Art of Living Foundation (Sri Sri Ravi Shankar)
International organisation founded by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (1981) teaching Sudarshan Kriya breathing technique. Operates in 180+ countries with substantial humanitarian programmes. Some ex-members report high-pressure recruitment and cult-of-personality dynamics around founder.
CLCI radar
BITE breakdown
0 — large international movement with substantial humanitarian work; some patterns warrant inclusion as moderate.
Profile facts
In context
Art of Living's flagship is the Sudarshan Kriya breathing course, a multi-day intensive that many participants report transformative. The organisation runs vast humanitarian projects (river rejuvenation, prisons, education) and Ravi Shankar is a globally recognised peace negotiator. Some ex-teachers describe high-pressure recruitment, financial expectations on staff, and devotional veneration of the founder; these accounts are individual rather than systematically documented in academic literature, which is why the entry is rated Low confidence. The CLCI is calibrated to the patterns that have been described in public testimony rather than to a formally established consensus.
Key control doctrines
- Sudarshan Kriya breathing technique as core teaching
- Sri Sri as enlightened master
- Service (seva) as spiritual practice
General high-control-group recovery resources
Group-specific recovery resources have not yet been curated for this entry. The general references below apply across most high-control-group exits; see /resources for the full directory.
- ICSA (International Cultic Studies Association) — Global referral and information service for questions about high-control groups; runs a helpline and a directory of cult-aware therapists.
- Freedom of Mind Resource Center — Steven Hassan's organisation — BITE-model assessments, family-side guidance, and exit-counselling resources.
- ICSA Cult-Aware Therapist Directory — ICSA-maintained directory of licensed mental-health professionals with specific cult-recovery training.
- Combatting Cult Mind Control (Steven Hassan) — Foundational BITE-model book covering the structural mechanics of high-control groups and recovery; revised edition 2018.
- Take Back Your Life: Recovering from Cults and Abusive Relationships (Lalich & Tobias) — Practical recovery workbook by Janja Lalich and Madeleine Tobias.
See the full curated list at /resources.
Legal cases & controversies
- Periodic Indian environmental/legal disputes (Yamuna riverbed event 2016)
This profile is in progress — history, deeper BITE evidence and survivor voices are still being added. Contributions welcome via GitHub.
Timeline
- 1981Ravi Shankar founds Art of Living in Bangalore
- 1990s+International expansion; UN consultative status
- 2011Anna Hazare anti-corruption fast (Ravi Shankar prominent)
Sources
- Various ex-teacher testimonies in Indian media search ↗
- Times of India and The Guardian profiles search ↗
We cite sources by name and outlet rather than fabricating links. Where a source includes its own URL, the open ↗ link opens it directly; otherwise search ↗ runs a Google Scholar query for the cited title — useful for verifying academic sources. For news outlets, search the outlet's own archive.
Change history
Substantive edits logged per the score-updates policy.
- 2026-05-20Source-density flags derived from existing free-text sources[]: investigative journalism. Heuristic auto-flag; subsequent editorial pass will populate structuredSources[] with reliability tiers.
- 2026-05-20Marked as alias_redirect to canonical entry `art-of-living-sri-sri`. Inbound links continue to resolve; the canonical URL is now the recommended target for citation.
- 2026-05-20Score band scheme migrated from 4 bands to 5 (Minimal 0–5 / Low 6–12 / Moderate 13–20 / High 21–30 / Extreme 31–40). No CLCI value changed; the new Minimal band was carved out of the bottom of the previous Low band.
Key terms in this profile
Related entries
This profile is maintained for inbound-link continuity. The canonical entry is the recommended read for current operational pattern.
Relevant hubs
Curated entry points on CLCI Hub for situations connected to this group.
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