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Isha Foundation is a non-profit, spiritual organization founded in 1992 by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. It is based at the Isha Yoga Center near Coimbatore, India. The foundation offers yoga programs under the name of Isha Yoga. The foundation is run entirely by volunteers and it has over 9 million volunteers.

Isha Yoga

Isha Yoga is the masthead under which the Isha Foundation offers yoga programs. The word isha means "the formless divine".

Yoga classes are also conducted for corporate leaders to introduce them to what Sadhguru calls "inclusive economics," to "introduce a sense of compassion and inclusiveness into today's economic scenario".

A yoga course for the Indian national hockey team was conducted in 1996. Isha Foundation began conducting yoga programs in the United States in 1997 and, in 1998, yoga classes for life-term prisoners in Tamil Nadu prisons were initiated.

Activities

The foundation regularly organises Mahasathsangs with Sadhguru in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka where he gives discourses, conducts meditations and indulges in question-answer session with the masses. It also organises annual yatras to Mount Kailash and the Himalayas under the banners Kailash Manasarovar Sojourn and Himalayan Dhyan Yatra. The Kailash Sojourn led by Sadhguru is among the largest groups to make the trip to Kailash with 514 pilgrims making the journey in 2010.

Social and environmental initiatives

Project GreenHands

Project GreenHands (PGH) was established in 2004 as an environmental organization. Its activity is largely focused on Tamil Nadu. The organization received the Indira Gandhi Paryavaran Puraskar, the Government of India's environmental award in 2010. The organisation's activities include agroforestry, plant nurseries in schools, and tree-planting in urban centers such as Tiruchirappalli and Tiruppur.

Action for Rural Rejuvenation

Action for Rural Rejuvenation (ARR) is a health and community-oriented program focuses on rural Tamil Nadu. It was established in 2003, and as of 2010, functioned in 4200 villages with a population 7 million.

Isha Vidhya

Isha Vidhya, an education initiative, aims to raise the level of education and literacy in rural India by providing quality English-language-based, computer-aided education for rural children. There are seven Isha Vidhya Schools in operation which educate around 3000 students.

Rally for rivers

Rally for Rivers is a campaign launched by Isha Foundation in 2017 to tackle the scarcity of water across rivers in India and instill awareness about protecting rivers. Sadhguru launched the campaign on 3 September from Isha Yoga Center, Coimbatore. The campaign included a month-long, nationwide campaign. On 3 October, a river revitalization draft proposal was presented by Sadhguru to Narendra Modi. Six states signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) with Isha Foundation to plant trees along river banks. These states are Karnataka, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Maharashtra and Gujarat. The Niti Aayog and the Ministry of Water Resources have constituted committees to study the draft policy proposal.. Under the flag name of Rally for rivers, Cauvery calling campaign is being organised which would last for over a decade. this project mainly focouses on river Kaveri. In November, at a conference in Germany, the executive director of the United Nations Environmental Program, Erik Solheim discussed Rally for Rivers with Sadhguru, and how environmental programs around the world can emulate its success.

Rally for Rivers was criticized by the environmentalist who stated that it was trying to solve a complex problem with a "Shallow solution".

Adiyogi Shiva statue

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev designed the 112-foot Adiyogi Shiva statue, which is located at the Isha Yoga Center. It was inaugurated on Mahashivaratri, 24 February 2017, by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi. The Adiyogi statue depicts Shiva as the first yogi or Adiyogi, and first Guru or Adi Guru, who offered yoga to humanity. The statue was built by the Isha Foundation using 20,000 individual iron plates supplied by the Steel Authority of India and weighs around 500 tonnes (490 long tons; 550 short tons). The Adiyogi Shiva Statue has been recognized as the "Largest Bust Sculpture" by Guinness World Records. A consecrated Shivalinga called "Yogeshwar Linga" is placed in front of the Adiyogi Shiva statue.

Reception

In 2016, several allegations were made that Isha Yoga Center is capturing people in the center. Retired professor from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University had petitioned to the collector about his both daughters held captive at the center. Also, another woman alleged that her 32 year old son was being held captive at Isha Yoga Center. Isha foundation has denied the allegations of holding people captive. Both women later confirmed in a written statement that it was their free will to stay at Isha and the accusations were an attempt of their father to make them leave the center.

See also

• Adiyogi Shiva statue

References

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41. "Isha Foundation denies allegations that yoga centre is holding two women captive". Firstpost. Retrieved 5 October 2019.

External links

• Official Website of Isha Foundation

• Yoga organizations
• Spiritual retreats
• Non-profit organisations based in India
• Community-building organizations