The Isha Foundation is a

nonprofit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

, spiritual organisation that was founded in 1992 near

Coimbatore Coimbatore (Tamil: kōyamputtūr, ), also known as Kovai (), is one of the major Metropolitan cities of India, metropolitan cities in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Noyy ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, by Sadhguru (Jagadish Vasudev). It hosts the Isha Yoga Centre, which offers

yoga Yoga (UK: , US: ; 'yoga' ; ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines that originated with its own philosophy in ancient India, aimed at controlling body and mind to attain various salvation goals, as pra ...

programs under the name Isha Yoga. The foundation is run "almost entirely" by volunteers. According to Sadhguru, the word ''isha'' means "the formless divine".

Isha Yoga

The Yoga Centre at the Isha Foundation was founded in 1994, and offers yoga programmes under the name Isha Yoga. This customised system of yoga combines postural yoga with chanting, breathing (''

prāṇāyāma Pranayama (Sanskrit: प्राणायाम, "Prāṇāyāma") is the yogic practice of focusing on breath. In classical yoga, the breath is associated with ''prana'', thus, pranayama is a means to elevate the ''prana-shakti'', or life ener ...

'') and meditation. It does not belong to a lineage ('' paramparā''), and its practitioners believe it to be based on the founding guru's unique insight. Yoga classes for business leaders are intended to "introduce a sense of compassion and inclusiveness" to economics. A yoga course for the Indian national hockey team was conducted in 1996. Isha Foundation began conducting yoga programs in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in 1997 and, in 1998, yoga classes for life-term prisoners in Tamil Nadu

prisons A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where people are imprisoned under the authority of the state, usually as punishment for various cr ...

Activities

The foundation organises gatherings ('' sathsangs'') with Vasudev in the

Indian states India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, for a total of 36 subnational entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into 800 districts and smaller administrative divisions by the respe ...

and

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

, where he delivers discourses, leads meditations, and conducts question-answer sessions. It organises annual pilgrimages (''

yatra ''Yatra'' (, ), in Indian religion, Indian-origin religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism, generally means a pilgrimage to holy places such as confluences of River#Sacred rivers, sacred rivers, Sacred mountains#India, sacred mount ...

s'') to

Mount Kailash Mount Kailash (also Kailasa; ''Kangrinboqê'' or ''Gang Rinpoche''; ; ; , ) is a mountain in Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region of China. It lies in the Kailash Range (Gangdisê Mountains) of the Transhimalaya, in the western part ...

and the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...

under Isha Sacred Walks. The Kailash- Manasarovar pilgrimage led by Vasudev is among the largest groups to visit Kailash, with 514 pilgrims making the journey in 2010. The trip cost up to Rs per person in 2021, with cheaper options available in which devotees receive limited interaction with Vasudev. The centre hosts an annual seven-day-long music and dance festival culminating in the all-night celebration of

Maha Shivaratri Maha Shivaratri is a Hindu festival celebrated annually to worship the deity Shiva, between February and March. According to the Hindu calendar, the festival is observed on the fourteenth day of the first half (night start with darkness - ...

, a major Hindu festival honouring

Shiva Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh and Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the God in Hinduism, Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions w ...

. The foundation sells various products such as yoga mats, personal care products and accessories. Its US chapter reported revenues of $40m in 2022. The “business leadership” insights program, in particular, was priced at $6500 per person.

Social and environmental initiatives

Project GreenHands

Project GreenHands (PGH) was established in 2004 as an environmental organisation. Its activity is largely focused on

. It received the Indira Gandhi Paryavaran Puraskar, the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

's environmental award, in 2010. Its activities include

agroforestry Agroforestry (also known as agro-sylviculture or forest farming) is a land use management system that integrates trees with crops or pasture. It combines agricultural and forestry technologies. As a polyculture system, an agroforestry system c ...

, plant nurseries in schools, and tree-planting in urban centres such as

Tiruchirappalli Tiruchirappalli (), also known as Trichy, is a major tier II city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Tiruchirappalli district. The city is credited with being the best livable and the cleanest city of T ...

and Tiruppur.

Action for Rural Rejuvenation

Action for Rural Rejuvenation is a health and community-oriented program focusing on rural Tamil Nadu. It was established in 2003, and as of 2010, operated in 4,200 villages with a population of seven million. Action for Rural Rejuvenation hosts the annual Gramotsavam sports festival in Tamil Nadu, promoting sports as a part of daily life in rural communities to improve mental and physical well-being. In recognition of this effort, Isha received India's National Sports Promotion Award in the Sport for Development category in 2018.

Isha Vidhya

Isha Vidhya, an education initiative, aims to raise education and literacy in rural India by providing quality English-language-based, computer-aided education for children. There are seven Isha Vidhya Schools, with around 3000 students. In 2010, the

Life Insurance Corporation of India The Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) is an Indian Public Sector Undertakings in India, public sector life insurance company headquartered in Mumbai. It is India's largest insurance company as well as the largest institutional investor ...

Golden Jubilee Foundation provided a grant for construction at an Isha Vidhya School in

. In March 2022, the initiative onboarded

Byju's Byju's (stylised as BYJU'S) is an Indian multinational educational technology company, headquartered in Bengaluru. It was founded in 2011 by Byju Raveendran and Divya Gokulnath. As of October 2024, various media outlets reported that Byju's v ...

to provide digital learning tools to underprivileged children in Tamil Nadu and

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

Rally for Rivers

Rally for Rivers was a month-long, nationwide campaign launched by Isha Foundation in 2017 to address the scarcity of water across rivers in

and instill awareness about protecting rivers. Vasudev launched the campaign on 3 September from Isha Yoga Centre, Coimbatore. On 3 October, a river revitalisation draft proposal was presented by Vasudev to

Prime Minister of India The prime minister of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and his chosen Union Council of Ministers, Council of Ministers, despite the president of ...

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...

. The

states State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh (; ) is a landlocked States and union territories of India, state in Central India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ninth largest state by area, and with a population of roughly 30 million, the List ...

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

and

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

signed memorandums of understanding with Isha Foundation to plant trees along river banks. The Niti Aayog and the Ministry of Water Resources constituted committees to study the draft policy proposal. Under the name Rally for Rivers, a Cauvery calling campaign was organised which would last over a decade. The project mainly focuses on

river Kaveri The Kaveri (also known as Cauvery) is a Rivers of India, major river flowing across Southern India. It is the third largest river in the region after Godavari River, Godavari and Krishna River, Krishna. The catchment area of the Kaveri basin i ...

. In November, at a conference in Germany, the executive director of the

United Nations Environment Programme The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the Declaration of the United Nati ...

Erik Solheim Erik Solheim (born 18 January 1955) is a Norwegian diplomat and former politician. He served in the Norwegian government from 2005 to 2012 as Minister of International Development and Minister of the Environment, and as Under-Secretary-General ...

, discussed Rally for Rivers with Vasudev, and how environmental programs around the world could emulate its success. Rally for Rivers has been criticised by environmentalists who allege that it was trying to solve a complex problem with a "shallow solution".

Cauvery Calling

The Cauvery Calling project aims to support farmers in planting an estimated 2.4 billion trees through

, thereby covering one third of Cauvery basin with trees as a means of conserving it. The project has received acclaim from politicians and members of the movie industry, yet environmentalists and public intellectuals have alleged that it presents a simplistic view of river conservation, sidestepping social issues and ignoring the potential harm to tributaries and wildlife habitats. A

public interest litigation The chief instrument through which judicial activism has flourished in India is public interest litigation (PIL) or social action litigation (SAL). It refers to litigation undertaken to secure public interest and demonstrates the availability ...

has also been filed in the

Karnataka High Court The High Court of Karnataka (''IAST: Karnāṭaka Ućća Nyāyālaya'', commonly referred to as the Karnataka High Court and formerly known as the Mysore High Court, is the highest judicial authority of the Indian state of Karnataka. The court ...

questioning the legality of the fundraising practices for the initiative, and the usage of government owned land for a private purpose without supporting study. In January 2020, the High Court ruled that the foundation needed to disclose details of its fundraising practices relating to the initiative.

Save Soil

The Save Soil movement is an international effort to raise awareness about

soil health Soil health is a state of a soil meeting its range of ecosystem functions as appropriate to its environment. In more colloquial terms, the health of soil arises from favorable interactions of all soil components (living and non-living) that belong ...

. As part of the campaign, Vasudev completed a 100-day, 30,000 km journey from

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

southern India South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...

to meet with government officials, international organizations, and interested members of the public. The United Nations’ Convention to Combat Desertification and the

World Food Programme The World Food Programme (WFP) is an international organization within the United Nations that provides food assistance worldwide. It is the world's largest humanitarian organization and the leading provider of school meals. Founded in 1961 ...

have partnered with the organization to address

soil degradation Soil retrogression and degradation are two regressive evolution processes associated with the loss of equilibrium of a soil health, stable soil. Retrogression is primarily due to soil erosion and corresponds to a phenomenon where succession revert ...

and the associated impacts. Countries, such as

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

, and states in

, such as

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...

and

, have signed a memorandum of understanding with Save Soil. In conjunction with these efforts, the foundation has hosted walkathons for Save Soil in cities across

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. Critics have noted that the initiative lacks sufficient engagement with public and private institutions.

Ashram

Isha Foundation's headquarters are located in an

ashram An ashram (, ) is a spiritual hermitage or a monastery in Indian religions, not including Buddhism. Etymology The Sanskrit noun is a thematic nominal derivative from the root 'toil' (< Velliangiri Mountains The Velliangiri Mountains (Tamil: வெள்ளியங்கிரி மலை) a part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve are situated at the Western Ghats of Coimbatore district, Tamil Nadu. Known as the "Sapthagiri, 7 Hills (Tamil: சப ...

, adjacent to the

Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve The Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve is a biosphere reserve in the Nilgiri Mountains of the Western Ghats in South India. It is the largest protected forest area in India, spreading across Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. It includes the protected ...

, some forty kilometres from the city of

in the state of

. The foundation's construction activities at Isha Yoga Centre in Coimbatore are alleged to have violated rules and regulations on several occasions. Environmental activists and the local indigenous community have fought against the expansion of the ashram.

Adiyogi Shiva statue

Vasudev designed the 112-foot

Adiyogi Shiva statue The ''Adiyogi'' Shiva bust is a , and steel bust of Shiva with Thirunamam at Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. It is recognized by the ''Guinness World Records'' as the "Largest Bust Sculpture” in the world.Mahashivaratri, 24 February 2017, by the

. The statue depicts

as the first yogi or Adiyogi, and first Guru or Adi Guru, who offered yoga to humanity. It was built by the Isha Foundation using 20,000 individual iron plates supplied by the

Steel Authority of India Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) is an Indian public sector steel manufacturing corporation based in New Delhi. It is the largest government-owned steel producer, with an annual production of 18.29 million metric tons. Incorporated on 24 ...

and weighs around 500 tonnes (490 long tons; 550 short tons). It has been recognised as the "Largest Bust Sculpture" by

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, list ...

. A consecrated Shivalinga, Yogeshwar Linga, is at its base.

Controversies and reception

In 2016, a couple claimed that their two adult daughters were held captive at the centre. The foundation denied the allegation and released a statement by the women asserting they were staying there voluntarily. The case was dismissed in court. Another woman alleged that her adult son was being held captive. A report by ''

Newslaundry ''Newslaundry'' is an Indian media watchdog that provides media critique, reportage and satirical commentary. It was founded in 2012 by Abhinandan Sekhri, Madhu Trehan and Prashant Sareen, all of whom earlier worked in print or television jo ...

'' alleges Isha Foundation's structures in Ikkarai Boluvampatti,

, are built without proper permission from the Hill Area Conservation Authority (HACA), meaning the structures are illegally built.

References

Bibliography

* * * *

External links

* {{Coimbatore district Yoga organizations Spiritual retreats Non-profit organisations based in India Community-building organizations Recipients of the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar