Why Classical Hatha Yoga?

image: © isha foundation

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev

Sadhguru is a yogi, mystic, visionary and the founder of Isha Foundation, a non-profit human-service organization, supported by over seven million volunteers in over 250 centers worldwide. Sadhguru presents yoga – the core of India’s spiritual strength and its gift to the world – as an inner science. Devised by Sadhguru, Inner Engineering or Isha Yoga has made a dimensional shift in how people address their wellbeing. Because of its scientific approach, Inner Engineering has garnered international appeal and acceptance from leading corporations, universities, and global forums like Google, General Electric, the World Bank, etc. Over 100 million people have been touched by Isha Yoga or Inner Engineering till date.

Under Sadhguru’s leadership, Isha Foundation has also shaped many pioneering and large-scale social initiatives like quality education for the poor, holistic health solutions, environmental stewardship, and bringing about rural rejuvenation through sports. This approach has gained worldwide recognition and reflects in Isha Foundation’s special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.

Isha Vidhya, a rural educational outreach initiative started by Sadhguru, has transformed the lives of over 100,000 children and Isha’s government school adoption program has been spectacularly successful. Inspired by Sadhguru’s environmental movement Project GreenHands, the people of Tamil Nadu have planted over 3 crore trees for which he was honored with the Indira Gandhi Paryavaran Puraskar – India’s highest environmental award for the year 2008. In October 2006, 256289 volunteers planted 852587 saplings in 6284 locations across 27 districts in Tamil Nadu setting a Guinness World Record in the process. Project GreenHands (PGH) has also been awarded the State Environment award in 2012 by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Tamil Nadu for the best organization working in this field. In 2010, it was awarded the Beyond Sports Award for using sports as a medium to impact community. From among 438 entries worldwide PGH won the award under the environment category.

Sadhguru – a sport enthusiast – has inspired millions of people in Tamil Nadu to take up sport. Isha Gramotsavam is an effort to revive the rural spirit through sports and community building – breaking through divisions of caste, creed and economic status, and helping people leave behind destructive addictions to drugs and alcohol. In Isha Gramotsavam 2016: 10,360 players, 880 teams, 4600 villages, from across rural Tamil Nadu participated in state-wide volleyball and throwball matches.

Sadhguru has been a delegate to the United Nations World Headquarters as the primary speaker on International Day of Yoga in 2016, addressed the Indian Economic Summit and has been a regular speaker at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Further, some of the most renowned education institutes and universities across the world including Oxford, Stanford, Harvard, Yale, Wharton, MIT, etc. have hosted Sadhguru’s talks. Sadhguru’s areas of active involvement encompass fields as diverse as architecture and visual design, poetry and painting, ecology and horticulture, sports, music, aviation, and he exudes an indiscriminate passion for all aspects of life.

image: © isha foundation