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Hearth_Bangalore_BlackFlames-V2

WHERE WELLBEING AND SOCIAL CHANGE GATHER

at BANGALORE CREATIVE CIRCUS

19-21 November, 2026

HOSTED BY
IN COLLABORATION WITH
COMMUNITY PARTNER

ABOUT SUMMIT

Invoking the spirit of a hearth – the space around a fire, where since the dawn of humanity, we have met to gather, bond, and connect – the Hearth Summit is a gathering to spark a new culture of social change. The time is now to advance a vision where the inner wellbeing of changemakers enables them to be more impactful and effective at addressing our most pressing global challenges.

The Hearth Summits are groundbreaking events inviting changemakers around the world to explore and embrace the wellbeing for welldoing movement. Building on the success of The Wellbeing Project’s first-ever global summit in Bilbao, 2022, we hosted the first Hearth Summit in India, in Bangalore in 2024, and the second edition in 2025.

The 3rd Hearth Summit in India, is being hosted in Bangalore in 2026, and is focused on the journey From Burnout to Regenerative Changemaking

 

Hearth Summit Bangalore is hosted by Bangalore Creative Circus, an urban living lab for regenerative systems, communities, and cultures.

Program

Hearth Summit Bangalore is a gathering to bring together diverse changemakers to advance a vision of the interconnected wellbeing of individuals, communities, systems, and planet.

The summit is designed to provide an emotional and intellectual journey exploring the relevance and need for wellbeing in social change, approached from many different perspectives. It will bring together around 150 changemakers who work at various levels and capacities, across sectors of climate, health, justice, equity, and education.

Rohini Nilekani

Keynote speaker

Aaron Pereira

Keynote speaker

Conversations at the Hearth: Wellbeing for Welldoing

Shruti Shibulal

speaker

Dr. Bindu Kutty

speaker

Vishal Talreja

speaker

Conversations at the Hearth: Ecological Belonging

Abhayraj Naik

Speaker

Dr Mala Kapadia

speaker

Naveen Vasudevan

speaker

Spiritual Ecology by Abhayraj Naik

Avoiding the Rat Race by Rajni Bakshi

Ancestral Healing by Sahil Raina

Dance of Oneness by Natasha Mahindra

Sufi Perspective by Basit Jamal

Thinking Living Ecosystems: A Framework for Organisational Wellbeing by Aakash Sethi

Art for Thought by Museum of Art and Photography (MAP)

Listen to You by Kshetra Foundation For Dialogue

Magic Carpet Ride by Viridus Impact Solutions

The Rest-less Changemaker by Foundation for Arts and Health India (FAHI)

Conflict Alchemy by Roy Jacob

The Conscious Breath by Arjun Lall

Farm to table meals by The Circus Canteen
Engaging collective practices like Dances of Universal Peace
Interactive art installations in the space
Co-creation of art
Captivating folk and classical fusion performances and experiences

Agenda coming soon

meet the contributors (2026)

Aaron Pereira

Project Lead, The Wellbeing Project

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Ashraf Patel

Co-founder, Pravah and ComMutiny

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Basit Jamal

Founder, Brotherhood of Humanity

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Divya Ramachandran

Storyteller and Creative Trainer

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Durga Nandini

Co-Founder, Nguvu (The Power) Collective

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Gopi Sankarasubramani

Farmer and Trustee, Navadarshanam

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Jasmeen Patheja

Founder, Blank Noise

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Kanika Sinha

Convener, ComMutiny - The Youth Collective and Co-anchor, The vartaLeap Coalition

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Lalana Zaveri

Bangalore-based Entrepreneur, Coach and Corporate Trainer

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Rahul KP

Designer and Founder, Mechanimal, Bangalore

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Romana Shaikh

Author, Facilitator and CEO, Weaving Wholeness

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Roy Jacob

Founder and Trainer, Conscious Communication Academy

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Sachin Malhan

Co-founder, Agami

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Shruthi Veena Vishwanath

Singer, Songcatcher, Composer, and Crosspollinator

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Smriti Rana

Policy reform and advocacy for pain relief, Pallium India

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Sruthin Lal

Founder and Executive Director, Archival and Research Project (ARPO)

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Suprabha Seshan

Forest Custodian

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Naghma Mulla

CEO, EdelGive Foundation

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Pallavi Chander

Artist and Creative Arts Therapist

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Ram Bhat

Co-founder of Maraa

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Attend (2026)

Hearth Summit Bangalore 2026 is an opportunity to spark a shared conversation around wellbeing in changemaking, build relationships and enhance collaboration, and co-create a strong, engaged and compassionate network of changemakers. Express your interest in attending now with this form

Express your interest

Contact Us

  • info@blrcreativecircus.com
  • hearthsummitbangalore@gmail.com
  • 12/2 Yeshwantpur Industrial Estate, Bangalore 560086

© 2026 Hearth Summit Bangalore.

Hearth Summit is a registered trademark of The Wellbeing Project. Regional editions are organized under license.
The name, concept, and identity may not be used without prior written authorization.

Aaron Pereira

Project Co-Lead, The Wellbeing Project

Aaron is excited about the interplay between our inner lives and the broader world. Aaron Pereira is currently Project Lead for The Wellbeing Project. The Wellbeing Project is focused on catalysing a culture of inner wellbeing for all changemakers. It emerged from a 7 year sabbatical ending in 2012. The Wellbeing Project is co-created with Ashoka, Georgetown University, Impact Hub, Porticus, the Skoll Foundation, and Synergos.

Aaron worked with the Guggenheim on an urban labs project, co-founded a pilot social enterprise to address housing issues in Mumbai slums, and explored neighbourhood life through a project in Paris. Aaron was co-founder of CanadaHelps and Vartana. CanadaHelps engages over 3 million Canadians and raises over $400 million a year for social sector organizations. It also works with over 20,000 charities on capacity issues. Vartana was focused on addressing financing needs in the social sector. Vartana played a key role in the early development of the field of social finance in Canada, and with early policy development that led to significant financing for social enterprise. In addition Aaron co-founded a multimedia business in the early days of the internet.

Aaron is an Ashoka Fellow and a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader. Aaron completed a degree with a minor in Economics from Queen’s University, studied at Oxford University as a Skoll Scholar, and completed an executive education program at Harvard.

Aaron Pereira was born in Goa, and grew up in India, the Middle East, and Canada. He now loves making his home in Paris, with a lot of time in India.

Ashraf Patel

Co-founder, Pravah and ComMutiny

At the heart of Ashraf’s journey has been the framing and design of the inside-out, self-to-society, and the 5th Space leadership frameworks.

She has had the privilege of working with hundreds of youth leaders and facilitators, unlocking the collective potential of communities to drive social transformation. As a co-founder and in strategic leadership roles with Pravah and ComMutiny, she has contributed significantly to shaping the adolescent and youth development field in the country for over three decades.

More recently, Ashraf has dedicated her attention to nurturing collectivisation, playing a foundational role in the set-up of the vartaLeap Coalition, with the mission: Every Youth a Jagrik, Every Space Nurturing Jagriks.

She has also co-facilitated the incubation process of 3 emerging collectives: The India ECD Collective, Sampoorna 2.0, SEL Collaborative and The Life Skills Collaborative 2.0. With Adaptatva, a consulting firm that accompanies culture transformation and collectivisation processes in the development sector, she is mentoring a number of impactful organisations and collectives and offers a leadership journey, ‘Par-Us-Par’, for spurring interdependence, collaboration, networks and coalitions.

An Ashoka Fellow, a Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur, a Jubilant Bhartia SEOY Fellow, and a Distinguished Alumna of XLRI, she also volunteers for a number of grassroots initiatives.

Basit Jamal

Founder, Brotherhood of Humanity

Basit Jamal is a contemporary Sufi practitioner, who has spent over 24 years exploring the inner landscapes of the heart and the unity of all existence. He is devoted to bringing people together by awakening their hearts to their true nature of love and forgiveness. He blends classical mysticism with a holistic approach to modern living helping transformation of consciousness.

His work on using faith tradition in countering religious extremism has been recognised by Ashoka Fellowship, UNESCO and United Religions Initiative among several others. He has written several books and regularly holds workshops and meditations with audiences from around the world, offering seekers a practical heart centered vehicle for deep soul-awakening and inner peace. His teaching style is inclusive and experiential, focusing on ego-dissolution and aligning oneself with unconditional love.

Divya Ramachandran

Storyteller and Creative Trainer

Divya Ramachandran is a writer, storyteller, educator, and creative thinker based in Bengaluru. Her work sits at the intersection of stories, culture, learning, and imagination. With a background spanning education, communication, research, and children’s literature, she enjoys creating experiences that invite people to pause, wonder, participate, and see the world a little differently.Divya is the author of children’s books including Meera and the Magic Kolam, Meera and the Dancing Warli, Kitchen Khichdi, Remember Me, and Yoga with Mr Fox. She is particularly interested in combining storytelling with hands-on creative experiences, bringing together words, art, movement, and cultural traditions. Beyond books, Divya explores music, poetry, visual art, workshops, and creative learning. Her work is rooted in curiosity and a belief that creativity is not simply something we make—it is a way of looking at life.

Durga Nandini

Co-Founder, Nguvu (The Power) Collective

Durga is the Co-Founder and Chief Advisor at Nguvu (The Power) Collective, a global feminist leadership organisation that trains civil society organisations in narrative change for advocacy. She is a former journalist and has also spent time at Amnesty International and Change.org. Her experience spans a wide range of expertise: communications, campaigning, advocacy, and fundraising in the development sector. Durga is based in Kozhikode, Kerala, and is the proud (single) parent of a 10-year-old budding environmental enthusiast.

Gopi Sankarasubramani

Farmer and Trustee, Navadarshanam

Gopi Sankarasubramani is a farmer and trustee at Navadarshanam. Over the last 35 years, Navadarshanam has been experimenting and demonstrating sustainable living comprising alternatives in energy, buildings, water, farming, health and rural livelihood within a broader frame of living in ecological balance and spiritual harmony. An aerospace engineer from IIT, Gopi was a technologist based in California for over 20 years. While living in California, he left the technology industry to explore his life long passion for growing food and leading a simple meditative life. He worked on farms in the US and formally studied permaculture and sustainable farming practices.

At Navadarshanam, he has largely focused on the practice of sustainable agriculture both for meeting the food needs of the Navadarshanam community as well as the broader farming ecosystem by training farmers to transition to sustainable practices. He has also helped the farmers establish a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) initiative to link organic producers directly with consumers.

Over the last decade, he has focussed more on practicing and promoting silence and inner quietude.

 

Jasmeen Patheja

Founder, Blank Noise

Jasmeen Patheja is an award-winning artist in public service, mobilising for the right to be defenceless. She founded Blank Noise (2003) bringing citizens to become Action Sheroes, Theyroes, Heroes: build agency to end gender-based violence.

Patheja designs methodologies to end sexual violence and shift public consciousness. Her practice is rooted in listening to survivors, calling in the collective capacity to listen. She works at the intersection of art and feminist movement-building. Recurring themes include fear, memory, shame, belonging, solidarity, defencelessness. Projects include I Never Ask For It and Meet To Sleep. 

Patheja collaborated with her grandmother Indri, exploring the relationship of ageing and agency. Patheja is a TED speaker, a TED and Ashoka Fellow. She was awarded the CARE Arts for Gender Equality Fellowship (Rockefeller Foundation), Visible Award, International Award for Public Art, Jane Lombard Fellowship (Vera List Centre for Art and Politics). BBC recognised her as one of the “12 Artists Changing the World”. Residencies include Akademie Schloss Solitude, Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio, Srishti Institute of Art, Design, Technology.

Kanika Sinha

Convener, ComMutiny - The Youth Collective
Co-anchor, The vartaLeap Coalition

Kanika has over two decades of experience in the youth development sector. At ComMutiny, Kanika supports the facilitation of the community of collective of over 85+ orgs. spread across 18 states. She is a part of the core team that facilitates the vartaLeap Coalition. She is entrusted to build partnerships and alliances towards amplifying the 5th Space approach to youth-centric development. Under her leadership, the #Saathnirbhar campaign has also been recognized by the World Economic Forum’’s COVID Response Alliance for Social Entrepreneurs. She also serves on the board of several non-profit organisations.

Lalana Zaveri

Bangalore-based Entrepreneur, Coach and Corporate Trainer

Lalana is a Bangalore-based entrepreneur, coach and corporate trainer. She joined Navgati in 2013 and is now a senior facilitator and a coach with over 2500 coaching hours, focused on developing senior leadership talent.

Before Navgati, Lalana co-founded Printo, a retail business that grew from one store in 2006 to 30+ stores across six cities. As Director of Operations, she led a team of 160 people, with a strong focus on customer-centric processes and training. Earlier, she worked across diverse environments, from her family business in Bombay to Xerox Ltd.

Lalana has an MBA from Nottingham University Business School and is an ICF-certified coach, MBTI and Hogan Assessments facilitator, and certified POSH trainer. She serves on the boards of Printo, Cividep and Sangath.

Outside work, she enjoys singing, playing the piano, writing, trekking, and teaching people to drive assertively.

Rahul KP

Designer and Founder, Mechanimal, Bangalore

Designer and founder of Mechanimal, Bangalore, known for creating sustainable, high-value art and functional designs from repurposed industrial materials. Renowned for a distinctive steampunk-inspired design philosophy, creating innovative and immersive installations by repurposing industrial and consumer waste materials, including reclaimed metals, plastics, and packaging components.

My work transforms discarded resources into dynamic, nature-inspired sculptures and experiential design pieces, demonstrating a commitment to sustainability, circular economy principles, and creative innovation.

Romana Shaikh

Author, Facilitator and CEO, Weaving Wholeness

An author, global education leader, and presence oriented facilitator, Romana integrates the science of trauma with the wisdom of wholeness.

Her book ‘Weaving Wholeness’ integrates a nuanced understanding of the human body-mind, trauma, power relations and systemic oppression as it plays out in the lives of children growing up in poverty and marginalization. Romana’s work focuses on facilitating inner change for systemic transformation through contextual and relational design, facilitation and evaluation.

Roy Jacob

Founder & Trainer, Conscious Communication Academy

Roy Jacob (he/him) is a facilitator, trainer, and conflict mediator, and is the founder of the Conscious Communication Academy. Raised in the U.S., he worked as a software engineer before following a deeper calling to come to India where his roots are. That was over 20 years ago, and he has been working in India ever since. Roy works with various non-profit organizations, companies, and individuals looking for real growth and transformation. He facilitates workshops and retreats including Conscious Communication, Yes! Jams, and Authentic Relating Games, with a special focus on young changemakers. At the heart of his work is a belief in the transformative power of slowing down.

Shruthi Veena Vishwanath

Singer, Songcatcher, Composer, and Crosspollinator

Shruthi Veena Vishwanath is a musician whose practice is rooted in community, feminism, and the decolonization of voice. Trained in classical music for two decades, she then spent another decade “unschooling” through mystic music traditions—abhang, nirguni, vachana, baul, Sufi, and other forms—from across South Asia.

Her work draws from the rich oral traditions of Bhakti and Sufi music, passed down through centuries, and seeks to reimagine and reclaim voices that have been marginalized by dominant histories and hegemonies. Shruthi has extensively researched and composed music based on the works of women Warkari poets from Maharashtra, as well as female poets from across South Asia. Through her community music initiative, Music in the Machan, she reimagines music education and practice as a space rooted in healing, shared context, and deep respect for grassroots communities.

Smriti Rana

Policy reform and advocacy for pain relief, Pallium India

Smriti Rana is the Head of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Training and Policy on Access to Pain Relief in Trivandrum, the flagship service delivery program of Pallium India. Smriti has over 2 decades of experience in palliative care with deep personal ties to her work. She has been the primary caregiver to family members with interstitial lung disease, cancer and addiction. At Pallium India, Smriti heads Strategic Communications. She advocates for policy reform to improve safe access to adequate pain relief, patient and caregiver empowerment, death literacy and decolonization of healthcare. Smriti is on the Boards of the International Association of Hospice and Palliative Care and the International Drug Policy Consortium; member of the WHO Palliative Care Global Action Forum; Co-Chair of the Patient and Caregiver Advisory Board on the Lancet Respiratory Medicine Commission; founding member of the Advance Care Planning Taskforce India; Salzburg Global Fellow and TEDX speaker.

Sruthin Lal

Founder & Trainer, Conscious Communication Academy

Sruthin Lal is a social entrepreneur, journalist, and the founder of the Archival and Research Project (ARPO), a non-profit dedicated to cultural heritage preservation. Previously, he led the newsroom at Asiaville, covered the business beat for Hindustan Times, and co-founded multiple media projects.

An alumnus of the Asian College of Journalism, Sruthin was listed among 51 notable mobile journalists by Journalism.co.uk in 2021 and selected by the US State Department for the International Visitor Leadership Programme (IVLP). His notable work includes a mobile-shot video documentary covering the Uttar Pradesh migrant labor crisis during the Covid-19 lockdown, capturing a 700-kilometer bicycle journey from Delhi to Lucknow with a colleague.

With a background in Indian classical music and dance, Sruthin is deeply passionate about art, history, and culture.

Suprabha Seshan

Forest Custodian

Suprabha Seshan, volatile organic molecule emitted by a rainforest in Wayanad. Taken apart by a zillion beings, identity and purpose dispersed through ecological attention, a back and forth between many. Meaning of life nicely nibbled by critters and busy plants assembling their own bodies from mine, from the juices of my being. Eating and being eaten on a constant basis dispels rigid boundaries. How to be with others who care nothing for what one thinks of oneself, but just that one is there: a warm luscious spread of skin and flesh, tantalizing scents and salts; new terrain to make their own. Over 400 moons of tangling and enquiring together with rainforest plants at the Gurukula Botanical Sanctuary: decomposing to live, growing as I’m taken apart. I bring questions like these to the Hearth Summit: Would you take a Hippocratic oath before you eat? Who died so you could live today?

Naghma Mulla

CEO, EdelGive Foundation

Naghma Mulla serves as the CEO and Director of EdelGive Foundation, where she has dedicated over a
decade to fostering collaborative philanthropy. Her mission is to democratise access to grants by bringing together government, business, philanthropic, and grassroots leaders to co-design ambitious projects. Her work emphasises creating solutions that integrate high accountability with measurable  impact, particularly for smaller organisations striving for sustainability and serving the most marginalised and socially excluded communities in India. A chartered accountant by education, Naghma has leveraged her financial expertise to forge valuable partnerships with diverse stakeholders, both international and Indian.

Under Naghma’s leadership, EdelGive Foundation has transformed from a grant-making entity into a philanthropic asset management platform. Her commitment to collaborative philanthropy and innovative partnerships has driven this evolution, positioning EdelGive as a leader in the sector. Naghma Mulla’s work exemplifies a blend of strategic vision, collaborative spirit, and unwavering dedication to social justice and empowerment. Her contributions continue to create meaningful and lasting change in the philanthropic landscape of India.

Naghma’s leadership extends beyond the EdelGive Foundation. She is a General Board Member at Goonj, a Board Member at Social Lens, India Climate Collaborative, and a Core Advisor to the Migrant Resilience Collaborative. Additionally, she serves as an advisor to One Future Collective, a feminist youth-led non-profit organisation.

Pallavi Chander

Artist and Creative Arts Therapist

Pallavi Chander is an artist and creative arts therapist based in Bangalore, India. She works with individuals with disabilities, neurodiversity, young people, and adults challenged with mental health concerns, and caregivers. Her practice uses drama, movement, visual arts, storytelling, and play to integrate creativity, imagination, and co-create creative processes in learning spaces, for therapy and healing. She currently runs community-based projects with various grassroots organizations and institutions. Her work explores feminist approaches to building mental health practices, research, and education that are culturally relevant and locally accessible. She works with the Foundation for Arts and Health India, Hasiru Dala, and the SMArT Studio.

Ram Bhat

Co-founder of Maraa

Ram Bhat is a co-founder of Maraa, a media and arts collective. As a proponent of democratizing media and communications, he worked to set up some of the first community radio stations in India and has trained community media teams all over South Asia. His doctoral research is about the ways in which digital infrastructure, as an indispensable part of daily life, has shaped both politics and identity in India. He has also written extensively on the emerging problem of misinformation and hate speech on digital media networks.