Octagonal room

The Temple of Paganico and La Fattoria dell’Autosufficienza are the perfect place for organizing residential seminars aimed at reconnecting with yourself and with nature.
A sacred space free from ideologies designed for meditation, yoga, martial arts, prayer, shamanism, breathing techniques, introspection, dance and holistic practices in general.

The large octagonal room of 86 square meters was made entirely of natural materials starting from wood, straw and limehemp with which the walls were made of. Raw earth was used for the finishes, solid oak for the floor and a big stove was placed to warm the room.
The cooling of the room takes place by natural input of external air which gets cool by passing under the ground.
Ventilation is guaranteed by large windows and mechanical fans.
The warm LED lighting is adjustable to create the desired type of atmosphere at any time.

In the room, yoga mats, meditation chairs, blocks and straps, blackboard, video projector and quality sound system are available to the students, as well as changing rooms and bathrooms at the entrance.

The temple is surrounded by an external wooden deck and a lawn which can also be used for activities or breaks while enjoying the breathtaking view.

Why an octagon

The octagon represents the constructive balance of shapes, temperaments and cosmic energies. The number 8 is universally the number of the cosmic equilibrium and is the number of cardinal directions joined to the intermediate directions
Geometrically, the octagon stands as an intermediary between the square, which represents the earth, or the human dimension, and the circle, the perfect figure that represents the sky, the divine dimension.

The bagua

At the center of the wooden floor, placed following the octagonal shape, there is a wheel characterized by 8 trigrams formed by combinations of broken lines (yin) and whole lines (yang) with the Tao symbol in the centre.
This symbolic image, called in Chinese Taoism bagua or pa-kwa, represents the universe as an expression of the combination and interaction of two fundamental forces, Yin and Yang (respectively, female and male), which give life to the eight forces of Nature (Energy, Time, Space, Matter, Light, Water, Wind and Earth).
The bagua, aligned as it is in this case, has the characteristic of testifying the original imprint of Creation, of corresponding to the orientations on this beloved Earth, and of being able to be explained also with body movements, for example in practices such as Qi Gong, Taiji Quan and Bagua Zhang.