About The Author

Ravi Shankar was born in Papanasam, Tamil Nadu, to Visalakshi Ratnam and R. S. Venkat Ratnam. He was named “Ravi” (a common Indian name meaning “sun”) because his birth was on a Sunday, and “Shankar” after the eighth-century Hindu saint, Adi Shankara, because it was also Shankara’s birthday. Ravi Shankar’s first teacher was Sudhakar Chaturvedi, an Indian Vedic Scholar and a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the St Joseph’s College of Bangalore University. After graduation, Shankar travelled with his second teacher, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, giving talks and arranging conferences on Vedic science, and setting up Transcendental Meditation and Ayurveda centres.In the 1980s, Shankar initiated a series of practical and experiential courses in spirituality around the globe. He says that his rhythmic breathing practice, Sudarshan Kriya, came to him in 1982, “like a poem, an inspiration,” after a ten-day period of silence on the banks of the Bhadra River in Shimoga, in the state of Karnataka, adding, “I learned it and started teaching it”.Shankar says that every emotion has a corresponding rhythm in the breath and that regulating the breath can help elevate the individual and help relieve personal suffering.In 1983, Shankar held the first Art of Living course in Switzerland. In 1986, he travelled to Apple Valley, California in the US to conduct the first course to be held in North America.