On World Meditation Day, Gallup and Living Arts Fdn announce initiative to measure ‘silence’ & well-being in the world

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder of Living Arts Foundation, shaking hands with a representative of Gallup polling organization in Spring Studios for a Dec. 21, 2025 World Meditation Day event. ALL PHOTOS: Living Arts Foundation

On World Meditation Day December 21, 2025, the Gallup organization joined the Living Arts Foundation to announce an extraordinary new initiative – measuring the level of “silence” in the world! The effort brings together Gallup’s long-standing expertise in worldwide survey research and The Art of Living’s presence in more than 180 countries, Gallup noted in a press release December 19.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar speaking at the Dec. 21, 2025, World Meditation Day event held at Spring Studios, NYC. PHOTOS: Courtesy, Living Arts Foundation

At a jam-packed meeting held in Spring Studios in NYC, an event that was live cast globally, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar spoke about the importance of meditation, reminding those present that last year 192 member countries of the United Nations had recognized December 21 as World Meditation Day.

“Meditation is so natural to our spirit. It’s a food for our soul – like a body needs carbohydrate, proteins, minerals, amino acids, all that. …. The same way our spirit, our soul, it needs that calmness deep within. And that’s what meditation gives us. So, few minutes of meditation a day can make a whole lot of difference,” Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said.

A representative from the renowned Gallup polling organization said the world was getting more hectic and stress and anxiety had been rising over the past ten years.

A section of the audience at Spring Studios, NYC, for the World Meditation Day event December 21, 2025.

“And today, we announce together with the Living Arts Foundation, that we are going to start measuring not just the noise, but in 140 countries around the world, we’re going to be systematically tracking the silence. And we hope to develop the world’s first statistics for well-being and meditation.”

He went on to add, “So, stay tuned, because as the Gallup organization, it means that through our network of literally thousands of interviewers, it means we will be walking the planet, joining people in their homes, calling them on their phones, so that we can systematically track the “Silence” of the world. Thank you, Gurudev, for your partnership. Thank you very much.”

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar meeting Dilip Chauhan, representative from NYC Mayor Eric Adams’ office, at the Dec. 21, 2025, World Meditation Day event.

Through this collaboration, Gallup will incorporate new meditation questions into the World Poll, enabling global comparisons related to practice and connections to emotional health and wellbeing, the polling organization said in its press release.