History Before founding the Art of Living Foundation, Ravi Shankar worked as an associate of
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of the
Transcendental Meditation movement. Ravi Shankar has said that he conceptualized
Sudarshan Kriya, a rhythmic breathing technique, following a period of silence in
Shimoga, Karnataka, in 1982, which forms the basis of the foundation's courses.
Evolution of organizational activities The Art of Living Foundation was established primarily as an educational organisation offering stress management programmes centred on
Sudarshan Kriya, along with yoga and meditation. Through the 1980s and into the early 1990s, its activities were concentrated on delivering courses in India and expanding internationally through teacher training. The organisation expanded internationally in 1983, when Shankar conducted the first international course in
Switzerland. In 1996, the foundation received special consultative status with the
United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), marking its formal recognition as a humanitarian non-governmental organisation at the international level. The following year, in 1997, the foundation co-founded the International Association for Human Values (IAHV) in
Geneva, a separately registered organisation that obtained its own ECOSOC consultative status and through which many of the foundation's humanitarian and social programmes have since been implemented. During this period, the foundation expanded its scope to include disaster relief, prisoner rehabilitation, and environmental initiatives. Following the
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, the foundation deployed trauma relief programmes in affected communities in India and Sri Lanka; a subsequent peer-reviewed study published in the
Journal of Health Psychology found significant reduction in
post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms among tsunami survivors who received the breathing-based intervention. In 2008, the foundation launched the Mission Green Earth campaign in partnership with the
United Nations Millennium Campaign, targeting the planting of 100 million trees to address
climate change. The foundation's Prison SMART programme, which delivers breathing and stress management techniques to incarcerated individuals, was independently reported operating in South African prisons during this period. From 2015 onwards, the foundation's founder Ravi Shankar became directly engaged in active conflict mediation. In June 2015, he participated in peace negotiations between the Colombian government and the
FARC guerrilla organisation in
Bogotá and
Havana. In August 2017, 68 militants from 11 armed outfits surrendered in
Manipur, with the state's Chief Minister crediting Ravi Shankar's peace-building engagement in the region. In March 2019, the
Supreme Court of India appointed Ravi Shankar as one of three mediators in the
Ayodhya dispute. The majority of the officers of the organization, along with most of its teachers and staff, are volunteers. Many of its programs are conducted through or in conjunction with a partner organization, the International Association for Human Values (IAHV). It's programs draw on
Advaita Vedanta tradition and practices. The Foundation operates as a charitable or a non-profit organization with chapters in many parts of the world. ==Global centres==