Sadhguru established the Isha Foundation, a charitable organisation, in 1992 close to Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. It is home to the Isha Yoga Center, which runs yoga classes under the Isha Yoga brand. Nearly all of the foundation's staff members volunteer their time. Isha is translated as "the formless divine."
The Isha Foundation's Yoga Centre was established in 1994 and provides yoga programmes under the name Isha Yoga. Postural yoga, chanting, breathing (pryma), and meditation are all included in this customised form of yoga. Its adherents think it is founded on the founding guru's special insight and does not have a lineage (parampar).
The goal of yoga sessions for business executives is to "incorporate a feeling of compassion and inclusivity" into economics.
In 1996, a yoga course for the Indian national hockey team was held.
The Isha Foundation started offering yoga sessions to life-sentenced inmates in Tamil Nadu prisons in 1998 after launching yoga programmes in the United States in 1997.
Vasudev gives lectures, guides meditations, and leads question-and-answer sessions at gatherings (sathsangs) that the foundation plans in the Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. It arranges yearly yatras (pilgrimages) to Mount Kailash and the Himalayas. [Needs citation] With 514 pilgrims making the journey in 2010, the Kailash-Manasarovar pilgrimage headed by Vasudev was one of the largest groups to visit Kailash. In 2021, the journey might cost up to Rs 5 million (about $63,000), while there were less expensive versions available in which devotees had only limited contact with Vasudev.
An important Hindu festival honouring Shiva called Maha Shivaratri, which is celebrated throughout the entire night, concludes the center's annual seven-day music and dance festival. Yoga mats, personal care items, and accessories are just a few of the things the foundation sells.
The premium programmes accounted for the majority of the $25 million in revenue that its US branch recorded in 2020. Particularly, the "business leadership" insights programme had a per-person cost of $6500.
Environmental and social projects:
Saplings being prepared for shipping at a PGH nursery as part of Project GreenHands. As an organisation dedicated to the environment, Project GreenHands (PGH) was founded in 2004. Its attention is primarily on Tamil Nadu. In 2010, it was given the Indira Gandhi Paryavaran Puraskar, the nation of India's environmental honour. Its initiatives include planting trees in urban areas like Tiruchirappalli and Tiruppur, establishing plant nurseries in schools, and engaging in agroforestry.
Taking Action for Rural Renewal
A health and community-oriented programme with a focus on rural Tamil Nadu is called Action for Rural Rejuvenation. It was founded in 2003, and as of 2010, it served seven million people across 4,200 localities.
The annual Gramotsavam sports festival is organised by Action for Rural Rejuvenation in Tamil Nadu with the goal of encouraging sports as an integral component of daily life in rural communities to enhance mental and physical wellbeing. Isha was given the 2018 National Sports Promotion Award in India for Sport for Development in appreciation of her efforts.
Isha Vidhya:
Isha Vidhya is an educational programme that seeks to improve education and literacy in rural India by giving kids access to high-quality, computer-assisted English-based instruction. There are about 3000 pupils enrolled in seven Isha Vidhya Schools. [Reference needed] A grant was given in 2010 by the Life Insurance Corporation of India Golden Jubilee Foundation to help build an Isha Vidhya School in Coimbatore. The programme hired Byju's in March 2022 to give poor kids in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh digital learning tools.
Calling Cauvery
By assisting farmers in planting an estimated 2.4 billion trees through agroforestry, the Cauvery Calling project hopes to fill one-third of the Cauvery basin with trees as a means of safeguarding it.
[Reference needed] Politicians and representatives of the entertainment sector have praised the project, but environmentalists and public intellectuals have claimed that it gives a skewed perspective on river protection, ignoring social issues and the possible harm to tributaries and wildlife habitats.
In addition, a public interest lawsuit challenging the legality of the initiative's fundraising methods and the use of publicly owned land for a private purpose without a corresponding research has been filed with the Karnataka High Court. The Supreme Court ordered in January 2020 that the foundation had to make information on its initiatives-related fundraising procedures public.
Save Soil:
Preserve the soil. An international initiative to increase awareness of soil health is the Save Soil movement. Vasudev travelled 30,000 miles in 100 days and from London to southern India as part of the campaign to meet with leaders of national and international organisations as well as the general population. In order to address soil degradation and its effects, the organisation has cooperated with the World Food Programme and the United Nations Convention to Prevent Desertification. States like Rajasthan and Gujarat in India as well as nations like Barbados have a memorandum of agreement with Save Soil. The charity has organised Save Soil walkathons in cities around North America to support these initiatives.
Opponents have remarked that the programme doesn't involve enough institutions, both public and private.
