"Life is sacred. Celebrate life.
Care for others and share whatever you have
with those less fortunate than you.
Broaden your vision, for the whole world belongs to you."
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
The Art of Living is a multi-faceted, not-for-profit educational and humanitarian NGO with a presence in over 140 countries. Founded in 1982 by His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the foundation is one of the largest voluntary organisations in the world.
Inspired by Sri Sri's vision of making the world a violence-free, stress-free global family, the organisation is engaged in various initiatives that uplift humanity and enhance the quality of life. Its goal is to bring peace at the level of the individual, society, nation and the world as a whole. Areas of work include conflict resolution, disaster and trauma relief, poverty alleviation, empowerment of women, prisoner rehabilitation, education for all, campaigns against female foeticide and child labour, and environmental sustainability.
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 several stress-elimination and self-development programmes based mainly on breathing techniques, meditation and yoga. These programmes have helped thousands around the world to overcome stress, depression and violence.
The Art of Living's sister organisation, the International Association for Human Values (IAHV) formulates and implements the social projects of the Art of Living. The Art of Living is registered as a not-for-profit organisation in South Africa (035-041 NPO). IAHV is registered as a not-for-profit organisation (032-206-NPO) and a public benefit organisation (PBO: 930003286).
Professional affiliations
The Art of Living works in special consultative status with the
Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations
participating in a variety of committees and activities relating to
health, education, sustainable development and conflict resolution. It
also carries our several joint initiatives with UN organisations such
as United Nations Millennium Campaign (UNMC), United Nations Children’s
Fund (UNICEF), etc.
