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Origins

Search Inside Yourself was born at Google in 2007 when one of Google’s earliest engineers, Chade-Meng Tan, gathered a team of leading experts in mindfulness techniques, neuroscience, leadership, to develop an internal course for fellow Google employees lovingly called Search Inside Yourself (SIY).

In 2012, due to the high demand for SIY from external organizations, Meng Tan, Philippe Goldin and Marc Lesser spun off the program and founded the independent non-profit educational institute they called The Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute, SIYLI (pronounced like "silly"–they wanted to keep it light!).

The aim of SIY was to help people develop the skills of mindfulness, empathy, compassion, and overall emotional intelligence to create the conditions for individual and collective thriving.

SIYLI offers programs, tools and content on mindfulness-based emotional intelligence, empathy, compassion, resilience, leadership and more, which have a positive impact helping to promote sustainable well being, motivation and high performance for individuals, teams and organizations.

SIYLI continues to work with the federal government, the nation of Bhutan, Feeding America, Greenpeace, and many more nonprofit and government organizations around the world.

 

LEARN MORE AND STAY CONNECTED

Don't let the course fade away.

  • Join the conversation and stay connected with other SIY enthusiasts on our LinkedIn Enthusiasts and Alumni group! It's a great place to ask questions and network with other like-minded individuals.
  • For more ongoing content and training, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter. We post new content, videos and articles on a regular basis.
  • We also post new content to our blog on a bi-monthly basis. Take a look to learn more about meditation, mindfulness and leadership.

WITH YOUR COMMUNITY & COWORKERS

Join a group

There are many ways to practice mindfulness and we encourage you to explore options near you (e.g. local zen center, yoga studio or other spiritual traditions).

Organize a group

There are many things that you and your community or colleagues can try out as a group. Some ideas are:

  • Hold a regular sit where you colleagues come together for 10-20 minute practice period
  • Organize mindful lunches which colleagues are invited to eat together in silence
  • Create a book club.

The sky's the limit here! Find something that resonates with you and your companions.

Organize a Mindful Lunch

"When walking, walk. When eating, eat."  -Zen Proverb.

Practicing mindfulness while eating is a wonderful opportunity to eat with all of your senses and to cultivate mindfulness as part of a daily activity. Not every meal needs to be eaten in complete silence, even just taking a moment at the beginning of a meal or during a bite can help bring attention and appreciation to the meal and the moment. Eating mindfully also helps with digestion, and helps you stop eating when you are full rather than over-eating.

The idea is simple: get a group of people together for an intentional lunch. Maybe start with one or two minutes of silent eating, or try having the whole lunch in silence.

Here are a few more resources to get you started:

Origins

Search Inside Yourself was born at Google in 2007 when one of Google’s earliest engineers, Chade-Meng Tan, gathered a team of leading experts in mindfulness techniques, neuroscience, leadership, to develop an internal course for fellow Google employees lovingly called Search Inside Yourself (SIY).

In 2012, due to the high demand for SIY from external organizations, Meng Tan, Philippe Goldin and Marc Lesser spun off the program and founded the independent non-profit educational institute they called The Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute, SIYLI (pronounced like "silly"–they wanted to keep it light!).

The aim of SIY was to help people develop the skills of mindfulness, empathy, compassion, and overall emotional intelligence to create the conditions for individual and collective thriving.

SIYLI offers programs, tools and content on mindfulness-based emotional intelligence, empathy, compassion, resilience, leadership and more, which have a positive impact helping to promote sustainable well being, motivation and high performance for individuals, teams and organizations.

SIYLI continues to work with the federal government, the nation of Bhutan, Feeding America, Greenpeace, and many more nonprofit and government organizations around the world.

What's New at SIYLI?

Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute (SIYLI) has split into two sister organizations: SIYLI and SIY Global, both of which will continue forward with our mission to create a more peaceful world.

Moving forward, SIYLI will offer mindfulness-based programming for those on the front lines of society: civil servants, public and mental health workers, educators, nonprofits, grassroots organizations and folks involved with social impact initiatives. 

Our hope is that this intentional change will position us to create lasting impact.

Our Values

Devotion and Embodiment

We believe our best perk is love. We cultivate and contribute to a culture of inquiry, curiosity, connection. Because big-heartedness is at the heart of our organization, we are dedicated to studying ourselves, living in wholeness and realizing the merits of our teachings and practices.

We are continuously inspiring, innovating, and improving.

Equity and Awareness

We aspire to restore, elevate, rediscover, acknowledge and validate the multi-dimensional nature of life, lived-experiences, culture and knowledge of indigenous people, people of color, and colonized people as well as to decenter hetero/cis-normativity, gender hierarchies, ability privilege and racial privilege.

We aspire to this for the ultimate gain of (1) making our work accessible and applicable and (2) simply doing the right thing.

Decentralized Expertise and Shared Ownership

We trust in the combined power of experience and science. By sourcing wisdom from others, we diversify and enhance opportunities for knowledge-sharing without submitting to hierarchies of importance. We respect the gaps, depth and range of each other’s experience and engage our constituents' participation as active listeners and storytellers. This empowers us to work and play as co-creators.

Integrity and Accountability

We work to be remarkably transparent. We are genuine, ethical, and dependable with each other. We prioritize emotional and psychological safety as we collaborate. People trust us to adhere to our word and follow through.

Spiritedness and Creativity

We favor playfulness and exploration. We encourage discovery of the individual self, the other, the collective. We are dedicated to holding space for operating with agility, adaptability, and flexibility. We thrive on the spaciousness of possibility that comes from openness to change and believing there is more than one “right” way to do things.

Vision & Mission


Our Vision: To create a more peaceful world in which all people feel connected and act with compassion for self and others.

Our Mission: To support the thriving of human service providers through offering practical mindfulness and emotional intelligence tools. 

Our goal is that those working in direct service feel emotionally resourced to face the challenges they encounter day-to-day. This includes (1) challenges that stem from the emotionally difficult nature of the direct service work and (2) challenges created by the bureaucratic and oppressive systems in which all direct service providers operate and live.

Vision & Mission

Our Vision: To create a more peaceful world in which all people feel connected and act with compassion for self and others.

 

Our Mission: To support the thriving of human service providers through offering practical mindfulness and emotional intelligence tools. 

 

Our goal is that those working in direct service feel emotionally resourced to face the challenges they encounter day-to-day. This includes (1) challenges that stem from the emotionally difficult nature of the direct service work and (2) challenges created by the bureaucratic and oppressive systems in which all direct service providers operate and live.