Relax l Refresh l Rejuvenate
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Spiritual Leader, Global Humanitarian, Peace Advocate
Founded in 1981 by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, The Art of Living is an educational and humanitarian movement engaged in stress-management and service initiatives. The organization operates globally in 155 countries and has touched the lives of over 370 million people.
The programs are guided by Sri Sri's philosophy of peace: "Unless we have a stress-free mind and a violence-free society, we cannot achieve world peace. The Art of Living offers stress-elimination programs which include breathing techniques, meditation, and yoga.
The Art of Living has been promoting peace across communities through diverse humanitarian projects: conflict resolution, disaster relief, sustainable rural development, empowerment of women, prisoner rehabilitation, education for all, and environmental sustainability.
The passion that ignited in Sri Sri Ravi Shankar 35 years ago made him start the Art of Living. A spiritual guide, Sri Sri began teaching people yoga, meditation, and the Sudarshan Kriya - a powerful breathing technique. Over the years, many people came to him for solace and left inspired to make a difference in society. These inspirations have found expression across a range of service initiates. Deeply concerned about world affairs, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has played a key role in mediating several conflict situations and extending support in times of need across the globe.
For over 30 years, the Art of Living’s humanitarian projects have focused on developing the health and well-being of underprivileged and marginalized people. In India, our empowerment projects have been developed for both rural and urban conditions, focusing on social, economic, and environmental transformation. We have successfully completed many projects whose primary objective was advocating self-reliance and they have benefited millions of people.
For more information on our service projects, click here.
Gurudev's New Year message for 2022
New Year’s Greetings! Thousands of people across the globe are celebrating with wisdom, silence, and meditation.
This New Year, make your mind like a non-stick pan, and enjoy your pancakes, fresh and new. And don't even think back that you never washed your pan in the past; that too is gone. In this sense, every day is a New Year’s Day for you—every day is a celebration. Today is today. Calendars and calculations don't exist then.
When you are happy, you don't feel that you are growing old. You don't feel that time is dragging. You don't feel time at all—it could be millions of years; nothing has touched you or shaken you, and you have no plans. And even if you have a plan, time runs so fast. When time runs so fast, it also stands still.
In the morning, when you wake up, just sit and feel how time stands so still. When time stands still, it is meditation.
When time runs fast, you don't feel it; that is karma yoga. And when Time stands still, that is dhyan yoga, meditation. See, if you are not used to the stillness of Time, if you are only on the run all the time, you will get depressed. We have this tremendous ability to enjoy both—running and being still.
As you grow older, the body has its limitations. If you have no ability to be still and don't enjoy being still even for a short time, you will feel bored, confused, and depressed. That is what happens to all the so-called very active people when their bodies don’t allow them to be active anymore, and they cannot be still either.
This is where your mind is not with time. So, your mind should be with time. When the mind is with the time, it can be still.
May this year be a wisdom-filled year!
Love and Blessings
Gurudev
