Synthpop

Many of us think of yoga as physical exercises to enhance one’s physique, with an occasional short meditation for its calming effects. But that is only the tip of the iceberg. How to we deal with our intense human emotions or trauma that accumulated as we progress in our lives? According to ancient yoga, the human body is made up of the multiple layers—physical, mental, emotional; and there are many practices to bring light to our being. Emotions are vital and sacred; like pockets of energy waiting to be released; emotions are not obstacles but our guiding lights to finding the ultimate bliss in life. The ancient yogis gave us Bhakti Yoga, the yoga of devotion, to channel that energy and guide us back to our source. Bhakti is about a relationship with the universe and it is all encompassing that it embraces every color on the emotional spectrum. In Bhakti Yoga, we lead with our hearts. We sing, we dance, we play music, write poetry, cook, paint and do everything with love —as part of our interaction with the Divine. Kirtan, the practice of chanting mantras, is perhaps the most important technique in bhakti yoga (Man means “Mind” and Tra means “to Control”). The practice is simple but internally it works magic in our hearts. Externally, we’re just repetitively singing with simple melodies and a few Sanskrit words. But it helps us to put our analytical minds aside and singing from within. We sing from our heart that is crying out for love. We channel whatever emotion we’re feeling into our voice. Deep healing happens, walls will melt, wounds will heal, trauma will heal, hate & unforgiveness will dissolve. Long-submerged emotions come to the surface. As we sing, we immerse ourselves in an endless river of love from the universe. And we enter into a meditative & blissful state that allow our hearts to heal and re-open the infinite universal source of love within us. There is no need to understand the language of the mantra. No need for mental speculation nor any intellectual adjustment. It is automatic, from the spiritual platform, and anyone can take part without any previous qualification. Join us for Kirtan to heal our hearts: Every First Friday of the month 730pm – 9pm Oneness Yoga Studio 20 Lor Telok, #03-01, Singapore 049032 Enjoy a homecooked dinner made with love by volunteers after the kirtan Pay As You Wish Drop a donation in the temple on the actual day. All donation proceeds to the continuation of these programs. Signup here: [https://www.eventbrite.com/e/kirtan-musical-meditation-for-your-busy-mind-raffles-place-tickets-1928332908639](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/kirtan-musical-meditation-for-your-busy-mind-raffles-place-tickets-1928332908639) Please cancel if you cannot make it so that someone else can have the spot. This event is organised by a group of volunteers who just love kirtan so much that they like to share their joy. Things to note: * We will be barefoot * We will be sitting on the floor but some stools available if you prefer chairs Things to bring: * Water bottle * Scarf/jacket if you are afraid of cold from Aircon What we will be doing: * Singing in the musical meditation * Enjoy a homecooked Sattvic dinner together

**For ages 12 and above.** Learn to dance to a Kpop song according to the original MTV choreography, step by step. For these crash course classes, the chorus would be taught + either the pre-chorus, verse or dance break. P.S. Spots chosen does not matter, it is free standing position in class. ### **Address** J Platform Dance Studio @ Robinson Square 144 Robinson Road #05-02 Singapore 068908 ### **Schedule** Fridays 805PM - 935PM ### **Booking Information** * Please contact **98225900** to find out how to book this class. * The instructor will reach out to you once you've booked the class.

Unleash your inner K-pop star! Have a blast as you move and groove to the hottest K-pop dance tunes. Build confidence, make friends and create memories through dance. ### **Address** 73 Dunlop St, #01-02, Singapore 209401 ### **Schedule** Tuesdays 7PM - 8PM ### **Booking Information** * Please contact **98225900** to find out how to book this class. * The instructor will reach out to you once you've booked the class.

**For ages 18 and above.** Discover the art of slinky chair dance and balancing moves with a hint of striptease in this beginner-friendly class! We’ll create a safe, judgment-free space where you can dress up, let your hair down, and express sensuality through music and movement. Bring a robe or button-up shirt to pull off! ★ This class has no pre-requisites, all are welcome! ★ Pole Dance Heels (e.g. Pleasers) optional. Socks or bare feet are fine! Bring a robe or button-up shirt to strip off ### **Address** 17 Lor Kilat, #01-04, Singapore 598139 ### **Schedule** Fridays 12PM - 1PM ### **Booking Information** * Please contact **98225900** to find out how to book this class. * The instructor will reach out to you once you've booked the class.

Learn to dance to a Kpop song according to the original MTV choreography, step by step. P.S. Spots chosen does not matter, it will be free standing position in class. ### **Address** J Platform Dance Studio @ Robinson Square 144 Robinson Road #05-02 Singapore 068908 ### **Schedule** Fridays 7PM - 8PM ### **Booking Information** * Please contact **98225900** to find out how to book this class. * The instructor will reach out to you once you've booked the class.

**For ages 18 and above.** POP Dance aka MTV Dance will see you dancing to the choreography of the music videos of pop artistes like Ariana Grande and Bruno Mars! **Address** 170 Upper Bukit Timah Rd, #08 - 01 Shopping Centre, Singapore 588179 ### **Schedule** Fridays 8PM - 845PM ### **Booking Information** * Please contact **98225900** to find out how to book this class. * The instructor will reach out to you once you've booked the class.

**PART I: Purpose exiled** According to Plato, our theories about the world should ‘carve nature at its joints’. *Telos*, the once plausible idea that purpose is a part of the natural order of things, has been steadily banished with the triumph of successive scientific theories in the modern age, culminating in the mechanism of evolution by natural selection and its accompanying metaphor of the blind watchmaker. Here, fitness, defined as the ability to survive and reproduce, is the sole arbiter of design in nature, acquired through so much as the blind lotteries of genetic variation. The momentary surprise that one even scientifically inclined feels at some marvelous specimen of evolution, for example the finesse of a Gray’s leaf insect mimicking not just a leaf but its brown and dying spots to better camouflage against predation ([https://www.biodiversitysingapore.com/in-focus/](https://www.biodiversitysingapore.com/in-focus/)), is to be utterly dispelled by belief in the creative potential of random mutations offering themselves up to selection pressures over geological spans of time. **Emergence: ‘more is different’** Contemplating how mind and intelligence came to be within such a setting presents further aesthetic tension (the mind of everyday experience exclaims, that sounds crazy!). Emergence (1) is a relatively recent concept that purports to explain phenomena like mind while undergirding it with a non-negotiable physicalist ontology. The essence of emergence is that through scaling of individual components, a system acquires so-called novel bases - new foundations upon which regularities can be encoded that were not possible at the lower levels. For example, neurons individually fire action potentials based on the threshold dynamics of local stimuli. Collectively however, groups of neurons fire according to abstract patterns termed ‘basins of attraction’ that represent long-range stable states and may be foundational to concepts like memory (2). Conway’s game of life, anchored by a set of very simple rules, presents a powerful illustration of this dynamic: [https://conwaylife.appspot.com/pattern/gosperglidergun](https://conwaylife.appspot.com/pattern/gosperglidergun) There is a folk account of emergence popular with science writers that goes something like this: while the physics of the system is completely known, predicting what is going to happen is near-impossible just with physics, because there is novel stuff happening at ‘higher’ levels. Importantly, no God or designer directed the organization at the higher levels, but it is not discernible anywhere else. *What does it mean to take seriously a universe in which purpose is nowhere fundamental, yet everywhere invoked?* **PART II: Purpose reconsidered** And yet, there are radical perspectives afoot. Without invoking external designers, some contemporary thinkers argue that natural selection and emergence may not exhaust the explanatory story. Developmental biologist Michael Levin (3) and evolutionary scientist Richard Watson (4) suggest that the mechanisms generating variation themselves may be structured, biased, or even goal-directed, analogous to neural or social learning processes. Levin introduced so-called biobots, which are multicellular living structures assembled from human lung epithelium. Biobots exhibit coordinated movement and problem-solving in novel environments despite having no evolutionary lineage that selected for such behaviors (5). Adaptation appears immediately, as if the system were exploring possibilities rather than stumbling upon them. *Does this point toward a universe where purpose was never fully absent to begin with?* Join us this Saturday as we grapple with where purpose truly lies in nature. **References** 1. O’Connor, Timothy, "Emergent Properties", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2021 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.) [https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2021/entries/properties-emergent/](https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2021/entries/properties-emergent/) 2. Wuensche, Andrew. (1995). The Emergence of Memory: Categorisation Far from Equilibrium. Santa Fe Institute, Working Papers. 3. Levin, M. (2025, February 6). Ingressing Minds: Causal Patterns Beyond Genetics and Environment in Natural, Synthetic, and Hybrid Embodiments. [https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/5g2xj_v1 ](https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/5g2xj_v1) 4. Richard A. Watson, Michael Levin, Tim Lewens; Evolution by natural induction. Interface Focus 19 December 2025; 15 (6): 20250025. [https://doi.org/10.1098/rsfs.2025.0025 ](https://doi.org/10.1098/rsfs.2025.0025) 5. Gumuskaya, G., Srivastava, P., Cooper, B. G., Lesser, H., Semegran, B., Garnier, S., & Levin, M. (2023). Motile Living Biobots Self-Construct from Adult Human Somatic Progenitor Seed Cells. Advanced Science, 11(4), 2303575. https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202303575

Some quiet morning time doing writing / working at a cafe.

Dear Fun Lovers, It Karaoke🎤 time again!!! Looking forward to singing with you guys. Note : As usual, we will be having joint-events with YOLO. We will be having Large & Medium Rooms (5 hours) of leisure singing & mingling session + Mini Karaoke Competition. We can now hop around rooms ^^ We will be adding on Ang Pao Draw on this day. Solo / Duet KTV Competition Cash Prizes for : 1) Champion 2) 1st Runner-Up Max : 54-60 pax. You may choose songs in English, Chinese and Korean Only. We will be heading for dinner after our singing session & 2nd round of Karaoke at a nearby KTV pub. Only members who joined our session at Teo Heng could tag along for the next round as limited tables will be reserved at the KTV pub. AMOUNT : $12 PER PAX TO BE PAID IN ADVANCE VIA PAYLAH/PAYNOW/GPAY(Google pay) as we encourage contactless payment. $14 PER PAX IF PAYMENT BY CASH OR ON THE SPOT however, priorities will be given to those who pay up first, once slots are full, we will not be accepting cash on the spot. IMPORTANT NOTE : After payment is made, there will be no refunds however, you may find a replacement for yourself. Once you have RSVP "Yes" pls confirm your slots by payment, your slot will not be considered confirmed only when payment is received. You will receive payment notice via WhatsApp so please do remember to add your contact number in. Regards to payment collection which is usually a week before the event, if you withdraw during this time, it will be considered last minute withdrawal/back out. 1st withdrawal will be in the blacklist, 2nd withdrawal will be removed from the group without notice. Please be responsible for your RSVP as there are others who are keen to join us but are unable to get a slot. I really need your co-operation, thanks. ***Kindly leave behind your contact nos, those who didn‘t do so will automatically be moved to the Waitlist. A whatsapp group chat will be created, you may opt out of the grp chat however, your mobile numbers must be provided, tks. IMPORTANT NOTE : Each Member is to key in 1 song at a time by rotation. Kindly ask for permission from the members in the room before inserting your song. There are wide selections of Chinese, English, Korean, Canto, Japanese songs, etc for you to sing to your heart's content. How to get to the Venue : Nearest MRT station : Stadium MRT Station. RSVP now & mark your calendar! See ya guys!! Cheers, Sandra

In our world there are 4 universal elements: Earth, Air, Fire, Water. These four powerful elements represent the forces of Nature and work in perfect harmony to nourish one another. These elements are a profound and essential part of who we are and our origin. The element of Fire represents powerful aspects such as Passion, Energy and is associated with the Sun in our solar system. The Sun as the origin of Fire, is a life force that illuminates us brightly and gives us warmth. In our session celebrating Fire, we focus on awakening your own unique inner passion, one that might be lying dormant within you. We will be playing the drums to help dissolve any judgement that might be present and awaken your passion (Bonno) to burn brightly – like a raging Fire. This will help to channel your life with gratuitous love, compassion and limitless joy. *\*If you have your favourite crystals, we suggest you to bring them along with you and use them for support during the session.*

### **Pickleball Sunset Mixer! 🏓🎉** An evening of dinks, drinks (after maybe), and your shot at pickleball glory. This isn’t your average mixer—we’re trying something new: *** **📍 Location:** 317 Outram Rd, Holiday Inn Singapore Atrium, Singapore 169075 🕖 **Time:** **5PM - 7PM** 💵 **Cost:** $20 per person ($5 paddle rental if you don’t have your own trusty weapon). **Early bird rate ($15 excl paddle if you confirm five days with payment before the event)** To lock in your spot and avoid the dreaded FOMO, hit up the payment link below: 📲 **Early Price: [https://hitpay.link/4et0mz](https://hitpay.link/4et0mz)** 📲 **Normal Price: [https://hitpay.link/jghyj0](https://hitpay.link/gwp3ll)** ✅ **Spots are only confirmed when payment is in.** If you usually pay cash, no worries, just continue with that. (Payment Details will be updated on the page shortly) ⚠️ **Cancellation Policy:** Please give at least 24 hours’ notice for cancellations to receive a refund. No refunds for no‑shows or cancellations within 24 hours, unless the whole event is rained out. ### What’s the Plan? We’re going Round Robin style, which is just a nice way of saying you’ll keep playing and meeting new people until your arms fall off. #### 🎮 What’s the Game Plan? Here’s how the courts are split: 🎾 **1 Beginner Court** (*For newcomers or those preferring a relaxed pace*) * Learning court lines, scoring, and basic rules. * Can sustain short rallies and demonstrate basic strokes but still working on consistency. 🏅 **1 Intermediate Court** * Solid consistency, mid-pace rallies * Shot placement is improving, but still work-in-progress * Great for those ready to level up 🏆 **Official Tournament Balls:** All games will be played using **Franklin X-40 tournament balls** for consistency and a high-quality playing experience. **Paddle Queue System:** To keep things fair, players will place their paddles in line in box to indicate their turn in the respective court. **Rules of the Game**: * **Switch It Up**: After every match, you’ll get a new partner and new opponents. * **Scoring**: First to 15 points, rally style (no need to keep track of who’s serving—so much simpler lah). * **Timing**: Each match is capped at 15 minutes, so don’t peng san trying to win. * **Be Nice**: Keep it friendly—this isn’t the SEA Games, okay? *** ### **Why You’ll Love It:** * Play with a variety of kakis and test your skills. * End the day with new friends and maybe a snack after. *** **What to Bring:** * Your paddle (or rent one—we’re not judging). * Water bottle—don’t faint halfway * Your best “aiyah nvm” attitude when the ball goes sideways. 🔔 **Friendly Reminder:** Pickleball is a social and physical activity, please be mindful of your own safety and physical limits. Participation is at your own risk. Stay hydrated, warm up properly, and don’t paiseh to rest if you need to. 💪 🎟️ RSVP Now – Spaces Are Limited!

**Caller: Dan Kappus** **Band: Trillium** **Big Scioty Contra Dance** **temporarily returning to our long ago location for Jan-March - First Congregational Church, 444 E. Broad St., Columbus 43215** WHAT IS CONTRA DANCING? Picture the Grand Ball scenes like you’ve seen in period films such as “Pride and Prejudice”, where the dancers are lined up in long lines, across from each other. That’s English Country Dancing, the predecessor of contra dancing. Now, add moves like “swing your partner” and “do-si-do,” like you’ve seen in square dancing. Set it to fabulous, high energy, live music with fiddles, guitars, percussion and more, alá “Riverdance.” Finally, set the whole scene down in the middle of Woodstock, with a hip, groovy atmosphere, a bit of tie-dye, and hints of counter-culture attitude. THAT’s Contra Dancing! Wear cool and comfortable clothes (you will get warm) and clean shoes that won't mark up our nice wood floor. Be sure to come for the beginner's lesson from 7:30 - 8:00, followed by dancing 8:00 - 10:30. All dances are taught; we will help you learn! Beginners always welcome, no need to bring a partner. Cost is $10.00 adults, $5.00 ages 12-26. Under 12 free. Free parking in church lot. For more information contact me or check out our website: [www.bigscioty.com](http://www.bigscioty.com/) Please bring your own refillable water bottle. Snacks to share are always welcome!

Bring your Raspberry Pi, Arduino, microcontroller, or any other electronic project and join fellow electronics makers for a night of creativity and collaboration! This session is open forum to share your current projects—whether complete or in progress, it’s all interesting! Whether you’re deep into embedded systems, exploring new ideas, or just getting started, you’ll find a welcoming space to collaborate, share, and get inspired. This session will be at the Worthington Park Library in the Olentangy Meeting Room.

Private Group. Closed to the Public Knowing ourselves and understanding our abilities is the first step toward wielding our gifts with control and accuracy. In subsequent classes we will verify and hone our talents with activities and discussion. These are hands-on workshops and participation is expected. The goal of our series will be to develop expertise in areas of particular interest such as mediumship, channeling, divination, healing and, etc.. Our ultimate directions will be determined by class members as we evolve. I look forward to sharing and discovering with you. - Cynthia

**Our February novel is: Julia by Sandra Newman** **This month is a classic, dystopian, fiction, literary fiction, women’s fiction, and science fiction novel. The book is 394 pages in print and 14 hours and 20 minutes on audiobook.** **An imaginative, feminist, and brilliantly relevant-to-today retelling of Orwell’s 1984, from the point of view of Winston Smith’s lover, Julia, by critically acclaimed novelist Sandra Newman.** Julia Worthing is a mechanic, working in the Fiction Department at the Ministry of Truth. It’s 1984, and Britain (now called Airstrip One) has long been absorbed into the larger trans-Atlantic nation of Oceania. Oceania has been at war for as long as anyone can remember, and is ruled by an ultra-totalitarian Party, whose leader is a quasi-mythical figure called Big Brother. In short, everything about this world is as it is in Orwell’s 1984. All her life, Julia has known only Oceania, and, until she meets Winston Smith, she has never imagined anything else. She is an ideal citizen: cheerfully cynical, always ready with a bribe, piously repeating every political slogan while believing in nothing. She routinely breaks the rules, but also collaborates with the regime when necessary. Everyone likes Julia. Then one day she finds herself walking toward Winston Smith in a corridor and impulsively slips him a note, setting in motion the devastating, unforgettable events of the classic story. Julia takes us on a surprising journey through Orwell’s now-iconic dystopia, with twists that reveal unexpected sides not only to Julia, but to other familiar figures in the 1984 universe. This unique perspective lays bare our own world in haunting and provocative ways, just as the original did almost seventy-five years ago.