNESCO as ‘an intangible cultural heritage of humanity’ (2008).
The Vedas are the foundation of Indian philosophy, being the source texts for Yoga and many other important practices, and are a compilation of universal knowledge, aiming to harmonize the body, mind, and soul through sound.
Chanting the Vedas can help to live intelligently and to develop one’s intuition in order to understand the truths of the universe as revealed to the Rishis. Strict rules are to be adhered to while chanting these texts, with particular attention paid to Sanskrit pronunciation, pitch, and rhythm.
All texts will be available in Devanāgarī as well as the English transliteration and colour-coded pronunciation based on the Veda Studies® method.

Drawing Life (Seen & Unseen):
This workshop is an investigation into the art and act of drawing.
It is an extraordinary thing that we, as humans, have the ability — through the power of imagination — to draw lines to describe our world as we perceive it. From prehistory to the present day, drawings reflect the realities of the day and have the power and potential to shape our ideas and future.
As an artist, I have always felt that drawing is one of the most underestimated subjects in our education and life.
Working from observation, memory, and imagination, we shall explore through numerous exercises, qualities of lines and mark-making with some innovative ways of using simple materials. There will also be sustained observational drawing with some instruction in drawing techniques, such as tonal drawing (working with light and shade), and other ways of expressing inner and outer light.
We shall reflect on how the act of drawing can become a meditative act, especially when fully engaged and focused on the present moment, while letting go of end result.
Inspired by certain themes found within the Vedic chants offered during the workshop, we shall explore, for example, the landscape of the human head and its inner content, while studying various ways of depicting individual features and questioning the idea of creating a likeness and what it is to capture the invisible.

About the Facilitator:
Nicola Durvasula is an artist based in the UK. She studied Fine Art in France, before relocating to Hyderabad, India, where she lived for ten years and lectured in Fine Arts at the University of Hyderabad.
On her return to the UK, she gained an MA in Fine Art and began tutoring at the Royal Drawing School in 2012. She has worked across painting, sculpture, film and graphic notations (visual scores), with drawing being at the heart of her practice.
Her work makes multiple references to South Asian culture, including miniature painting and Indian temple sculpture, alongside Eastern philosophy, juxtaposing these elements within a Western aesthetic tradition.
She is represented by Joost van den Bergh in London, and Mirchandani + Steinruecke in India. Her studies in Vedic Chanting began in earnest seven years ago, and in 2022 she completed the Indica Veda Studies Teacher Training Programme in Vedic Chanting. She continues to study with students of the Challakere Brothers, who hail from the South Indian Mysore lineage, and teaches using traditional methods.

Works by Nicola have been exhibited at: https://www.galeriems.com/ 

Sessions will be in English (Nicola is also fluent in French and has good knowledge of Hindi)
Suitable for practitioners of all levels – beginners and advanced.

By donation | Stay and Meals at Actuals
For queries, registration & accommodation, please email: info@buddhapada.in