The Mindful Diving Institute is the standards, research and training body of Mindful Diving™, established by the World Happiness Foundation. It exists so that a diver in the Canary Islands and a diver in the Red Sea meet the same practice, held to the same evidence.
Coordinates measurement, ethics review and academic collaboration across the network. The research agenda is aligned with the e-co-flourishing framework (The Lancet Planetary Health, 2026), which links human flourishing with the flourishing of ecosystems.
The standard is designed open. It is written so that an existing agency — PADI, SSI, CMAS, RAID or any other — could adopt it as a distinctive specialty without changing a single safety rule, and so that a university can test it as a research protocol. There is no agreement with any agency today; this is design intent and an open invitation. Our research anchor is the Cátedra de Ciencias Contemplativas at the Universidad de Zaragoza, and we are equally open to conservation partners.
A global nonprofit with special consultative status at the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Its mission: 10 billion free, conscious and happy people by 2050. Mindful Diving™ is its ocean initiative.
The academic chair in contemplative sciences at the University of Zaragoza's Faculty of Medicine, established with the World Happiness Foundation and directed by Prof. Javier García Campayo. It anchors the research programme: measurement, ethics review, doctoral studies and the annual scientific report.
We are seeking experts in dive medicine, contemplative science, marine conservation and the diving industry to join the councils shaping this standard.
The framework is published openly: anyone may read the seven pillars, the practice arc and the safety rules, and any center may improve because of them. The seals and credentials are another matter — Mindful Diving Center™, the five diver levels and the Instructor Academy marks are awarded only by the Institute, and only after assessment. That is what keeps the mark worth carrying.