February 2016 Woman At Work Digital

COVER STORY
The Art of Living
Unless we have a stress-free mind and a violence-free society,
we cannot achieve world peace.
- Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, also known
as Gurudev to his followers,
founded this organization in
1981 and started it as a humanitarian
movement to alleviate stress and serve
humankind. While the primary focus
is to help women and men get rid of
stress and achieve inner peace, the
organization has spread it wings over
the years. Today the foundation does
diverse projects related to sustainable
development, women empowerment,
education, disaster relief and many
others.
meditation and offered them in a form
that was and is relevant to the 21st
century. Beyond reviving ancient
wisdom, he created new techniques for
personal and social transformation
which include the Sudarshan Kriya,
which has helped millions of people to
find relief from stress and discover inner
reservoirs of energy and peace in daily
life.
The Art of Living operates globally
in 155 countries and has touched the
lives of over 370 million people. It is an
organisation with one of the largest
space of health or education or conflict
management, is run exclusively for
women.
The core practice of the Art of Living is
the Sudharshan Kriya, which is a breathing
technique and has tremendous benefits for
mind and body. They also have programs
on yoga and meditation which can be
practised at home after due training. A
practitioner of the Art of Living, Shampa
Basu’s life changed after she was
introduced to the practice in 2009. “Most
Indian women are conditioned to give their
hundred percent both at home and at work,
Courtesy: artofliving.org
Born in 1956 in Southern India, Sri
Sri Ravishankar was a gifted child. By
the age of four, he was able to recite
parts of the Bhagvad Gita, an ancient
Sanskrit scripture and was often found
in meditation. His first teacher was
Sudhakar Chaturvedi, who had a long
association with Mahatma Gandhi. He
holds degrees in Vedic literature and
physics. It is said that he entered a
ten-day period of silence in Shimoga
located in the Indian state of
Karnataka and during this period, the
Sudarshan Kriya, a powerful breathing
technique, was born.
As a spiritual teacher, Gurudev
rekindled the tradition of yoga and
volunteer bases in the world. The
international headquarters is located in
Bangalore, India. Globally, the
organisation operates as The Art of
Living Foundation formed in 1989 in the
United States of America and in
Germany. Since then, local centres have
been established across the world. In
1997, he also founded the International
Association for Human Values (IAHV)
to coordinate sustainable development
projects, nurture human values and
coordinate conflict resolution in
association with The Art of Living.
The Foundation does extensive work
in the space of women empowerment.
Many of their programs, be it in the
and this pressure sometimes creates a
feeling of guilt in them. The Art of Living
program gave me awareness about who I
am, what I feel and what I want. Sudarshan
Kriya gave me lightness and I started to
wear a smile daily."
The Art of Living organises workshops
and programs across most cities in India
regularly. Participants who also would like
to give back, get trained as teachers and
spread the reach of the programs far and
- Brahma Kumaris
wide.
As The Art of Living celebrates 35
years in 2016, for Shampa and millions
like her, the organization and its teachings
have brought spiritual and mental wellness
and positivity, literally to their doorsteps.
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| February 2016