ART OF LIVING

The basic tenets of Art of Living and the Science of Living (Jeevan Vigyan) are the
same: Let our body, mind and soul be in total harmony. A hundred years ago Sri
Paramhansa Yogananda introduced the concept of Art of Living. The essence of his
teachings is that to lead a more integrated humane and spiritual life we need discipline
and control of mind. It gives certain practical methods for the uniform development
of mind and soul. These include taking balanced diet, regular exercise, practice of
meditation, studying religious literature and leading a pious life.
More recently Art of Living has been revived and refined by Sri Sri Ravi Shanker
with the goal of creating an atmosphere of love and peace for entire humanity. For
the purpose Sri Ravi Shanker has introduced a technique of Sudarshan Kryia. He
says, unless we have a stress-free mind and a violence – free society we cannot
achieve world peace. Art of living helps individuals get rid of stress and experience
inner peace. The training includes stress-elimination programmes such no Prayanam
(breathing techniques), meditation and yoga.
The degree to which stress unduly influences our lives is generally under estimated,
often the mind clings to anger, guilt or regret about the past, or is plagued by anxiety
and worry about the future. This oscillation of the mind between the past and the
future causes tension and stress for us and for the people around us and leads to
reduced effectiveness in action. Breath is the link between body and mind and thus
works as a key to handle negative emotions and facilitate the use of true potntil at
work at home and at leisure. For example, when you are angry, the breath is short
and fast, when sad, the out-breath is long and heavy. So, we can learn to skillfully
use the breath to change the way we feel, hence release negative emotions (e.g.
stress, anger, anxiety, depression and worry) and leaving the mind happy, relaxed
and energized.