Giving Compass' Take:

• Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is a Hindu spiritual leader who runs a program called Yes! for Schools which encourages both students and teachers to participate in meditation into the school day in an effort to reduce school violence.

• How can other school programs like afterschool care and tutoring work meditation into their daily activities?

• Read how meditation can help other types of communities thrive. 

If you live in the United States, you might not have heard of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. Around the world, the Indian spiritual leader is a living legend, arguably as popular as the Dalai Lama. But his reputation could soon take a major boost in America thanks to an initiative he hopes will counter the tide of school gun violence.

He wants to teach kids how to meditate.

He reportedly only sleeps around three hours a night and travels to 150 cities a year to spread his message of happiness and stress reduction through meditation.  His organization is involved in a number of causes around the globe: water scarcity, zero-budget farming...and refugee crises in countries like Iraq, Jordan, and Lebanon.

The Art of Living organization has been working with everyone from gang members to Los Angeles Police Department officers to teach the same meditation and stress reduction techniques. He’s also worked with more than 2000 war veterans, using techniques like yoga and meditation to reduce the impact of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Shankar’s organization also has a program called Yes! for Schools, which teaches meditation to students and teachers. In recent years, the program has focused on how meditation and non-violence teachings can help reduce the number of school shootings. They’ve taught similar courses at schools in Mexico, Panama, and Costa Rica.

Read the full article about meditation programs to help reduce violence in schools by Eric Pfeiffer at GOOD Magazine.