Sudarshan Kriya and Pranayama: Insights Into an Indic Spiritual Practice for Promoting Well-Being

Abstract

This article is based on an Indic spiritual practice called the Sudarshan Kriya and Pranayama (SK&P) developed by Art of Living Foundation, a fast-growing, transnational, and popular new religious movement started by the charismatic teacher Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in India. Drawing from the experiences of 828 participants of this spiritual and meditative technique, the focus is to look at its efficacy to promote well-being. Factors that led the participants to learn this practice were explored. Two scales have been used to understand well-being post program participation: the Well-Being Picture Scale and Meaning in Life Questionnaire. The practice is perceived as effective for stress relief, promoting an overall sense of well-being, increasing optimism, and enhancing coping. Crucial to its efficacy are postprogram self-practice and attendance of follow-up sessions. Based on an analysis of SK&P in the light of models of spirituality, this article proposes a frame for cross-cultural utilization of SK&P as a spiritual practice and technique to promote well-being.

Keywords:

• Sudarshan Kriya and Pranayama (SK&P)
• Indic spirituality
• well-being

Notes

1. The six Indic philosophical schools are: Mimansa, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Sankhya, Yoga, and Mimansa. The Vedanta school has many further variations: advaita (nondualism), dvaita (dualism), dvaitadvaita (dual nondualism) and vishistadvaita (qualified nondualism).

2. Born in Papanasam, Tamil Nadu, on May 13, 1956, Sri Sri was initiated into Maharshi Mahesh Yogi's internationally popular Transcendental Meditation (TM) movement in 1970s. This initiation exposed him to a blend of Veda and science and soon he grew to be the heir apparent of TM movement. The rift occurred in 1981, when the TM movement decided to close down a spiritual training school in South India started by him. This was followed by a 10-day period of silence in Shimoga, Karnataka in 1982, after which he developed his own “spiritual course” wherein he “communicated knowledge through the sacredness of silence” (Lebelley, 2010, p. 27). Later in 1982, the AOL Foundation was formally established as “non-profit, educational and charitable organisation designed to enhance the quality of life.” Sri Sri's initial apprenticeship with the TM movement, gave him a systematic exposition to the various schemes of meditative inquiries. This then led to the formation and designing of a new meditative and transcendental practice having three domains: self, other, and Absolute, which was called the SK&P technique.

3. In 1998, European center of the Art of Living at Bad Antogast, Germany was inaugurated. In the years to follow, AOL ashrams opened in Canada, Poland, Russia, Indonesia, and the United States. Currently, it has a presence in 146 countries.

4. A considerable proportion of these earnings from the courses are used for the social projects of the AOL Foundation and the rest as maintenance funds.

5. Meti et al. (1996) examined the dream stage EEG patterns in 20 dysthymic patients treated with SK&P and concluded that with practice of SK&P, the dream stage EEG patterns significantly improved. Naga Venkatesa Murthy et al. (1997) compared 15 dysthymic and nine melancholic depression patients to 15 normal control individuals on P300 amplitude and several depression scales—the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Clinical Global Impressions Scale and then treated the patients with SK&P. The study showed that SK&P was effective in treating mild and melancholic depression. In the next study they concluded that SK&P has independent antidepressant effects.

6. According to existential philosopher Jean Paul Sartre, “existence precedes essence” (essence meaning the real or ultimate nature of a human being). The essence or meaning of things are not determined by outside forces but are constructed by individuals who filter the world through language. Individuals have the freedom to determine their actions, and hence, there is a notion of existential freedom. Foucault has contested the existential freedom given by Sartre to the individual, arguing that individual freedom is limited or constrained by social conditioning. These ideas were influenced by Husserl, Heidegger, and Kierkegaard to develop Sartre's own version of existentialist thought. In Being and Nothingness, he proposes, “Being is the world … the other. … Nothingness is the human reality, the radical negation by means of which the world is revealed. … Human reality is what causes this nothingness to be, outside being.” (Strathern, 1998).