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In 1998, Vikram Hazra and Tanuja Limaye took the first basic course held on Nairobi. The courses started with large number of people with increased awareness to AOL’s intentions which enabled the organization to approach the untapped potential available among the less fortunate around us. Sixty percent of Nairobi’s population lives in slum areas near the major central business district and in adjacent areas near manufacturing units and is well known for its crime and poverty. Every teacher that has taken a course, satsang, or knowledge session in these areas has witnessed such amazing transformations in these people and in the end there are only tears and smiles of Joy and gratitude. Satsung and meditation are virtually unknown with the locals in Kenya.
Many successful programs have happened like the Breath Water Sound course which found an improvement in health and truly enjoyed the meditation as it does not interfere with the people’s faith. Art of Living has achieved a major breakthrough when working in areas such as Huruma, Kawangware and Kangemi where AOL is registered as a self-help group and can freely take course in these locales inspiring the youth and unemployed to take responsibility for their communities rather than resort to crime. These are three areas where drastic transformations have taken place and awareness of spirituality is growing rapidly.
2005 has seen a real buzz and major milestones through the years. So are there have been numerous basic courses with the number of participants totaling to over woo thousand people having done the basic course and five part 2 (Advance) courses have taken place in the year. The year also saw a number of YES and YES PLUS, Art Excel, Prison SMART, DSN and Sri Sri Yoga courses with a total of more than 200 people having completed any one of the programmes. In addition, Art of Living has active football teams which has proved a popular way of bringing the youth together in knowledge and games.
 Since August 2001 ongoing weekly cleanups of drains (in slum areas) and plastics as well as doing seva in children homes.
AOL has been able to help several people tap into their potential and discover talents and gifts within themselves, enabling them to become not only self sufficient but even dependable. Since the first courses in 1998, people from all walks of life have experienced a deep healing and profound transformation I their lives and our ongoing seva projects and continuous courses in Kneya have led to a buildup of a strong and enthusiastic volunteer base. Service is the natural expression of love and caring. In Kenya, the Art of Living Foundation and its volunteers support many service projects from our poverty reduction programs in slum areas to the Prison SMART program and stress reduction for individuals through various courses.
Kawarangware, Huruma, & Kongemi, which have an unbelievably high rate of poverty & neglect & teach the celebration of life & improve their communities through self-empowerment.
Having helped them find their own untapped resource within, AOL set these people up with a few “Business Tips” such as savings & investment strategies like ploughing back profits into a simple yet highly productive business scheme which includes selling products such as vegetables which are easily available & affordable. In addition, the group has an active football team which has proved a popular way of bringing the youth together in knowledge & games. Other projects have included weekly cleanups of drains & plastics which has been ongoing since August 2001 & working in children homes.
The Art of Living is held together by three pillars, Seva, Sadhana & Satsang & these have been duly instilled in the program participants.
There are regular weekly follow-ups of kriya & satsang that are attended by more than 40 people throughout the year. Every week many people attend satsang & numbers have increased ever since 2003. In October 2004, Nairobi hosted a huge peace concert attended by more than 700 people led by the enigmatic Vikram Hazra.
The Art of Living in Kenya has been able to reach out since 1998 to people from all walks of life & introduce meditation, satsang & knowledge particularly in slum areas & make these pillars a part of daily life for them without interfering with their faith. This achievement has led to the initiation of several breath water sound courses & the successful completion of the free YLTP phase 1 & 2 programs attended by more than 100 youth from different faiths & slum areas across Nairobi
 The Prison SMART programme was conducted free of cost for the men and women in the Kamiti Prison's Langata.in February 2005.
"If the emphasis was first and foremost on being a human , then there would be more understanding among people. For this, we need to help people to see that even before they are Jewish, Muslim, Hindu or Christian, they are human being. The whole of humanity is part of you and belongs to you."
--H. H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.
The first Muslim YLTP phase one was held in Kenya at the Kenya Muslim Academy in Huruma in January 2005. The course4 built a strong bridge of trust between the foundation and the Muslim community heralding the registration of art of living as a self-help group in a pre- dominantly Muslim area.
A first of its kind in the history of Art of Living was the part I course which was held in the Jamia mosque in Nairobi. The Immam of the mosque among others participated in the programme and encouraged members of the community to join including women. This has been a major achievement in bringing communities together in celebration of human values without conflict in faith.
 Youth from the age of 17-28 years participated in a 2 week free of cost programme learnt key empowerment, leadership skills as well as how simple breathing exercises can produce a powerful transformation in an individual's disposition and interaction with others as well as his / her attitude towards society.
Nairobi witnessed the first street boys breath water and sound course from the 4th -8th of October 2005. The course was translated in the local dialect ( Swahili) by the Pastor of a nearby church in the sprawling slums of Kangemi. Many of the boys and girls who attended the course are a part of the growing economic and social divide in Kenya where almost sixty four percent of Nairobi’s population live in the more than 176 slum areas across the city. At first nobody in the course was sure about what they were doing and why and the boys and girls took time to understand the benefits of breathing. But, by the end of the course I got to know some 35 wonderful individuals who had not experienced for a moment in their childhood what it was to be without fear and many of them reported feeling calm and less stressed out. Some of the boys also pledged to stop sniffing glue ( a dangerous toxic substance that is widely used by them to suppress their hunger) and to work with the pastor of the church.
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