About Golden Butterfly
Golden Butterfly is envisioned as a dream. A space where stories which touch the truth within us are brought alive with music, art and poems. A space where those who wish to live by their own light come together to offer their creativity and skills to children. A space which unfurls and grows like a plant seeking light towards the new, the unchartered, the spontaneous.
About Urvi
I am Urvi Shah. I was born in Kolkata, a city in Eastern India. Ever since I was young there was one question that perturbed me and that was, “What is the purpose of life on Earth?”. Very soon, I realised that this is a question that many did not ask and even when they did our systems and ways of life would silence them very quickly. In seeking answers outside of myself, wanting to make this world a better place, I was led to pursue a Liberal Arts education at IIT Madras, India.
After working in the development sector in a corporate setup for a while, I felt something fundamentally amiss. The changes I sought outside me needed to be first found within me. This led me to various pathways of inner enquiry which provided me with very rich and valuable experiences. Simultaneously in my outer life, I became very interested in alternative education and pedagogy which I felt was trying to put to practice new ways of living and being. Especially in Waldorf and Integral education, I found the use art, music and stories as beautiful means of reaching the child. In the process of being with children and my own inner explorations, I also began writing stories. The stories started to emerge quite spontaneously, sometimes out of my own experiences, sometimes inspired by my interactions with the children I teach. I founded Golden Butterfly in the year 2020 as a platform to make my work with children available to a wider audience. However, over the years it has also been used as a platform for other teachers to offer their work to children.
A Note on Stories
True stories are born somewhere deep within us. They emerge out of us spontaneously, like a bird’s call, a flower’s movement towards the sun, a cascade of water down the rugged rocks. The stories that are published on our platform are the songs of the soul. The songs that sing in our ears, showing us the way, sometimes loudly, sometimes as a faint whisper. They are like golden threads of light we can hold on to on a dark night. In these times, as our lives go through changes that old paradigms can no longer explain, we need stories that speak to the deeper truth within us. Stories that help us understand the seemingly inexplicable changes that our minds can no longer grasp . Our striving at Golden Butterfly, is to make these newer stories available to children and adults, opening up new vistas and creating bridges that enable us to leap into the new world quickly and joyfully.
A Note on Teaching
Over time, I have come to understand that there is no one correct way to be with a child. Just like the myriad creations of nature, each one of us is very different and each child requires something different. All methods and ideologies are pointers but can never become the whole or only truth. True teaching for me is spontaneous and intuitive. The skills of teacher combined with her inspiration, her own inner knowing and connection with the child allow for a beautiful symphony to arise. However like all good things, this too takes time as we are very conditioned by the shoulds and should nots especially when it comes to educating a child. I imagine Golden Butterfly to be a space where through the stories, art and music (and much more!), the conditioning is stripped away and slowly the children and all those who come in touch with it to co-create, awaken and deepen to their truth, and something beautiful and gentle is set in creation.