Why Build The World's First and Largest Zero-Cost Inner Child Wellbeing Platform?

In a world that is experiencing one of the worst pandemics of stress, anxiety and burnout, the price barriers have made access to effective, evidence-based wellbeing tools highly challenging for many. We believe that compassion is priceless and that happiness is a birthright of all, not a privilege of a few.

We also know from research into Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) and the science of happiness that the key to durable  wellbeing and joy is to heal the inner child with compassion and reclaim its innocence, wonder, and joy in our lives. This is why we have launched the world’s first and largest, zero-cost inner child wellbeing collective - a multi-disciplinary, evidence-based collection of online micro-journeys to help heal the inner child and unleash its joy.

Additionally, The Karuna Happiness Foundation is committed to helping marginalized populations break the vicious cycles of trauma, neglect, abuse, and abandonment by integrating compassion and purpose into every aspect of our business model. To fund our work, we partner with individual donors, corporations, foundations, Board members, and thought-leaders in the wellbeing industry and marketplace.

The Karuna team, our amazing best-in-class teachers, and our Scientific Advisory Board members reflect the diverse cultures, backgrounds, ethnicities, abilities, professional associations, and interests that align with our mission to help all people access the joy of their inner child by unleashing compassion.
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01

Our Mission

We help people access the joy of their inner child by unleashing compassion and making wellbeing accessible to all through play.
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02

Our Belief

When you witness the healing of another,
your journey of healing begins with it.
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03

Our Work

Quantifiably break the vicious cycles of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) through evidence-based micro-journeys that are playful and 100% free or donation based.

Our Scientific Advisory Board

Barbara Frederickson, Ph.D

Kenan Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience and Director of the Positive Emotions and Psychophysiology Lab (a.k.a. PEP Lab) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

Frederic Luskin, Ph.D

Director of the Stanford University Forgiveness Projects for over 20 years. He currently is a lecturer at the Stanford University School of Medicine as the co- founder of the Wellness Education program. 

Dacher Keltner, Ph.D

Professor of Psychology at UC Berkeley and faculty director of the Greater Good Science Center (greatergood.berkeley.edu). Dacher’s research focuses on the functions of emotional experience and expression, in particular states such as compassion, awe, love, and embarrassment, as well as power, social class, and inequality.

James
Pennebaker, Ph.D

Regents Centennial Professor of Liberal Arts and Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. His early research dealt with physical symptoms and health which eventually merged into the discovery of expressive writing.

Elizabeth Dunn, Ph.D

Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Dunn conducts experimental research examining how time, money, and technology shape human happiness. 

Richard
Davidson, Ph.D

The William James and Vilas Research Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry and Founder & Director of the Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research is broadly focused on the neural bases of emotion and emotional style and methods to promote human flourishing including meditation and related contemplative practices.  

Robert
Biswas-Diener, Ph.D

Widely known as the “Indiana Jones of Positive Psychology” because his research has taken him to such
far-flung places as Greenland, India, Kenya and Israel. He is a leading authority on strengths, culture, courage, and happiness and best known for his pioneering work in the application of positive psychology to coaching.

Roy Baumeister, Ph.D

Professor of psychology at the University of Queensland, he is among the most prolific and most frequently cited psychologists in the world, with over 650 publications. His research covers self and identity, self-regulation, interpersonal rejection and the need to belong, sexuality and gender, aggression, self-esteem, meaning, consciousness, free will, and self-presentation. 

Sonja
Lyubomirsky, Ph.D

Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Riverside and author of The How of Happiness and The Myths of Happiness (published in 36 countries). Lyubomirsky and her research on the science of happiness have been the recipients of many grants and honors, including the Diener Award for Outstanding Midcareer Contributions in Personality Psychology, the Christopher J. Peterson Gold Medal, and a Positive Psychology Prize.

Karuna's Story

Karuna was born in early 2016 by founder Arun Sardana. It was a message from Arun's father, whom he had lost to suicide 28 years earlier, that the purpose of life was to heal the pain and suffering of others, especially the children and their mothers who had suffered unspeakable abuse. This message sent Arun on a journey of self discovery, study, and service. In time, he learned that when we witness the healing of another, our journey of healing begins. 
The road to make this message a reality, led him to some of the world’s leading researchers in wellbeing, many of whom joined Karuna's Scientific Advisory Board. He worked for three years with about 300 abused and abandoned children in Costa Rica and learned first-hand how adverse childhood experiences can shape our behaviors and how healing the inner child can be a pathway to joy and thriving. The results of this three-year intervention were so compelling, that Arun decided to scale this work globally.

In order to do so, he established the Karuna Happiness Foundation to build inner child wellbeing journeys grounded in evidence-based science and ancient wisdom. The Foundation also began funding empowerment programs for women, youth, and children, and Arun began offering transformational wellbeing experiences to thousands across the globe. In time, teachers, coaches, and other leaders in the field of inner child work, positive psychology and ancient wisdom were drawn to the mission of creating lasting change in the lives of people by unleashing compassion and The Karuna Collective was born. 

“Inside every human being, exists an innocent and playful energy that can be harnessed to help heal the inner child, to find joy, and to remake the world by unleashing compassion,” is how Arun describes the essence of Karuna's work.

Guided by the ground-breaking work of the Scientific Advisory Board, The Karuna Collective curates highly transformational virtual micro-journeys and in-person experiences together with experts in their respective disciplines. Today, The Karuna Collective is building the world's first and largest inner child healing collective with courses in positive psychology, transformational music, expressive art therapy, leadership coaching, zen meditation, and reflective writing. Karuna is cultivating dozens of new programs in other highly effective modalities in personal wellbeing and will be introducing new teachers and their course content over the coming months to the karuna members.

Meet Arun Sardana, Karuna's Founder and CEO
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Our Impact

We at the Karuna Happiness Foundation fulfill our mission through three distinct programs

The Karuna Collective

The world's largest and only zero-cost inner child healing collective. Check out our growing library of on-demand, research-backed micro-journeys in a diverse range of modalities.

Wellbeing Experiences

We create in-person experiences to spread the message of compassion and the tools of wellbeing for festivals, companies, nonprofits, and associations around the world!

Grantmaking

We make meaningful grant contributions to organizations that are dedicated to breaking the vicious cycle of poverty and abuse as well as in cutting edge wellbeing research. Nonprofit partners are invited to submit proposals that align with our impact priorities and mission.

Our Core Values

Unbound Compassion

A sense of shared understanding for the experiences of others, both
positive and negative.

Unfettered Humility

The recognition that we are all part of something bigger than ourselves and that we are constantly evolving.

Unleashed Gratitude

A profound appreciation for all experiences that
life has to offer.

Uncommon Resilience

The ability to stay rooted in our beliefs while also adapting and moving forward despite circumstances

Unafraid Transparency

Honesty, authenticity, vulnerability, and integrity that honors truth.
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(Re)Claim The Joy Of Your Inner Child

Become a member and gain FREE access to all of our wellbeing micro-journeys