Auroville, ‘The City of Dawn’, was founded in February 1968 under the guidance of Mira Alfassa (known as The Mother), and the followers of Sri Aurobindo. The city was planned by The Mother, fashioned after a spiral galaxy, symbolizing life and humankind’s evolving existence. The idea was to create a self-governing town, not some religious sect or cult; to create an environment where they could develop new and higher ways in realizing the ideal of human unity in diversity. Today, Auroville is a township with a population of approximately 1,700 people from all over the world.

Within Auroville, Quiet Healing Center itself was The Mother’s vision, brought to life by one of her secretaries. Begun in 1997, it is today Auroville’s main alternative health care facility. Treatment at Quiet is completely free for all residents of Auroville. They are asked not to avail of treatments during their ‘busy’ time as this is when the most number of paying customers visit —which funds them for the rest of the year. You get an idea of Quiet’s range from the fact that it almost became the first under-water birthing facility in India. But on assessing logistics, the idea was dropped.