Osho Vipassana, Art of Living, Sadhguru and yoga: how they differ

Osho's Vipassana, the Art of Living, Sadhguru's programmes and yoga are not the same as Buddhist Vipassana, though they share some words. In the Buddhist traditions, Vipassana is insight meditation, usually learned on a silent residential course such as S. N. Goenka's 10-day course. In short:

• Osho created his own one-hour practice called OSHO Vipassana Meditation.
• The Art of Living does not teach Vipassana, and says so. The confusion probably comes from "The Art of Living", the title of a Goenka talk and of a well-known book about his method.
• Sadhguru's Isha Foundation teaches yoga programmes, and this site found none called Vipassana.
• Yoga and Vipassana have different aims, and many people practise both.

What follows describes each from its own organisation's pages, without ranking them.

What Vipassana means in the Buddhist traditions

Vipassanā is a Pali word usually translated as "insight". dhamma.org puts it as "to see things as they really are". In S. N. Goenka's tradition, a 10-day course begins with three days of observing the natural breath, then teaches students to observe sensations throughout the body with equanimity. Other Buddhist lineages, such as Mahasi Sayadaw's, teach insight in their own ways. What is Vipassana? explains the background, and S. N. Goenka's Vipassana describes his courses.

Osho's Vipassana

The Indian teacher Osho included a practice called OSHO Vipassana Meditation among his "active meditations", alongside methods such as Dynamic and Kundalini Meditation. osho.com says: "This meditation is based on a method of Gautama the Buddha. It is for practicing awareness, watchfulness, mindfulness, witnessing."

The format on osho.com lasts one hour:

• 45 minutes sitting, eyes closed. The main object is "the rise and fall of the belly, slightly above the navel, caused by natural breathing". The page adds that "it is not a concentration technique": thoughts, feelings and sounds are all watched, and you return to the breath when you can.
• 15 minutes of slow walking, watching the feet touching the ground. You may instead keep sitting for the whole hour.

In a group with a facilitator, the page says, sitters may be tapped on the head with "the Vipassana stick" to help them stay alert.

Osho described his approach in his own terms. osho.com quotes him: "Vipassana simply means witnessing." He wanted the practice to be "a juicy experience; it is not dry", and said he had "a few criticisms against the Vipassana that is being practiced in Buddhist lands". Another osho.com page gives three ways to do it: awareness of body, mind and moods through the day; watching the belly rise and fall; or watching the breath at the nostrils. "Any one will do," he says.

The main place to practise it is the OSHO International Meditation Resort in Koregaon Park, Pune, where it is part of the daily programme of meditations. Watching the belly's rise and fall is also the starting point of Mahasi Sayadaw's noting method, though the two are taught in different settings: a one-hour session in Osho's case, silent retreats in Mahasi's.

Does the Art of Living teach Vipassana?

No. The Art of Living was founded in 1981 by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and describes its programmes as "based on breathwork, meditation, and yoga". Its introductory workshop teaches a breathing technique, Sudarshan Kriya. The next step is the Advanced Meditation Program, several days of guided meditation (its FAQ says "three whole days") in which participants are asked to avoid "all kinds of verbal interactions as far as possible".

Its own FAQ answers the question directly: "No, the Advanced Meditation Program (AMP) is not the same as Vipassana meditation." An Art of Living article on silent retreats lists Vipassana retreats as a separate kind: "Based on the teachings of the Buddha, these 10-day retreats emphasize mindfulness of breathing and body sensations. They are intensive and highly structured."

Why the names get mixed up

The phrase "the art of living" belongs to both. dhamma.org calls Vipassana "an Art of Living" and publishes a Goenka talk titled "The Art of Living: Vipassana Meditation". The best-known book on Goenka's method, by his assistant teacher William Hart, is The Art of Living: Vipassana Meditation as Taught by S. N. Goenka (1987). The shared phrase does not mean the organisations are connected. If you are looking for a Goenka course, search on dhamma.org, not artofliving.org.

Sadhguru and the Isha Foundation

Sadhguru's Isha Foundation teaches its own yoga programmes. One of them, Inner Engineering, includes a practice called Shambhavi Mahamudra Kriya. In Samyama, an intensive residential programme at the Isha Yoga Center in Coimbatore, participants "spend 8 days in complete silence with long hours of meditation". It is open only to people who have completed Inner Engineering and several other Isha programmes first.

As of September 2026 this site found no Isha programme called Vipassana, and no Isha page that describes Vipassana as a practice it teaches. Silence and meditation appear in both, but the methods and lineages are separate.

How yoga and Vipassana relate

Yoga as most people practise it, with postures and breathing exercises, and Vipassana have different aims. Goenka drew the line this way in a speech to the United Nations Millennium World Peace Summit in 2000:

"Ancient India gave two practices to the world. One is the physical exercise of yoga postures (Asanas) and breath control (Pranayama) for keeping the body healthy. The other is the mental exercise of Vipassana for keeping the mind healthy. People of any faith can and do practice both these methods."

That is one teacher's framing. Yoga organisations such as Isha and the Art of Living present yoga as a spiritual path as well as physical exercise.

One practical difference concerns the breath. Pranayama controls it. On a Goenka course, the breath is observed as it naturally is, without being changed: the Code of Discipline says the process "starts with the observation of the natural breath". See Anapana.

Yoga during a Goenka course

You can keep doing yoga in daily life, but not during a course. Dhamma Giri's Code of Discipline says: "Although physical yoga and other exercises are compatible with Vipassana, they should be suspended during the course because proper secluded facilities are not available at the course site." Students may walk in designated areas during breaks. The dhamma.org Code adds that "all other meditation techniques, healing and spiritual practices should be suspended", and explains: "This is not to condemn any other technique or practice, but to give a fair trial to the technique of Vipassana in its purity." The application form asks about the techniques you practise, so mention your yoga there and ask the centre if anything is unclear.

Other Vipassana retreats treat yoga differently. Suan Mokkh in Thailand includes an early-morning slot for yoga or exercise, the one activity in its timetable that is not compulsory. The Mahabodhi International Meditation Centre in Ladakh runs retreats that combine yoga with Buddhist samatha and Vipassana meditation.

The four side by side

	Buddhist Vipassana (Goenka's courses)	OSHO Vipassana Meditation	The Art of Living	Isha Foundation
Teacher or source	The Buddha's teaching, through S. N. Goenka's lineage	Osho, "based on a method of Gautama the Buddha"	Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (founded 1981)	Sadhguru
What you attend to	Natural breath, then sensations throughout the body	Belly rising and falling, then feet while walking	Breathwork (Sudarshan Kriya), guided meditation, yoga	Yoga practices, including Shambhavi Mahamudra Kriya
Typical format	10-day silent residential course	One-hour session, alone or in a group	Workshops; an Advanced Meditation Program of several days	Programmes; an 8-day silent Samyama
Called Vipassana?	Yes	Yes, as a named Osho meditation	No ("not the same as Vipassana")	No programme of that name found

None of these is ranked here. To read more about Buddhist Vipassana, start with What is Vipassana?, or see how different traditions compare.