The name combines two words: anthro which means "human being," and pedia, which means "education," and refers specifically to an education that fosters a mature and harmonious outlook.

We formed Anthropedia to provide solutions to the lifestyle and stress-related illnesses we fact today. Many people are searching for new resources and solutions that will help them lead happier, healthier lives. Anthropedia was created to meet these needs with comprehensive, research-based tools and programs.

Anthropedia teaches an integrated approach to well-being, helping people of all ages increase their quality of life through educational, therapeutic, and philanthropic initiatives. Based on the latest discoveries in the field of well-being, we develop and provide educational programs, curricula, evaluation and treatment plans, as well as other resources, such as instructional DVDs, CDs, and books, which teach methods and techniques for fostering well-being. In addition to providing these resources to individuals, we partner with other organizations and institutions in health care, art and culture, education, and criminal rehabilitation to design programs and resources that engender well-being. Our collaborations with other organizations take on many forms, including curriculum design, consultation, professional training and workshops, and program design.

Anthropedia's tools and programs are intended to help people of all ages who wish to increase their well-being and satisfaction with life, as well as those who suffer from depression, stress-related disorders, and chronic illness. We also collaborate with schools, museums, rehabilitation centers, hospitals, corporations, and correctional facilities to tailor programs and resources according to their needs. Our collaborations take on unique forms with each of the organizations we work with, but they often include seminars, curriculum design and integration, consultation, professional training, and program design and implementation.

Our primary goal is to help people understand how to cultivate sustainable health and happiness by providing concrete tools for people to foster well-being. This includes creating instructional DVDs for personal development and educational materials for schools and hospitals. We have a particular interest in partnering with schools nationwide to teach children and adolescents how to foster mind-body health from a young age.

When we speak of well-being, we refer to a state of health, happiness, creativity, vitality, and satisfaction with life. Modern psychology and anthropology tells us that this is the natural state of humans, not an exceptional one. Well-being is more than the presence of positive emotions and the absence of negative ones; it is an inner state of calmness, self-awareness, and self-acceptance that arrives when one is physically, mentally, and spiritually integrated. Well-being is achieved through a harmonious relationship between one's emotions, thoughts, and actions; it is the fruit of a fluid and coherent way of life.

Recent work in the medical field has given rise to this new area of research, which studies the principles leading to a natural state of health, happiness, and satisfaction with life. Unifying multiple disciplines, including internal medicine, neuroscience, psychiatry, and psychology, the Science of Well-Being describes mechanisms that underlie the healthy development of the body, thoughts, and psyche. For a thorough discussion of the Science of Well-Being, read Dr. C. Robert Cloninger’s Feeling Good: The Science of Well-Being (Oxford University Press, 2006).

An integrated approach attends to all aspects of the human condition and experience. We believe that physical, emotional, social, mental, and spiritual health are interrelated and interdependent. When one of these elements suffers, it influences the others. Anthropedia works from the premise that each human being is a unified whole and that problems in our body, thoughts, and psyche are intimately related to one another. Our instructional resources show people how to adopt a way of living that brings order back to each dimension of life. In this way, they can learn how to strengthen and reinforce their well-being. For a long time, medical professionals have studied healthy behavior by looking at disease and illness. While this approach is helpful, it is also limited. Health is much more than the absence of disease. When people are very healthy, the way their body functions, the way they think, and the way they act is different from people who are merely not sick. We can learn a lot about healthy development and being happy by studying very healthy people and very healthy states. Current solutions for achieving mental and physical health are often ineffective because they focus on reducing negative emotions, symptoms, and harmful behaviors, while ignoring the rest of the person.

Art and culture can stimulate the natural development of well-being by helping people to find meaning, to see beauty and depth in the world, to become calm and self-aware, and to understand themselves in the context of the history of humanity.

By exposing people to positive philosophy and aesthetic beauty, art and culture can increase coherency in the frontal lobes of the brain, calm the emotional part, and improve the rational functioning of the brain - all of which help people to develop self-awareness, aiding in the development of well-being.

Our resources are available through our website, and we also donate them to individuals in need, as well as to underserved schools and hospitals. We work with various organizations (including schools, museums, hospitals, clinics, and rehabilitation and correctional facilities) in order to integrate our resources and curricula into existing programs and collaborate to create new ones. Organizations interested in collaborating with the Anthropedia Foundation may email us at mail@anthropedia.org.

Yes, we are a 501(c) 3 educational non-profit organization. All donations are 100% tax deductible.