Sarasi and Manohar
Sarasi and Manohar – down on a rather different farm
Holeland Farm, on Dartmoor, is the fulfilment of a dream for Sarasi and Manohar. It is a place of silence and beauty to be alone, to create and meditate and a place for, in Osho’s words, a gathering of friends.
Four years ago their search for the right place, after they had been given notice to leave their lovely house in Holne, near Ashburton, had seemingly come to nothing and there was only one week left before they had to move. As she was running out the door to go to Bristol, Sarasi saw a rent ad in the paper showing a room. Bells rang loudly. It was the perfect group room! She asked Manohar to check it out, he found a farm, found it to be everything they wanted and, on the day they had to leave the Holne house, they moved in!
Since then Manohar and Sarasi have created a haven for themselves and friends to meditate and celebrate – and to work on their inner growth via the groups and sessions that are offered there.
And if you enjoy the ‘esoteric’, the energy of the farm, which they both describe as an ancient place, is aided by being situated on the feminine branch of one of the most powerful earth-traversing ley lines – the Michael and Mary line which crosses at Glastonbury. If you pronounce the ‘e’ in Holeland, you get Holy Land. Hmmmm... make of that what you will but for me it is a beautiful image.
Sarasi and Manohar, founders of Holeland Farm in Dunsford, nr. Exeter (Devon), a place of silence and beauty – to be alone, to create and meditate – and a place for, in Osho’s words, a gathering of friends.
The feminine partner of our couple, Sarasi, took sannyas in the Sangeet Meditation Centre in Leeds back in 1981. She later joined the Medina Commune where she continued to work and train in the healing arts. (As well as a background in dance and theatre she had already started on her path as a therapist, describing her way as ‘working through the body’ – or body psychotherapy – in the areas of abuse and emotional/anger release, Reichian therapy, Bio-energetics, etc. as well as Creativity and Dance.) Until as recently as two years ago she spent at least 3 months of the year in Poona doing and assisting in groups and trainings. When back in Bristol she had her therapy practice and ran groups and yoga classes.
In the meantime the male partner of our couple, Manohar, studied architecture at Bath University and Cheltenham Art School and embarked on an architectural career as well as treading the usual marriage and children path followed by the now almost as usual divorce.
He was becoming more and more interested in his inner growth and in 1998 enrolled in John Bradshaw’s Inner Child group in London. Sarasi was there – and the inevitable happened! It was almost one of those ‘eyes meeting across the crowded room’ events!
This was the beginning of an enduring love and work relationship. After living in Bristol for awhile they decided to move to Devon and set up a place where they could live and work and have people ‘gather’. Their sannyasin connections are very important. Sarasi says that, having been in communes around the world, she loves having people around and the natural thing to do was to create a space for that to happen. And so they found the house in Holne. Manohar took sannyas in 2001 and continued his architectural projects – being well known for the work involved in the initial Croydon Hall conversion and the later beautiful restaurant extension.
Moumina joined Sarasi on the group front and together they set up the running of the very successful Family Constellation groups in Moumina’s ‘feminine tradition’. Smrati from Sweden came to run Tantra workshops.
The physical and energetic space provided by the move to Holeland Farm allowed these events to continue - but with the addition of many more. Now there was space for people to come to do meditation, creativity and dance events and the arrival of Surabhi in the area prompted the start of mini festivals focussing on music and dance. Sarasi continues to go to Bristol every week to work.
For Manohar life took a different turn. He fell into a deep, suicidal depression which, he says, was a life-changing experience. With Sarasi’s and Holeland Farm’s support, he worked his way through this state and emerged as a new person, now extremely happy and in love with life and all it brings. Currently he is totally into various architectural projects with a special interest in Eco-Architecture – working with the energy of a site, studying the nature of materials without toxics and using natural and locally sourced materials to build. His style, he says, is space and light. He is a loyal member of The Association for Environment Conscious Building and The Society for the Preservation of Ancient Buildings started by William Morris in the 1860’s.
He also helps with the practical side of organising their Holeland Farm projects.
A new and challenging event in Sarasi’s life is taking over the leading of Moumina’s Family Constellation groups. Last year Moumina felt it was time for her to move on to new and different things and felt that Sarasi was the ideal person to continue the work.
Both Sarasi and Manohar feel that this is a time of everything coming together. They bring a wealth of different skills and experience to their beautiful project and express the feeling that more and more the flavour of meditation is happening in their own lives and in the lives of others here and now in the UK.
I remember Osho’s words: "Whenever two or three of my sannyasins are gathered together, I will be there." With the efforts of so many people to create beautiful ‘gatherings’ in so many different forms around our country, it certainly feels like his comment is totally true.
Sarasi and Manohar can be contacted at:
Tel: 01647 24075
email: info@familyconstellation.co.uk
meditation events with live music
www.familyconstellation.co.uk
www.space-and-light.co.uk
Text by Veena - September 2006
