With inner peace comes world peace

Resolving conflicts by dialogue and fostering peace at an individual level.

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Challenge

  • Trust deficit between militants,  governments, and local community 
  • Deep-rooted stress in individuals

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Strategy

Dialogue and special trauma-relief and stress-relief programs

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Impact

  • 7400+ armed insurgents surrendered and reintegrated into mainstream society
  • 16,000+ war-affected children received trauma-relief training
  • 20,000+ survivors from war-torn areas provided rehabilitation tools 
  • Peace dialogues initiated between warring factions

Overview

Bringing world peace involves resolving conflicts among groups with very different ideologies, which is a complex task. Vested interests, a lengthy history of violence, a lack of trust and communication, and high levels of stress in individuals all contribute to the difficulty of resolving conflicts.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar believes that these complex challenges to world peace can be overcome with patience, perseverance, and by bringing inner peace to individuals. 

By fostering inner peace at an individual level, we can transform perpetrators of conflicts and heal victims. By facilitating dialogue, we can bridge trust deficits. With these actions put together, we can make world peace a reality.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has promoted peace by way of dialogue and strategic initiatives that engage multiple levels of government, businesses, and humanitarian organizations. He has been successful in bringing the conflicting sides to the negotiating table – which is a crucial first step for resolving conflicts.

Additionally, through skillfully designed stress-relief and trauma-relief programs, The Art of Living and the International Association for Human Values (IAHV) have helped all involved stakeholders; namely armed insurgents, war veterans, civilians in refugee camps, including children from worn-torn areas, find inner peace and move towards a life that is free from violence.

The Art of Living has initiated conflict resolution and trauma-relief programs in many countries, including Afghanistan, Colombia, Brazil, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel-Palestine, Kenya, Kosovo, Lebanon, Mauritius, Morocco, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the United States of America.

Our interventions have led to actionable changes where militants and armed insurgents have surrendered, ending longstanding conflicts. Our interventions have made breakthroughs, in often intractable situations, by bringing opposing parties to have a peaceful dialogue. Our interventions have enabled survivors of war to begin new lives.

Our Strategy

We follow a multi-pronged strategy which includes a combination of the following components:

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Bringing peace from within

through trauma and stress-relief programs

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Multi-group dialogue

between multiple stakeholders and factions

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Local community building

support each other in the process of healing

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Supplying necessities

based on needs in an emergency

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Creating platforms

conferences, large think-tanks, and external support

Peace is not just an absence of conflict; it is a positive phenomenon inside of us. When our mind is quiet, our intellect becomes sharper, our emotions become positive and lighter, and our behavior becomes much more palatable. These are the effects of finding inner peace, and inner peace is the key to world peace.

- Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Impact

Service project highlights 

Role in resolving the 52-year-old Colombian conflict, 2016

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar played a key role in getting FARC leaders to negotiate with the Colombian government in 2015 at a time when they were resisting all interventions by the international community. With a strong presence of Art of Living in Colombia, Gurudev was conferred with Colombia’s highest civilian award, the Orden de la Democracia Simon Bolivar. Read more

Jammu and Kashmir: Paigam-e-Mohabbat, 2017

The Art of Living has been working to reform militants and bring peace in Jammu and Kashmir, and as a result, many militants have surrendered arms. Paigam-e-Mohabbat was a unique reconciliation program which undertook the exceptionally challenging task of bringing together families of martyred security personnel, victims of cross-firing, and slain militants. Read more

16,000+ war-affected children receive trauma relief-training, 2016 -2019

Thousands of war-affected children in Jordan and Lebanon have received our trauma-relief training and have been led to the path of emotional recovery. IAHV started the Healing, Resilience, and Preventing Extremism Project - a project helping the refugee and host communities in Lebanon and Jordan to heal emotionally and build a more cohesive and peaceful society. Read more

Rehabilitating militant youth

700 ex-ULFA militants have been rehabilitated through stress relief training. In addition, militants from Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, and Andhra Pradesh have participated in Art of Living programs and have surrendered arms. Read more

Rebuilding Iraq, 2003

Since September 2003, The Art of Living has reached out to more than 50,000 war-affected people. We trained and inspired Iraqi community leaders to initiate campaigns and programs to protect people. Our Women Empowerment Program addresses women’s emotional and psychological needs and gives them the skills to achieve economic stability. Our programs include Yazidis, Shias and Christians. Read more

UPLA militant outfit in north-east declares a unilateral ceasefire, 2018 

With the help of stress-relief training workshops and facilitating dialogue between the government and the UPLA (United People’s Liberation Army), the 150 member group declared a unilateral ceasefire in 2018. Read more

Jordan, Lebanon and Syria humanitarian efforts, 2003

The Art of Living has been active in this region since 2003. We have been conducting trainings for refugee youth from Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. These at-risk youth are being given integrated peace-building training to work as future peace and social workers. Read more

Militants surrender in Manipur, 2017

Gurudev has been actively working in the North East of India to sort the long history of conflict and insurgency in the region. The Art of Living's sustained efforts led to 68 militants surrendering arms. The Art of Living has further conducted programs to help former militants reintegrate with the mainstream.  Read more

North East Indigenous People’s Conference held, 2017

The Art of Living convened a conference for the diverse groups of the North-East including those who had formerly taken up arms to discuss the issues of the region. Read more

Easing the trauma of ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka

Inspired by Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s creative peace-building initiatives for healing and reconciliation, The Art of Living Foundation Sri Lanka delivered its life-supporting programs to several hundred ex-LTTE combatants. Gurudev’s spiritual wisdom and the Sudarshan Kriya breathing technique helped more than 1800 ex-LTTE combatants to meaningfully reintegrate with the mainstream society. Read more

USA: Project Welcome Home Troops, 2006

IAHV started Project Welcome Home Troops (PWHT) in 2006 to provide relief to war veterans returning home from the war-riddled Middle East. PWHT is a mind-body resilience-building program offering practical breath-based tools that decrease stress, anxiety and sleep-related problems. Studies at Stanford, published in the Journal of Traumatic Stress, indicated that war veterans with post-traumatic stress experienced a 40– 50% reduction in their symptoms as a result of the PWHT. Read more

Facilitating dialogues

Gurudev has facilitated dialogues in various conflicts like the Assam riots (2012), Amarnath land dispute (2008), Gujjar protests (2008), and as far back as the Naxal uprisings of 2001.

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