Digital technologies and the social media platforms have been buzzing with ways of purposeful living. If we map the trajectory of the wellness coaches, therapists and practitioners, their visibility has risen post pandemic. A balance between mind and body, became a pre-condition to lead a stress free and mindful life. The online presence of these help communities has made well-being as a more achievable life goal. This paper thus aims to look at one such community, The Art of Living Organisation (AOL), helmed by Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, which has made use of digital technologies and platforms to expand its online presence. Through this paper, I try to establish the newer trends that have come up in the well being studies, analyse the patterns of social actors who are influenced and motivated by the reels, shorts, videos and live sessions of AOL. This paper would be a contrast to the earlier research on the same organisation where the physical presence and sociality was given more prominence. But this newer and changed world has allowed AOL to reinvent, provide a fresh start and meaning to more people who connect as wider audience in their journeys to seek well-being.
The challenge which such a technology proposes is that it can be transient as it bids new ways to this online sociality, community and relationality. The social actors always have an open option to switch organisations, Gurus and find fresher avenues which are more appealing.
Nevertheless, academic research on such use of digital technology to achieve well-being, holds relevance not only to anthropology of well-being and happiness but also to digital anthropology. The idea of connectivity and the organisational principles leads to a nurturing community of care and assistance thereby eliminating the fear of alienation in this fast-paced age of technology.
