Slovenia

The Institute for Strengthening of Human Values is known all over Slovenia. They organise numerous workshops against stress and are especially well known for their humanitarian programmes. The programmes are organised in cooperation with centres for social work and local communities and are intended for people affected by natural disasters, such as the earthquake in the Northern Littoral region and floods in the central region of Slovenia. On Monday, May 26, the Institute celebrated its tenth anniversary.

The highlight of the event was the address of the smiling founder of the Art of Living Foundation, part of which is also the Slovenian Institute, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, via video-conference.

Bostjan Podgorsek with Alenka Strnad Reza

The Foundation became known to the wider Slovenian public when the former Slovenian president, Dr. Janez Drnovšek, participated in the organisation's 25^th anniversary in Bangalore. He was also the main speaker of the two-day celebration, addressing the crowd of as many as three million people.

In Slovenia the Institute is know for their organisation of the Art of Living seminars, anti-stress programs for police officers conducted in close cooperation with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the non-violence programs in schools. Most of the programs are based on an extremely efficient breathing technique.

Sri Sri via video-conference

"I was very impressed by these programs. I used to have health problems. The doctors helped me as much as they could, but I kept on searching," says Boštjan Podgornik from Tolmin, who was awarded a special recognition for his dedicated work as the leader of the programs for the Northern Littoral region.

He says that the Institute's programs gave him back his health. He was searching and he found his inner peace and strength that he now selflessly offers to people in need. "Normally we are not aware of breathing, although that is the key to how we can influence our emotions and find harmony in life", adds Podgornik with full confidence.

Indian Ambassador to Slovenia, Dr. Villur Sundararajan Seshadri

The Art of Living Foundation offers numerous programs for the promotion of health, for quality of life and more success at work. The organisation is active in more than 150 countries and has special consultive status with the Economic-Social Council of the United Nations. In the World Health Organisation (WHO) its area of activity is consulting related to the development of global health policy for the 21^st century. As in other parts of the world, also in Slovenia, extremely rapid development has taken its toll in the form of stress and stress-related diseases, lower quality of life, alienation among people and loss of touch with the basic human values.

The efficiency of the techniques and programs of the Art of Living Foundation has also been confirmed by independent medical and psychological researches.