About Vishen Lakhiani

Explore the extraordinary world of Vishen Lakhiani, the pioneering visionary behind Mindvalley and a New York Times bestselling author. Discover the insights, innovations, and audacious mission driving his life's work to redefine human potential and elevate humanity.

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100M+

Total podcast plays

1M+

Total books sold

50M+

Total video views

195+

Countries reached

Founder of Mindvalley

Vishen Lakhiani is the founder and CEO of Mindvalley, the world’s largest platform for personal transformation and education reform. What began as a small meditation website has evolved into a global movement — with an app featured in every Apple Store worldwide, over 20 million students, and a team representing more than 50 nations.

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Founder of A-Fest,
Mindvalley U and Quest

In 2016 he created Mindvalley Quests and Meditations become one of the top apps in Education with millions of learners and hundreds of world class authors creating programs to help improve mind, body, soul and entrepreneurship in 20 minute daily lessons.

Through Mindvalley Academy founded in 2022, Vishen is building a new kind of university — one that teaches the skills that truly matter for the future of humanity: from longevity and manifesting to exponential entrepreneurship and applied AI. He also founded transformational festivals like Mindvalley University and Future Human, which bring together changemakers from around the world to learn, co-create, and celebrate the evolution of consciousness.

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Speaker and activist

Before becoming an entrepreneur, Vishen spent seven years with AIESEC, a global nonprofit dedicated to fostering peace and cultural understanding — an experience that shaped his lifelong belief in unity and “Earth identity.” Today, he serves as a spokesperson for the Earth Flag, a symbol of planetary unity and shared human values.

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New York Times Bestselling author

Vishen is also a bestselling author of three books: The Code of the Extraordinary Mind, which became the #1 book in the world on Amazon; The Buddha and the Badass, a Wall Street Journal bestseller; and The 6 Phase Meditation Method, a USA Today bestseller.

Unlocking humanity's potential

Driven by a deep mission to elevate human consciousness, Vishen’s work is ultimately about helping humanity remember who we truly are — one species, sharing one planet, and capable of extraordinary things.

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Vishen Lakhiani

A life dedicated to Human Transformation and Unity

I believe the human species is capable of extraordinary things. More than any other known species, we have a breathtaking ability to grow, create, explore, love, and solve challenges. The key to awakening this potential is UNITY. We need to come together - which is in fact our natural state. Yet instead of uniting us, many of the systems, institutions, and beliefs governing the world today are dividing us.

I’m a father of two, and I want my kids to grow up in a better world. I want them to inherit a borderless and awakened world. A world where divisive politics, corporate greed, and damaging Brules (Bullshit Rules) have finally disappeared in the face of humanity’s limitless potential for growth and co-creation.

I believe the solution to that world lies in raising human consciousness. Which means evolving the way people learn, grow, work, and co-create. Inspired by Mandela’s quote, “If you want to change the world, change education” I set out to start a new type of education company, one focused on unifying the world and teaching transformational education - the things that truly matter for the human race.

Mindvalley was born.

And today we’re a team of some 300 people from 54 countries working to build a new type of global education system that defies all the traditional rules of ‘education’.

My companies, my technology, my writing, and my speaking are all in service of this goal to elevate consciousness for 1 billion people by transforming the major systems that run the world.

Below you can explore some of the key events and experiences that shaped the person I am today. I hope my mission inspires you to keep pursuing your own.

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Vishen as a child

The early years: escaping the system

I grew up in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where school felt like a prison.

Creativity and individuality weren’t celebrated; they were suppressed. 
That early experience planted a seed in me — one day, I would reinvent education to awaken, not anesthetize, the human spirit. After finishing my studies in computer engineering, I joined Microsoft. It didn’t take long to realize that the corporate world wasn’t for me. 
I left to pursue my own idea — a software concept I was convinced could change the world — and moved to Silicon Valley.

My timing, however, was disastrous. The dot-com bubble burst, and I lost everything.

Broke and searching for meaning, I took a commission-only sales job to survive. It was during this period that something remarkable happened.

One night, desperate and burnt out, I Googled “how to find happiness.”
 That search led me to a meditation class — and to the discovery that intuition, focus, and inner peace could dramatically change performance and life itself.

Within months, my sales skyrocketed. My creativity exploded. And I remember thinking: 
Why the hell didn’t school teach us this?

Around that time, I came across Nelson Mandela’s quote:

“If you want to change the world, change education.”

Those words hit me like lightning.


And that’s when Mindvalley was born.

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Vishen in the Mindvalley office

The birth and evolution of Mindvalley

In 2004, I registered a tiny website to sell meditation CDs. It was the simplest expression of a big dream — to bring transformational education to everyone.

For years, we were a small digital publisher working with teachers in personal growth. But I knew this was just the beginning.

In 2010, I decided to move beyond online courses and create real-world experiences. That year, we launched A-Fest, a festival combining transformation, community, and celebration. What began as a “crazy idea” soon became one of the world’s most unique gatherings for conscious entrepreneurs and changemakers.

Then came our next leap. In 2016, we launched Mindvalley Quests, a revolutionary learning platform that redefined online education. Programs like Wildfit and Superbrain took off, helping millions transform their health and minds.

Next came Mindvalley University, our annual month-long city campus that brings together thousands of students and families in a different global location each year. It’s education as it should be — immersive, communal, and life-changing.

In recent years, we expanded into professional certification. Through Mindvalley Coaching, we’ve trained over 6,000 certified coaches worldwide.

We partnered with Paul McKenna to launch the Mindvalley McKenna School of Hypnotherapy, bringing science-backed hypnosis to personal transformation.


And through Mindvalley Academy, we’re developing new master’s-level programs in AI, entrepreneurship, longevity, and consciousness studies — pioneering what we call The University for Humanity.

Today, the Mindvalley App is featured in every Apple Store globally.
 Our platform reaches tens of millions of students. 
And our team of over 50 nationalities works daily toward one vision: to raise the consciousness of one billion souls by 2038.

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Vishen and Buddha and the Badass

Books and ideas that sparked a movement

Writing became my way of distilling the ideas that shaped Mindvalley.

  • The Code of the Extraordinary Mind (2016) became the #1 book in the world on Amazon for several days and introduced millions to the concept of rewriting the “Brules” that limit human potential.

  • The Buddha and the Badass (2020) became a Wall Street Journal bestseller, showing that spirituality and business aren’t opposites — they’re partners in conscious creation.

  • The 6 Phase Meditation Method (2022) became a USA Today bestseller, teaching my signature approach to meditation used by high performers and creative minds worldwide.

These books became blueprints for transformation — not just for individuals, but for entire companies, families, and communities.

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A-Fest

A Mission Rooted in Unity

Everything I do, at its core, is about unity.

I spent seven years with AIESEC, a global nonprofit dedicated to peace and cultural understanding — an experience that deeply shaped my worldview. 
 That’s why Mindvalley’s culture is built on radical diversity and inclusion: our team, our teachers, and our students represent every race, religion, and belief.

Today, I serve as a spokesperson for the Earth Flag, a global symbol of unity and planetary identity. I believe the next evolution of humanity lies not in AI or space travel alone — but in remembering that we are one human family, sharing one home.

Our task is not to conquer each other, but to awaken together.

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Uniting 1 billing souls by 2038

Family, Flow, and the Future

At home, I’m a father first. My kids, Hayden and Eve, are my greatest teachers.

I don’t believe in work-life balance — I believe in work-life integration.

Many of Mindvalley’s ideas, including our city-based universities, were born from my desire to give my children an extraordinary education — one rooted in experience, community, and consciousness.

Through this work, I’ve come to believe that personal growth is not a luxury — it’s the foundation for healing our planet.

Mindvalley’s mission remains bold:
 to elevate the consciousness of one billion people by 2038,
 to reinvent education for every stage of life,
 and to help humanity remember its oneness before it ventures to other worlds.

Because before we colonize new planets,
 we must first evolve our own.

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Vishen and Mindvalley trainers

We’ve given ourselves till 2038 to make a major dent on every major aspect of human life.

We’ve given ourselves till 2038 to make a major dent on every major aspect of human life.

Before we colonize other planets. We need to fix our own. This is what drives us today.

A beautiful side effect of Mindvalley is that I get to be my own guinea pig. I now get to work with some of the top teachers on the planet, in fields like meditation, intuition, consciousness, meta-learning, biohacking, longevity, and more. Through this work I am constantly upgrading my mind and body - in fact I look better, feel better, and get more done now in my forties than I did in my twenties.

I’m incredibly proud of how far Mindvalley has come today. We’ve grown into one of the world’s most progressive education movements, with a diverse team of 300 amazing people from 54 countries - including artists, developers, teachers, learning experts, videographers, authors, and more.

The Mindvalley experience is a unique combo of immersive online learning, authentic human connections, and magic moments of wonder and transformation. But my favorite aspect has got to be the real-world events: where all of Mindvalley’s best people and wisdom come together to push ourselves and humanity forward. That, and I really love costume parties. :-)

Mindvalley creates momentum for all my biggest goals in life, and I can’t imagine where I’d be without it. I love this company and all the people who make it possible.

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Vishen and his family

Bringing humanity together

My life has always been shaped by diversity. I was raised in a Hindu family, in a Muslim country. Growing up, I struggled to accept mainstream religion’s divisive claim to just one form of truth. By the time I was 19, I told my family I could no longer identify as a Hindu. I wanted to explore spirituality not through the confines of organized religion - but as a phenomenon with the power to reconnect us with our true nature, and bring us together instead of apart.

I later married an Estonian woman from the Lutheran faith - at a time when many people still struggled to accept the idea of interracial or inter-faith marriages.

But in 2003, - my ninth year in the United States - something unexpected happened: upon arriving at JFK airport, I was taken to a small room and told I had been added to a Muslim watchlist (similar to the one Trump enacted in 2017).

The reason? I was an immigrant from Malaysia, a primarily Muslim country. As a result, I couldn’t board a flight or get off a plane without being subjected to three-hour-long interviews. I even had to report in to the government every 28 days. I was living in a constant state of stress, dread, and anger - and before long Kristina and I reluctantly relocated ourselves and Mindvalley to Malaysia.

I remember one particularly emotional moment when Kristina and I wondered if our future kids - who’d be mixed race - would ever have to endure this hardship too. This painful experience triggered another of my biggest missions in life: to break down the unnecessary walls that divide humanity, so we can instead unite and co-create in our beautiful diversity.

Charles Darwin describes this idea surprisingly well in his 1872 book, The Descent of Man:

“As man advances in civilization, and small tribes are united into larger communities, the simplest reason would tell each individual that he ought to extend his social instincts and sympathy to all members of the same nation, though personally unknown to him.”

I intend to do my part in bringing humanity together in this way. This is why I speak up against divisive ideas and policies in the public sphere. I make diversity an integral part of Mindvalley’s employment policy.

There’s always time for family.

My wife Kristina and I have two children: Hayden and Eve Lakhiani. My family is the center of my universe, and although I’m a full-time entrepreneur and activist - I’m also committed to being a conscious and present husband and father.

My life and my work are a reflection of that commitment. One of the reasons I founded events like A-Fest and Mindvalley University City Campus is so I could immerse my family in life-changing experiences with amazing people. And enjoy living in different cities through the year.

I don’t believe in work-life balance, but rather work-life integration. My work is an opportunity for my kids to enjoy an extraordinary education, far beyond what I got as a child. And I hope to spread that opportunity to as many parents as possible in my lifetime.

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Uniting 1 billing souls by 2038

Re-imagining education for the future

Humanity’s level of consciousness is shaped by our collective approach to education. This is why my single biggest goal today is to evolve the global education system.

Why? Because over the past few decades, technological and social progress have far outpaced the education system - which still operates on outdated industrial revolution-era models. People are still being programmed to operate like machines. Which is why many of us are now concerned that we’ll be replaced by machines.

Through Mindvalley and my personal work as a speaker and author, I’m exploring a new vision for the future of education. What would happen if instead of graduating at a young age, learning was lifelong? What if instead of being tied to a physical campus, people could learn anything from anywhere in the world? And what if instead of focusing on exams and rote learning, we could make learning genuinely fun and engaging?

I call this vision Transformational Education. And through online learning platforms like Mindvalley Quests, and annual events like Mindvalley University City Campus, I’m committed to spreading that vision across the globe - so everyone gets the opportunity to create a life of extraordinary growth and contribution.

And that goal is to transform the lives of 1 billion souls by 2038.