A short story of our name, our mark, and what they’re saying.
The Name
Onala carries three sounds and one idea.
- O — the whole
- Nala — the wave
- Ala — the path
Together: the path of the wave—growth guided by rhythm, relation, and truth—not force.
Origins: The Ocean & The Wave
In Vedanta philosophy, an old metaphor points to who we are:
- The ocean is Brahman—eternal, infinite universe. The reality.
- A single wave is Atman—the individual self. Temporary shape—name, body and role.
- The feeling of being separate—our ego and suffering—is Maya (illusion). The “matrix”. Mind’s habit of mistaking the temporary shape for the whole story.
- When the wave settles back into the ocean, it realizes its non-separate nature—Moksha, liberation. Remembering we’re more than a temporary shape, meeting life as it comes to us, and letting go of self-inflicted suffering.
The Upanishad puts it this way: tat tvam asi—“you are That.” The wave was never not-ocean; it only seemed that way.
This isn’t about adopting a belief; it’s about a posture in life: connection before separation, rhythm over force.
The Mark
Mark: two sky-blue swirls within a sand circle, with a small clay seed at center.
The circle — the TRUTH
The enclosing circle is the field of Being—the holding environment, the great home we forget and remember.
Two swirls — nothing exists alone
The twin swirls are waves. There are two because life arises in interaction: self-and-other, breath-and-body, teacher-and-student, earth-and-sky.
Personally, they also honor the meeting of my husband’s and my life—how we’re shaped by those we love, the ones we tame and are tamed by.
The dot — intention and willpower
At the heart sits a seed. It’s the intention we plant, the offering we make to the world. As the old story goes, the wolf you feed wins. The seed we choose determines the harvest we’ll sow.
The Colors
Color palette from the mark:
- Ocean Field (Sand):
#EAE3C8 - Wave (Sky Blue):
#A1CAE2 - Seed (Clay):
#C2B092
Ocean — Sand
The ocean isn’t inherently blue; it often looks that way because of light. To us, the ocean is truth—quiet, not shouting. Sand suggests light, warmth, and ease.
Waves — Sky Blue
It’s fitting that the waves are blue. We give life its interpretation and narration, just as we see water and sky as blue. This is a gentle blue—movement without aggression—fitting a company that grows by rhythm, not noise.
Seed — Clay
Clay is what we shape—and what shapes us. Our willpower. It carries warmth and human touch, signaling care inside the larger ocean of being.
How the colors interact
- Sand steadies; Blue moves. Their meeting enacts the metaphor—form rising from formlessness and returning again.
- A point of will. The Seed’s warmth anchors attention at the center, a reminder that intention matters.
What Remains
Our name, mark, and colors declare our intent; our lives and offerings are how we practice our willpower in this world.
In the end, what remains is what our seed has grown into within the ocean—not separate from it, shaped by it, and offered back to it.