VISION
To bring authentic yoga education to the world
MISSION
To teach yoga in its purity of ancient tradition with the technical skill and pragmatic scientific approach
ABOUT
The Sri Sri School of Yoga is founded by Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, a global humanitarian and thought leader in yoga and meditation, who is fully established in the Self. Our school seeks to expand the world’s understanding of yoga through an education and training that are steeped in the vedic tradition – the original roots of yoga – and a long lineage of masters while making yoga accessible and applicable for modern day use for people of all ages, abilities, cultures and religions. Through a comprehensive and multi-dimensional science-based education, our school’s course teaches about and integrate all paths of yoga including Hatha yoga (effort), Raja yoga (effortless, royal) Gyana yoga (wisdom), Karma yoga (service & action), Bhakti yoga (love & devotion) and more. The primary elements of our training are asanas (postures), pranayamas (breathing techniques), meditation and the experience and application of yoga beyond the yoga mat. Course graduates undergo our rigorous training and are equipped with a deep and personal understanding and experience of yoga that enables them to bring these different dimensions of yoga to their students. The simplicity of Gurudev’s approach to yoga combines the fundamental principles of practice (sadhana), service (seva) and devotion (satsang) – this unique approach empowers individuals to thrive and society to blossom in human values.
YOGA ALLIANCE, USA
Sri Sri School of Yoga is a Registered Yoga School (RYS®) with Yoga Alliance, USA since 2010. (RYT®)
INDIAN YOGA ASSOCIATION
Sri Sri School of Yoga is a member of Indian Yoga Association, a maiden effort made by the Government of India and all leading yoga institutions following lineages of more than 25-30 years to bring together all institutes of Yoga under one umbrella. The Association is a non-profitable, non-political and non- religious body, set-up with the sole and bona-fide aim to develop and promote the knowledge, education and applications of Yoga for the benefit of all sections of the society. A self-regulatory body established on 31st Oct. 2008 is approved by Ministry of AYUSH, Govt. of India & Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.
“Like a flower bud, human life has the potential to blossom fully. Blossoming of human potential to fullness is yoga.”
– Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
The benefits of yoga are multifold.
- It has many health benefits
- It changes the behavior of a person because behavior depends on the stress levels in a person. It creates a friendly disposition and a very pleasant atmosphere in people
- More than words we convey a lot through our presence; our vibrations. Yoga helps to improve our vibes.
I would like to give an example:
When someone close to you says, ‘Have a nice day’, and when an airhostess greets you saying, ‘Have a nice day!’, just observe and see, you can notice a clear difference When the air hostess greets you saying, ‘Have a nice day’, she really does not mean it. But the same words, when it comes to you from a close friend, it carries certain vibes - Speaking in terms of Quantum Physics, we are all emitting vibes or wavelengths. When communication breaks down, we often say, ‘Our wavelengths don’t match’.
This is because our ability to communicate depends on our ability to receive communications from others. Here, yoga helps us to have that clear mind - Another issue that we face in society today is prejudice. All types of prejudice: prejudice of religion, race, gender, class, educational status, financial status, etc.
All these different types of prejudice have clogged the mind of men and that is how conflicts arise in society. Yoga helps us to reach out and resolve this conflict created by prejudice. Spontaneously and naturally, yoga makes our mind free from prejudice.
I would like to quote an incident that happened a few years ago in Ivory Coast. There was polarization between two villages, where the people of one village chased out the people from the other village. One of our volunteers went and talked to them, taught them some yoga and some meditation, and brought the people of both villages together. You can see from this experience, how the people could break that prejudice in their minds and shake hands with the people who were different. I think this is very much needed in the world today - Now, coming to the aspect of developing skills within oneself. The propounder of yoga has said, ‘Yoga Karmasu Kaushalam’ (Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2.50). Lord Krishna has said, ‘Yoga is skill in action’. Yoga is not just an exercise, it is how skillfully you can communicate, and how skillfully you can act in any given situation. This again, is yoga. I do not think anyone here would say they do not want skill, or anyone here would say they do not want innovation. Innovation, intuition, skills, and better communication, all these are the main effects of yoga
Having said all of this, does yoga conflict with any of our belief systems? If I believe in a particular religion, or a particular philosophy, or if I follow a particular political line of thought, does that come in conflict with yoga? I would say, not at all, as yoga always promotes harmony in diversity, it encourages diversity. The word ‘yoga’ itself means ‘uniting’ (uniting diverse aspects of existence, of life).
Whether you are a businessman, or a public figure, or a private individual, you want peace, you want to smile, you want to be happy, isn’t it? This happiness can only happen when we look at the root cause of unhappiness, and unhappiness is because of lack of vision, stress, tension and worry.
Patanjali, the profounder of yoga, in his Yoga Sutras, he enunciated the purpose of yoga. He said ‘Heyam Dukham Anagatham’. The purpose of yoga is to stop misery before it comes.
On many counts, this is very useful. When a conflict is boiling somewhere, ask people to breathe, sit together and communicate better, you will see that you can resolve the conflict right at the very root cause of it. Whether it is greed, jealousy, anger, hatred, or frustration, all these negative emotions can be healed or re-oriented through yoga, and this is my experience throughout the world.
Yoga also helps people to be more responsible, and to take more responsibility in their life. This is called Karma Yoga. A Karma Yogi is one who takes responsibility.
We all play many roles in our life. We have an option to play the role either as a yogi or as a non-yogi; one who is responsible or one who is not-so-responsible. You can have a responsible teacher, a responsible doctor, or a businessman who cares.
Caring, sharing, and responsibility are the characters that yoga simply nurtures inside of us. We all have this inside us. The entire population has this, but it needs nurturing. I would say yoga is one of the best tools to nurture an individual to take responsibility.
