Celebrating The First International Day of Yoga

$5 Canada $3.50 US £2.50 UK 3.70 € Europe Autumn/Winter 2015 

Celebrating The First International Day of Yoga 

A SPECIAL REPORT Page 26 – 38 

Also in this issue 

Mental Processes 

in Yoga 

Swami Durgananda 

Unity of Existence 

Swami Sivananda 

Nerve Impulse and Prana 

Impulse in your Daily Practice 

Swami Sivadasananda 

SERVE • LOVE • GIVE • PURIFY • MEDITATE • REALIZE

20th MAHASAMADHI ANNIVERSARY 

EXPAND 

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• connect with nature 

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• renew your body and refresh your mind 

Join us and experience a supportive environment for 

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sivanandabahamas.org 

28-day Yoga Teacher Trainings begin — 

Nov 4, Dec 4, Jan 4, Feb 3, March 4, April 3, May 3, and June 2 

2 YOGALife |Autumn/Winter 2015

EDITOR’S LETTER 

International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres 

Swami Sivananda (1887 – 1963) 

The spiritual strength behind the Sivananda 

Yoga Vedanta Centres, Swami Sivananda’s 

teachings are a synthesis of all the formal 

doctrines of yoga. Author of more than 

300 books on yoga, Swami Sivananda was 

a medical doctor before renouncing worldly life 

for the spiritual path. He founded the Divine Life 

Society and the Yoga-Vedanta Forest Academy, 

Rishikesh, Himalayas. His main message was: 

Serve, Love, Give, Purify, Meditate, Realise. In 1957 he sent one of his 

foremost disciples, Swami Vishnudevananda to the West to spread the ideals 

of yoga. Swami Sivananda entered Mahasamadhi on July 14th 1963. 

Swami Vishnudevananda (1927 – 1993) 

Born in South India in 1927, Swami 

Vishnudevananda entered the ashram 

of Swami Sivananda at the age of 18. 

A world famous authority on Hatha and 

Raja Yoga, Swami Vishnudevananda founded 

the International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta 

Centres in 1957 and was author of 

The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga, 

Meditation and Mantras, Karma and Disease 

and a commentary on the Hatha Yoga Pradipika. Swami Vishnudevananda 

entered Mahasamadhi on November 9th, 1993. 

The Executive Board 

The Executive Board of the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres is comprised 

of senior disciples of Swami Vishnudevananda, personally chosen and trained 

by him to direct the organisation after his departure. Each of them has had 

many years’ experience in teaching all aspects of yoga. They are renowned 

for their devotion to Swami Vishnudevananda and Swami Sivananda and for 

their profound knowledge and inspirational teaching and guidance, wisdom 

imparted to many thousands of students throughout the world. 

We welcome Swami Sitaramananda, Acharya for our West Coast 

and Asian Centres, as a new member on the Executive Board. 


Swami Swaroopananda 

Srinivasan 


Swami Swaroopananda 

Srinivasan 


Swami Kailasananda 

Swami Sitaramananda 


Swami Kailasananda 

Swami Sitaramananda 

Welcome 

2015 has been a landmark in the planetary 

awareness about the benefits of yoga: the 

celebration of the first International Yoga Day on 

June 21, an initiative of prime Minister Narendra 

Modi endorsed by the United Nations, has indeed 

given yoga a new platform in the world. 

It was celebrated by millions of enthusiastic 

practitioners, and people of all countries became 

increasingly aware that yoga is not just about 

flexibility, but is a life-style aiming at inner and 

outer peace. The words of the Indian Prime Minister 

‘Yoga embodies unity of mind and body, thought 

and action, restraint and fulfilment, harmony 

between man and nature, a holistic approach 

to health and wellbeing’, echo the teachings of 

Swami Sivananda and Swami Vishnudevananda, 

who worked tirelessly throughout their lives to 

promote the true spirit of yoga. They taught that 

Yoga does not only bring individual health and 

wellbeing, but that it reconnects us with our true 

self. It carries a powerful message of unity and 

peace. It offers clear and practical solutions to help 

overcome the consciousness crisis the world is 

going through. 

The Sivananda Centres participated in the cele - 

bration worldwide, from Tokyo to San Francisco, 

Buenos Aires to London. This issue’s main article 

features a report on this wonderful celebration. 

May Yoga help each and all to expand 

and remove the barriers that separate us from 

one another. 

Om Shanti, 

The Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre, London 

Cover 

International Day of Yoga: 

Swami Keshavananda 

teaches a free yoga class 

to 600 people at London’s 

South Bank in the heart 

of the City 

Est 1957 

HEADQUARTERS 

SIVANANDA ASHRAM YOGA CAMP 

Eighth Avenue, Val Morin, Quebec, Canada JOT 2RO 

Tel: +1 819 322 3226 

email: hq@sivananda.org 

With ashrams and centres located around the world see page 60 for addresses 

The International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres, founded by Swami Vishnudevananda 

is a non-profit organisation whose purpose is to propagate the teachings of yoga 

and vedanta as a means of achieving physical, mental and spiritual well-being and 

Self-realisation. 


CONTENTS 

SIVANANDA 

6 14 18 

6 Unity of Existence By Swami Sivananda 

8 Mental Processes in Yoga By Swami Durgananda 

Sri Akhandeswara Mahadev Temple Installation Festival 

13 

Sivananda Kutir, Netala, Himalayas 

14 

18 

22 

24 

26 

40 

42 

46 

48 

The Young Swamiji 

Recollections of Swami Vishnudevananda’s Childhood. By Kamala Devi 

Nerve Impulse and Prana Impulse in your Daily Practice 

By Swami Sivadasananda 

The Failure of Preventive Medicine By Dr. Gerhard Brand, MD 

The Diaphragm – An Amazing Muscle By Swami Rajeshwarananda 

The Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres Celebrate 

the first International Day of Yoga – A Special Report 

How the International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres 

help the Community through its Charitable Works 

Staff Refresher, 2015 A Special Report by Swami Gokulananda 

The Joy of Watching an Ashram Grow 

The blossoming of the Ashram de Yoga Sivananda in Orleans, France 

By Swami Bhagavatananda 

A Funny Thing Happened to me on the Way Home 

From the Yoga Class By Ken Whiteley 

8 

26 

51 

52 

54 

56 

58 

60 

62 

68 

72 

76 

Going up to Vishnu Peak 

A challenging journey to the ‘Om Namo Narayanaya Mantra Bank’ at Gangotri, 

in the Himalayas. By Swami Shivabhaktananda 

Peace Déjà Vu A personal experience of the Advanced Teachers’ Training Course 

in Rudraprayag, India. By Sivani 

Developments at Madurai Ashram, South India 

Night Blindness Understanding the significance of night in our lives, health, 

and spirituality. By Rubin R. Naiman 

Spiritual Humour 

The Lives of Saints – Mahatma Gandhi By Swami Sivananda 

A Divine Yogic Feast Vegetarian Recipes by Chris Cooper 

Prison Yoga Outreach Programme The Sivananda Yoga Teachers’ 

Training Course Goes to Prison 

Sivananda Ashram and Centre News 

Updates on new developments in Ashrams and Centres around the world 

Sivananda Ashram and Centre Addresses 

A listing of Sivananda Ashrams, Centres and teachers worldwide 

62 

42 

YOGALife |Autumn/Winter 2015 

5

UNITY OF EXISTENCE 

Unity of Existence 

By Swami Sivananda 

In this extract from Sivananda’s Gospel of Divine Life, Swami Sivananda 

makes the ultimate declaration of peace – the Unity of Existence. 

“Learn to live as members of a single family. Champion the ideal of one humanity. 

Live in peace in the world. All are children of God. The whole world is a family 

of God. Feel this, realise this and be happy.” 

OWhere is a true and lasting peace to be found? 

ne Soul abides in all. There is one humanity and 

one brotherhood. There is one Brahman-hood. 

None is high, none is low, all are equal. Vain are 

all distinctions. The man-made barriers should 

be ruthlessly broken down. Then alone will there be peace. 

There is only one caste: the caste of humanity. There is only 

one religion: the religion of love. There is only one commandment: 

the commandment of truthfulness. There is only one law: the 

law of cause and effect. There is only one God: the omnipresent, 

omnipotent and omniscient Lord. There is only one language: 

the language of the heart or the language of silence. 

All life is one. The world is one home. All are members 

of one human family. All creation is an organic whole. No man 

is independent of that whole. Man makes himself miserable 

by getting himself separated from others, and separation is 

death. Unity is eternal life. Cultivate cosmic love. Recognise the 

worth of others. Destroy all barriers – the racial, religious and 

natural prejudices that separate man from man. Recognise the 

non-dual Principle, the immortal essence within all creatures. 

Protect animals and let all life be sacred. Then this world will be 

a paradise of beauty. It will be a haven of peace and tranquillity. 

When one Brahman dwells in all living beings, why do you 

hate others? Why do you sneer and frown at others? Why do 

you use harsh words? Why do you try to rule and dominate 

over others? Why do you exploit others? Why are you intolerant? 

Is this not the height of folly? Is this not sheer ignorance? 

Learn to live as members of a single family. Champion the 

ideal of one humanity. Live in peace in the world. All are 

children of God. The whole world is a family of God. Feel this, 

realise this and be happy. 

Behold the One-in-all and the all-in-One. Feel: “I am the 

all”, and “I am in all”. Feel: “All bodies are mine. The whole 

world is my body, my sweet home. I work in all and through all 

hands. I eat through all mouths. I am the immortal Self in all.” 

Repeat Om mentally. Feel the oneness of life or unity of conscious - 

ness, when you play football or tennis, when you drink or eat, 

when you talk or sing, when you sit or walk when you bathe or 

dress, when you write a letter, when you do work in the office, 

when you answer the calls of nature. Spiritualise all your 

actions, movements, thoughts and feelings. Transmute them into 

Yoga. Then everything will become worship of the Lord. n 


UNITY OF EXISTENCE 

“There is only one religion: 

the religion of love” 

– Swami Sivananda 


7

MENTAL PROCESSES IN YOGA 

Mental Processes 

in 

YOGA 

By Swami 

Durgananda 

"How can I keep up my regular yoga practice if I live in 

a big city, amongst all possible circumstances of daily 

life, with very little time for yoga?" 



The mental capacity for yoga sadhana or spiritual 

practice requires preparation in daily life. Swami 

Vishnudevananda’s guide for spiritual practice 

consists of the five points: proper exercise, proper 

breathing, proper relaxation, proper diet, positive thinking and 

meditation. All of them ultimately lead to spiritual practice: 

concentration is developed in the yoga asanas and becomes 

even deeper in pranayama. Finding the right kind of relaxation 

is absolutely necessary in this day and age if you want to keep 

your inner balance. Spiritual development is further enhanced 

by applying even a few principles of pure diet. The last of the 

five points is explicitly mental: positive thinking and meditation. 

In this perspective, “time for yoga” is a mental process. 

The yoga postures and breathing exercises keep the body 

sufficiently fit for mental work. Swami Sivananda says that 

this mental work requires a cool head, emotional balance and 

a strong and healthy body. On the other hand, yoga practitioners 

who actually have physical ailments often do not appear as sick, 

and do not feel as bad as the severity of their disease would 

suggest; this is the power of the yogic attitude. A yogi is a person 

who is aware of the mental activities and knows how to direct 

them. There is no mental repression in this process, as the 

thoughts are actually being redirected. 

Constantly giving in to the tendency of the senses weakens 

the will power. The practice of asanas and pranayama builds up 

the necessary energy to resist this pulling of the senses. Simple 

tapas or austerities protect the mind and can be integrated 

easily into daily life: one day without sugar or without a news - 

paper or other media. The mind may try to resist and say: “I want it 

now”. But due to your own rational decision, the mind will not 

get it. Viveka, the power of discrimination, kept the upper hand. 

This results in a quiet state, away from the non-stop chase 

of “I want to possess this” and “I want to enjoy that”. As one 

desire is fulfilled, the next one comes up, and this happens 

faster than the speed of light, which is 300,000 kilometres per 

second. The mind moves faster than the speed of light. 

We know that we are creating our future with our thoughts: 

what I am now corresponds to what I thought in the past, and 

in the future I will be what I am thinking now. So there is hope 

that things can change. Hate may change, greed may change. 

In this process of transformation there is no repression. New 

synapses are formed in the brain as new thoughts are repeatedly 

being affirmed. A new mode of thinking is created. Science is 

now able to detect thought patterns and major mental trends 

in the brain. Patanjali Maharishi, who formulated the principles 

of raja yoga, called these thoughts samskaras, thoughts which 

repeat themselves and form strong impressions. Both raja yoga 

and modern science affirm that these impressions can be changed. 

However it requires a great amount of mental work. 

Another aspect of this mental work is a gradual awareness 

of your sensory perceptions. You become aware that everything 

you see, hear, smell, taste and touch is a relative impression. 

These impressions are finite. This awareness changes the way 

we look at the world around us. Also disease, physical impair - 

ments and aging will look different. The same is true for beauty 

and personal talents. The way we look at them changes. You 

virtually take a bird's eye view, you do not remain stuck in any 

sensory impression. 

When we come to understand that everything that surrounds 

us exists in exactly the same way within ourselves, that is what 

the masters call ‘real thinking’ or ‘cosmic thinking’. Nature 

constantly changes: the planets, the Milky Way, the explosions, 

etc. The body undergoes the same changes. Outside we call 

it natural disasters, and inside these can be diseases. 

This type of thinking stimulates the reflection on what 

is infinite and what is finite, what is true and what is not true, 

what is permanent and what is impermanent. One begins to 

observe one’s own habits, for example, from where the anger 

arises, and you wonder how it can be overcome. One comes to 

the conclusion that new habits are necessary. Master Sivananda 

speaks of ‘wrong’ and ‘right’ action. If the quality of the action 

is recognised, then new tendencies can replace the old habits. 

‘Wrong’ thoughts are those which drag us down: fear, jealousy, 

envy, greed, etc. ‘Right’ thoughts, however, are full of joy and 

serenity. Negative action may have closed up certain mental 

“A yogi is a person who is aware 

of the mental activities and knows 

how to direct them.” 

functions, but it is possible to reopen them. Negative actions 

or thought currents are those which do not lead to a more 

open, healthy worldview. Suppose, for example, there is fear 

of spiders. One can train oneself to overcome this phobia, 

by welcoming the spider when it shows up. The mental function 

must undergo training so that we can experience inner peace. 

It is possible to meet the spider peacefully rather than crushing 

it. The same goes for colleagues and other people whom you 

may not particularly like: you can deal with them peacefully 

rather than crush them. This is Yoga in daily life: you may not 

be able to choose the people around you. And even if it all 

started in a positive way, the controlled and gracious behaviour 

that was shown at the recruitment interview may change then 

when there is time pressure, fatigue and work overload. As it 

may not be possible to simply move away from the situation, 

it requires mental training to keep your balance, which in turn 

needs energy, and that energy can be drawn from the practice 

of asanas and pranayama. 

The mind learns not to immediately respond to everything, 

not immediately to be angry, not to fall immediately into the 

“Me” and “Mine” thought: “Why me? Why does this happen 

always to ME? And I, I, I ...“. That is what distinguishes great 

yogis. It does not really matter how long they can stand on the 

head or hold their breath, live without food or are able to 

control certain body functions. Circus artists may do this even 

better, but that is not the real thing. One recognises the Yogi 

by the equanimity, the serenity and the fresh attitude towards 

situations and people. He does not say, "I already know this, 

it is always the same problem", and then proceed according 

to his own mental habits. Habitual thought patterns veil the 

intuition and make it difficult to pursue new paths in an 

enthusiastic way. 

Meaningful austerity includes doing good to someone else, 

giving the most precious thing we have, and that is our time. 

Love takes time. Health takes time. Serving people takes time. 

Really doing a favour takes time. A really good gift for example, 

needs a lot of time until we find what the other person can 


9


really use and what makes him or her happy. It is a very efficient 

exercise in austerity to devote time to someone else. In this way 

the egoism, which veils the intuition, is reduced. If we still think 

that we have “no time for Yoga”, then it is even more austerity 

to give this apparently non-existent time to others. 

“It requires mental training to keep your 

balance, which in turn needs energy, 

and that energy can be drawn from the 

practice of asanas and pranayama.” 

Another remarkable exercise of spiritual practice consists 

in taking a few minutes to see the relativity of things and their 

finite nature. It is the choice of seeing the glass half full or half 

empty. If intuition is covered by egoism, then the glass will 

always be “half empty” because greed has taken the upper 

hand and always wants more and more for oneself. But once 

you have determined that the car in the garage is not the basis 

for your happiness, you have taken a major step. 

Yoga is a science, because we experiment with ourselves. 

Therefore it has nothing to do with religion, but rather with 

an attitude not to resign oneself to negative thinking and to 

cultivate the power for personal change instead. It all happens 

only on the mental plane. Outwardly the same things may 

happen as before: you get sick, you lose the job, etc., but the 

way you deal with it has changed, by the yogic thinking, which 

was developed step-by-step. This is one of the most important 

aspects of the yoga practice and does not require time. All it 

needs is strength. 

It is said that the seekers of self-realisation find intuitive 

knowledge of who we really are and what is really going on 

in this universe. These intuitive revelations are the source 

of the yogic scriptures: the Vedas, the various Upanishads 

or the Bhagavad Gita. They tell us that we have a great potential, 

that there is great wisdom within us, and that this great bliss, 

ananda, may be experienced. That is the overwhelming 

message of the scriptures: Yoga can be experienced. 

However, it requires a change of lifestyle, a transformation 

of habits. Actually the entire way of life has to be reviewed. 

Those who deal exclusively with the things which can be 

experienced by the senses, are veiled by the Unreal, by Maya, 

the illusion of life. Those who look beyond these things, turn 

to the Higher, the Divine. The inner path begins when the 

question arises: “Who am I? What is the meaning of all this?” 

It is really all about personal practice. Swami Vishnudevananda 

often told a joke which contains a lot of truth: I am posting a 

sign next to my bed or in the bathroom which says: “Tomorrow 

I will practice asanas.” Each time you read it, it says “tomorrow“. 

We get entangled in many worldly concerns and it becomes 

difficult to untie the knot. Only practice helps. The longer we 

practice with sincerity, the easier it becomes to open the knot. 

This condition of the human mind regarding this situation has 

hardly changed over the centuries. So many spiritual practices 

have already been offered and so many really fantastic masters 

have walked on this earth, but if the respective era is over, it is 

only history. In this regard, Swami Sivananda clearly emphasised: 

“Do not make a religion out of me, be practitioners.” 

Getting oneself entangled in this way happens again and 

again, so there is no need to feel inferior and think that you are 

the only one to whom this happens. The whole of humanity 

gets itself entangled again and again. We live in this world in 

order to learn not to get ourselves entangled, and to recognise 

the entanglement and how to get out of it. In this respect the 

objects of the world serve as a training ground. The objects 

exist in order to learn how to renounce them. This is the inner 

path, the necessity of the inner practice. 

Many practitioners do recognise the entanglement, but do 

not understand that this is a recurring normality. Therefore they 

say “I'm not yet ready for this.” It is recommended to be gentle 

with oneself when the entanglement comes up again, to look 

ahead and not to fall into apathy and lethargy, to become sleepy 

and disinterested with regard to the question “Who am I?”. 

Swami Vishnudevananda often said that many people are 

actually in a permanent state of sleep with open eyes. It is true 

that often life situations lead to apathy and disinterest. One is 

only interested in one’s own area, quickly closes the door and 

thinks: “Let them all do what they want.” We are lacking 

strength and this sleepiness is often enhanced by dietary habits, 

alcohol and the lifestyle in general. The time available to 

actually educate oneself and to be awake is quite short in one 

lifetime. During the four week yoga Teachers’ Training course 

one can see how much one is capable of achieving in a short 

period of time. This has to be experienced directly. Theoretical 

study of books cannot give this knowledge. Yoga provides an 

experience that you did not know before, and this experience 

is based on one’s own practice. 

It is about the experience of real happiness that is independent 

of external things. It is good to remember this, so that yoga is 

not used exclusively on the material level, for example, to look 

slimmer, to be more successful or to be more relaxed. When 

it is seen that this inner happiness cannot be equated with 

money and success, then one is ready to make changes in life 

by making it a bit simpler. 

With this the confidence in the Sadhana will grow. With 

practice comes experience. This goes beyond belief. You do not 

believe that yoga is good for you, you know it. This makes you 

more awake and younger. It may take a while until you have 

found your path and the right teaching lineage. Therefore Swami 

Sivananda says that perseverance is especially important. 

The five points defined by Swami Vishnudevananda appear 

simple and below the intellectual capacities of even a beginner 

student. But it may actually take years until you come to under - 

stand that these five points contain a profound wisdom. It may 

well happen that one gives up the practice too early, because 

one does not want to hear or read always the same instructions. 

There is a lack of perseverance to wait and allow something 

to develop. The teachings have to become interwoven with daily 

life and that happens only through persistent practice. There 

is no way around it. n 

Taken from lectures given by Swami Durgananda in February 

2015 at the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres in Vienna, 

Berlin and Reith near Kitzbühel, Tyrol, Austria. 

Swami Durgananda is Yoga Acharya (spiritual director) 

of the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres in Europe. 

e-mail: SwamiDurgananda@sivananda.net 


Fascinating India 

Rudraprayag, Himalayas 2016 

THE QUALITIES OF NATURE 


1887–1963 

Swami 

Vishnudevananda 

1927–1993 

International Sivananda 

Teachers’ Training Courses 

20 February – 20 March 2016 

22 October – 20 November 2016 

Sadhana Intensive 


Advanced hatha yoga practice following 

the instructions of the Hatha Yoga Pradipika 

India Himalaya Pilgrimage 


Yoga Sadhana at the Source of Ancient Wisdom 

Delhi – Rudraprayag – Badrinath – Rishikesh – Haridwar – Delhi 

Sivananda Kutir, Uttarkashi Himalayas 

International Sivananda 

Advanced Yoga Teachers’ 

Training Course 

20 February – 20 March 2016 

Delhi 

Kedarnath 

Badrinath 

Rudraprayag 

SIVANANDA YOGA VEDANTA RETREAT HOUSE 

Founder: Swami Vishnudevananda. Est 1957 

www.sivananda.eu · Contact: rudraprayag-himalayas@sivananda.net 


11

SWAMI SIVANANDA 

SWAMI 

VISHNUDEVANANDA 

Sivananda Yoga Retreat House 

Reith near Kitzbühel, Tyrol, Austria 

YEAR ROUND YOGA VACATIONS 

Free choice of arrival and departure dates. 

WIDE CHOICE OF SEMINARS 

All programmes in English and German 

INTERNATIONAL SIVANANDA 

YOGA TEACHERS’ TRAINING 

COURSES 

Courses in English and German 

30 April – 29 May 2016, Reith 

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30 July – 28 August 2016, Reith 

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CERTIFICATE COURSES 

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INNER BALANCE 

NEW 

: SIVANANDA YOGA 

In a beautiful Alpine oasis 

In Mittersill, Hohe Tauern, Austria 

Landhotel Gut Sonnberghof **** 

Yoga Vacation Programmes 

9 Nov – 11 Dec 2015 

1 – 29 April 2016 

International 

Yoga Teachers‘ 

Training Course 

4 June – 2 July 2016 

since 1957 

Sivananda Yoga Seminarhaus, Reith bei Kitzbühel 

Founder: Swami Vishnudevananda, est. 1957 

Bichlach 40, Reith near Kitzbühel, Tyrol, Austria 

Booking: tyrol-reception@sivananda.net 

Tel: + 43 5356 / 6 74 04 

www.sivananda.at • www.sivananda.eu

TEMPLE INSTALLATION REPORT 

Sri Akhandeswara Mahadev Temple 

INSTALLATION FESTIVAL 

Sivananda Kutir, Netala 

27th April – 3rd May, 2015 

Early Spring was a time of tremendous energy and activity 

at the Sivananda Kutir ashram in Netala with TTC going 

on alongside the preparations for the Installation Festival 

of the Sri Akhandeswara Mahadev Temple. 

The auspicious morning of the installation began with a puja 

conducted by four priests from Kerala and four local brahmins. Over 

the next week countless pujas and fire rituals were offered both inside 

and outside the temple throughout the days and evenings. A temporary 

puja area was constructed in front of the temple in the dining hall, 

beautifully decorated with plants, banana trees, temple umbrellas, 

fresh marigold garlands and flowers throughout. The Ashram was 

colourfully decorated with festive lights and decorations, and the new 

temple was completely filled with hundreds of fresh marigold garlands. 

Srinivasanji, Prahladji and visiting staff from our Ashrams and 

Centres in India and guests from south India: Mr & Mrs Mamallan 

from Trivan drum, Dr. V. Narayanasamy and his wife, daughter, son-inlaw 

and grand daughter from Madurai, Mr Ananta Krishnan and 

Lalitha Amma from Palakkad, Vishnu from Toronto and Durairaj from 

Chennai were all on hand for the festival. The TTC concluded with a 

beautiful graduation satsang led by Prahladji and an inspirational talk 

by Srinivasanji. Many of the new teachers chose to stay on after the 

ceremony to enjoy the festivities. 

“Bells rang, conches were sounded 

and traditional temple music could 

be heard throughout the village” 

Local village Devatas from both Siror and Netala were also invited 

to offer puja to Sri Akhandeswara Mahadev and they were each given 

beautiful South Indian temple umbrellas know as muthukudas. During 

one special puja, bells rang, conches were sounded and traditional 

temple music could be heard throughout the village as a mother 

cow and her calf were led to the temple for darshan. More than 

100 sadhus were in attendance, including Swami Janardananda, 

Swami Hariomananda and Swami Govindananda who sat and 

chanted Rama Namam, bhajans and arati at the evening Bhandara. 

An offering of dakshina was given to each of them. 

The auspicious concluding ceremony took place with Prahladji 

and the priests rollingup their dhotis and climbing on scaffolding to 

the top of the temple to offer Kalasa puja. Flowers and water prasad 

were showered upon all. The sounds of Om Namah Sivaya, bells and 

Pancha vadyam music filled the air and all were in awe of the beautiful 

vision of Sri Akhandeswara Mahadev’s garlands and elegant silver face. 

The evening concluded with puja and arati. 

This was a unique, high energy event full of meaningful rituals with 

the majestic Himalayas above Mother Ganga at Swamiji’s Mahasamadhi 

place receiving the blessings of all who attended the ceremony. 

The beautiful, colourful south Indian temple now soars high for all 

to see and many locals stop on the bridge to offer their prayers and 

see this magnificent addition to their village. The temple is open daily 

from 6.30am – 12 noon and 4 – 6.30pm for the public darshan. 

Om Namah Sivaya! 

Sri Akhandeswara Mahadeva Swamine Namaha! 

From Top left to right: Sri Akhandeswara Temple, Bhandara, 

The Sivananda Kutir Ashram next to the River Ganges. 

Inside the Temple – Sri Akhandeswara Mahadev 


13

THE YOUNG SWAMIJI 

Nemarra High School photo. 

Circled: The young Swamiji 

aged about twelve. 

Swamiji had to walk three 

miles and sometimes swim 

across the Gayatri River 

to reach school 



The Young Swamiji 

By Kamala Devi 

What was he like, the young Swamiji? 

He was, his mother said, ‘a very adamant fellow’. 

By all accounts, the striking personality of the young Swamiji was clear 

to all from his very earliest years. 

It had three distinct strands: a resolute and fearless determination, 

a capacity to discriminate between genuine religious observance and 

superstition, and a deep and abiding compassion for all living beings. 

What was the background to this striking personality? 

Background 

Swami Vishnudevananda was born Swami Kuttan Nair in 

Kaninmangalam, near Nemmara, in the Native State of Cochin 

(now Kerala) in 1927, a son of the famous warrior caste of 

Kerala, the Nairs. The Nairs are an ancient and extraordinary 

caste. Although customs and traditions differ within various Nair 

communities, they had their own marital customs (sambandham), 

their own form of matrilineal inheritance (marumakkathayam), 

their own art of warfare (kalarippayattu), their own war goddess 

(Bhadrakali), their own cult of ancestor worship, and their own 

art form, kathakali (dance drama). In swordsmanship and suicide 

squads (chavers) they were similar to the Samurai of Japan. 

In feudal times the Nairs formed the chief militia in Kerala, and 

travellers were as struck by their valour and military prowess 

as they were fascinated by the customs and traditions which 

distinguished them from other Keralites. Early writers described 

them as ‘exceedingly haughty, proud and bold’. 

The Nairs lived in matrilineal joint families known as tarawads. 

They generally lived away from the towns in detached houses 

with large compounds and good gardens. The plan and other 

details of the structure of Nair houses were determined in strict 

conformity with the principles of the ancient Hindu science of 

architecture based on astrology (vastu). 

The tarawad or marumakkathayam family consisted in theory 

of all persons who could trace their descent in the female line 

from a single ancestress, and a single house could sometimes 

contain a hundred people, spanning three or four generations. 

Swamiji’s tarawad, or traditional family home, was known 

as Valia Peechankurichy Veedu: ‘Peechankurichy’ being the 

name of the house, ‘valia’ meaning ‘big’ and ‘veedu’ meaning 

‘house’. It had five rooms on the ground floor, six rooms on the 

first floor and open space on the third floor for storing grain. 

There were also two halls on the first floor and two halls on the 

ground floor. All four sides had long sit-outs which were approx - 

imately one hundred feet by fifteen feet to accommodate any 

number of people during feasts and festivities. Guests coming 

from far off villages slept in these courtyards on mats and 

pillows provided by the family. 

The family had three parcels of land totalling five hundred 

acres (five thousand paras) as well as two plantations (‘gardens’) 

adjacent to some rivers. Here they grew coconuts, mangoes and 

other fruits. 

“As a child Swamiji loved bhakti stories 

like Kabirdas. He also loved to go for 

Temple celebrations.” 

Swamiji’s father, Sri Chatthu Panicker, was said to have been 

a first class farmer and one of the important agriculturists in the 

area. The local people often spoke of the effort he put into his 

farming. He would take the bullocks to the field at 3am and 

immediately begin ploughing. As the bullocks had to come from 

far away they would have started 

out at midnight or one am. A great 

deal of effort was put into the 

land and it was universally 

admired as being very beautiful. 

It was from his father that 

Swamiji first acquired his highlydeveloped 

sense of discipline. 

Swamiji’s mother was Srimati 

Devaki Amma (later Swami 

Sivasarananda), the daughter 

Swami Vishnudevananda’s 

of Srimati Cheechu Amma mother, Devaki Amma, who later 

of Valia Peechankurichy Veedu became Swami Sivasharanananda 

and Sri Padmanabha Shastry, 

a revered Sanskrit scholar and Veda pandit attached to the 

Palace of the Maharaja of Cochin. Swamiji’s mother was very 

pious. All felt that Devaki Amma had the full characteristics of 

her father and that Swami must have had his blessings as well. 

There was a pond near the house and a Subramania Shestram 

nearby. The land near the Temple belonged to Swamiji’s father 

and Devaki Amma would go there and pray every day for at least 

one or two hours. Everyone in the family thought that that was 

why no one had any diseases among their near and dear ones. 


15


As a child Swamiji loved bhakti stories like Kabirdas. He also 

loved to go for Utsavam (Temple celebrations) to see the chariot 

being pulled and he loved to take friends to go and see it as well. 

Determination 

It was his powerful determination that Swamiji’s mother was 

referring to when she described him as ‘a very adamant fellow’. 

Illustrating with an incident from his infancy Mataji told of how 

once the young Swami Kuttan had refused to eat until some 

of the food on his plate was removed. There was too much, he 

had said, take some away. Mataji explained that the dog could 

have what was left, and instructed him to eat. Again he refused: 

there was too much food, and some should be removed. Mataji, 

in her own words, ‘beat him on the leg’ until his leg swelled. 

Still he would not eat, nor did he cry. It became clear that 

beating was useless. Mataji relented and removed some of the 

food. Swami ate, and Mataji resolved never to beat him again. 

Hand in hand with this resolute determination came a remark - 

able fearlessness. Swamiji’s cousin, Sri Achuthan recalled: 

In his younger days Swami had no fear at all. There was a 

mango tree near the house where we lived. If you climbed right 

to the top you could see our house from the top of that tree. 

Once he saw me when I was climbing down. I told him that I 

had climbed up to try and pick some mangoes. He asked ‘Did 

you get any?’ I told him ‘No’, I didn’t manage to get any. They 

are a bit too high to reach.’ 

So Swami climbed up and the branch broke and the stick he 

used to collect the mangoes also broke. When the branch broke 

he fell down to the ground after getting hit by other branches 

on the way to the ground. He broke his arm. It became a huge 

event and everyone gathered around. My father was very good 

with medicines. He had some medicinal oils that he got from 

Mysore. There was a toddy shop nearby and that man was good 

at tying splints. So he came and with my dad applied oils and 

using a white cloth tied a splint. Swami did not cry. Not a drop 

of tears fell from his eyes. In spite of so much pain he did not cry. 

From birth Swami’s diet consisted of milk, fruits, sweets and 

ghee. He refused to drink coffee and tea, and did not like 

strong spices or salt. If some butter was added he would eat 

rice. He would eat idli and dosa. He was golden in colour. One 

day Kunji Amma, a neighbour, looking at Mataji with Swami 

Kuttan on her lap enquired whether she was the child’s mother, 

and what food he was being given. The child was looking 

beautiful, Kunji Amma said, while Mataji looked like his servant. 

‘Chovvari’ (sago payasam) and milk Mataji replied. 

In his early years Swami Kuttan lived in Kumaramputhoor 

farm, his father’s farm at Pallavur. Because the local school was 

three miles away Swamiji’s mother engaged a tutor to teach 

him at home. One day his father’s nephew, Balan, took the 

young boy to his primary school in Thalloor to attend Navaratri 

Puja. The next day he ran to go to school. Mataji recalled: ‘I did 

not permit, as he had to walk three miles and I thought to let 

him complete one more year. But he ran again and I chased 

him and brought him back. Again he ran and thereafter he 

attended school regularly. He started going to school by himself 

at the age of five. After passing 4th class he started attending 

school at Nemmara from Pallavoor crossing the Gayatri River 

and streams. If there is water in the river someone would help 

him to cross. He had no fear even while young.’ 

The tank near the Subramanya Temple in Kanninmanglam where 

Swamiji bathed, and chased the boys catching fish 

The paddy fields which once formed part of Swamiji’s family land 

Discrimination 

‘He did not like talking ill of others. One day when we ladies 

were chatting he shouted, “Mother! Mother!” loudly and when 

asked what he wants he advised us not to talk ill of others. 

He will only tell the truth. When the shopkeeper returned 

the balance once with more money after the purchase of provisions, 

Swami asked that the excess amount be returned immediately. 

He would not ask for money to visit the cinema. Only books 

and fees he will ask. He is studying along with rich family 

children. They may eat from hotels, but Swami is satisfied with 

what I give. He will not demand anything from me.’ 

He was not fond of show or make-up. His dress was simple. 

It was not because he could not afford, but he had no desire 

for costly costumes. He was fond of books. If he took up a book 

he wouldn’t leave it until it was finished. 

Compassion 

‘When the woman sweeping the courtyard was sick, Swami 

applied oil and massaged her legs. 

He would not harm animals, nor permit others to harm 

them. Whenever he took a bath in the tank, if he found friends 

catching fish, he would catch them and bring them home. He 

would advise them not to do it, and he would pay money not 

to kill. He would not allow anyone to harm even ants and flies. 

Swamiji’s elder sister Lakshmi Kutty was advised not to eat 

fish and meat and also not to conduct adharma poojas with 

animal sacrifice; only oothama poojas to be conducted for the 

gods. No animal was to be harmed or killed. 

When Swami was in the army Balan was laid up with TB. 

Swami came back from the Punjab on leave and kept Balan’s 

head on his lap and looked after him until death, reciting God’s 

name. Earlier, when he was studying, his uncle Murukandi was 

in hospital. He looked after his uncle the whole night. He helped 

other patients also. He looked after them until death. He was 

not at all afraid. In his younger days he had no fear at all.’ n 

Kamala Devi runs an affiliated Sivananda Yoga Centre in Katoomba, 

NSW, Australia. She is a long time disciple of Swamiji Vishnudevananda and 

has helped a lot with the organisation of the archives of Swamiji’s work. 

email: kamalaDevi@bigpond.com 


Sivananda Teachers’ Training Course 

August 15 – September 10, 2016 

Course language: English and Spanish 

Enjoy sunshine, health, inner learning and spiritual fellowship. 

The tiny picturesque village Aluenda is located at 900 m above sea level, nestled in the “Sierra de Vicor” 

How to get there: 

Flight plus high speed train: 

Madrid (1hr) or Barcelona (2hrs). 

Aluenda 

Barcelona 

Yoga Vacation 

17 August – 11 September 2015 

Free choice of dates 

Teaching language: Spanish 

Madrid 

Spain 

Balearic 

Sea 

CENTRO DE YOGA SIVANANDA VEDANTA MADRID · Founder: Swami Vishnudevananda · C/ Eraso 4, 28028 Madrid, Spain 

Phone +34 91 361 51 50 · E-mail: madrid@sivananda.net · www.sivananda.org/madrid · www.sivananda.eu 


17

NERVE IMPULSE AND PRANA IMPULSE 

Nerve Impulse and 

Prana Impulse in your 

Daily Practice 

By Swami Sivadasananda 

Nerve impulses are clearly defined; they start in a specific 

place and travel in one direction to another specific place. 

Nerve impulses can be categorised into: 

• Motor impulses (to muscles for example), which can 

be controlled voluntarily. Motor nerve impulses allow you 

to enter, remain or come out from an asana. 

• Sensory impulses, which cannot all be perceived, depending 

on the level of wakefulness and awareness. In the asanas the 

main sensory impulse is the sense of touch. When you actually 

feel your muscles and joints, this is called proprioception. 

• Sympathetic impulses, which create the fight and flight 

or stress scenario. 

• Parasympathetic impulses, which help the body to rest 

and relax. 

It is said that a direct control of the so-called involuntary 

nerve impulses (sympathetic and parasympathetic) is not 

possible. But the outcome of asana and pranayama practice 

is an effective balance between these two impulses. Yoga practice 

is both stimulating (sympathetic) and relaxing (parasympathetic). 

The word prana means life energy. Just like the physical 

nerve impulses, prana refers to active control and to the 

awareness of perceptions. At the time when the word prana 

was created, the modern scientific observations of the nerve 

impulses were not available. But obviously the functions of motor, 

sensory, sympathetic and parasympathetic nerve impulses were 

all well known to the hatha yogis. How otherwise could they 

devise such a sophisticated exercise system which balances all 

the functions of the nervous system? 

Based on these considerations, one could say that the prana 

impulses include all nerve impulses. What would then be a 

main difference between prana impulse and nerve impulse? 

Nerve impulses are controlled either by conscious awareness 

and will or by the subconscious mind. 

The level of prana impulses, which is different from the nerve 

impulses, can be controlled by both: the physical breath and mental 

processes such as visualisation, concentration and will power. 



Final Relaxation 

(Savasana) 

A Simple Example 

When you lift one leg in Savasana, this movement is possible 

due to motor nerve impulses causing the contraction in various 

leg muscles. When you suddenly drop the leg, this is due to the 

sudden stopping of these nerve impulses. 

Incidentally you also inhale while lifting, hold the breath 

while the leg is up, and exhale when the leg is dropped. This 

aspect can be considered the prana impulse. 

Which impulse is experienced more clearly in this liftingand-dropping-exercise, 

the nerve impulse or the prana impulse? 

As both of them happen simultaneously it is difficult to tell 

them apart. 

If you modify the exercise, the difference becomes quite obvious: 

Adaptation No. 1 

Inhale and lift the leg. Then exhale, but continue keeping the leg 

up. Only when you have completed the exhalation, drop the leg. 

Here you first released the breath, which is the prana 

impulse, and then later you stopped the motor nerve impulse 

to the leg muscles, which caused the leg to drop. 

Isn’t it surprising how much your motor capacity of holding 

the leg up against the gravity was weakened, once you had 

exhaled? This shows the difference between prana impulse 

and nerve impulse and how much the nerve impulse depends 

on the prana impulse. 

Adaptation No. 2 

Inhale and lift the leg. Keep holding the breath. Drop the leg 

without exhaling. Exhale only once you clearly feel the leg on 

the floor. 

You first released the motor nerve impulse to the leg muscles, 

and then you released the respiratory impulse, which is the 

prana impulse. 

It is surprising to see that the major sensation of release 

was only felt when you released the breath, the prana impulse. 

Connection between the nerve impulse 

and the prana impulse 

How is it possible that the motor nerve impulse which makes 

the diaphragm contract (inhalation) and relax (exhalation), can 

create the prana impulse, which allows very different levels 

of control and sensation in all body parts? 

A possible answer is that the phrenic nerve which supplies 

the motor impulses from the brain to the diaphragm has a rami - 

fication to the solar plexus. The solar plexus has a wide range 

of functions from sensory to sympathetic and parasympathetic. 

What is difficult to explain in terms of the nervous system is 

how the effect of this prana impulse can either be very local or 

wide spread in the body, depending on the mental visualisation. 

Importance of the prana impulse 

in your practice session 

Swami Vishnudevananda advises a specific order for your 

practice session 

• Pranayama (breathing exercises) 

• Surya Namaskar (sun salute) 

• 12 Basic Asanas with a choice of variations (there are around 

100 variations to choose from), with a short relaxation after 

each asana 

• Final relaxation with autosuggestion 


19


Alternate Nostril 

Breathing 

(Anuloma Viloma) 

Pranayama allows 

you to connect 

consciously to the 

prana impulse 

Pranayama 

It is advisable to begin with pranayama, as it allows you to 

connect again consciously to the prana impulse. The various 

exercises create a wave of relaxation with the exhalation, a wave 

of energy with the inhalation and lead to mental control 

of prana (concentration) when you hold the breath. All these 

impulses are experienced while the body is remaining calm 

and motionless in the meditative sitting pose. 

Sun Salutation 

(Surya Namaskar) 

position 2 

Muscle effort 

increases as you are 

stretching the hands 

and the arms 

upwards 

Surya Namaskar 

In the sun salute respiratory and muscle control happen 

simultaneously. 

For example, when moving into position 2 (which is identical 

to position 11), your muscle effort increases as you are stretching 

the hands and the arms upwards, then lift the shoulder girdle, 

and control your leg muscles positioning the weight on your 

heels. The further you move into the pose the stronger will 

be the muscle work. 

At the same time you are inhaling. The longer and further 

you reach upwards and backwards, the longer and deeper 

should be your effort to inhale, which is done by the diaphragm 

and the various respiratory muscles of the chest. The moment 

you release the position, you also release the breath and start 

to exhale. 

This connection between the power of the breath and the 

power of muscle control can be felt in all the 12 poses of the 

sun salute. You can discover it quite easily with the following 

approach: 

1 Start with four sun salutes (4 x 12 movements) and try to make 

only an intermediate muscle effort. Remain a bit below your 

maximum capacity of movement. 

2 Now practice two sun salutes with exactly the same muscle 

effort, but reducing the depth of your breaths to a minimum. 

You will see how the same muscle effort results in a clearly 

inferior depth of movement. 

3 Finally practice two sun salutes with a maximum depth and 

length of breath, while maintaining the same muscle effort. 

By contrast, your muscle control will feel like riding on top 

of an added energy wave – the prana impulse. 

Sun salute ensures that the mastery of the prana impulse 

which was gained from the pranayama exercises, is combined 

with the motor nerve impulses which allow the muscle control. 

Asanas 

Patanjali Maharishi states in the Raja Yoga Sutras, that the 

asana should be held firmly and comfortably at the same time, 

while the practitioner should focus on relaxation and meditate 

on the Infinite. In order to remain in the asana there needs to 

be a fine tuning of the muscle tone. This is comparatively easier 

in headstand, shoulderstand, plough, fish, sitting forward bend, 

spinal twist and standing forward bend. 

Only the steadiness of the pose can be seen by the outer 

appearance. All the other aspects mentioned by Patanjali 

Maharishi can only be felt subjectively, and the best way 

to reach the perception is to focus on the breath: 

Each inhalation brings strength and firmness. 

Each exhalation brings relaxation and comfort. 

A first step towards the meditation on the Infinite is to focus 

on the expansion of energy. As you continue observing the 

rhythmical interplay of inhalation/exhalation – firmness/comfort, 

this local energy imprint can expand into a more expanded 

aware ness of vital energy, sometimes flowing from the limbs 

to the spine and up to the head, sometimes from the abdomen 

out to all body parts, sometimes moving in a circular way 



through out the body. Each posture will show you its particular 

energy patterns. You only need to watch the polarity of 

inhalation and exhalation in relation to your body perception. 

Sirsasana 

(Headstand) 

In order to remain in 

the asana there needs 

to be a fine tuning 

of the muscle tone 

plexus, which in turn increases proprioception or feeling all body 

parts from within the body. 

The deepest level of physical relaxation depends on the 

combination of conscious abdominal breathing and auto - 

suggestion. When you focus on any part of the body with 

gentle breathing, you can feel each muscle in great detail, but 

the deepest level of relaxation comes when you actually do not 

feel the muscles any more at all. It is as if you had lost this part 

of the body. As the process of autosuggestion continues from 

the feet up to the head, this process of losing sensation of the 

body through deep relaxation continues. However, it does not 

feel like you are losing something, because the relaxation 

reduces the unnecessary amount of prana, which is spent in the 

body contraction. The deeper you relax, the more deeply you 

recharge your pranic battery. 

Meditation pose 

after final 

relaxation 

First you may 

sense some 

physical pulsations 

in various muscles 

in the legs, pelvis 

and along your 

spine 

Final Relaxation (Savasana) 

The deepest level of physical relaxation depends 

on the combination of conscious abdominal 

breathing and auto suggestion 

Final Relaxation 

Here the conscious motor control is becoming very subtle. Deep 

muscle relaxation requires a greatly reduced flow of motor 

impulses to the muscles. This results in a very low muscle tone. 

Sensory awareness is stimulated by conscious abdominal 

breathing. This stimulates the sensory impulses in the solar 

When the 15 minutes of final relaxation are completed you 

may sit quietly in any meditation pose for some time. First you 

may sense some physical pulsations in various muscles in the 

legs, pelvis and along your spine. This is due to the increased 

motor impulses, which reactivate the muscle tone needed to 

keep the body upright. If you sit for a few minutes longer, you 

can focus again on the breath: watch the change of breath, 

when the inhalation joins the exhalation and when the exhalation 

joins the inhalation. These are the moments when the prana 

impulses flow. You may now be able to feel the prana as a clearly 

different sensation than the nerve impulses flowing to your 

skeletal muscles. 

Finally try to bring the awareness of the prana impulse to the 

third eye centre between your eyebrows (Ajna Chakra). Here is 

the connection between prana impulse and the thought waves, 

through which the practice of meditation moves from the physical 

level to the mental level. 


Yoga Acharya and a senior student of Swami Vishnudevananda, teaches 

workshops throughout the Sivananda Centres in Europe and Teachers’ 

Training Courses worldwide. email: sws@sivananda.net 


21

DIET AND NUTRITION 

The Failure 

of Preventive 

Medicine 

By Dr. Gerhard Brand, MD, 

Munich, Germany 

“We seem to be losing the fight against obesity, because pills don’t 

make anyone any healthier, at best they enable people to live a bit 

longer with their disease.” 

The onset of the global obesity epidemic and the global 

explosion of diabetes is based on the most funda - 

mental misconception in the history of mankind about 

“proper nutrition”. A hundred years ago in the United 

States of America, the quintessential country of affluence and 

immigration in the 19th and 20th centuries, sugar consumption 

was 3 kg (6.6 lbs.) per capita per year and obesity was virtually 

nonexistent. Three quarters of a century later the per capita 

sugar consum ption has increased to 75 kg (165 lbs.) per year 

and obesity affects more than a third of the population. 

On behalf of the government,which has the people’s 

mandate to promote good health for all, researchers and 

nutritionists developed a new nutritional concept which they 

hastily announced to an astonished world whose residents 

were already burdened by their increased body weight. The 

concept was that fat makes you fat and eating easily digestible 

carbohydrates five times a day makes you slim and healthy. Up 

until this point food corporations had already been very successful 

with their slogan: “Don’t just sit around – eat something“, 

paving the way for this new dogma to herald the worldwide 

success of the fast food culture and finger food consumption. 

“The treatment of diet-related diseases 

in Germany now takes up one third of 

all health sector costs” 

The age-old adage: “Chew well and digest well” was quickly 

ignored as well as the crucial insights of the great nutritionist and 

physician Dr. Franz Xaver Mayr that the fast in fast food leads to 

too much and too much leads to too often, because we start to 

feel hungry again too soon. An unhealthy diet composed of the 

wrong foods and their hazardous effects on acid base balance, 

together with the habit of eating at the wrong time, contributed 

to this imbalance. 

This resulted in an unprecedented nutritional disaster in countries 

with a western diet and the development of hitherto largely un - 

known morbid obesity. The European study “Aspire” which ran 

from 1995 to 2007 shows that both medical profess ionals and 

patients increasingly rely on pills and hospital treat ments to deal 

with this global health issue without addressing a change in lifestyle 

and eating habits. Adherence to drug prescription guidelines increases, 

for example cholesterol-lowering drugs with dubious and some - 

times considerable side effects are prescribed twice as often today 

as they were 12 years ago. The same goes for anticoagulants, betablockers 

and other blood pressure lowering agents. Nevertheless, 

there is no improvement in hypertension which still affects 60% 

of the population. According to a big German public health insurance 

company (Barmer Ersatzkasse) the treatment of diet-related diseases 

in Germany now takes up one third of all health sector costs, about 

80 billion euros per year in a total budget of 240 billion euros. 

As we have seen, prescriptions alone don’t solve the problem. 

We seem to be losing the fight against obesity, because pills 

don’t make anyone any healthier, at best they enable people to 

live a bit longer with their disease. It would be too easy to once 

again blame the doctors and especially the chronically ill and 

thus incurably ill patients for this dilemma, because we only cure 

the symptoms and not the cause. Thus we find ourselves in the 

same seemingly hopeless situation as Goethe’s sorcerer’s 

apprentice: “From the spirits that I called – Sir, deliver me!” 

Our situation, however, may not be that hopeless. 


DIET AND NUTRITION 

The Solution 

There is an ancient doctrine, time tested for 2,500 years, that 

your food shall be your medicine and your medicine shall be 

your food (Hippocrates, 460 – 372 BC, the forefather of modern, 

scientific medicine). In order to lose weight we must eat the 

right food ie: proper carbohydrates, proper fats, and proper 

protein. Carbohydrates to provide proper energy, fat to give 

proper reserves and proteins for an optimal hormonal balance. 

“Only a proper diet can reduce obesity 

and prevent the threat of a global catas - 

t rophe in countries with a western diet” 

Conclusion 

Only a proper diet can reduce obesity and prevent the threat 

of a global catastrophe in countries with a western diet. Most 

importantly we need to provide people with correct information 

on the relationship between health and disease. We are bom - 

barded by the media with completely irrelevant and even 

sometimes grotesquely inaccurate information on this issue. 

Furthermore polls show that obese college students, for 

example, do inform themselves about healthy eating, but 

prolong its implementation due to lack of practicality. And 

although they may already be late in addressing their problem, 

it’s never too late to start. n 

The Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres express their gratitude 

to Dr Gerhard Brand for sharing his medical insight on the 

topic of nutrition. 

Dr. Gerhard Brand MD. email: brand@magicghost.de 

Here are a few lines on the yogic 

approach to diet: 

“Let the yogi eat moderately and abstemiously; otherwise, 

however clever, he cannot gain success.” Siva Samhita 

 

Yogis are aware of and try to live by this ancient wisdom: 

there is a relationship between physical and mental wellbeing 

and diet. Yogis eat to live and do not live to eat. The 

goal is a pure and natural diet, wholesome, well-balanced, 

easy to digest, supplying the body with a maximum of 

nutrients and energy. 

 

In Swami Sivananda’s words: “Eat moderately what 

you know by experience is agreeable to you and what 

is digestible. Simple diet is the best“. 


23

THE DIAPHRAGM 

The Diaphragm 

An Amazing Muscle 

By Swami Rajeshwarananda 

When practising or teaching the abdominal breath it is common for many of us to take 

for granted the mechanism, yet not quite fully understanding the process involved. 

The diaphragm has been variously described 

as a muscle shaped like a double dome, 

a parachute and a jellyfish! 


THE DIAPHRAGM 

Inhalation 

During inhalation 

the diaphragm 

contracts 

and moves 

downwards. 

Exhalation 

During exhalation 

it relaxes and 

moves back up. 

© Dorling Kindersley Limited 

Abdominal breathing is also known as deep 

diaphragmatic breathing and it is the diaphragm 

that takes centre stage here. What exactly is this 

muscle and what does it do? 

The diaphragm has been variously described 

as a muscle shaped like a double dome, a parachute, a jellyfish, 

a cupola and so on. Just like other muscles in the body it is 

fibrous, non-rigid, contracts and stretches, and because of its supple - 

ness takes the form of the organs with which it comes into 

contact. At the top of the “dome” the tissue contains a mass 

of collagen fibres which together make up the central tendon. 

Where is the diaphragm in the body? 

It lies between the thoracic (chest) cavity and the abdominal 

cavity. In fact it separates these two cavities and at the same 

time connects them to each other. One can think of the 

diaphragm as acting like double-sided tape. On the upper 

side – the thoracic cavity or thorax – the lungs are attached via 

the pleura, (a thin sheet of tissue surrounding the lungs) and 

the heart via the pericardium (a sac of smooth membrane 

enclosing the heart). On the lower side – the abdominal 

cavity – the diaphragm attaches to the stomach and the liver 

via the peritoneum, (a membrane that covers many of the 

abdominal organs). The muscle is also in direct contact with the 

kidneys, spleen, pancreas and parts of the large intestine. 

At its base the diaphragm is attached to the skeleton at the 

lower rib cage and to the spine in the lumbar region, around 

waist level. The top of the muscle (the central tendon) reaches 

the height of the fourth or fifth rib. 

What exactly does the diaphragm do and 

what is its role in the breathing mechanism? 

Most of us believe that the breathing mechanism starts with 

the inhalation of air. This is not accurate. Initially the body 

registers its need for air and nerve impulses pass to the 

diaphragm instructing it to contract. When the diaphragm 

contracts it loses its bowl-like shape and flattens moving 

downwards, pulling the lungs in the same direction (remember 

the lungs are attached to the diaphragm) creating a vacuum in 

the lungs. In order to maintain equal pressure inside the lungs 

and outside of the body, inhalation is initiated. As the lungs 

expand with the intake of breath they push down on the 

diaphragm. As the diaphragm moves downward it exerts 

pressure on the abdominal organs. These are unable to compress 

and so balloon outwards, giving the impression that it is the 

abdomen that is “breathing”. If the stomach is full or the lungs 

are not elastic enough the inhalation will be inhibited. 

In exhalation the relaxation of the respiratory muscles 

decreases the chest cavity, deflates the lungs and the top of the 

diaphragm (central tendon) is drawn upward by the contraction. 

The relaxation of the diaphragm back to its dome shape allows 

the abdomen to return to its original position. 

The advantages of abdominal breathing are many and it is 

these that make the diaphragm such an amazing muscle. Abdominal 

breathing is the most efficient method for achieving maximum 

movement of air (both inhalation and exhalation) with the least 

expenditure of muscle energy. The diaphragm moves internal 

organs, which in the case of the abdominal organs helps to 

eliminate constipation. Tension in the shoulders is reduced as these 

are not used in the breathing process. By the movement of the 

diaphragm over the aorta and vena cava more blood is brought 

to the heart increasing circulation in the heart and around the 

body. The lymphatic system is stimulated by the movement of the 

diaphragm increasing the strength of immunity within the body. 

Abdominal breathing is not just “breathing” 

Its advantages are far reaching and for these we can thank 

the diaphragm for its tireless work!! n 

Swami Rajeshwarananda is the director of the Sivananda 

Yoga Vedanta Centre in Rome. email: swamirajesh@sivananda.org 


25

SPECIAL REPORT: INTERNATIONAL DAY OF YOGA 

The Sivananda Yoga 

Vedanta Centres 

Celebrate the 

first International 

Day of Yoga 



Worldwide Recognition of Yoga 

On 11 December 2014, recognising the universal appeal of Yoga, the United Nations 

passed a resolution proclaiming 21 June as International Yoga Day. The aim was to 

raise awareness worldwide of the many benefits of practicing yoga. 

Indian Prime Minister, Sri Narendra Modi, proposed the initial idea with the words: “Yoga is an invaluable gift of India’s 

ancient tradition. This tradition is 5,000 years old. It embodies unity of mind and body; thought and action; restraint and 

fulfilment; harmony between man and nature; a holistic approach to health and well-being. It is not about exercise but 

to discover the sense of oneness with yourself, the world and the nature…” 

The above message echoes that of Swami Sivananda and Swami Vishnudevananda who made it their lifes mission 

to disseminate the timeless wisdom of Yoga and Vedanta. In 1969, Swami Vishnudevananda conducted the first Yoga 

Teachers’ Training Course in the West with the purpose of training future world leaders and responsible citizens in Yogic 

disciplines. With the benefits of yoga now being recognised on such a global scale it is truly inspiring that Swami Vishnu’s 

vision is now starting to become a reality. 

Over the preceding pages we print reports from our different Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres and Ashrams on their 

celebrations for this special day. 


27


LONDON, UK 

Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre 

“Health is wealth. Peace of mind is happiness. Yoga shows the way”. – Swami Vishnudevananda 

Such was the truth in Swamiji’s words, which the entire world came out 

to experience today, the 21st of June 2015: the first International Day 

of Yoga. A movement to good health and peace of mind which all 

came through Yoga. 

Thanks to the initiative of the Indian Prime Minister, the United 

Nations had earlier decided that the time for international recognition 

of the great tradition of Yoga had indeed arrived. This momentous 

decision of the world community has the potential to change the world 

into a healthier place – physically, mentally and spiritually. 

Here in London, it was a special day for us at the Sivananda Yoga 

Vedanta Centre. Early in the morning, we gathered at the Indian High 

Commission where the High Commissioner inaugurated the Day by 

lighting a ceremonial lamp. A recorded video message from the Prime 

Minister of India, Mr. Narendra Modi, and another message from the 

British Prime Minister, David Cameron were broadcast. The Indian PM 

in his message emphasised the need for inner peace and happiness 

for each individual, and how Yoga can help achieve that elusive peace 

of mind and soul. 

This was followed by a 15 minute asana demonstration by the 

Sivananda Yogis, with Raghunath Manet playing the veena which 

complemented the asanas and lent a sense of great calmness and 

serenity to the prevailing atmosphere. The session was attended 

by a large audience which appeared to be truly absorbing the divine 

environment as they participated in the asanas. 

The scene then shifted to the South Bank Pier where karma yogis 

decorated the Sivananda cruise boat with colourful bunting, balloons 

and banners commemorating the special day. This was organised and 

executed under the supervision of Swami Kailasananda, Swami 

Jyotirmayananda and Swami Keshavananda. Just as the decorations 

were completed and the boat ride from South Bank to Putney 

commenced, Big Ben (which adjoins London’s Houses of Parliament) 

struck its majestic gong, as if to wish us luck! As the boat approached 

Putney Pier, a long queue of yogis was waiting to come aboard and join 

the celebrations. 

The boat looked mesmerising, angelic and divine. As the people 

boarded the boat and took their seats, the celebrations commenced 

with meditation and satsang. The sacred atmosphere created by the 

chanting of Jaya Ganesha while sailing on the Thames was over - 

whelming. The sun was at its brilliant best as if Swami Sivananda and 

Swami Vishnudevananda were smiling and bestowing upon us their 

love and blessings! The satsang came to an end with the chanting of 

Arati. As the boat reached the South Bank Pier in the heart of the city, 

the Indian High Commissioner came aboard and delivered an inspiring 

address. The celebrations continued up to the Bernie Spain Gardens 

on the banks of the Thames where a host of people were waiting 

to receive Yoga lessons. 

It was a beautiful sight, close to 600 yogis practicing yoga in a 

public Sivananda class taught by Swami Keshavananda in the green 

gardens with the golden sun shining bright in the blue sky. The Masters 

were with all of us and were bestowing upon each one of us their 

blessings, wisdom and joy. 

After the class we headed back to the boat to begin our return 

journey to the Sivananda Yoga Centre. Ragunath Manet entertained us 

with a beautiful veena concert and a magnificent Bharata Natyam dance 

performance. The day only got more divine with the concluding satsang 

at the Centre which was a tribute to the peace missions of Swami 

Vishnudevananda. As the celebrations were coming to a conclusion, 

one was reminded of another saying by Swami Sivananda, “STRIVE, 

STRIVE, STRIVE. This is the sacred mantra to success in everything.” 

The First International Yoga Day was a great learning experience 

for all of us, the Sivananda family and everyone around us. As Master 

has said strive and strive, there is a long road ahead to take Yoga to the 

whole world. Today was the beginning of this beautiful journey and we 

could feel the enlightenment ourselves. 



MADRID, SPAIN 


With the support of the Indian Embassy and 12 local yoga schools, the International Day 

of Yoga in Madrid was a wonderful event. Similar celebrations took place in over fifty cities 

throughout Spain, including Granada, at the affiliated Sivananda Centre, and Barcelona with 

the support of the Sivananda Satsang Group. 

The event in Plaza de Colón in Madrid began with an open air master Yoga class and an 

address by Mr. Vikram Misri, the Ambassador of India and Mrs. Manuela Carmena, the new 

mayor of Madrid. The mayor visited the Sivananda stand and received information about our 

programmes. Over 1,500 people participated in the asana and pranayama class organised by the 

Government of India which was shown on a big video screen. Afterwards, the Sivananda Yoga 

Centre conducted a 30 minute traditional asana and pranayama session parallel to other yoga 

schools. Over 60 teachers and karma yogis from the Madrid Centre participated in the class. 

In the afternoon, the Ambassador of India and representatives of different yoga schools 

including the Sivananda Yoga Centre participated in a conference to discuss the various 

aspects of Yoga (health, consciousness and spirituality). 

The International Yoga Day Celebration made a very important impact in the media, 

opening the news on several television news programmes. 

MONTREAL, CANADA 


At the Montreal Centre we began the International Yoga Day festivities with a wonderful 

Satsang and Yoga Class with Swami Shivabhaktananda. This gave a good grounding for the 

day and Swamiji explained the significance of ‘International Yoga day.’ Many teachers, karma 

yogis and students from the centre congregated, as well as staff and guests from the Ashram. 

A strong sense of community and purpose was felt by those participating. It continued with a 

breakfast and gathering, where people had the opportunity to connect with one another. 

Prahlada led the walk up Mont Royal, where some Asana Demos were performed, both 

of which created interest by people passing. The group were on hand to distribute flyers and 

magazines to those who were curious; they were feeling inspired to spread the message of 

yoga!! Eventually we settled at a peaceful area by the lake where the group began to chant, 

later Prahlada shared some stories about Swami Vishnudevananda. It gave a good insight to 

Swamiji and his mission. There was much joy and smiles expressed about the event from 

those who participated, and they appreciated being involved in something meaningful. It was 

an encouraging day and the vibration was high. There was a great sincerity amongst the ever 

growing community. We are ever thankful for Master and Swamiji Vishnu’s grace. 


29


MADURAI, INDIA 

Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Meenakshi Ashram 

and Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre 

The first celebration of the International Day of Yoga was jointly organised 

by Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Meenakshi Ashram and Sivananda Yoga 

Vedanta Centre at Madurai. 

Our celebrations were three-fold, encompassing three different groups: 

1. People who are eagerly looking upon yoga as a means to prepare 

themselves to meet the everyday challenges of life and also to keep them 

physically fit; 2. Police who are intensely trained both physically and 

mentally, who are serving at the India-Tibet Border; and finally 3. At the 

Ashram with a group of children and senior citizens. 

The first part of the event opened at 6am in Sundaram park known 

by the locals as ‘Walker’s Club’. The ceremony was inaugurated by the 

Deputy Commissioner of Police of Madurai city in the distinguished 

presence of Dr. V. Narayanasamy, Trustee and other VIPs. About 150 people 

took part to learn and explore the practice of asanas. At its conclusion 

a specially released organisational edition of the Yoga Day brochure was 

distributed to the public along with Ashram and Centre pamphlets. 

The second part of the event was presented to a strong group of 

India-Tibet Border Police at their camp. A large team of 300 policemen 

went through the practice of 12 basic postures with absolute sincerity. 

Both sessions were taught by Yashpal with the assistance of Ashram and 

Centre staff. After accepting their hospitality, we moved on to Meenakshi 

Ashram for the last part of the celebration which was a ‘kids special’. 

Following a formal inaugural ceremony at 4.30pm by prominent 

Administrative Officials of the city, our yoga kids from the neighbouring 

village and school children from Madurai showcased some challenging 

asanas with such ease and confidence that they received wide applause. 

After the conclusion of the programme, high tea and dinner were served 

for about 200 people in the Ashram premises. We hope and wish that the 

beginning of this celebration will globally mark the true purpose of Yoga, 

uniting one’s own outer self to their inner self, uniting minds, cultures 

and civilization, a 'True World Order' giving rise to universal peace and 

harmony as envisioned by Swamiji. 

REITH, TYROL, AUSTRIA 


The first International Yoga Day was celebrated in the Sivananda Yoga Retreat House on 21st of June 2015. For the morning yoga class, 30 guests 

came from the area as well as from Germany, England, Scotland, Israel and Canada. The majority of the population of Reith village came to celebrate 

the event. After a snack the participants joined the lecture with Swami Vidyananda on the cross-cultural message of yoga followed by an asana 

demonstration with detailed information on the 12 basic postures. 

In the afternoon, the programme continued at the event hall of Reith village. New visitors came to listen to the lecture of Swami Ramapriyananda 

about the latest research on yoga and medicine. The lecture was followed by another free yoga class with 30 participants. The day ended with a casual 

get together with lovingly prepared vegetarian snacks and tea. 



SAN FRANCISCO, USA 


©MahendraSingh.com 

Unity in Diversity in San Francisco! 

We celebrated the International Yoga Day in San Francisco grandly and 

took the opportunity to remind the public, as well as ourselves, of the 

historical moment when Swamiji set foot in America in 1957 via San 

Francisco. A Google search shows 176 Yoga studios in San Francisco, 

so it seemed a big celebration was in order. 

Our original plan to celebrate independently with a procession 

in the street, asanas in Golden Gate Park and afternoon and evening 

programmes at the new Centre on Vicente Street changed into a collaborative 

effort of seven Yoga organisations (Art of Living, Ashtanga, Isha, 

Iyengar, Sivananda, YANA and Yoga Bharati) under the auspices of the 

Consul General of India. SYVC was acknowledged to be one of the 

most serious and old Yoga organisations in the City, providing Yoga 

service non-stop for 30 years. 

Preparation was intense for the last month before the event, with 

weekly meetings and conference calls increasing to every day meetings 

in the final week. We had to apply the principles that Yoga stands for: 

Unity in diversity; Adapt, Adjust, Accommodate. It was an opportunity 

for all concerned to display tolerance, love and respect. From an event 

planned for Golden Gate Park, we expanded to Marina Green Park, 

a large windy field near the water with the Golden Gate Bridge in the 

background to accommodate the anticipated 5,000 attendees. The final 

count is unknown, but the organisers estimated it to be over 2,000 

people, a large portion were members of the Yoga organisations. To that 

effect, it was like preaching to the converted. 

Swami Sitaramananda came to the event in a convoy of three vans 

and two cars from the Yoga Farm with a total of 46 people, comprised 

of ATTC students and ashram staff. Enthusiastic karma yogis from both 

San Francisco and the Yoga Farm manned one of the entry booths, 

wearing t-shirts specially designed for the occasion. 

At exactly 10.30am, a giant LED screen broadcast the opening video 

message from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. A proclamation 

from the mayor was read. The prescribed protocol was then led from 

the stage. A sea of people followed along avidly. This was followed by 

a tightly scheduled programme, including the lighting of a lamp by the 

Finance Minister of India, Shri Arun Jaitley, who also said a few words. 

So many Yoga groups demonstrated and practiced sun salutation 

sequences that, miraculously, the sun was forced to come out from 

behind the clouds and fog to the delight of all. “Indeed, the coldest winter 

I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco!” (attributed to Mark Twain). 

The Yoga Farm choreographed a beautiful performance of a 

Sivananda Yoga class. On one side of the stage, the 12 basic postures 

were demonstrated and on the other, variations of the basic poses. 

Swami Sitaramananda talked about how, 20 years ago, there were only 

three Yoga schools in San Francisco, compared to the proliferation of 

Yoga studios today. She presented the classical approach to Hatha Yoga 

– the relationship between asanas and prana, prana to thought, positive 

thoughts to meditation and meditation to self-realization. She finished 

©MahendraSingh.com 

with a short, guided meditation. All this in the allotted 12 minutes! 

At 2pm Grammy Nominee, Jai Uttal, engaged the crowd in Kirtan 

to end the celebration. 

Everyone felt the sacredness of this historical day, with Yoga being 

publicly acknowledged as a healthy, helpful practice, capable of bringing 

Peace and Health to the world. 

By mid-afternoon, we returned to the new San Francisco Centre for 

a more intimate programme for 60 attendees. The large Yoga Hall came 

alive with the group of students from the Ashram and the students and 

supporters of the Centre, so happy to have their own Sivananda Yoga 

Centre again after eight months of absence from the SF Yoga scene. 

(SYVC was located in a three-story Victorian building by Golden Gate 

Park for 27 years until our recent relocation to a new building of our 

own in a very good neighbourhood, one block from Stern Grove Park 

and a five-minute drive to the Pacific Ocean.) 

Swami Sitaramananda, who was the constant source of inspiration 

bringing Master and Swamiji’s spirit to the California population and 

the greater West coast side of the American continent, spoke at the 

satsang. Komilla Sutton, a Vedic astrologer and longtime friend of the 

organisation, talked about the greatness of Jupiter, the Guru. Gopi Kallayil, 

originally from the small village hometown of Swami Vishnudevananda 

in Kerala, talked of the growth of yoga classes at Google offices. He 

was marveling that from this tiny village, almost out of time and space, 

untouched by modern civilization and technology, came a giant of the 

stature of Swami Vishnudevananda, who literally, even now, continues 

to change the lives of so many. GS Sachdev and his wife, Saroj, were in 

attendance, as were other people who knew Swamiji a long time – Tara 

Durga Devi and Chandra. Benoy Behl, a filmmaker from New Delhi, was 

also there, very busy interviewing and capturing the event for his new 

movie about Sivananda Yoga: Unity in Diversity. 

In the Ashram in Grass Valley, International Yoga Day was celebrated 

quietly with an Open House and free classes, while almost all staff and 

students were in San Francisco. 

May Yoga practitioners and leaders carry on lighting the flame 

of love and light and make this world a better place where all 

can blossom. 


31


NASSAU, BAHAMAS 

Sivananda Yoga Retreat 

A beautiful, blue sky greeted us on June 21st in the Bahamas, after our meditation walk 

before sunrise on the beach. 

At the request of the High Commission of India, Kingston, Jamaica, Sivananda Ashram 

Yoga Retreat Bahamas and the State Bank of India, Nassau partnered to host a special event 

in honour of INTERNATIONAL DAY OF YOGA. 

The day’s special activities began at 8am, with 2 hours of Surya Namaskar, led by our 

priest, Krishna Namboodiri, who invoked continual chanting while doing the asanas. 

Seventy five guests were greeted at the Nassau Dock by senior staff member, Pranava, 

and then transported by boats to Paradise Island. The local guests were then escorted to the 

main platform to join vacation guests, karma yogis and staff for the welcome by senior staff 

member, Rukmini. A huge banner hung from the rafters denoting the historic day and we 

listened to a few opening remarks by our partner and CEO of the State Bank of India, Puneet 

Narain. A meaningful talk followed by Swami Brahmananda, ‘Yoga and a Healthy Lifestyle’, 

with demonstrations by senior staff member, Krishna Das. 

Children’s activities, snacks and a special children’s yoga class took place while the adults 

were led in a traditional yoga class. Children and parents united for a vegetarian feast 

prepared with love, by our wonderful chef, Ambika and her crew of karma yogis. After some 

ice cream, tours were given, providing a glance into the history and future vision for the 

Ashram. It was a great day of yoga and community spirit! Special thanks to Minakshi and 

Mary for their organisation and production of the event. 

TEL AVIV, ISRAEL 


On June 21st we celebrated the first International Yoga Day with the great 

Yogic community in Tel-Aviv. The event was sponsored and organised by the 

Indian embassy and the Tel-Aviv municipality. 

The Day started with three yoga classes from different schools and 

styles. We conducted the third class which had the highest attendance 

of over 100 people, and was directed by Shankara Chaitanya and assisted 

by many of our teachers. The day continued with lectures on Ayurveda, 

Classical Indian Dance & Singing concerts and an address by the Indian 

ambassador to Israel. In the Centre many new and old time students 

came to join the yoga classes freely offered, and also for the evening 

satsang dedicated to the subject of “Inspired Living through Yoga”. 

The energy was very uplifting all through the day, and we thank our 

Masters for being great pioneers in starting this great movement of 

disseminating the knowledge of yoga far and wide, a movement that 

reached such global dimensions. 



ROME, ITALY 


We had a very successful yoga class in the park. Our purpose 

to have a yoga class for all was achieved, as we had pregnant 

women, seniors and many of our students came with friends and 

family to share the yoga experience. Everyone enjoyed the class 

and the atmosphere. 

In the evening we held a satsang and finished with dinner 

for everyone. We had many teachers and students who happily 

participated in this special meeting. It was a very festive evening. 

All our students, teachers and new comers were given a special 

booklet. 

The evening before the International Yoga Day, we had an 

amazing concert with Oscar Bonelli. He performed spiritual 

chanting and music from various traditions. Many new people 

came and all participated wholeheartedly. 

CHENNAI, INDIA 


International Yoga Day Programme in Chennai 

5.30am – 8am: 108 Sun Salutations 

The arrival of 12 visiting teachers and 60 guests was officially registered. 

The session started with breathing practice (kapalabati and anuloma 

viloma) led by Subbarao. At 6am the beginning of 108 rounds of Surya 

Namaskar practice was announced. The Sun Salutation practice was 

conducted by nine teachers (Subburao, Karthyayini, Prabutha, Rekha, 

Usha, Saravanan, Rani, Honey Rani, Gopan) each leading 12 rounds 

of surya namaskar. Between the practice refreshments and drinks were 

provided to participants. After completion of 108 rounds guests were 

served the traditional south Indian breakfast consisting of idli, pongal, 

sambar and coconut chutney on the terrace with a beautiful sea view. 

9am – 11am: Yoga Class Beginners/ Intermediate 

The yoga class started with a lecture led by Hariharan and assisted 

by Honey Rani, Rani and Vaidyanathan about yoga, including an 

explanation of the 5 points of Sivananda yoga and a demonstration 

given of the basic asanas of the Sivananda sequence. After the lecture, 

guests were asked to proceed to the Ganesha hall for an intermediate 

yoga class or to Radha Krishna hall for the beginners class. The beginners 

class was led by Hariharan and assisted by Honey Rani and attended 

by 47 guests. The intermediate class was taught by Vaidyanathan and 

assisted by Rani and Saravanan and attended by 29 guests. After the 

yoga classes all the guests were offered refreshments with snacks and 

informed about the upcoming programme of the day. 

4pm – 5.30pm: Open Yoga Class Beginners/Intermediate 

The Open Beginners yoga class started with an introduction to Sivananda 

Yoga Vedanta Centre, yoga philosophy and demonstration of the basic 

Sivananda yoga asana sequence led by Saravanan and assisted by Pradeep. 

The total number of participants exceeded 70. The Open Intermediate 

class was taught by Sivapad and the total number of registered guests 

was 15. 

6pm – 7.30pm: Satsang/ Talk 

The Satsang session started with a guided meditation by Sivapad, and 

continued with daily chants. The session concluded with a talk by Wing 

Commander E.A. Murthy who shared his personal experience of yoga 

practice. The session was attended by more than 90 people and was 

concluded with arathi. At the end of the programme traditional South 

Indian food was served for the guests. 


33


SOUTH AMERICA 

Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, 

Chile, Colombia and Uruguay 

Our Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, 

Colombia and Uruguay celebrated this World Yoga Day with great 

enthusiasm. 

Although the day was very wintery in the southern-most countries, 

students, teachers and people eager to know the benefits of Yoga, 

participated in different events organised by local Yoga Centres and the 

Embassy of India. 

Columbia 

Montevideo, Uruguay 

The Montevideo Centre celebrated with a full week of yoga classes, 

meditation and special talks open for everybody. On Sunday we joined 

the local celebration organised by the Indian Consulate. The programme 

was at the Sheraton Hotel in a very pleasant neighbourhood of Montevideo 

close to the seashore. 

About 250 people participated. Kanti Devi had trans lated a book 

on Swami Sivananda to offer free to all those taking part. 

Teachers and close students of the Centres supported the activities 

with their presence and gave active karma yoga during the week and 

especially on Sunday, The International Day of Yoga. 

This was a very positive opportunity for people from all over the world 

to join together in Celebrating Yoga. Gratitude, humility and a great spirit 

of sharing was very present and we are already getting ready for next year! 

Santa Cruz de la 

Sierra, Bolivia 

Valparaiso, Chile 

Sao Paulo, 

Brazil 

Buenos Aires, Argentina 

We had a wonderful International Yoga Day celebration in Buenos Aires. 

We held a schedule with open classes and meditations throughout the 

week. The main celebration organised by the Indian Embassy in Buenos 

Aires was shared with many Yoga Centres. We set up a stand where 

participants could get information about all the Sivananda Yoga Centres 

and Ashrams. 

The Indian Ambassador lit a lamp at the opening ceremony to start 

the event. This was followed by a video message from India’s Prime 

Minister, Narendra Modi, which was projected onto a large screen. The 

programmed activities then started and there was good attendance 

throughout the event, which commenced at 11am and ended at 5pm. 

There were two main venues: A big stage, from where yoga classes 

were led, and an auditorium in which brief talks and videos about yoga, 

were conducted. Swami Premananda taught part of a yoga class together 

with two teachers from other Yoga Centres on the main stage. In the Audit - 

orium Swami Dayananda gave a brief talk about Swami Vishnudevananda’s 

five points of yoga. 

Kanti Devi sent from Uruguay the book, Yoga for the West, translated by 

her and printed for this Yoga Day as a tribute to the Masters. The book was 

given as a gift to attendees. 

People enthusiastically participated in all the activities despite the cold 

weather. The attendance at the celebrations throughout the day was about 

1,500 people. 28 yoga teachers from the Buenos Aires Centre helped run 

the event which concluded with the Indian Ambassador, government 

authorities and representatives of the different Yoga Centres chanting 

together the Saha Navavatu Mantra. 

We ended the day with our usual Sunday Satsang in the Centre thanking 

our Masters for their knowledge and guidance in this wonderful path of yoga. 



NEW DELHI, INDIA 

Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Nataraja Centre 

Raising Yoga Awareness in and around Delhi 

with the First World Yoga Day 

An invigorating early morning breeze and cloudy skies together with 

a lush green neighbourhood park in south Delhi, became the canvas for 

staging the first International Day of Yoga celebrations, on the 21st of 

June 2015, by the Sivananda Nataraja Vedanta Centre of New Delhi. 

More than 40 of the Centre’s enthusiastic teachers, staff members and 

volunteers gathered at the crack of dawn at a local park to organise 

and prepare for the event ahead. 

Separate sections within the park had previously been designated 

as possible settings for the various Yoga classes and these were duly 

earmarked before the entry of the participants. Thus dedicated areas 

were allocated for three Open Classes, three Beginners Classes, one 

Senior Citizens Class and one Surya Namaskar Class. Over 120 eager 

participants of all ages joined in the event and sought introduction 

to Sivananda Yoga. Each participant was given a specially designed 

Sivananda Yoga booklet along with a Yoga Day commemorative T-shirt. 

Karma Yogis, donors and volunteers had made ample arrangements for 

water and fruit to be available for all participants at the venue. 

After over 50 years of promoting Yoga in the West and helping 

to rekindle the interest in Yoga in India, the International Sivananda 

Yoga Vedanta Centres were honoured to collaborate with the Indian 

Government to take this promotion to the next step with the first 

UN sponsored International Yoga Day. 

Almost a couple of months before the Yoga Day, the Nataraja 

Centre began concerted efforts in reaching out to larger segments 

of society both within the Delhi National Capital Region as well as in 

other parts of Northern India. The latter was evident in dedicated Yoga 

training camps for employees of public sector enterprises in Delhi, 

Jammu City (in J & K State) and Chamba (in Uttarakhand State). 

Moreover, increased awareness of Yoga with Children was seen in the 

well attended Annual Kids Camp conducted in the Centre during June 

2015. The higher level of participation this year by children was a gratifying 

sign of steps taken in a positive direction. 

Dissemination of information and knowledge of our ancient Yoga 

practices and the messages of our Masters was made possible through 

a series of media interviews, both in print and on television as a run up 

to the Yoga Day event and thereafter. Specifically, some television news 

reports and documentaries, included interviews with senior teachers at 

the Delhi Sivananda Nataraja Vedanta Centre. Some of the TV channels 

even filmed extensively at the centre showcasing Yoga open classes in 

progress. The reports and documentaries were aired by both global and 

national TV channels including Discovery, BBC, NDTV, CNN IBN and 

Al Jazeera. The latter actually filmed the live Yoga demonstrations by 

Sivananda Centre teachers at the Park on International Yoga Day, which 

was later broadcast. 

The Centre’s teachers and staff members proactively participated 

in the flagship events and programmes conducted by the government 

and several leading organisations before and on 21st June 2015. At these 

events the Centre’s staff and teachers had an opportunity to interact 

with other Yoga practitioners and schools of Yoga and share the teachings 

of our Masters Swami Sivananda and Swami Vishnudevananda. 

MUNICH, GERMANY 


The Centre’s annual yoga and music festival was well attended with asana workshops, lectures and teachings from the yoga scriptures together with 

Indian music. A highlight were two lectures by Swami Durgananda on “Necessity of Spiritual Practice”. The festival ended on the International Day 

of Yoga with a special programme “Health is Wealth, Peace of Mind is Happiness” which also involved the nearby Technical University . 


35


VIENNA, AUSTRIA 


Initiated by the Indian Embassy and supported by the leading local yoga schools, about 300 

participants came to a morning programme in a park in central Vienna. After a brief address 

by the Ambassador of India, there were two sessions of asanas, pranayama and a short 

meditation. The Vienna Centre was present with 30 inspired students, karma yogis and 

teachers who shared both the yoga practice and enthusiastic conversations. The Sivananda 

International Yoga Day Magazine was also shared with a multi-national crowd from different 

yoga schools. In the afternoon the Centre offered an open house with new and young 

participants including a cooking workshop, asana demonstration and a free trial class. 

A special guest was the Indian Chief of Mission who participated in the introduction 

to meditation. The day ended with a peaceful satsang and a lecture inspired by Swami 

Durgananda’s words in honour of India as the Motherland of Yoga. 

UTTARKASHI, HIMALAYAS 

Sivananda Kutir 

In the morning, on the invitation of the Principal, DIG Sri J P Yadavji, we visited the Indo 

Tibetan Border Police Training Facility at Mandanda near Uttarkashi. He graciously welcomed 

the teachers, staff and students of our Ashram. Thereafter, we conducted a Yoga Class for 

approximately 300 Jawans and officers of ITBP. 

The programme was conducted as per the protocol sent by the Government for the event. 

All our students, staff and teachers participated in conducting and assisting the class and on 

its completion, the Principal thanked us for visiting the camp and successfully conducting the 

Yoga programme. He also invited us to his residence to receive some refreshments. In the 

evening, we visited the Tapovan Kutir Ashram in Uttarkashi. The Yoga community at Uttarkashi 

had organised a demonstration, talk and video show for local people. 

Three of our students also demonstrated Asanas to the attending Swamis, yogis and 

public. After a video show on India’s great yogis and some light refreshments, we returned 

to the Ashram. 



KERALA, INDIA 

Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre, Trivandrum 

and Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Dhanwantari Ashram, Neyyar Dam 

The Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre, Trivandrum and the Sivananda 

Yoga Vedanta Dhanwantari Ashram, Neyyar Dam hosted a series of 

events in the lead-up to International Yoga Day. The aim of these events 

was to create awareness of yoga and the teachings of our gurus and 

our efforts appear to have successful. We received a lot of attention 

from both local and national media as well as members of the community 

and are thrilled to have received so many invitations from such a wide 

variety of groups. Some of the highlights during the last few weeks 

have included: 

• Mathrubhumi (local TV show); a discussion on yoga and the 

relevance of Surya Namaskar 

• A.I.R. (All India Radio); 90 minute yoga demonstration and discussion 

at Vylopilly Hall, Trivandrum which was broadcast live over the radio 

• India Today, CNBC, CNN, BBC, The Hindu, Doordarshan (local 

TV station); coverage included photo shoots, interviews and filming 

of asana classes and ashram life 

The International Day of Yoga events began early and were spread 

out over various locations. At the Ashram in Neyyar Dam we had our 

regular Sunday morning silent walk and held morning classes. After 

brunch, all the staff and guests boarded a bus to the Trivandrum Centre 

to participate in the events being held there. 

Our programme at the Trivandrum Centre began at 5am with 

a Ganapathy Homa and Sivananda chants. This was followed by more 

chanting with Saundarya Lahari of Adi Shankara by Sri. Kailasji & group. 

Several talks were given throughout the day including: Healthy Living 

by Dr. Gopinathan Pillai; Life Style Disease Management by Dr. Trishna; 

Yoga and Healthy Diet by Dr. Leena; and Yoga Sastra: Bhagavad Gita in 

Daily Life by Dr. K.U. Devadas. We also held a Quiz Competition on Yoga 

prepared by Sri Praveen Das. 

A variety of yoga classes and a kriya workshop were held at the 

Trivandrum Centre throughout the day. We also conducted several 

classes outside the Centre including: 

• Kerala State Police, Chandrashekaran Nair Stadium, yoga demon - 

stration for over 350 police officers, presided over by the Director 

General of Police 

• Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, ISRO Inertial Systems Unit, State Bank 

of India, and NSS School: classes were held for employees and students. 

A delicious lunch was served in the afternoon and the Centre was 

positively buzzing with activity. Over 350 people attended the day’s 

events and each participant received a copy of the Sivananda 

International Yoga Day magazine along with a certificate of attendance. 

We completed the day’s events with satsang and a special Cultural 

Programme – classical bhajans sung by Vital Vinod. After arati and 

prasad an evening meal was served and then the Neyyar Dam group 

boarded the bus and headed back to the Ashram. Thank you to all the 

volunteers, students and the more than 50 staff from both the 

Trivandrum Centre and the Neyyar Dam Ashram for their attendance, 

participation and lively spirit. 

The events of the past few weeks have created a lot of positive 

energy and enthusiasm among our community. It is our hope that we 

can continue to spread the knowledge of yoga and the teachings of 

our gurus to those around us, and in doing so achieve the vision of a 

world living in peace. Let’s keep the momentum going until next year! 

TOKYO, JAPAN 


The Tokyo Centre celebrated International Day of Yoga with Swami Dharmananda from the Yoga Farm who was visiting us for 2 weeks in June. We had 

a full schedule of free classes as well as a “tea and snacks”mid-day open house with students asking many questions about Yoga life and practice. 

Swami Dharmananda led the evening satsang speaking about the International Day of Yoga, the lives of Master and Swamiji and Swamji’s mission 

to the West and the foundation of his teaching, the Five Points of Yoga. It was a wonderful day at the Centre, full of energy and inspiring for all. 


37


BERLIN, GERMANY 


The Centre prepared in the morning for this special day. Decorations were put up and several delicious snacks were prepared with the help of dedicated 

Karma Yogis. We received the students at 2pm for a little “peace session” in our garden, where we released balloons carrying peace messages. 

Everybody wrote mantras on a little postcard which was then attached to a balloon. Once out in the garden we chanted Om Namo Narayanaya and 

sent off the balloons full of peace mantras and good wishes for humanity. This was followed by a slide show on Swami Vishnudevananda’s peace 

missions. Three parallel asana classes for beginners, intermediate and advanced students were all well visited. Snacks were served after the class and 

the day concluded with more mantra chanting of Om Namo Narayanaya followed by a powerful Satsang. The booklet printed for the event was well 

accepted by all students, everybody left the Centre inspired, thankful and happy. 

CHENGDU, CHINA 

Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres in India 

The Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres in India were honoured to participate in the First India-China (Chengdu) International Yoga Festival organised 

by the Consulate General of India, Guangzhou, with support from the Chinese local government. The five day event culminated on 21st June, the 

International Day of Yoga. Nineteen yoga teachers from India were present, including some from the Ashtanga (Mysore style), Kaivalyadham, 

Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram, Isha Hatha Yoga and India Yoga institutions. 

Apart from educating the public about the benefits of Yoga, the festival was intended to emphasize the central place of India in the history of Yoga 

as suggested by the festival motto ‘Taking Yoga back to its roots’. During the opening ceremony, H.E. Ashok K. Kantha, the Ambassador of India to 

China referred to the large and growing popularity of Yoga in China and how it resonated with China’s own traditions like Tai Chi. He hoped that the 

practice of Yoga would help to build friendly ties between India and China. 

The SYVC programme included daily talks on the 5 Points of Yoga followed by a basic class. Additionally the event included panel discussions, press 

interviews and promotional demonstrations such as yoga and Tai Chi and Panda yoga! The SYVC team consisted of Nataraj, Kalyani and Anisha as well 

as three Chinese TTC graduates: Sivani, Vidyadevi and Jyothi. Sivani provided simultaneous Chinese translation. Due to popular interest we even held 

two bhajan sessions with the students. The participants were very encouraged by the news of the forthcoming September TTC in Dujiangyan and the 

October opening of the new SYVC Centre in Chengdu. 


SIVANANDA YOGA VEDANTA CENTRES CHARITABLE WORKS 

International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres 

Helping the Community Through 

Charitable Works 

Providing free Ayurvedic Medical Camps at Sivananda Dhanwantari Ashram, Neyyar Dam and free medical help and assistance 

at our Madurai Ashram 


SIVANANDA YOGA VEDANTA CENTRES CHARITABLE WORKS 

Free Monthly Ayurvedic Medical Camp 

at Neyyar Dam Ashram, Kerala, India 

Our in-house Ayurvedic Doctor P. R. Vishnu, along with another 

6 – 10 well known Ayurvedic doctors, treat 1,100 – 1,500 patients 

a month at our medical camp. Diagnostic consultations and 

treatment methods are prescribed to the patients along with 

free medication for up to one month. Patients are also served 

free food, courtesy of the Ashram, on the day of their visit. 

People come from Kerala and other states to take advantage 

of this charitable venture run at the Sivananda Institute of Health, 

which was founded by Swami Vishnudevananda at the Neyyar 

Dam Ashram. This initiative costs approximately 10K US dollars 

a month and is completely funded by the income generated 

through our Yoga Vacation and Teachers’ Training Courses. 

Free Medical Camps at our Ashram 

in Uttarkashi, Himalayas 

Since1998 we have been conducting a free weekly medical 

camp at our Sivananda Kutir, Netala, Uttarkashi. A local doctor, 

Dr. Chandok, provides consultations and free medicines every 

Sunday for the nearby villagers. 

Support and Yoga Teachings 

in Chiang Rai, Thailand 

Employment for Ashram Area Residents 

Children’s Yoga Camp in Chiang Rai area, Northern Thailand 

A few of the many houses donated to the locally employed 

Ashram Staff over the last few years 

The Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres and Ashrams employ as 

many as 100 residents of the impoverished area at their Ashrams 

and Centres in India. Over the years, we have built houses for these 

employees and help fund repairs and maintenance of the existing 

homes. We also help them by providing monthly medical allowances 

and financial help for their children to receive an education. 

Rural Medical/Mobile Hospitals initiative 

in Madurai, Tamil Nadu 

Our Madurai ashram has 

teamed up with a local 

medical doctor and our Trustee 

Dr. V. Narayanasamy, who is 

the owner of three very large, 

established hospitals in Madurai. 

He was instrumental in finding 

the land and helping us to 

open the Madurai Ashram. For 

the past two years, we have 

been providing free medical assistance for the needy with the 

help of two nurses as well as an ambulance for emergency 

calls. We are presently working to establish rural hospitals and 

mobile hospitals with qualified doctors and nurses to provide 

medical help for the Madurai area villagers. 

For the past few years Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres 

International have teamed up with Khun Da, owner of Phu Chai 

Sai Mountain Resort (in Chiang Rai area, Northern Thailand) to 

support the local hill tribes community. This is an impoverished 

area of Thailand where there are many challenges, including 

lack of health care, substance abuse, teenage pregnancy, difficult 

school access and almost no employment opportunities. Khun 

Da provides health care, education, and exclusively trains and 

employs members of the tribes. Support and employment at the 

resort is the only chance of survival for most of the families. 

Saraswati has been guiding local hill tribe children and 

teenagers in learning Swamiji’s teachings, and has conducted 

several successful Children’s Yoga Camps in Thailand. She is 

slowly introducing the most unfortunate children of the tribes 

who come from very difficult family backgrounds, to understand 

and embrace the values yoga and meditation offer. Several 

teenagers are currently expressing a strong interest in taking 

the Teachers’ Training Course. 

Can You Help? 

We are looking for private individual and/or 

corporate donors to help each month so that the 

ashram funds can be used to make even more 

initiatives of this type a reality around the world. 

For further information email: SwamiDurgananda@sivananda.net 


41

SPECIAL REPORT: STAFF REFRESHER, 2015 

Staff Refresher, 2015 

By Swami Gokulananda 

The Idea – the objective 

Some years ago the TTC Refresher appeared on the Sivananda 

scene: A one week course to inspire teachers to deepen their 

practice and fine tune their teaching skills. Every year it was 

a big success, teachers enjoyed the week and came back 

inspired. What seems to be as important as improving teaching 

skills is the feeling of unity. As many teachers live far from 

a Sivananda Yoga centre there is a deep need to reconnect, 

to do Sadhana together, and to refresh and get new inspiration. 

Why not do the same thing for the Swamis and staff? Their 

needs seem to be not so different from the teachers’ and 

students’. The Staff Refresher was born. 

The vision 

Three weeks, 17th April to 7th May 2015, Sivananda Ashram in 

Orleans. All Swamis, Brahmacharis, and main staff were invited 

to participate in collective Sadhana, to deepen the teaching skills, 

go one step further in managing Centres and Ashrams, and last 

but not least: rest, relax, recharge, reconnect and refresh. 

Preparation 

When I first heard about it, I was enthusiastic and a bit skeptical 

at the same time. How would we organise the Centres with all 

their duties? How would we find people to help? Were we to 

leave the Centres in God’s hands? It seemed to be a big challenge. 

Finally, however, everything came together as if it was God’s will: 

the response from teachers and students was very positive and 

many people offered help. Some centres were cared for by 

teachers, some had younger staff staying behind to take on the 

challenge of running the Centres, tackling new tasks, and 

experiencing more responsibility. Teaching plans were adapted, 

tasks handed over, staff and karma yogis trained on accounts, 

teaching plans, boutique organisation, and other tasks they had 

never done before. The remaining staff were as excited as the 

departing staff and, by the grace of the masters, we all could 

make our way to Orleans. 

Arrival 

Our meeting point was the Sivananda Yoga Centre in Paris. 

It was a joyful atmosphere with people arriving one after 

another throughout the day, and the Centre became more and 

more orange and yellow! Many of us had not met for quite 

a while and we were happy to see each other again. By the 

evening, everybody had arrived and we travelled together 

to the Sivananda Ashram in Orleans on an organised bus. The 

bus ride seemed to include a tour through Paris, we saw the 

Eiffel Tower and many other sights in the sunset and despite 

many traffic jams and several hours on the road, we finally 

reached Neuville aux Bois. Once in the Ashram, we had a warm 

welcome with dinner and hot showers. I could hardly believe 

that we had all made it. 

How to refresh? 

The first day was smooth. The schedule was set: Karma Yoga 

was distributed; time for Sadhana, lectures, and workshops was 

defined. An exciting, and packed, schedule included Vedanta, 

social media, anatomy, and asana correction. The next morning 

we started with a Homa in the temple with the two priests, 

who were with us during these three weeks. The weather was 

splendid and the mood was very good. It still seemed a bit like 

a dream come true. It felt like coming home. 

“It was beautiful to witness the depth 

of teaching experience present, and see 

how powerful it was to bring all this 

knowledge together ” 

Trainings and activities were manifold 

The day started with morning Satsang. We took turns to lead the 

Satsang with a short reading from the book Sadhana by Swami 

Sivananda. This was followed, between 8am and 10am, by 

Asana correction workshops. The objective was to look into the 

12 basic postures and the sun salutation, and see how Swami 

Vishnudevananda would teach these postures. It was beautiful 

to witness the depth of teaching experience present, and see 

how powerful it was to bring all this knowledge together. It felt 

good to have time to look into details, ask questions, and clear 

doubts. Pictures and notes were taken to put all the information 

together as a future guideline for teaching. 

The main lecture was at lunchtime. There were several 

topics, each lasting 3 or 4 sessions. One of the first topics was 

social media. How do we use all these new media – Facebook, 

twitter, you tube, skype, slack, and many more – in an 

intelligent and sattvic way and not get distracted by them? 

Are printed brochures still needed or is the modern way of 

communication only virtual? How do we communicate better 

with each other, and how do we share ideas, pictures, and 

documents? How do we work in teams while in different 

locations? How do we put into practice ‘Unity in Diversity’ in 

terms of the corporate identity of the Sivananda Organisation? 

Swami Durgananda’s lectures brought us back to the 

spiritual dimension of doing all this: not to get lost in the 

hyperactivity of social media, running Centres, teaching and 

taking care of students. Not to burn out but to be intelligent 

with self-management, keep up the Sadhana, practice what 

we teach – Asanas, Japa, Mouna, Svadhyaya – and be creative 

with the yogic teaching. Never forget the goal, why you joined 

the Sivananda organisation. Swamiji’s inspiring stories from the 


STAFF REFRESHER, 2015: SPECIAL REPORT 


43

SPECIAL REPORT: STAFF REFRESHER, 2015 

pioneering times of the Sivananda Yoga Centres in Europe in the 

seventies made it clear that it was not easier at that time than 

nowadays. Most importantly, never lose the connection to the 

energy of the masters by doing your own Sadhana, to counteract 

negative emotions, keep connected with each other, give help 

to staff in distress, and remember how to recharge. It seemed 

all so simple and evident. However, back to everyday life in the 

Centres, far from the Ashram, the challenge is to not get lost 

in emotions and everyday tasks, to keep up the connection and 

practice, and remember everything from the Refresher week. 

Three full days were spent with Anne Debreilly, an anatomy 

specialist and student of Blandine Calais Germain, a wellknown 

Anatomy teacher in France. Anne shared with us her 

immense knowledge about the spine. She brought with her 

several skeletons of the spinal column, a bag full of vertebras, 

herniated discs in plastic and many handouts to get us deep 

inside the design and operation of the spinal column. 

Theoretical lectures, group work, and hands on workshops 

gave us a deeper insight into the function of the human body. 

We could connect this newly gained knowledge to our morning 

Asana correction workshops and it was beautiful to see how 

it all came together. I got a slight glimpse of how deep the 

quote from Swami Vishnudevananda – “Nobody knows the 

power of Asanas” – really goes. 

The Vedanta lectures were mostly held in the evening 

Satsangs. They started with Viveka Chudamani with Swami 

Kashimuktananda for about ten days. We studied the five 

Koshas in much detail to renounce them all in the end by the 

practice of Neti Neti. Many cross connections were made to 

other scriptures like the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads 

and it was obvious to see that the same truth is explained 

in different ways in the various scriptures. The translation and 

explanation of the Sanskrit terms was helpful to understand 

the full meaning of several philosophical concepts. People 

with analytical minds love Vedanta, everything is logical and 

it sharpens the mind to reflect upon the different concepts. But 

nevertheless the only way out of ignorance is knowledge from 

within. The challenge is to focus on Sadhana and Karma Yoga 

to clean the mind and prepare it for the knowledge of the 

Absolute to dawn. How deep Swami Sivananda’s simple 

approach of integral yoga is! 

In the second part of the Vedanta course, the philosophy 

lectures in the evening Satsangs were held by Deera Chaitanya, 

a student of one of Swami Sivananda’s disciples, from India 

and now living in the United States. He started his lectures on 

the Bhagavad Gita but covered much more than that. It was an 

overall teaching about the key aspects of yoga philosophy and 

the four Yoga paths. It was very beautiful to have Vedanta 

lectures taught by a person of Indian origin and to see the 

different approach to yogic concepts. The word “God”, often 

problematic with western minds, is so natural in the Asian 

context. Even when talking about Vedanta the Bhakti aspect 

is always there in a very natural way. 

Common collective asana practice was also part of the 

programme. Our Asana class was in the afternoon at 4pm and 

we took turns in teaching. It was nice to take classes together, 

it was inspiring to see how much we enjoy to take classes, some - 

thing which Swamis very often don’t do due to lack of time. 

Especially not at 4pm. Sometimes I felt like I was back in TTC! 

More highlights 

Sudha, a staff member from the Paris Centre, became Sudha 

Chaitanya. In a beautiful Homa led by the two priests, she 

committed to the path of renunciation. It is beautiful to see 

that the Sannyas tradition is kept alive and is something 

beyond time and space. 

Every evening, the priest, Yagneshwara, tried his best to 

teach a small but inspired group how to chant the Narayana 

Suktam and the Devi Suktam, the classical mantras which are 

chanted during the pujas. It was done in the classical way, 

repeating word by word and line by line for many days. It was 

not easy and it became again very obvious to me that studying 

yogic knowledge needs time, endurance and patience. It never 

goes fast, but it goes deep. 

Charles Poncet, a long time disciple from Geneva, gave a joyful 

and informative take on the topic “How to deal with Lawyers”; 

and Ram, Director from the affiliated Centre in Hamburg, talked 

about Art and the power of images and pictures, encouraging 

us to be more creative in the design of posters and flyers. 

Ragunath Manet, a veena player, and Bharata Natyam, a dancer, 

came from Paris for two days to introduce us to Indian classical 

music and dance. The veena concert was beautiful and relaxing. 

Despite two weeks of rain we also had some sports activities. 

We played some basketball, and the Volleyball net was put up 

but rain washed away our hope to be able to play. We will try 

again next year! 

Teaching happens when you do not expect 

It was a blessing to be with the European Acharyas for three 

weeks. The true meaning of Gurukula became very obvious. 

To live together, to share experiences, and to spend time 

together opens up the possibility of teaching beyond classrooms, 

spontaneously and unexpectedly. This is the beauty of the 

Sivananda Organisation – learning, getting inspired, and under - 

standing happens anytime and anywhere. 

“For Yogis there is no one to thank” is a quote from one 

of Swami Vishnudevananda’s lectures. But it is human to be 

thankful, and we are. To the Acharyas for making this happen, 

to the Ashram Staff for hosting us, and to the Ashram kitchen 

team for feeding us. By the grace of the masters all went well 

at home in the different centres, we had another warm welcome 

on our return home, and now it is up to us all individually to put 

into practice the knowledge and inspiration we gained. I hope 

and pray we do. 

The date for the next staff refresher is already fixed! n 

Swami Gokulananda is the director of the Sivananda Yoga 

Vedanta Centre in Berlin. email: swgk@sivananda.net 


Ashram de Yoga 

Sivananda 


(1887–1963) 

Swami Vishnudevananda 

(1927–1993) 

Loire Valley, France 

Yoga Vacations and Teachers’ Training in France 2016 

Teachers’ Training Course: 

May 18 – June 15, (in French) 

July 1 – July 29, (in English, French, 

Spanish and Dutch) 

July 31 – August 28, (in French) 

November 22 – December 20, (in French) 

Advanced Teachers’ Training Course: 

July 1 – July 29 (in French, English, Spanish) 

Sadhana Intensive: 

August 13 – 27 (French, English, Spanish, German) 

Certificate Courses 2015 

Yoga 

Vacations 

Yoga and meditation 

all 

for 

Year 

anxiety 

and trauma with Molly Round Birkholm 

Accessible Yoga with Jivana Heyman 

The Yoga of Sleep with Dr. Rubin Naiman 

The Meditation Experience 

with Swami Kailasananda 

Healthy cooking and healthy living 

with Ayurveda with Swami Bhagavatananda 

How Yoga works with Dr. Cordula Interthal 

Special Christmas 

and New Year Programme 

December 23, 2015 – January 1, 2016 

Further Training Courses for 

Sivananda Yoga Teachers 

TTC Refresher Course: June 22 – 28 

How to teach meditation and mantra chanting 

How to teach yoga to children 

How to teach yoga to seniors 

Yoga and pregnancy 

Precision in the Asanas 

Ashram de Yoga Sivananda 

26 impasse du Bignon, 45170 Neuville aux bois, France Tel: +33 (0)2 38 91 88 82 

Email: orleans@sivananda.net • www.sivananda.org/orleans • www.sivananda.eu

ASHRAM DE YOGA SIVANANDA, FRANCE 

The Joy 

of Watching 

an Ashram 

Grow 

By Swami Bhagavatananda 

Anyone who ever had the blessing of taking care of a child knows the pure joy and soul-deep 

satisfaction felt when the beautiful but helpless little baby grows gradually into a strong, healthy 

and happy being through the love and care poured into it. 

As it turns out, it is similarly rewarding watching an 

Ashram – one of Swami Vishnudevananda’s beloved 

‘mind babies’– being born and grow from baby steps 

into a solid shelter and support for many spiritual seekers through 

the love and blessings of Swamiji, supported by the inspired service 

of many helpers who serve as instruments to make it happen. 

We have the blessing to see it unfolding in the Ashram de 

Yoga Sivananda in Orleans, France. Inaugurated in 2003, the 

Ashram started as a charming park with lovely old trees and some, 

well, not so lovely old buildings. Mind you, we insist on calling it a 

quaint château and resent any statement referring to its early days 

as a “heap of crumbling walls”! 

Since then, under the able guidance of Swami Durgananda 

and Swami Kailasananda, so many things have improved. Buildings 

have been renovated and enlarged, new additions and facilities 

have been added. The grounds have been cleared and part of it 

transformed into a colourful flower and vegetable garden, enthus - 

iastically guarded (with doubtful success) against the multitudes 

of rabbits who vastly outnumber the human Ashram inmates. 

Through the Masters’ blessings, more and more souls get 

inspired each year to spend time at the Ashram, with a peak last 

summer that stretched the Ashram beyond its capacity for three 

whole months. Because, even if the Ashram has left its baby 

steps behind, it is still far from being fully fledged, and neither 

accommodation nor indoor teaching spaces are sufficient. 

Now, what do you do when there are more people wanting to 

live the yogic life than can be accommodated? Following good old 

yogic tradition we coped as best as we could, according to Swami 

Sivananda’s teaching to adapt, adjust and accommodate. In the 

rooms, beds were added wherever beds could be squeezed in; in 

the campsite, tents were added wherever tents could be squeezed 

in; and beds were added to tents wherever they could be squeezed in! 

Chief strategy of our logistics during the main season is praying 

for decent weather to use outdoor teaching spaces. Whenever the 

universe fails to cooperate, Asana classes follow Swamiji’s principle 

of “bumper to bumper”. 

Since the kitchen was feeding a number of people double the 

amount of its originally planned capacity, we upgraded our appliances, 

growing them both in size and technology, and transformed the 

kitchen storage into an improvised cold room with the help 

of a portable Aircon. 


ASHRAM DE YOGA SIVANANDA, FRANCE 

How can we improve for the future? 

Our plan is to focus on three main projects: 

1. The construction of a new building which will include two large 

teaching rooms, eleven en suite single rooms, and dormitory spaces. 

2. Building a real home for the Ashram temple. Although the temple is 

strong with beautiful Murtis and well taken care of year-round by south 

Indian priests, it is housed in a tent structure and gets very cold and 

drafty during the winter months. In addition to giving it sound walls we 

also want to enlarge the temple, adding a temple kitchen, a flower room 

and bathroom facilities for priests and visitors 

3. Building an all-year-round dining hall. Like the temple it is currently 

a tent structure and therefore not very comfortable on rainy or cool days 

even in the summer season; and in winter the food has to be carried across 

the Ashram to an Asana hall. 

An Ashram belongs to the seekers who come to it to experience the yogic 

life-style and take refuge from the harshness of the world. Our vision is to 

turn the Ashram into a haven of beauty and peace (which it is in many ways 

already) to inspire all who come to return home with fresh energy and 

determination to live a yogic, peaceful and contented life. 

We invite you to join us in the effort to turn these projects into reality. 

If you would like to contribute in any way, by giving your time or by 

sending a financial contribution, this would be greatly appreciated. 

We thank you very much for your generosity and for taking part in the 

peace mission of Swami Sivananda and Swami Vishnudevananda. 

Swami Bhagavatananda is the co-director of the Ashram 

de Yoga Sivananda in France. email: swb@sivananda.net 


47

LET MY LIFE BE A PRAYER 

A Funny 

Thing 

Happened 

to me on the 

Way Home 

From the 

Yoga Class 

By Ken Whiteley 

“Call nothing your own. Even this body is not yours. 

Rejoice in the soul or Atman within.” 


Little did I realise how I would come to directly experience this quote! 

On Friday, Sept. 9, 2011 I had just taught the 

morning asana class at the Sivananda Yoga 

Vedanta Centre on Harbord St. in Toronto. The 

previous June I had finally completed my yoga 

Teacher Training after twenty years of involvement with the 

Sivananda Yoga organisation and I had been feeling great. 

I rode my bicycle home and then I had to move a bunch 

of heavy sound baffles to prepare my space for a rehearsal. 

In two days I was to close the Sudbury Jazz Festival (about 

4 hours N.W. of Toronto) with an 8 person gospel concert. 

After the rehearsal, I had to gather up all my instruments 

because I was performing two concert sets that evening for 

the Vegetarian Food Fair in Toronto. I started to feel unnaturally 

tired. By the time I had finished the first set at the Food Fair 

I was exhausted, but I made it through, packed up and went 

home for an early bedtime. I wasn’t just tired – something 

definitely didn’t feel right, but it wasn’t like an infection or cold. 

In the middle of the night I started coughing up some 

blood, so first thing in the morning I called 911 and went 

by ambulance to the emergency department. When I got there, 

they X-rayed my lungs which showed that fluid was beginning 

to build up in them. The doctor told me that I would not be 

going to Sudbury on Sunday, so I spent the next few hours 

arranging with all my musicians, singers and the organisers 

of the event so the show could go on without me. That evening 

I moved upstairs to a ward of the hospital. 

By three in the morning I was really starting to feel terrible. 

I walked down to the nurses station and told them. Little did 

I know that would be the last time I would walk unassisted for 

almost 30 days. By five in the morning I was hooked up to 

a bunch of machines monitoring my body and surrounded by 

people. They said, “We’re taking you to intensive care, right now!”. 

What happened next becomes somewhat blurry for me. 

I have many vivid memories of that next 11 days, but what 

I was experiencing and the “objective” reality around me were 

not always the same thing. I remember telling a doctor who 

was telling me they were going to intubate me to please be 

very careful as I was a singer and I still wanted to be able to 


LET MY LIFE BE A PRAYER 

sing. I remember feeling like one of the nurses had weighed 

me down, when in fact they had strapped my arms so that 

I wouldn’t disturb the intravenous system they had set up. 

I could hear my wife’s voice, but I wasn’t able to communicate 

out loud to tell her I wanted to be released. I could hear a good 

friend of mine singing to me (he was in the room singing) and 

I wondered why he was singing one of my songs on the radio. 

Other experiences I definitely perceived as “out of body” 

Ken giving a concert at Sivananda 

Ashram, Val Morin, Canada 

“Throughout this whole experience 

I actually felt incredibly lucky. I had 

the immediate love of my family and 

the support of many friends. I had 

had a life saving medical intervention 

and not died. The gurus had been 

present with me throughout. I felt that 

God’s grace never left me. ” 

experiences. I experienced going to a small African Canadian 

church in Nova Scotia where there was to be a rehearsal for my 

funeral. The next year when I was on tour there, I tracked down 

the church. Although I’d never seen it before, the setting was 

just like my hospital experience: a small bay, a lone pine tree, a 

gravel road and on the other side, a small white church. Inside, 

the church in Birchtown, N.S. was much smaller than what I 

remembered, but I felt it was the same place. Perhaps even 

more striking was that I felt the hospital had been visited by 

Swami Vishnu and he had conferred on it a status in his True 

World Order. My perception of the space kept changing, but 

throughout I could see the large pictures of Swami Sivananda 

on one side and Swami Vishnudevananda on the other and 

in between them some swirling colour that was sometimes 

a dancing Siva and other times a beneficent Saraswati. 

After nine days in the hospital a new doctor became in 

charge of my case. I was on life support and getting worse. 

Fortunately she ordered new tests and they revealed that I had 

a torn mitral valve in my heart. I was wheeled underground 

across the street to the hospital where they did open heart 

surgery and on Sept. 22 they operated and were actually able 

to repair the torn flap in my heart. (On another bright note, 

while I was opened up they were able to see that my arteries 

were very clear, with no sign of plaque – another testament 

to my years of vegetarianism and daily yoga practice.) 

Finally four days after my surgery I knew where I was. 

I could barely move by myself, I had tubes all over me and the 

only sadhana I could do was to “rest in dharma”, trusting in 

the universe. It felt to me that it had been much longer than 

two and a half weeks since I had first entered the hospital. 

Somehow though, throughout the whole time there, I felt 

incredibly supported. Family and friends had been right there 

the whole time. There were many communities praying for me. 

Almost all of the hospital staff were great. The hospital physio - 

therapist began working with me. I told her I was a yoga teacher 

as well as a musician. As she later said to me, “The idea isn’t 

just to be able to function when you get out of here, but to be 

at least as good as before you came in.” 

It wasn’t until I got out of intensive care and moved up to 

the regular cardiac ward that I realised in what bad shape I really 

was. I still had a feeding tube through my nose and I had 

become concerned about my steady diet of genetically modified 

soy with vitamins as my only source of nutrition. However when 

I asked for a pencil and paper to write a note to the hospital 

dietician, I found I couldn’t even write. I had been asking for 

several days for someone to bring in my smallest guitar and 

when they did I found out that I couldn’t even hold it! 

But now I had the actual picture of the gurus in front of my 

bed as well as a healing Buddha my brother had brought in and 

an image of the Last Supper. Although I still couldn’t walk, I was 

now able to prop myself up in the hospital bed. I began getting 

up at 6am and doing my meditation. I couldn’t do asanas, but 

I could still practice bhakti and I began chanting and singing 

spiritual songs after my meditation. Between 6.30am and 

7.30am all the nurses were on a shift change so I was undisturbed. 

I was diligent with my exercises and the physiotherapist 

worked with me every day. I regained a lot of the movement 

of my arm, I was relearning to walk and before I could go home 

I had to accomplish going up and down stairs. Finally after forty 

days in the hospital I was sent home. 

It felt so good to be where it was quiet and where I could 

eat organic food again. I had cancelled all my work for the rest 

of the year so I was able to focus on healing. A great physio - 

therapist came to the house and he knew that my goal was to 

be able to do the sun salutations and stand on my head again. 

Shortly after Christmas I accomplished that goal. I made my 

first singing appearance at the Toronto Centre for the annual 

Christmas party. When I finally got in to see the cardiologist 

he said to me, “You are, in three and a half months, where 

I’d expect someone to be in six months to a year.” 

Throughout this whole experience I actually felt incredibly 

lucky. I had the immediate love of my family and the support 

of many friends. I had had a life saving medical intervention and 

not died. The gurus had been present with me throughout. I felt 

that God’s grace never left me. The one time I actually cried tears 

was near the end of my hospital stay and I could finally play my 

guitar again. I was singing a song that I had written a number 

of years earlier and suddenly the words were much more profound 

to me: 

Our time upon this planet is surely but a span, 

And things are bound to happen which we cannot understand. 

So in both joy and sorrow, I take Your outstretched hand, 

And let my life be prayer 


49


OM NAMO NARAYANAYA MANTRA BANK 

Going up to Vishnu Peak 

“Om Namo Narayanaya” 

By Swami Shivabhaktananda 

In a natural rock cave, on the summit of Vishnu Peak in the Himalayas, is the ‘Om Namo Narayanaya Mantra Bank’, 

a repository for thousands of sheets of “Om Namo Narayanaya” mantras written by peace-loving devotees from 

around the world. It was established by Swami Vishnudevananda in 1987 as part of his ongoing mission for World 

Peace. A large crystal stored with the mantras transmits this powerful peace thought-energy like radio waves 

throughout the world. In May 2015, an expedition set out from Gangotri to make a new bank deposit. 

Our expedition party consisted of: Ivan, 

Ishwara, Swami Shivabhaktananda, 

Vyasa, Vinod, Krishna, and Prema, 

accompanied by a guide, and two 

porters to carry the mantras. The 

expedition to ascend Vishnu Peak 

proved to be intense and much harder than any 

of us imagined. 

Early in the morning, we set off towards the 

peak; the beginning of the trail was pleasant, 

meandering through forest. However, that did not 

last for long, and soon we were faced with what 

was really ahead of us – climbing! It soon became 

apparent that the journey was not going to be 

suitable for Vyasa, and we encouraged him not to 

pursue going forward as things were getting harder 

by the minute. He acknowledged our concerns 

and carefully made his way back. Those of us who 

remained then continued on our way up, crossing 

small glaciers, forests, and thick shrubs. 

After five hours of climbing, we could finally 

see the Vishnu Peak more clearly ahead and 

above us. At this point we decided to leave all of 

our things behind and tackle the last part of our 

journey carrying as little as possible to speed up 

a bit – time was pressing, especially as we knew 

the way down would not be easy either. Prema 

and Vinod were tired and decided not to proceed 

any further, which enabled the rest of us to move 

a bit faster. Not only were the sun and hunger 

proving to be obstacles by this point, but mainly 

the lack of oxygen, as we were already over 

4,000 metres high. Headaches and nausea kept 

cropping up and made things even harder. 

After another two hours, we finally got to the 

upper part of the mountain. Our happiness was 

soon to be checked, however, when we asked the 

guide where the cave with the mantras was: he 

did not know. We walked around for the next few 

hours, searching for the cave with the little energy 

we had left, but could not find the right place. Our 

guide had been to the top of the mountain a few 

days before our expedition set out, with Deepak, 

the owner of an adventure shop in Gangotri, who 

has been staff in New Delhi for a few months. 

The team ready for the climb 

They had reached the top of the mountain and 

had found something like a shrine, so we were 

confident that they had found the cave. Sadly, 

though, for our expedition it was to remain elusive. 

We all sat together and came to the con - 

clusion that it would be best to find another safe 

place and leave the mantras there on the peak. 

Chanting Om Namo Narayanaya with the last of 

our breath and mixed feelings of accomplishment 

and failure towards our initial intention, we 

deposited the mantras under a beautiful square 

rock that looked like a hut, installed a small 

Vishnu statue that we had brought from Gangotri 

and had used to do Pujas in Swamiji’s cave, did 

arati, and started making our way down the 

mountain. It took us another seven hours to get 

down, testing the patience, endurance and faith 

of everyone, including the guide and porters. 

When night fell we were on our last stretch 

and by nine in the evening we found ourselves 

safely back in the Guha, having bid farewell 

to Krishna, Prema, the guide, and the porters. 

It had been a strenuous day and all we wanted 

was to sleep and overcome the pain in the body 

and the discomfort of having been at altitude. 

The next day was Mother Ganga’s birthday, 

an auspicious day of rest and festivity which we 

all enjoyed. For the occasion, we offered a special 

Sivananda Guha, the starting point for the ascent 

“The beginning of the trail was pleasant in the forest 

but that did not last too long!” 

bandhara in the name of the organisation at the 

Krishna annakshetra, where we were taking 

biksha daily for the Sadhus. We were blessed with 

the presence of more than 100 sadhus that came 

to partake of homemade samosas, gulab jamun, 

paneer pakoras, fresh mangoes and some other 

treats prepared by the kshetra. 

After our adventure to the peak, we spoke 

to Swami Hariomanandaji who was in Gangotri 

for the festivities, and he gave us better inform - 

ation about the cave and its location. He also 

mentioned a guide that had been there with him. 

Within the coming year, Deepak has been tasked 

with finding out exactly where the cave is so that, 

when we attempt this trip again in the future, our 

goal will be successfully accomplished.n 

In May 2016, Swami Shivabhaktananda will be 

leading a Himalayan Pilgrimage to Chardham 

Yatra and Vishnu Peak. Dates to be announced. 

Swami Shivabhaktananda 

is the director of the Sivananda Ashram Yoga 

Camp, Val Morin, Canada 

email: swamishivabhaktananda@sivananda.org 


51

PEACE DÉJÀ VU 


By Sivani 

After 30 days of hard work during the Advanced Teachers’ 

Training Course (ATTC) in Rudraprayag, the words “Unity in Diversity” 

made complete sense to me. Everything did. 

As a child I loved to paint using all possible colours to 

capture, on a piece of cardboard, my favourite things: 

the sky, the sun, the clouds, the mountains, the 

rainbow and all flowers. The theme of my little “works 

of art” changed over the years. First, I used to paint a house with 

a fireplace (despite the fact that I was born in a city whose climate, 

year-round, is 30 degrees Celsius). Then, I started painting my 

family and, finally, at the end of my “artistic career”, I made 

a series of paintings about the peace of the world. These scenes, 

except for some subtle variations, were always the same: beautiful 

and happy girls from different countries, dressed in the 

costumes of their regions, and holding hands 

as a symbol of union. My dream from child hood 

materialised over 30 years later, one evening in Rudraprayag (India), 

when I had forgotten that it was my soul’s deepest desire, and 

when I had terminated my love for art. 

It was six o’clock in the afternoon and I was starving. The ATTC 

was coming to its end and I felt exhausted. While I was walking 

toward the terrace of the Monal Resort, where our meals were 

served, I thought: “I hope my colleagues will not start reciting 

mantras now because if I don’t eat something in the next minute, 

I’m going to faint”. What I feared, happened. As soon as I got to 

the line and took my plate and spoon, some people started to hold 

hands, forming a circle. First, there were five. Then, ten. And within 

seconds there were nearly 40 students, smiling and holding hands, 

ready to pray next to the buffet (that smelled and looked delicious). 

The Kartic Swami Temple 



As a child I made a series of paintings about the peace of the world: 

beautiful and happy girls from different countries, dressed in the 

costumes of their regions, and holding hands as a symbol of union. 

Holding hands and chanting the meal prayer during ATTC. 

For me, this moment represents the peace of the world, 

in real life. 

Just to be polite, but without much conviction, I joined the 

group. And there the magic occurred: men and women, students 

of the TTC and the ATTC, between 18 and 60 years old, people 

from Germany, Austria, France, Italy, England, Switzerland, the 

Netherlands, Spain, Hungary, Turkey, Romania, Russia, Morocco, 

Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Canada, United States, Mexico, Guatemala, 

Colombia, Chile, and Argentina. All of us together, holding our 

hands with love, intention and intensity, while those who knew 

the prayer from the Bhagavad Gita recited: 

Brahmaar panam Brahma Havir 

Brahmaa gnau Brahma naa Hutam 

Brahmaiva Tena Gantavyam 

Brahma Karma Samaadhinahaa 

The process of eating is Brahman. The act of offering is Brahman. 

The offering itself is Brahman. The gastric fire by which the food 

is consumed is also Brahman. He alone attains Brahman who, 

in all actions, is fully absorbed in Brahman. 

Then we all joined saying: 

“OM bolo sat guru sivananda maharaja ki – JAI!!! 

Om bolo sri Vishnudevananda maharaja ki – JAI!!!” 

That “JAI”, lifting our arms while still holding our hands, in a 

single voice, in one cry; just that one second crystallised 30 days 

of experiences and learning for me and gave sense to everything: 

Tat Tvam Asi, sutras, neurotransmitters, Sat Chit Ananda, serotonin, 

cortisol, 12 pairs of cranial nerves, synapse purusha, the mahavakyas, 

kaivalya, samadhi. There, wearing our yellow and white uniforms 

(instead of traditional costumes), we all were one, we all were 

Brahman, we all were God, like the waves of an ocean, but 

grounded in the Earth and with our hearts opened. There and 

then I experienced the feeling of the Absolute. In a second, I saw 

my whole life like it was a movie and it all, finally, made sense. 

In a second, I felt the OM in each one of my cells. I had never 

before felt so much love within. 

Around us, the mountains, the sky, the sun, the flowers, we, 

I, God. For the first time I felt the unity with everyone and every - 

thing, and I understood, more than 30 years later, that desire 

which has always dwelt in my soul. This, what I perceived as 

emptiness, was my need for unity. This, the unity, my reason for 

being; my purpose in this life. And because nothing is a coincidence, 

there I also understood that Sivananda’s organisation had come 

into my life for me to be part of Swami Vishnudevananda’s 

dream: to build peace in the world through the practice of yoga. 

There, next to the Ganges River and the Himalayas, I felt for 

the first time that I was where I wanted to be, where I needed 

to be and I was so intensely happy then that even now, months 

later, I still am so. 

“We are much more than yoga students 

and teachers. We are instruments of 

peace because we have experienced 

the feeling of unity. 

Not until that moment did I understand the goal of the 

Sivananda Organisation, as Swamiji conceived it. It is much more 

than providing yoga courses. We are much more than yoga students 

and teachers. We are instruments of peace because we have 

experienced the feeling of unity. I know that each one of us, now 

that we are back in our home countries, will have a deep sense 

of our responsibility to share with the world that state in which 

body, mind, and soul are one – more than giving information and 

techniques. That’s yoga and that’s my first step towards peace 

in the world. 

And because nothing is a coincidence, there I also understood 

that the Sivananda organisation had come into my life for me to 

be part of Swami Vishnudevananda’s dream: to build peace in the 

world through the practice of yoga.n 

To meditate and sing next to the Ganges River 

is a very inspiring experience 


53

MADURAI ASHRAM, SOUTH INDIA 

The growth of an Ashram is 

exciting for both staff and regular 

visitors to watch unfold 

Developments 

at 

Madurai Ashram 

TAMIL NADU, SOUTH INDIA 

Since the opening of the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Meenakshi Ashram, 20km North of Madurai City in Tamil Nadu, 

South India, only three permanent buildings have been built. These were built last year and are Shanti Nivas (the 

first building of 2 staff rooms and a kitchen), Ganga Kutir accommodating the reception, office, boutique, six special 

guest rooms and two long dormitories, and thirdly Yamuna Kutir, a permanent ladies dormitory. Ganga Kutir is 

topped by a temporary dormitory made with coconut leaf walls and roof. Satsangs and yoga classes were held for 

years under the coconut leaf roof above Yamuna Kutir. Idyllic surroundings for our Yoga practice, except for a minor 

road which is busy at the wrong time of day! However, since January this year, the Ashram inmates have been 

meditating and practicing away from the road in a specially designed space in the middle of the Ashram. 

Swami Vishnudevananda Satsang Hall 

The Swami Vishnudevananda Satsang Hall was so named by 

Swami Durgananda on 17th January 2015 following a beautiful 

puja to purify and give the hall an auspicious start. With the 

presence of Swami Kailasananda, Swami Sivadasananda, Swami 

Rajeswariananda from Neyyar Dam, Swami Keshavananda from 

Europe, Swami Shivabhaktan anda and Prahlada from Canada, 

plus our own Swami Satchidananda, director Anoop and all the 

staff, guests, students, Trustees and all the India branch directors 

it was an energetic puja and inauguration satsang. Swami 

Durgananda honoured all present, particularly our Trustees – 

Dr. V. Narayanasamy, Ananthakrishnan and Lalitamma, for 

keeping a watchful eye on the project. Special thanks went 

to the brains behind the satsang hall project, the temple shelter, 

landscaping and agricultural works, Ravi Kumar, Anjaiah, Thulasi 

and Pramila of the Dual Group along with all their associates. 

We must not forget Bharatiraja, the site engineer who was 

on site day in and day out attending to all the details. 

Though modern in design, the satsang hall fits into the 

traditional rustic surroundings of the Ashram due to its simplicity. 

With open sides, natural light and fresh air can be fully appreciated 

as also can the excellent views. The northern side gives a view 

of the Ashram’s pond area, the adjacent forests, distant hills and 

a full expanse of sky. Students comment that the energy of the 


MADURAI ASHRAM, SOUTH INDIA 

Above: The Ashram Temple 

landscape as viewed in the inverted panorama of sirsasana can 

be briefly off-balancing in the initial seconds of the posture! 

The hall was given a formal public inaugural ceremony on the 

18th January with the attendance of many VIPs invited from the 

village and Madurai City by Trustee, Dr. V. Narayanasamy. After 

the speeches a grand feast was provided with the help of 

outside caterers. That same evening the hall began hosting its 

first course, the ATTC, beginning with the initiation of 79 students. 

The large stage is currently graced by a kindly donated five 

foot wooden Nataraja statue flanked by pictures of Master and 

Swamiji. In the future the plan is to have 2 – 3 foot traditional 

stone statues of Master and Swamiji as well as of a number of 

deities including Devi Meenakshi as appropriate to the Ashrams 

name. At the main entrance both inside and out are pairs of 

paintings of Swamiji and Master. Reghu, who has done much 

artistic work at the Neyyar Dam Ashram, has also made an 

excellent job in painting the famous Kurukshetra scene from the 

Bhagavad Gita on one side of the new satsang hall. We look 

forward to viewing further paintings planned for the other walls. 

Finally there are two pedestals at the main entrance awaiting 

brass statues of Master and Swamiji. 

The Ashram Temple 

The Ashram temple was also developed this year. Since the 

installation of the Sri Mahakali Temple in March 2012 donations 

were gratefully received for further traditional shrines. On the 

29th January 2015, priests from Kerala installed Ganapathi to 

the left of the main shrine, Linganaga to the right, Navagraha 

and Kalabhairava in front, and finally Sri Mahakalis vehicle, the 

lion, directly in front of her door. With Swami Gayatriananda, 

Swami Rajeswariananda, Swami Satchidananda, Swami 

Keshavananda, Swami Sivabhaktananda, Prahlada and other 

senior staff present for the function, as well as many special 

guests, it was fortunate that there were many pots of water 

to carry, enabling all to have the blessing of participating. 

Special guests included Swami Govindananda, Swami 

Swaroopananda (DLS Madurai), Dr. V. Narayanasamy and his 

wife, Mamallan and family, Ravi Kumar and Pramila, Swami 

Padmananda, Vijayamma and family from Trivandrum, various 

local VIPs and last but not least Tagor the special architect 

responsible for both these temples and the new one at Netala 

Ashram. After the kumbhabhishekam, everyone enjoyed the 

prasad and feast full of joy on this wonderful occasion. 

Landscaping and Agricultural Projects 

Landscaping and agricultural 

projects are a major area 

of work for the ashram. In a 

part of the country where it 

rarely rains except in excess 

during the monsoon, creating 

a green paradise is a challenge. 

However, there is a good 

supply of under ground water 

here and an incredible length of pipe for a drip irrigation system 

covering the whole Ashram has been generously donated along 

with many trees and plants. Now softly lit winding stone path - 

ways, pass through pergolas with granite benches, alongside 

pretty flower gardens, lotus ponds, fountains and water falls 

to reach the satsang hall; all perfect to relax and prepare the 

mind for meditation. Many new sattvic trees have joined 

the existing rows of mango trees; Swamis Durgananda, 

Sivadasananda and Kailasananda helped to plant some of these. 

Most recently a big effort was made to cultivate two acres of 

vegetables, fruits, herbs, greens and coconut trees. There is 

regular gardening karma yoga to keep out the weeds; but what 

a joy to pick your own chikkus, mangoes and bananas and 

to have garden fresh tomatoes, spinach, coriander etc. 

New Accommodation 

New accommodation is the next exciting area of work. Plans 

have been drawn up to construct a permanent first floor 

accomm odation of 32 dormitory beds, 3 double rooms and 

7 single rooms on Ganga Kutir. It is planned for there to be 

a balcony all around the accommodation, to allow the guests 

plenty of fresh air and a wonderful view, either of the Ashram 

on one side or the distant Palani hills around Kodaikanal on 

the other. 

So plenty is happening at Madurai Ashram. If you 

haven’t visited yet, do come for some first hand exper - 

ience. Or if it’s a long time since your last visit, then 

it’s time to re-acquaint yourself, enjoy the develop - 

ments and get involved. We look forward to your visit. 

www.sivananda.org/madurai 

madurai@sivananda.org 


55

NIGHT BLINDNESS 

Night Blindness 

By Rubin R. Naiman 

We suffer today from serious complications 

of psycho spiritual night blindness – a far-reaching 

failure to understand the significance of night 

in our lives, health, and spirituality. 

Over the past century, “civilised” nights have grown significantly shorter. A culture 

of zealous industrialisation has polluted the night environment with excessive 

and pernicious artificial illumination. Blinded by this light, the intervening darkness 

demonised. It would seem that even as adults, we are afraid of the dark. 

And we are losing sleep over it. Inundated by day, we suffer by night from an 

unprecedented epidemic of sleep disorders that take a substantial toll on our health, well-being, 

and productivity. Our negation of night is further complicated by widespread damage to our 

dream life – a literal and figurative loss of our dreams. Like sleep loss, dream loss affects virtually 

all aspects of our lives, especially our personal sense of spirituality. A less obvious but equally 

serious casualty of our night blindness is common proclivity for weary and mindless morning 

awakenings that have subtle but disturbing repercussions on the quality of our daily lives. 

Disordered sleep, suppressed dreams, and disturbed awakening all tangle together into 

a dense obstruction of awareness. By day, we experience ourselves and the world around us 

through a depleted and dulled sensorium. Our very consciousness is damaged and downsized. 

We lose sight of the bigger picture, our peripheral vision, our imagination. Far too many of us 

live in a kind of foggy bubble – a chronic, low-grade, and insidious daze. But, somehow, we 

manage to conjure sufficient energy to maintain our relentless drive. 

The global energy crisis seems to have a curious internal representation: a personal energy 

crisis. Our chronic depletion results in an insatiable hunger for personal energy. To compensate 

for our sleep– and dream-deprived daze and maintain our frenetic drive, we reflexively spike 

our waking hours with counterfeit energies. We are a society of energy addicts, with lifestyles 

designed to provide us with quick fixes of caffeine and sugar on demand. Or, more subtly, as 

we will see, with overstimulating information and excessive light at night. Unfortunately, such 

energy spikes inevitably backfire with jittery withdrawals. Our desperate need for rest, then, is 


NIGHT BLINDNESS 

met only with a sputtering restlessness that conceals an under - 

lying exhaustion. Beyond damaging our waking conscious ness, 

the use of counterfeit energies further damages our nights 

by disrupting nature’s essential rhythm of activity and rest. 

But we can take something for it. Evening appears to be the 

most common period of substance and medication use in our 

world. We consume vast amounts of alcohol, marijuana, anti - 

depressants, sleeping pills, and tranquilizers to modulate our 

restless waking energies, and, even more so, to blunt our uneasy 

encounter with dusk and darkness. These substances may help 

us temporarily negotiate our discomfort with night, but only at 

a terrible cost. Many of us routinely view the night only through 

bleary eyes. 

Unfortunately, what is called sleep medicine – that branch 

of the health sciences specialised to treat sleep disorders – 

offers little help with our night blindness. By tightly framing 

night, sleep, and dreams as strictly objective and scientific 

phenomena, sleep specialists drain these experiences of 

anything personal or subjective, let alone sacred or spiritual. 

Sadly, sleep medicine also segregates sleep from her biological 

sib, dreaming, consigning the latter to status of unappreciated 

stepchild. (It is, after all, sleep medicine, not sleep and dream 

medicine.) Most sleep specialists relegate what is left of night 

to autonomic mechanisms – reducing sleeping and dreaming to 

molecular machinations that are about as personally meaningful 

as recharging a battery. 

Viewed through such a narrow and rigid lens, sleep and 

dreams become experiences we believe we can and must manip - 

ulate and control. We seek medical and mechanical solutions to 

what are essentially lifestyle and consciousness problems. In lieu 

of an honest confrontation with our frenetic drive and fear of 

darkness, we are offered a tantalising array of designer sleeping 

and waking pills. In bed with the pharmaceutical industry, sleep 

medicine itself remains in a fitful, dream-deprived sleep. 

More than three decades ago Andrew Weil called our 

attention to the concept of night-time consciousness. In his book 

The Marriage of the Sun and Moon, he explored the innate, 

universal human drive to experience nonordinary forms of con - 

sciousness. To balance our ordinary waking, daytime, or “solar 

consciousness,” Dr. Weil encouraged us to intentionally open 

to a darker, more mysterious night, or “lunar consciousness.” 

Lunar, or night consciousness, encompasses sleep and dreams 

but also includes dark or shadowy aspects of waking awareness. 

As a culture, we have failed to achieve the necessary 

balance between these separate but equally important realms 

of consciousness. “Like night and day,” solar and lunar conscious - 

nesses have become increasingly polarised. Daylight is dominant, 

overvalued, and even deified, while darkness is dismissed, 

devalued, and often demonised. From divine light to light beer, 

things associated with the metaphor of light suggest goodness. 

We want to shed light, see the light, and lighten up. Our 

associations with metaphoric darkness, on the other hand, are 

suggestive of confusion, struggle, immorality, and outright evil. 

We want nothing more than to avoid dark times, dark nights 

of the soul, and, of course, the dreaded “prince of darkness.” 

Our struggle with night is ultimately a struggle with denied 

aspects of our own darkness. Confusing the literal darkness of 

night with the metaphoric darkness of life, we blindly project 

our feelings about the latter onto the former. We then mitigate 

our fear of darkness through the excessive use of evening light, 

effectively extending daytime’s custody deep into the night and 

seriously eroding our night consciousness. Indoors and out, our 

nights are lit up beyond reason – beyond what necessity and 

safety might dictate. Like a frightened child, the planet sleeps 

with its lights on. 

In the end, sleep and dream disorders are largely symptomatic 

of this deeper fear of night and its damaging segregation from 

day. In our attempt to excise darkness from our lives, our very 

consciousness has been cleaved. With the loss of night, day loses 

its partner in the sacred dance of circadian cycles. Adam loses 

Eve. Yin is torn from yang. And activity becomes dangerously 

devoid of rest. We lose our sense of the basic pulse of night 

and day – our precious awareness of life’s natural rhythms. 

Ultimately, we lose our experience of the lovely, seamless 

continuity of consciousness, our sense of oneness. 

Night-mindedness 

Nyx, the forgotten primordial Greek goddess of night, pictured 

on the cover of this book, is calling for resurrection. And there 

are unexpected gifts to be found in the dusk and darkness she 

brings, if we choose to be more night-minded. Night has been 

celebrated and sanctified with rich social and sacred rituals across 

cultures and time. Whether it is the initial transition through dusk, 

the experience of sleeping and dreaming, or the coming of dawn 

and awakening, each phase of night offers sacred and healing 

possibilities. And, as we will see, a more honest relationship with 

night also offers vital lessons about our need to rest by day. 

Perhaps the greatest gift of becoming more night-minded 

is the restoration of a kind of night vision – a fundamentally 

different way of seeing or perceiving. Because sleeping, dreaming, 

and awakening are non-ordinary states of consciousness, their 

exploration calls for non-ordinary ways of perceiving – a kind 

of nocturnal lucidity. Nocturnal is a way of seeing in the dark, 

a kind of third-eye sightedness. We can clearly see night only 

through such a spiritual wide-angle lens. And when applied 

to our view of day, this expanded frame restores a sense of the 

big picture to our lives. It restores the numinous. 

Having survived the Holocaust, my mother learned to dis - 

tinguish the literal darkness of night from metaphoric darkness 

– what has been referred to as shadow. Certainly one does not 

have to suffer from post traumatic stress disorder, or anguish in 

any form, to receive the gifts of night. They are available to all. 

Night itself is the best sleep medicine. We cannot heal our 

sleep and dream disorders without first healing relationship with 

night. And in healing night, we discover that night itself is healing. 

Darkness is a healing retreat, a carbon filter for the soul. If we 

surrender to it, the night will inhale our shadowy fears, offering 

precious personal insights in return. Beyond all of the psycho - 

logical and biomedical complexities associated with it, we come 

to discover that sleep itself is a spiritual path, dreaming a means 

of walking this path, and awakening its gracious gift. We come 

to learn that there is something we can safely place our faith 

in – even in the dark.n 

Rubin R. Naiman is a psychologist and clinical assistant professor 

of medicine at the University of Arizona’s Health Sciences Centre. 

email: rrnaiman@gmail.com 


57

THE YOGIC LIGHTER SIDE 

The Yogi 

and the Pizza 

The Yogi walked into the Zen Pizza 

Parlour and said: “Make me one 

with everything.” When the Yogi got 

the pizza, he gave the proprietor a 

$20 bill. The proprietor pocketed the 

bill. The Yogi said, “Don’t I get any 

change?” The proprietor said, 

“Change must come from within.” 

God Versus 

Nietzsche 

Graffiti on a wall: 

“God is dead.”– Nietzsche. 

Below that was written: 

“Nietzsche is dead.”– God. 

Trust in God 

A devotee is hiking in the Himalayas. Suddenly he slips and is about 

to fall into a ravine but luckily, in the very last moment, he manages 

to catch hold of an overhanging rock. While he clings to it, precariously 

dangling over the abyss, he feels his strength slowly but steadily 

ebbing away. Desperately he looks up to the sky and cries out: 

“Is there someone up there?” 

Out of the heavens comes a disembodied voice, “Yes my son.” 

“Please tell me, what shall I do?” pleads the devotee. 

The same Divine Voice booms, “Say a prayer, trust in God and let go!” 

After a few moments of silence the devotee looks up to the heavens 

again and cries out: “Is there someone else?” 

Meditation 

Two men meet on the street: “How are you?” 

one asks. The other replies: “I’m fine, thanks.” 

“And how’s your son? Is he still unemployed?” 

“Yes, he is. But he is meditating now.” 

“Meditating? What’s that?” 

“I don’t know. But it’s better than sitting 

around doing nothing!” 

Swami Sivananda’s Heart 

A specialist for internal medicine gave Swami Sivananda a thorough 

medical examination. At the end of his check-up he said: “You know, 

Swamiji, the problem is that you have an enlarged heart”. 

Swami Sivananda just smiled and replied “Ah, this is also considered 

a disease nowadays!” 

Devil 

Two boys were walking home 

from church after hearing a 

strong preaching on the devil. 

One said to the other, “What do 

you think about all this Satan 

stuff?” The other boy replied, 

“Well, you know how Santa 

Claus turned out. It’s probably just your dad.” 

Business with God 

A businessman sat in his car in a sweat 

because he had an important meeting and 

couldn't find a parking place. Looking up 

to heaven he said, “Lord, take pity on me. 

If you find me a parking place I will start 

to pray every day and donate all my wealth 

to charity”. Miraculously, a parking place 

appeared. The business man looked up 

again and said, “Never mind, I found one.” 

Vow of Silence 

Four yogis have taken a vow of silence. 

They're sitting in the meditation hall when 

one of them says out loud: “It is really 

nice to be in silence”. Then the second 

one says: “Be quiet!” and the third one 

says: “You are both talking!” 

Then the last one says, proudly: “I am the 

only one who has not spoken!” 

Begging 

At the entrance to a Hindu temple there was a beggar always 

stretching out his hand, asking and pleading for alms. One day he 

stretched out both of his hands. A passer-by asked him: “All these 

days, you were stretching out only one hand – why are you today 

stretching out two hands?” To which the beggar replied: “Hari Om! 

Praise God! Business was so good that I opened another branch!” 

A Prayer for the Day 

Dear God, so far today, I’ve done all right. I haven’t gossiped, and 

I haven’t lost my temper. I haven’t been grumpy, nasty or selfish, and 

I’m really glad of that! But in a few minutes, God, I’m going to get 

out of bed, and from then on, I’m probably going to need a lot of 

help. Thank you! Amen. 

58 

YOGALife |Autumn/Winter 2015

TEACHERS’ TRAINING COURSE 

July 31 - August 28, 2016 

in Italy 

A wonderful place for spiritual practice, learning and 

transformation in the beautiful Italian countryside 

Yoga Vacation 

August 2-27, 2016 

www.sivananda-yoga-roma.it tel: +39 06 4549 6529 

Yoga Teachers’ Training Course 

in Lithuania 

July 2 – July 30, 2016 

4 weeks of inner and outer learning amongst the green fields 

and forests of Lithuania. Taught in Lithuanian and in Russian 

www. sivananda.org/vilnius • www.sivananda.eu/lt 

ttc-lithuantia@sivananda.net 


59

LIVES OF THE SAINTS 

Lives of the Saints 

Mahatma Gandhi 

In this special YogaLife edition dedicated to the International Day of Yoga, we bring you the next in 

our series on Lives of the Saints by presenting the life of a modern saint through the eyes one of his 

contemporaries, another great saint of modern India, Sri Swami Sivananda. The following article is an 

edited version of “Mahatma Gandhi” from Swami Sivananda’s Lives of the Saints. 

Mohandas 

Karamchand 

Gandhi, the 

youngest son 

of Karamchand 

Gandhi and Putlibai, was born 

on October 2, 1869. His birth - 

place was Porbander, a small 

seaside town in the Kathiawar 

peninsula of western India. 

His mother was a devout and 

religious woman who attended 

temple services daily and 

never ate before she prayed. 

At school in Porbander, 

Gandhiji was very shy and 

lacked the confidence and 

poise necessary to talk to 

strangers. But he was 

admirably punctual and 

obedient, and participated 

actively in school games. 

In compliance with the 

prevailing custom of child 

marriage, Mohandas married 

at the age of thirteen. 

Kasturbai, his illiterate wife, 

was simple, persevering, bold 

and independent. 

A Student of Law 

in England 

Karamchand Gandhi died 

in the year 1885, leaving little 

property for his family. In 1887, 

Mohandas completed his 

matriculation and left for 

England to study law. He lived 

in London, where he found 

the life strange and difficult 

to adjust to. Although he 

adopted English dress and took 

dancing and violin lessons, 

he was nevertheless quite 

In Einstein on Peace scientist, thinker 

and peace activist Albert Einstein said, 

‘Generations to come will scarce believe 

that such a one as this ever in flesh and 

blood walked upon this earth.’ The one 

who Einstein was speaking of was 

Mahatma Gandhi. 

unsucc essful in conforming 

to the British mode of life. His 

friends tried to compel him 

to eat meat but he abstained, 

adhering very rigidly to a 

vegetarian diet. He joined 

vegetarian clubs and very 

soon became a champion of 

vegetarianism. In fact it was 

in England where Gandhiji’s 

experiments in diet began. 

A transformation in 

Gandhiji’s life and character 

now began to take place. His 

heart ached deeply for religion. 

He was inspired by meetings 

with Madame Blavatsky and 

Annie Besant. He read their 

books on Theosophy and read 

the Bible. He was impressed 

by the similarity of the 

teachings of the Sermon on 

the Mount and the Gita. He 

began reading the Gita only 

during his second year in 

London, and in it found the 

comfort and solace he sought. 

Gandhiji studied French, 

Latin and science. He was 

called to the Bar in 1891, 

after which he at once sailed 

for India. On his return to his 

native land he began to study 

Indian Law. At Rajkot he 

established a moderately 

successful practice. While 

there, he was insulted by a 

political agent, a British officer 

who was prejudiced against 

Gandhiji’s brother. This insult 

changed the course of his life, 

inspiring him with the desire 

to learn something about the 

politics of his country. 


LIVES OF THE SAINTS 

Fight Against Racial Prejudice in South Africa 

At this time, Gandhiji accepted an offer from the Meman firm 

of Porbander to go to South Africa as their legal representative. 

He arrived in Natal in 1893 and was immediately requested to 

go to Pretoria where his presence was required. He confronted 

difficulty when he entered a first-class compartment on a train 

to the Transvaal. At Pietermaritzburg he was ejected from the 

train together with all of his luggage. He now resolved to fight 

colour prejudice. 

The ill-treatment that the Indians received at the hands of 

colonialists was abhorrent to Gandhiji, and he was determined 

to champion their cause. This led him, in 1894, to found the 

Natal Indian Congress. In 1899, on the outbreak of the Anglo- 

Boer War, he led the Indian Ambulance Corps of one thousand 

members. They engaged in active service and on one occasion 

were under attack of heavy fire. 

In 1901, Gandhiji’s health broke down and he returned 

to India. After a year or two he was again summoned to South 

Africa. While there, in 1901, he founded the newspaper, Indian 

Opinion. Five years later, when a native rebellion broke out 

in Natal, Gandhiji offered a Stretcher-Bearer Corps. During the 

First World War he raised an Ambulance Corps and conducted 

a recruiting campaign in Karia. 

It was in South Africa that Gandhiji first adopted Satyagraha, 

the method of non-violence, to fight the injustice to which Indians 

were subjected. The entire Indian community rallied around him 

magnificently, for he had readily identified himself with all. 

His powerful Satyagraha campaign with which he confronted 

the unjust laws of the local government was overwhelmingly 

successful. He showed that this “soul force”, as he called it, 

could be universally applied to bring peace and abolish 

despotism and ever-growing militarism. 

Struggle for Independence 

His mission accomplished, Gandhiji arrived in India in 1915. 

In 1918, he assumed leadership of the Indian National Congress 

and associated himself with the Khilafat movement. He used 

the peaceful method of non-co-operation and non-violence for 

achieving freedom for his country from the yoke of foreign rule. 

The Gandhi movement spread like wild fire. He roused the 

masses to political consciousness and proved to them that they 

possessed immense soul-force. He was sentenced to six years 

imprisonment and was released in February, 1924. In that same 

year he became President of the Indian National Congress. 

In April 1930, the Salt Satyagraha was started by Gandhiji. 

For his breach of the Salt Laws he was interned on the 5th May, 

1930. He was released on the 25th January, 1931 in order to 

attend the Round Table Conference in London. He was again 

arrested in January, 1933 and released in May of the same year. 

Gandhiji’s intense love for his fellow men, his long fasts, 

his great sacrifices for his country’s cause, indomitable will, 

moral force and deep spiritual life, won for him the hearts 

of his countrymen. 

In their excessive devotion, love and reverence for him they 

bestowed upon him the title of “Mahatma”, meaning “Great 

Soul”. They addressed him affectionately as Bapuji. It means 

“beloved father”. 

The tremendous soul-power of which Gandhiji spoke was 

essentially derived from the chanting of Ram-Nam and the 

study of the Gita and Ramayana. Not a day passed without a 

study of the second chapter of the Gita, in which, Gandhiji felt, 

was contained its entire philosophy. 

On the 15th of August, 1947, Gandhiji won freedom for 

India. Soon after this he was shot three times at point-blank 

range by Nathuram Vinayak Godse, a Hindu extremist. 

On Gandhiji’s lips, just before he gave up his last breath, 

were the words “Hey Ram!” 

“ Mahatma Gandhi’s life is a monument 

to the triumph of spirit over flesh, 

a living witness to the victory of the 

divine over the base nature of man” 

The Pattern of a Perfect Life 

Bharatavarsha, as India is known, has always been a land 

of eternal ideals and sublime idealism, and of supermen who 

converted these ideals into actuality in their everyday life. 

Gandhiji was such an ideal superman. His name has become 

synonymous with unbending moral rectitude, heroic allegiance 

to truth, and perfect righteousness both in private and public life. 

Mahatma Gandhi’s life is a monument to the triumph of 

spirit over flesh, a living witness to the victory of the divine over 

the base nature of man. A continuous exercise of self-restraint 

and discipline, along with deep prayer and an invincible faith 

in the Divine, enabled him to successfully resist all kinds of 

temptations, overcome all obstacles and gain full mastery 

over himself. 

Gandhiji’s firm and tenacious adherence to the cause of the 

poor, the downtrodden Harijans, and the common man of the 

Indian village, is indeed worthy of emulation. Through all the 

vicissitudes of time and power and fame, he kept before the 

vision of the Indian Congress the fundamental purpose for 

which it came into being – the amelioration of the suffering 

of the poor. Uncrowned king of the land, he remained a friend 

of the poor; he lived for them, moved among them as one of 

them, and served them with all his heart. He saw God in them, 

and in their service wore out his body. 

As the Father of the Nation in every sense of the term, 

Gandhiji brought about a re-orientation in the outlook of the 

average Indian, and instilled into him the love of God, his 

religion and his motherland, all of which had been eclipsed for 

more than a century by the unhealthy influence of Western 

culture, manners and language. 

Mahatmaji demonstrated how a life of complete detachment 

and renunciation may be led while remaining in the thick of 

battle. His was a supreme example of one who had completely 

annihilated the ego, the little “I”, and led a divine life in the 

world. His life was like that of a lotus leaf in water. 

Albert Einstein, the famous scientist who propounded the 

theory of relativity, said of Gandhiji: “Generations to come will 

scarcely believe that such a man in flesh and blood once trod 

upon this earth”. 

May the Mahatma’s light of love illuminate the hearts 

of nations and individuals! May his dream of world unity 

materialise this very day! May his spirit bless us all with the 

vision and strength to realise in our everyday life all his lofty 

ideals of truth, purity, non-violence and faith in the Divine! n 


61

YOGIC VEGETARIAN RECIPES 

A Divine Yogic Feast 

By Chris Cooper 

Chef Chris Cooper is a professionally trained French chef and Nutrition Therapist 

specializing in vegetarian and vegan diets. He is passionate about healthy living, 

plant based nutrition and has developed recipes around this philosophy. 

The recipes are complementary to each other, you could make them during a celebration or singularly as and when you wish. 

All are based on a vegan, gluten free diet, and are high in protein, vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants, healthy fats, and fibre. 

Brown Rice Biryani (Gf, Ve) 

This biryani contains a complete protein combination (brown rice + peas). The fennel 

seeds will help with digestion, nigella seeds will keep your body cells protected and 

rejuvenated, and the amino acid tryptophan, released thanks to the goodness and 

properties of the cranberries, helps with serotonin levels and triggers happy feelings. 

Serves: 4 

Ingredients: 

Baked Vegetable Bhaji (Gf, Ve) 

Up your vegetable intake by cooking this recipe packed with vitamins and minerals, 

which will be well received by friends and family members for any meal of the day. 

The chard leaves keep the blood sugar levels in a homeostasis state and the turmeric 

possesses anti-inflammatory properties. 

Serves: 4 

Ingredients: 

200g sweet potatoes 

150g carrots 

500g cauliflower 

100g courgettes 

20g chard leaves 

1 tablespoon ground coriander 

1 teaspoon ground turmeric 

1 tablespoon ground cumin 

1 teaspoon ground paprika 

50g gram flour + extra for dusting 

3 tablespoons olive oil 

20g fresh coriander 

20g fresh parsley 

2 tablespoons tamari 

Method: 

Preheat the oven to 230˚C. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper. 

Using a small bowl, prepare the batter by adding the ground cumin, ground 

coriander, paprika, gram flour, tamari, the leaves and stalks of the parsley and 

coriander finely chopped, and pour in the olive oil . 

Cut the cauliflower into tiny florets, finely chop the chard leaves and place them 

in a separate large bowl. Peel the potatoes, carrots, and courgettes, slice them into 

quarters and blend them in a food processor or chop finely if no food processor is 

available and add them with the chard and cauliflower. Transfer the batter onto the 

vegetables and with a wooden spoon, mix thoroughly until well combined. 

Dust your palms with gram flour, make dough balls and lay them on your tray. Bake 

for 20 – 30 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm or cold. 

Leftover suggestion: There will be no leftovers! 

1tablespoon olive oil 

1 cup of brown rice 

6 cups of water 

30g garden peas 

50g green beans 

30g cashew nuts 

20g cranberries 

½ teaspoon fennel seeds 

½ teaspoon cumin seeds 

½ teaspoon nigella seeds 

½ teaspoon ground turmeric 

¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon 

1 green chilli (optional) 

Method: 

Preheat the oven to 220˚ C. Wash the brown rice thoroughly. In a pan, on a low 

heat, heat the oil, add the cumin seeds, fennel seeds and nigella seeds, and cook for 

5 minutes. Add the ground turmeric and cinnamon, stir well until the spices are well 

blended then add the rice, cover with the water and cook for 10 minutes. 

Meanwhile, place baking paper on a tray and roast the cashew nuts for 8 – 10 

minutes and leave to one side. Cut the green beans into 4 cm length and peel the 

fresh garden peas and add them to the rice mixture. Cook the rice mixture for a 

further 10 – 15 minutes until all water has been absorbed and the rice and 

vegetables are all soft. In the meantime chop the chilli, if using, (you may wish to 

deseed it if sensitive to the seed’s heat) and add it to the rice mixture together with 

the cranberries and cashew nuts. Mix well and serve immediately. 

Leftover suggestion: This recipe can be served hot and eaten cold as a salad. 



Serves: 4 

Pumpkin & Spinach Mini Quiches (Gf, Ve) 

This recipe is out of this world! It combines the attractive colours of pumpkin and 

spinach with complementary Mediterranean flavours, and the crunchiness of a pastry. 

Bon appétit! 

Serves: 4 

Ingredients: 

150g gram flour + little extra for dusting 

150ml water 

2 tablespoons olive oil + little extra for coating 

100g pumpkin 

200g spinach 

20g pumpkin seeds 

200g tofu (optional) 

10g basil 

5g fresh tarragon or thyme 

Salt and pepper to taste 

Method: 

Preheat the oven to 220˚C. Lightly brush a muffin tray with oil and dust it with some 

of the flour to prevent the mixture from sticking. Set aside. Peel and grate the pumpkin. 

On a medium heat, heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a pan and sizzle the pumpkin, 

cook thoroughly for 10 minutes and add the tofu (if using) and spinach. Once the 

vegetables are cooked, set aside. Make the quiche batter by mixing 100g of gram 

flour, 100ml of water, 1tbsp of olive oil and the fresh chopped basil and tarragon or 

thyme. With the help of a whisk, mix the batter until a smooth texture is obtained. 

Add salt and pepper to taste. Put some of the vegetable mixture into each of the 

muffin tray compartments and add the batter to ¾ of the height of the tray. Sprinkle 

the mini quiches with pumpkin seeds. 

Bake for 20 – 30 minutes until the batter is cooked thoroughly. Leave to cool for 

10 minutes before removing the mini quiches from the muffin trays. 

Leftover suggestion: This recipe can be eaten hot or cold. If you have some batter 

leftover, please make some pancakes with it! 

***** 

Roasted Butternut Squash, Avocado 

and Rocket Salad (Gf, Ve) 

If you are feeling a little fatigued, this nutrient dense salad will rejuvenate your cells. 

The avocados are packed with anti-oxidants to keep the white blood cells healthy 

and therefore will protect your immune system, and the nuts are high in protein, 

essential fats and fibre. A crunchy, creamy and natural sweetness all in one bite! 

Ingredients: 

1 avocado 

200g butternut squash 

100g rocket 

20g fresh basil 

10g fresh rosemary 

Zest and juice of 1 lime 

50g pecan nuts 

20g pine nuts 

3 tbsp. hazelnut oil or olive oil 

1 tablespoons tamari 

3 tablespoons olive oil for roasting 

Salt and pepper to taste 

Method: 

Preheat the oven to 220˚C. Prepare 2 baking trays with parchment paper. Place the 

pine nuts on one of the trays and roast them for about 10 minutes or until they are 

golden brown. 

Peel the butternut squash, take out the seeds and cube them into 3cm thickness, 

coat with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper (optional), add them to the 

remaining tray and roast for 15 – 20 minutes or until soft. Make the dressing with 

the zest and lime juice, hazelnut or olive oil, tamari, chopped fresh basil and 

rosemary. Cut the avocado into cubes and add them into a large bowl, add the 

pecan nuts, cooked and cooled down butternut squash, and rocket. Top the salad 

with the dressing and mix well. Serve immediately. 

Leftover suggestion: This can make a nice pesto; when the salad is completed and 

dressed, blitz all of it together in a food processor or with a blender. 

Banana & Coconut Chutney (Gf, Ve) 

You need the right accompaniment to your dishes, and this delightful, nutrient dense, 

silken chutney will take your taste buds on a wonderful journey. In addition, both 

ginger and coriander will help to boost your digestive enzymes. 

Serves: 4 

Ingredients: 

2 tablespoons coconut or sunflower oil 

1 inch fresh ginger - chopped 

20g desiccated coconut 

50g raisins 

3 ripe bananas 

Juice and zest of 1 lime 

1 tin of coconut milk (150ml) 

¼ teaspoon caraway seeds 

1 teaspoon ground cumin 

1 teaspoon ground chilli 

1 teaspoon ground cardamom 

1 teaspoon mango powder (opt) 

10g fresh coriander leaves 

***** 

Method: 

Rinse the raisins, place them with the desiccated coconut in a large bowl and cover 

with water, leave on the side. Pour the oil into a small pan and place it on a medium 

heat, add the caraway seeds, stir occasionally and cook until they start to bubble. 

Add the chopped ginger and continue cooking on a low heat for 3 minutes. Add the 

ground cumin, chilli, cardamom and mango powder (optional) and cook for a further 

2 minutes. Add the coconut milk and simmer for 10 minutes. Drain the water from 

the raisins and desiccated coconut and add to the coconut milk mixture, this does 

not need any further cooking. Transfer this mixture into a bowl and leave on the side 

to cool down. 

Meanwhile, peel the bananas and chop them up into small cubes, juice and zest the 

lime and coat the bananas to reduce the oxidation effect. Add them into the cooling 

mixture. Chop up the coriander as fine as possible and add this to the chutney and 

keep in the fridge until ready for serving. You may prefer to blend the mixture to a 

smooth texture according to taste. 

Leftover suggestion: This recipe can be served on top of your morning porridge! 


63


Oat Spiced Cookies (Gf option, Ve) 

A little sweet and healthy treat for everyone! Both nourishing and flavoursome, you 

will wish you had tripled this recipe before baking it! Apricots contain lutein and 

zeaxanthin which will keep your eyes healthy. Eat in moderation if you wish the 

cookies to last a little longer! 

Makes 8 – 10 cookies 

Ingredients 

150g oats (regular or gluten free) 

50g almond or buckwheat flour 

½ teaspoon baking powder 

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg 

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 

¼ teaspoon ground ginger 

1 teaspoon ground coriander 

Zest of 1 orange 

1 teaspoon orange blossom 

8 dates - chopped 

5 dried apricots- chopped 

100ml rice milk 

Method: 

Preheat the oven at 

180˚C. Lay a tray 

with baking paper. 

In a large bowl, 

combine the oats, 

baking powder, 

nutmeg, cinnamon, 

coriander, ginger, 

orange zest, orange 

blossom and rice 

milk. Mix thoroughly 

and add the 

chopped dates and 

apricots. With the 

help of two table 

spoons, form dough balls and flatten them with the back of the spoon in order 

to shape them as cookies. Bake for 15 – 20 minutes until golden brown. Allow them 

to cool down for about an hour in a cool dry place before storing them into a jar. 

Leftover suggestion: This recipe can become a granola, after the cooking and 

cooling down processes, break the cookies into small pieces, alternatively use the 

‘pulse’ function on your food processor. 

Almond, Cashews and Pecan 

Nut Energy Ball (Gf, Ve) 

Awaken your taste buds with this blissfully crunchy nutritious recipe which is filled with 

anti-oxidant and anti-aging properties (coming from the nuts and seeds) aiding in 

repairing and rejuvenating your cells. Keep in a small airtight container and eat as and 

when you wish for that energy boost without the after-effect sugar rush and fatigue. 

Makes 8 – 10 energy balls 

Ingredients: 

150g blanched almonds 

30g cashew nuts 

20g pecan nuts 

20g sunflower seeds 

1 teaspoon cardamom 

1 teaspoon cinnamon 

10 dates 

1 teaspoon agave syrup 

Method: 

Blanch the almonds by boiling a pan with water on high heat. Once the water is 

boiling, dip the almonds for 2 minutes, strain and add the almonds to a bowl with 

cold water. Leave to stay for 5 minutes, then the skin should come off easily. 

Preheat the oven at 200˚C. Lay baking paper on a tray and add the blanched 

almonds and cashew nuts. Roast them for 10 – 15 minutes until light brown. Add 

the sunflower seeds and pecan nuts and roast for a further 10 minutes. Add the nuts 

and seed to a food processor; add the ground cinnamon and cardamom. Blend well 

until smaller chunks can be seen. Add the dates and continue blending until a paste 

has formed. Add the agave syrup and mix well. 

Form balls and store them in the fridge to get a crunchier fresher taste. 

Alternative suggestion: This mixture can be baked at 120˚C for 40 minutes on a tray 

with baking paper and sliced as a crunchy nut slice. 

The Swami Vishnudevananda 

Archives Karma Yoga Project 

One of our most valuable resources for the 

teachings of Sivananda Yoga continues to be 

the hundreds of inspiring lectures presented 

by Swami Vishnudevananda, recorded from 

1969 to 1991. While it is possible to listen 

online to the recordings, for the past year a 

karma yoga group has been transcribing the 

teachings into written form in order to share 

them further with all seekers of peace and 

joy through yoga. 

We are looking to add to this skilled 

team of karma yogis. If you are interested in taking on the task of listening 

to systematically assigned parts of the archives and transcribing them into 

document form, this may be for you to consider, but only if: 

• You have a good command of the English language and can 

type proficiently. 

• You can dedicate 5 – 10 hours a week to the project to comply with 

a monthly deadline. 

• You are highly organised and focused. 

We specifically welcome those who are writers, editors and journalists 

on the Sivananda Yoga path. If chosen, you will be sent the transcription 

guidelines along with a timeline for your work. There are approximately 

400 recordings. Please note that some of the material may be challenging 

due to Swami Vishnu’s accent but it is all inspirational and a great way to 

connect to the teachings – at the source. 

Please send your request to be a part of the project to Sita at archives@sivananda.org 

64 


2016 

SCHEDULE HIGHLIGHTS 

45th anniversary 1971–2016 

Living Yoga Life 

Holidays/New Year: Positive Thinking and Self-Realization 

Dec. 24, 2015–Jan. 1 

Sivaratri Celebrations Mar. 8 

Easter: Yoga and Sacred Healing Families welcome Mar. 25–28 

Memorial Day: Celebration of 45th Anniversary of Teaching Yoga 

and Vedic Sciences and G. S. Sachdev concert May 27–30 

Childrens Yoga Camp June 20–30 

Guru Purnima July 19 

XVIIth Annual Jyotish (Vedic Astrology) Conference July 1–4 

Yoga of Recovery Certification Course Aug. 11–21 

Labor Day: Hear the Music of Your Soul Sept. 1–5 

Vedanta and Silence Course with Swami Sitaramananda 

Nov. 13–20 

Thanksgiving Classical Yoga Conference Nov. 24–27 

IN CALIFORNIA 

Yoga Teachers Training Course (TTC) 

2016 DATES 

May 7–June 4 July 9–Aug. 6 Oct. 15– Nov. 16 

Sadhana Intensive 

June 10–23, 2016 

Seva Study 

Residential Program 

Monthly 

Visit Swami Vishnu’s 

favorite place for seclusion! 

Yoga Vacations 

OPEN YEAR-ROUND 

Founded in 1971 

Sivananda Ashram Yoga Farm 

Located in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains 

Visit www.sivananda.org/yogafarm for complete 

course information and online registration. 

14651 Ballantree Lane 

Grass Valley, California 95949 

530-272-9322 

yogafarm@sivananda.org 

LOS ANGELES 

 

SAN FRANCISCO

Prison Yoga Outreach Project 

Yoga Teachers’ Training 

Course Goes to Prison 

Sivananda TTC Enlightens Inmates at Otisville Federal Corrections Institute 

By John Ittner 

“A robber robs for getting freedom from want – though his 

movement may be crooked and long-winded. Every movement 

of your foot is toward freedom or Sat-chit-ananda.” 

– Swami Sivananda, Bliss Divine 

Everybody wants to be free. “Freedom is man’s 

birthright”, says Swami Sivananda. But what about 

the millions of men and women who are in prison, 

can they be free while behind bars? Yoga says they 

can and The Sivananda Prison Outreach programme is proving 

it with the first ever Teachers’ Training Course given in prison. 

The drive from the Sivananda Yoga Ranch Ashram to The 

Federal Correctional Institute, Otisville, New York, takes about 

half an hour and passes through the lush forest-covered hills 

of the southern Catskills. Mahadev Chaitanya now makes the 

trip once a week, arriving there at 7am. His mission is to bring 

yoga to the prisoners and he recently took me with him to visit 

the Institute. 

Mahadev Chaitanya, who runs the day-to-day operations 

at the Yoga Ranch, and Srinivasan, the long-time Yoga Ranch 

director, are showing the inmates at Otisville prison how to 

follow a straight path to freedom. The course they are following 

is the same as the one designed by Swami Vishnudevananda 

and taught to all Sivananda teachers. They are learning Hatha 

Yoga, philosophy, anatomy, meditation theory and practice, 

chanting, mantras, Bhagavad Gita and nutrition. There is one 

difference. Instead of the one month of intensive study between 

start and graduation, it will take the inmates about eight 

months to complete the course. At the time of my visit they 

were already six months into the course and it showed. They had 

the shiny look about them that comes from practising Yoga. 

This programme did not materialise like magic out of thin 

air. It all began in 1996 with a letter from an inmate to Prison 

Life magazine, who had a copy of Swami Vishnudevananda’s 

Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga. His letter of appreciation was 

so influential that hundreds of other inmates were inspired to 

write to the Sivananda organisation asking for books. They were 

taking a step in the direction of freedom. Intuition told them 

that Yoga offered a path that people behind bars could take, 

a way to set the spirit free while incarcerated. It’s like the verse 

in Johnny Cash’s “Grey Stone Chapel” from his Folsom Prison 

concert album. “Behind the walls of prison my body may be / 

but my Lord has set my soul free.” The spiritual path has always 

been there for prisoners and Yoga is another expression of it. 

The Sivananda Prison Outreach Project has continued and 

grown over the years. In the first six months of last year about 

$3,000 was raised at the Yoga Ranch and 200 books were sent 

out to prisons all around the country. During this time classes 

have been taught at two prisons. The next step was for the 

inmates to become their own teachers. 

In February 2015 a proposal to teach the Teachers’ Training 

Course was presented to Otisville Federal Correction Institute and 

was accepted, and soon after the classes began. The rationale 

68 


“Yoga is a system of integral 

education, not only of the mind, 

but also of the inner spirit.” 


YOGALife |Autumn/Winter 2015 69

PRISON YOGA OUTREACH PROJECT 

The Teachers’ Training Course curriculum 

includes Vedanta Philosophy and Study 

of the Bhagavad Gita 

outlined in the proposal was powerful, and it can now be a 

model for other prisons and ashrams to state their cases for 

similar yoga programmes. 

It says: “With 2.3 million prisoners, the U.S. has the highest 

incarceration rate in the world. When wellness and education 

pro grammes aiding rehabilitation are very limited, sharing Yoga 

teachings proves to be a very interesting and low-cost alterna - 

tive… The inmates develop an awareness of the body; enhanced 

sensitivity toward themselves and empathy toward others, 

leading to compassion and in turn to prevention of violence.” 

There is an interesting story to this that demonstrates the 

power of Yoga to generate empathy. Mahadev Chaitanya says 

that one of the early problems with the Teachers’ Training 

at Otisville was the tendency for the inmates to always choose 

the same partners when they broke into groups for teaching 

practice. Prisoners tend to stick with their group and not mix 

generally. Sex offenders were shunned in the TTC at first as is 

the case in the prison population at large. Inmates did not want 

to mix. Mahadev Chaitanya gently encouraged them to treat 

each other the same but initially this did not work . This type 

of behaviour does not change easily because the underlying 

judgments are strongly held. But after only a few days, inmates 

came to him and apologised. From then on there was no 

problem. This was a big change and I was really surprised when 

he told me the outcome. Of course I should have known better. 

Yoga is very powerful. 

If you took away the gleaming coils of razor wire and the 

high chain-link fences that surround it, Otisville prison would 

look like a community college with low brick buildings arranged 

in a campus-like setting. Built in 1977, it is called a mediumsecurity 

institution and it is considered a good place to be if you 

have to be locked up. The fact that F.C.I. Otisville is open to 

having Sivananda Teachers’ Training shows that it takes the role 

of rehabilitation seriously and is not merely a place to separate 

convicts from the rest of society. 

We arrived a little after 7am on a Thursday and went to the 

reception area. At first I was not allowed to enter because I was 

wearing grey sweat pants which happened to be the same 

colour as the inmates’ uniform. There was a sign stating that 

visitors are forbidden to dress like the inmates, but the problem 

was easily solved when I was given a pair of white yoga pants 

which I changed into in the bathroom. 

Getting into prison was harder than I thought it would be! 

We were allowed to pass through some big, heavy duty steel 

doors. When they shut behind us they made a sound suggesting 

something very gloomy like, “abandon all hope, ye who enter here.” 

About a dozen inmate TTC students arrived for satsang 

looking sharp and sattvic in their yellow T-shirts and fresh white 

yoga pants. If you did not know they were convicted felons, you 

would not guess it. They say that clothes make the man and 

these prisoners proved the point They not only looked like yogis 

in their TTC uniforms, they acted like yogis. Seeing them reminded 

“Their faces were open, eager, serious 

and grateful. I saw some of the highest 

wattage smiles that I can remember 

ever seeing. I did not expect that either.” 

me of the opening ceremony at my own Teachers’ Training at the 

Sivananda Ashram in Neyyar Dam, south India, in 2000. We let 

go of our egos and joined one another in a quest to find our 

true Self. The uniform removed some of the differences between 

us and began the process. The yellow and white had power 

to unite us and reminded us that we were all in it together. 

The prisoners looked really good in their uniforms. I don’t 

know what I was expecting, but I was surprised. They were 

really fit as physical culture is huge in prison and most of them 

looked as if they lifted weights. They were a lot more muscular 

than most yogis and many of them were tattooed. To a man 

they looked tough, but they were not at all intimidating. 

This was the only all male TTC I had ever seen. They were 

older, and more mature looking but generally did not appear 

to be hardened, quite the contrary. Their faces were open, eager, 

serious and grateful. I saw some of the highest wattage smiles 

that I can remember ever seeing. I did not expect that either. 

Mahadev Chaitanya had gone ahead of me while I was 

changing and when I entered the gym where the classes took 

place, he had already set up the altar with portraits of Swami 

Sivananda and Swami Vishnudevananda. He and I sat in front 

on either side of the altar and the inmates were in two rows 

facing us. Mahadev Chaitanya took the microphone and with 

his gentle, unassuming directness greeted the class and thanked 

them for coming. I could see that they could relate to him. 

He talked about the TTC graduation in October and said that 

Srinivasan would be coming to teach them more about the 


PRISON YOGA OUTREACH PROJECT 

Bhagavad Gita and Vedanta to prepare them for the final test. 

He passed the microphone to me and I introduced myself and 

told them that I was here so that I could write about this 

ground-breaking prison programme. I couldn’t help but say how 

yogic they all appeared, how impressed I was by their great 

accomplishment, how it showed in their faces and in the 

respect they had for the teaching. They had clearly absorbed 

the spirit of yoga like sponges absorbed water and were clearly 

eager to learn. 

I passed the microphone back to Mahadev Chaitanya who 

began to chant Om and we all joined in. We meditated for 

about 20 minutes in silence except for the loud humming of 

fans, the clanking of the weight-lifting machines from a nearby 

room and the occasional, incomprehensible (to me at least) 

announcement over the PA system. A couple of times I opened 

my eyes a tiny bit to see how they were sitting. They were 

sitting very still with eyes closed, straight backs, relaxed faces 

and full concentration as far as I could tell. 

After the meditation we chanted Jaya Ganesha which is the 

same whether it is sung in an ashram or in a prison. When 

I was passed the microphone, I chanted Vande Gurudev. Then 

Mahadev Chaitanya asked if anyone else wanted to lead 

a chant. At first there were no takers, but soon a long-haired 

inmate, who introduced himself as “Dog”, came up and sang 

one of my favourites, written in English by Swami Sivananda. 

“Serve. Love. Give. Purify. Meditate. Realize. Be good. Do good. 

Be kind. Be compassionate. Inquire who am I. Know thyself and 

be free. You will soon attain immortality.” Dog had a great 

smile and a nice voice for this song of freedom. We broke into 

four groups and migrated to the corners of the gym. 

My group was taught by an enthusiastic and serious inmate 

named Cliff who really knew his stuff. It was hard to imagine 

him ever committing a felony. That was true of most of the 

inmates, but especially him. His face was unmarked. He looked 

“... he could have been teaching at any 

Sivananda Centre or Ashram, and you 

would think, ‘Wow, this guy is good.’ 

His tone was very relaxing and I soon 

forgot I was in prison.” 

young and focused. He could have been teaching at any 

Sivananda Centre, or Ashram, and you would think, “Wow, 

this guy is good.” His tone was very relaxing and I soon forgot 

I was in prison. My awareness was focused on the postures, 

and another kind of freedom showed itself to me in Otisville. 

Then it was over and it was time to go. Mahadev Chaitanya 

and I passed through the heavy doors on our way out. They 

slammed shut behind us with the same heavy sound as when 

we entered. Lucky us, we could leave. 

But I knew the answer to the question I had asked. The 

answer was “yes” there is freedom in prison and Yoga shows 

the way. n 

Mahadev Chaitanya is manager of the Sivananda Yoga Ranch and 

teaches in the TTC and ATTC worldwide. email: sivanandayogaranch.org 


71

ASHRAM AND CENTRE NEWS 

Ashram and Centre News 

CHENG DU, CHINA 


Above: Staff and Karma Yogis. Below: The building where the Centre is situated 

After much ground work and 

many yoga retreats in China, 

we are happy to announce 

that China has joined the 

Sivananda Yoga community 

with the opening of the SYVC 

centre in Cheng du, south 

west of China, near the 

Tibetan border. Chengdu city, 

in Sichuan province (famous for its delicious hot food) is the fifth largest 

city in China with a metro population of 7.4 million, and is considered 

to be the most livable megacity in China. It is a tourist destination with 

many ancient temples and monasteries. It is also the home of the 

famous giant panda bears! Chengdu was chosen for the Yoga Festival 

India-China in June 2015, where Nataraj and Kalyani from the Neyyar 

Dam in Ashram India, taught Sivananda Yoga to the large number of 

Chinese in attendance, translated by Sivani. 

The opening of the first Chinese SYVC Centre in October 2015 follows 

the first Teachers’ Training Course in Chengdu, China, in September- 

October 2015. It was taught by Swami Sitaramananda, Swami 

Pranavananda, Ananta Chaitanya and Ganga, hosted and translated 

by our two Chinese staff, Sivani and Sundari who are the staff running 

the Centre. The Teachers’ Training Course was offered in a traditional 

Buddhist temple in the mountains surrounded by trees that were 

thousands of years old! 

The new Centre is located on the first floor in a large building of 8 floors 

near the central part of the city. 

www.sivananda.org/china 


Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat 

The Yoga Retreat again 

experienced high numbers 

of guests during the 2015 

season. We opened several 

new buildings, including the 

Saraswati building, adding 

eight ocean view rooms to 

make a total of 16 beds, and 

the Annapurna Devi House, 

dedicated to juice fasting, 

cleansing and nutrition 

programmes. 

The new Saraswati Building 

The new Saraswati Building 

In response to demand, the Yoga Retreat also held its first-ever TTC 

in June 2015 and will offer its first-ever TTC in November 2015. 

In order to meet the needs of increasing numbers of guests, a design 

planning meeting was held in May 2015 to revisit the Ashram Master 

Plan. The focus was on new construction projects and upgrades to our 

existing facility’s structures and infrastructure over the next five years 

to permit increased capacity and enable year-round programming. 

Within this context, three new construction projects were identified / 

reconfirmed as priorities: the new main temple, kitchen relocation and 

upgrade, and a new dormitory. A Vaastu architect completed the design 

for the new temple and plans have begun for fundraising. On April 21, 

2015 we conducted the Bhoomi Puja (the ground breaking puja) for 

the new temple. 

On June 21, 2015, the Yoga Retreat collaborated with the High Commission 

of India to celebrate the world’s first International Day of Yoga, success - 

fully hosting members of the local community for a yoga class, lecture, 

and a vegetarian lunch. 

For the fourth year running, Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat Bahamas 

was awarded the distinction by TripAdvisor of a Top Ranked Property 

on Paradise Island, Bahamas and received the Certificate of Excellence 

for 2015. It has been a busy year at the Ashram in the Bahamas! 

www.sivanandabahamas.org 

LONDON, UK 


Ground breaking puja for the new temple 

Extensive renovations of the 

middle house started at the 

beginning of July. The building 

was completely stripped 

down, floor by floor from the 

basement to the loft and the 

demolition process even 

included the removal of the 

entire roof. A blank sheet has 

thus been provided for the full 

transformation of the 

premises. This refurbishment project also comprises the enlargement of 

the reception and shop area where a lobby will be created for all to sit 

and meet. The renovations are progressing very well and the new 

reception area will be officially inaugurated during 5 days of festive 

celebrations from 2 – 7 April, 2016. 

www.sivananda.co.uk 

72 




NEW DELHI INDIA 


We celebrated the 1st 

International Yoga Day on 

June 21st with different 

activities such as: Open class, 

Introductory and Gentle yoga 

classes at the park and 

Introductory class for Research 

institute employees in Delhi 

at their work place. 

A sponsored T-Shirt and 

special booklet were distributed during the Celebration. Reporters from 

different electronic media and newspapers visited us for interviews and 

we explained the five points of yoga as taught by Swami Vishnudevananda. 

We also participated in a Panel discussion on NDTV regarding Inter - 

national Yoga Day. 

Starting from May 2015, we are conducting monthly workshops in 

Jammu for Power Grid employees at their employer development centre. 

The Centre was busy for 15 days with Kids Camp in June. We performed 

Guru Pada Pooja on Guru Poornima day. We are making the necessary 

preparations to open the new branch in Noida, Sector 50. It will be 

open from September 8th 2015 (Swami Sivananda’s birthday). We com - 

pleted the flooring of the entrance starting from the main gate to the 

back rooms. 

www.sivananda.org/delhi/home.php 

NEW YORK, USA 


inspiration. After this, many more guest speakers have been infusing our 

evening public satsangs with a lot of inspiration on different topics 

related to our yogic practices. 

www.sivananda.org/ny 

REITH, TYROL, AUSTRIA 


The summer of 2015 was 

exceptionally long and warm 

and we spent all our time 

outside, be it for yoga classes 

and lectures on the cedar 

platform, relaxing on the 

Ganesha platform, tending to 

our ever flourishing garden or 

taking silent walks in nature. 

The weather also provided the 

perfect conditions for our most popular programme, Yoga and Mountain 

Magic. Amidst the clear skies, the vast views of the mountains are breathtaking 

and the mountain meadows were in bloom with an array of colourful 

mountain flowers until the end of August. 

We were very blessed to learn from several very dedicated and knowledge - 

able teachers. Most fascinating was the way the ancient and the new 

were woven together like a fine tapestry. This included ancient knowledge, 

like the vast science of Ayurveda or contemplations from the Raja Yoga 

Sutras on what true freedom means. The Bhagavata Saptaha presenting 

the teachings of wisdom of the Srimad Bhagavatam encased in elevating 

sound structures. The study of Yoga, Mind and Brain then showed that 

one can directly change the structure of our brain through yoga practices 

of asanas, pranayama and meditation. 

If we learned one valuable lesson this summer it is this, that yoga 

is a living entity never losing its roots but always willing to grow. 

www.sivananda.org/tyrol 

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 


The reception area received a new face-lift 

With the grace of Master and Swamiji the attendance of classes has been 

building up well this year. Special classes like deaf yoga, gentle yoga, 

pregnancy and advanced asanas keep building up a solid attendance. 

This summer season has been very busy at the Centre. Karma yogis have 

been working hard on backyard renovations. We continue in our efforts 

to freshen up the appearance of the Centre and this year our main focus 

has been on our boutique, which has now been re-stocked with many 

new items. Our reception area also received a face-lift with the addition 

of some comfortable seating which has already proved very popular with 

students and visitors. 

In the month of July we started to receive a wave of special visitors 

coming to stay at the Centre. We first welcomed a big group of senior 

staff from the Bahamas led by Swami Swaroopananda. Swamiji gave a 

satsang which was as usual full of energy, great humour and a lot of 

After 27 years on Arguello 

Boulevard in a rented building, 

by the grace of guru, the San 

Francisco SYVC was blessed to 

find a new permanent home 

in the Outer Sunset area of San 

Francisco, one block from Stern 

Grove park, 1.5 miles to the 

beach (visible from the front door) and 3 miles from the former location. 

The large, 800 square foot main Yoga room and temple with its red oak 

floor accommodates all sizes of yoga classes and workshops and offers 

a warm ambiance for ceremonies, Satsangs and concerts. During the May 

2015 Grand Re-Opening with Swami Vasishtananda’s vastu and guru 

pujas, Swami Sitaramananda and current director Sankari Chaitanya 

reminded us all how this is one of the oldest yoga Centres in this yoga 

city and that it is a historical Centre as Swami Vishnudevanandaji set foot 

in San Francisco in 1957 to start his mission in the west! All are welcome 

to visit. Residential facilities are limited. 

www.sivanandasf.org 

YOGALife |Autumn/Winter 2015 73



NEYYAR DAM, KERALA, INDIA 

Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Dhanwantari Ashram 

Since its inception in 1978, Dhanwantari Ashram continues to be the 

flagship of the organisation in India. Although the ashram has been 

developed to a large extent, numerous renovations are ongoing. The 

regular TTC, ATTC, Kids Camp, Ayurveda Wellness Course, Panchakarma 

Detoxification, Fasting Detoxification and South India Yatra programmes 

attract visitors from all corners of the earth. 

www.sivananda.org/neyyardam 

TRIVANDRUM, KERALA, INDIA 


The Trivandrum Centre was 

established by Swami 

Vishnudevananda in 1986 and 

it was the first Centre to be 

established in India. Over the 

years it has gone through 

many transformations. Since 

the inauguration of the new 

building in 2009, student 

numbers have steadily increased making it one of the busiest Centres 

worldwide. Rajesh and Shinu have recently become the directors. 

We look forward to many new developments. 

www.sivananda.org/trivandrum 

CHENNAI, TAMIL NADU, INDIA 


Established in 1989, Chennai 

centre has always been known 

for its friendly and informal 

atmosphere. The centre offers 

an ideal ambience with 

spacious attractive halls in the 

quiet suburb of Kottivakkam, 

a hundred metres from the 

beach front. Director Gopan 

always makes students and guests feel at home with a warm smile. 

www.sivananda.org/chennai 

VIENNA, AUSTRIA 


During springtime we made 

some changes to our Asana 

rooms on the 1st floor. New 

corner altars were installed, 

the walls were repainted, 

and we rearranged the Asana 

pictures of Swami Vishnu - 

devananda. The rooms were 

improved considerably by this. 

We also implemented a new 

automatic heating system 

in the Asana rooms, which 

hopefully will help save 

energy. During summer the 

Indian priest Sri Krishna was 

at the Centre for 2 months performing daily pujas in the temple room 

as well as Poojas for spiritual feasts. The energy of the Centre and 

especially of the temple room was greatly uplifted. 

www.sivananda.org/vienna 

MADURAI, TAMIL NADU, INDIA 


The Madurai Centre was 

founded in 2004, two years 

after the Meenakshi Ashram. 

From humble beginnings it has 

blossomed into an attractive 

centre occupying two floors 

in KK Nagar. The roof terrace 

and reception were recently 

updated with enclosed tinted 

glass panels to protect against 

the harsh elements. Under the 

capable directorship of Yashpal the Centre is a useful resource for the 

city of Madurai. 

www.sivananda.org/maduraicentre 

MEDITATION AND MANTRAS 

IN VIETNAMESE 

The new translation of Meditation 

and Mantras into Vietnamese is now 

available at the Hochi Minh Sivananda 

Yoga Vedanta Centre. 

The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga 

is also available in Vietnamese. 

email: HochiMinh@sivananda.org 


HEADING 

Teachers’ Training Course 

March 13th – April 10th, 2016 

June 2nd – June 30th, 2016 

Sept 7th – Oct 5th, 2016 

Advanced Teachers’ Training Course 

July 7th – August 4th, 2016 

Permaculture Design Course 

September 7th – 21st, 2016 

Juice Detoxification 

July 14th – July 24, 2016 

sivanandayogaranch.org 1- 845 - 436 - 6492 ranch@sivananda.org 


75

Sivananda Ashram Yoga Camp, Val Morin, Quebec, Canada 

Sivananda Ashram and Centre Addresses 

ASHRAMS 

Sivananda Ashram Yoga Camp 

673 Eighth avenue, Val Morin 

Québec, J0T 2R0, CANADA 

Tel.: +1 819 322 32 26 

Fax: +1 819 322 58 76 

E-mail: hq@sivananda.org 

Web: www.sivananda.org/camp 

Sivananda Ashram Yoga Ranch 

P.O. Box 195, 500 Budd Road 

Woodbourne, NY 12788, U.S.A. 

Tel.: +1 845 436 64 92 

Fax: +1 845 363 46 31 

E-mail: yogaranch@sivananda.org 

Web: www.sivanandayogaranch.org 

Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat 

P.O. Box N 7550 

Paradise Island, Nassau, BAHAMAS 

Tel.: 1 416 479 01 99 (from all countries including 

the USA and Canada) 

Tel.: +1 866 559 51 67 (toll free only from the 

USA and Canada) 

Tel.: 1 242 363 29 02 (from the Bahamas) 

Fax: 1 242 363 37 83 

E-mail: nassau@sivananda.org 

Web: www.sivanandabahamas.org 

Sivananda Yoga Dhanwantari Ashram 

P.O. Neyyar Dam, Dt. Thiruvananthapuram 

Kerala 695 572, INDIA 

Mobile: (00.91) 949 563 09 51 

E-mail: guestindia@sivananda.org 

Web: www.sivananda.org/neyyardam 

Sivananda Ashram Yoga Farm 

14651 Ballantree Lane, Comp. 8 

Grass Valley, CA 95949, U.S.A. 

Tel.: +1 530 272 93 22 

Tel. (USA): 1 800 469 9642 

E-mail: yogafarm@sivananda.org 

Web: www.sivanandayogafarm.org 

Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Minakshi Ashram 

(near Pavana Vilakku Junction) 

New Nathan Road, Saramthangi Village 

Vellayampatti P.O. 

Madurai district 625 503 

Tamil Nadu, INDIA 

Tel.: +91 98 65 65 53 36 

Tel.: +91 98 65 15 53 35 

E-mail: madurai@sivananda.org 

Web: www.sivananda.org/madurai 

Sivananda Kutir (near Siror Bridge) 

P.O. Netala, Uttara Kashi District 

Uttaranchal, Himalayas 249193, INDIA 

Tel.: +91 90 12 78 94 28 

Tel.: +91 99 27 09 97 26 

E-mail: himlayas@sivananda.org 

Web: www.sivananda.org/netala 


Bichlach, 40 

6370, Reith near Kitzbühel, AUSTRIA 

Tel.: +43 (0)53 56 67 404 

Fax: +43 (0)53 56 67 4044 

E-mail: tyrol@sivananda.net 

Web: www.sivananda.org/tyrol 

Ashram de Yoga Sivananda 

26 impasse du Bignon, 

45170 Neuville aux bois, FRANCE 

Tel.: +33 (0)2 38 91 88 82 

Fax: +33 (0)2 38 91 18 09 

E-mail: orleans@sivananda.net 

Web: www.sivananda.org/orleans 

CENTRES 

ARGENTINA 

Centro Internacional Yoga Sivananda 

Sánchez de Bustamante 2372 

Capital Federal – 1425 Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA 

Tel.: +54 11 48 04 78 13 

Fax: +54 11 48 05 42 70 

E-mail: buenosaires@sivananda.org 

Web: www.sivananda.org/buenosaires 

Centro de Yoga Sivananda 

Rioja 425 

8300 Neuquén, ARGENTINA 

Tel.: +54 29 94 42 55 65 

E-mail: neuquen@sivananda.org 

Web: www.sivananda.org/neuquen 

AUSTRIA 

Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Zentrum 

Prinz Eugen Straße 18 

1040 Wien, AUSTRIA 

Tel.: +43 1 586 34 53 0 

Fax: +43 1 586 34 53 40 

E-mail: vienna@sivananda.net 

Web: www.sivananda.org/vienna 

BRAZIL 

Centro Sivananda de Yoga Vedanta 

Rua Santo Antônio 374 

Bairro Independência 

Porto Alegre 90 220 - 010 – RS, BRAZIL 

Tel.: +55 51 30 24 77 17 

E-mail: portoalegre@sivananda.org 

Web: www.sivananda.org/portoalegre 

CANADA 


5178, Saint Laurent boulevard 

Montreal, Quebec, H2T 1R8, CANADA 

Tel.: +1 514 279 35 45 

E-mail: montreal@sivananda.org 

Web: www.sivananda.org/montreal 


77 Harbord Street 

Toronto, Ontario, M5S 1G4, CANADA 

Tel.: +1 416 966 96 42 

Fax: +1 416 966 13 78 

E-mail: toronto@sivananda.org 

Web: www.sivananda.org/toronto 

CHINA 


Zhonghuayuan Xiuyuan 30-3-202 

5 Tongzilin East Road 

Wuhou District, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, CHINA 

Tel +86 028-86257086 or +86 189-8064-2709 

Email: china@sivananda.org 

www.sivanandayogachina.org 

FRANCE 

Centre Sivananda de Yoga Vedanta 

140 rue du Faubourg Saint-Martin 

75010 Paris, FRANCE 

Tel.: +33 (0)1 40 26 77 49 

Fax: +33 (0)1 42 33 51 97 

E-mail: paris@sivananda.net 

Web: www.sivananda.org/paris 

GERMANY 


Steinheilstrasse 1 

München 80333, GERMANY 

Tel.: +49 089 700 9669 0 

Fax: +49 089 700 9669 69 

E-mail: munich@sivananda.net 

Web: www.sivananda.org/munich 


Schmiljanstrasse 24 

D-12161 Berlin, GERMANY 

Tel: +49.30.8599.9798 

Fax: +49.30.8599.9797 

e-mail: Berlin@sivananda.net 

Web: www.sivananda.org/berlin 

Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat, Nassau Bahamas 

INDIA 


A-41, Kailash Colony 

New Delhi 110 048, INDIA 

Tel.: +91 11 29 23 09 62 

Mobile: +91 88 60 95 44 55 

E-mail: delhi@sivananda.org 

Web: www.sivananda.org/delhi/home.php 

Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Dwarka Centre 

PSP Pocket, Sector – 6 

(near DAV school and next to Kamakshi Apts) 

Swami Sivananda Marg, Dwarka, INDIA 

New Delhi 110 075 

Tel.: +91 11 64 56 85 26 or 45 56 60 16 

E-mail: dwarka@sivananda.org 

Web: www.sivananda.org/dwarka/home.php 


TC 37/1927 (5), Airport road, 

West Fort P. O. 

695 023 Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, INDIA 

Tel.: +91.471 245 09 42 

Mobile: +91.94 97 00 84 32 

E-mail: trivandrum@sivananda.org 

Web: www.sivananda.org/trivandrum 


3/655 (Plot No. 131) Kaveri Nagar 

Kuppam Road Kottivakkam, INDIA 

Chennai (Madras) 600 041 

Tel.: +91 44 2451 1626 / 2451 2546 

E-mail: chennai@sivananda.org 

Web: www.sivananda.org/chennai 


444, K.K. Nagar. East 9th Street 

625 020 Madurai, Tamil Nadu, INDIA 

Tel.: +91.452 252 11 70 or 252 26 34 

Mobile: +91.909 224 07 02 

E-mail: maduraicentre@sivananda.org 

Web: www.sivananda.org/maduraicentre 


C-46, Sector 50 

Noida 201304, INDIA 

Tel.: +91 96 54 47 20 73 

Mobile : +91 88 60 95 44 55 

E-mail: noida@sivananda.org 

Web: www.sivananda.org/noida/home.php 

ISRAEL 


6 Lateris Street, ISRAEL 

Tel Aviv 64166 

Tel.: +972 03 691 67 93 

Fax: +972 03 696 39 39 

E-mail: telaviv@sivananda.org 

Web: www.sivananda.co.il 

ITALY 

Centro Yoga Vedanta Sivananda Roma 

Via Oreste Tommasini, 7 

Roma 00162, ITALY 

Tel.: +39 06 45 49 65 29 

Mobile: +39 347 426 1345 

E-mail: roma@sivananda.org 

Web: sivananda-yoga-roma.it 

JAPAN 


4-15-3 Koenji-kita, Suginami-ku 

Tokyo 1660002, JAPAN 

Tel.: +81 03 53 56 77 91 

E-mail: tokyo@sivananda.org 

Web: www.sivananda.jp 

LITHUANIA 

Sivananda Jogos Vedantos Centras 

M.K. Ciurlionio g. 66 

Vilnius 03100, LITHUANIA 

Tel.: +370 (8) 64 87 28 64 

E-mail: vilnius@sivananda.net 

Web: www.sivananda.org/vilnius 

Ê 

SPAIN 

Centro de Yoga Sivananda Vedanta 

Calle Eraso 4 

Madrid 28028, SPAIN 

Tel.: +34.91 361 51 50 

Fax: +34.91 361 51 94 

E-mail: madrid@sivananda.net 

Web: www.sivananda.org/madrid 

SWITZERLAND 

Centre Sivananda de Yoga Vedanta 

1 rue des Minoteries 

Geneva 1205, SWITZERLAND 

Tel.: +41 022 328 03 28 

Fax: +41 022 328 03 59 

E-mail: geneva@sivananda.net 

Web: www.sivananda.org/geneva 

UNITED KINGDOM 


45 – 51 Felsham Road 

London SW15 1AZ, UK 

Tel.: +44 020 87 80 01 60 

Fax: +44 020 87 80 01 28 

E-mail: london@sivananda.net 

Web: www.sivananda.co.uk 

UNITED STATES 

OF AMERICA 

Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center 


1246 West Bryn Mawr 

Chicago, IL 60660, U.S.A. 

Tel.: (00.1) 773 878 77 71 

E-mail: chicago@sivananda.org 

Web: sivanandachicago.org 


243 West 24th Street 

New York, NY 10011, U.S.A. 

Tel.: +1 212 255 45 60 

Fax: +1 212 727 73 92 

E-mail: newyork@sivananda.org 

Web: www.sivananda.org/ny 


1185 Vicente Street 

San Francisco, CA 94116, U.S.A. 

Tel.: +1 415 681 27 31 

E-mail: sanfrancisco@sivananda.org 

Web: www.sivanandasf.org 


13325 Beach Avenue 

Marina del Rey, CA 90292, U.S.A. 

Tel.: +1 310 822 96 42 

E-mail: losangeles@sivananda.org 

Web: www.sivanandala.org 

URUGUAY 

Asociación de Yoga Sivananda 

Acevedo Díaz 1523 

Montevideo 11200, URUGUAY 

Tel.: +598 24 01 09 29 / 66 85 

Fax: +598 24 00 73 88 

E-mail: montevideo@sivananda.org 

Web: www.sivananda.org/montevideo 

VIETNAM 


25 Tran Quy Khoach street, District 1 

Ho Chi Minh City, VIETNAM 

Tel.: +84 6680 5427 or +84 6680 5428 

E-mail: hochiminh@sivananda.org 

Web: www.sivanandayogavietnam.org 


34 Suong Nguyet Anh Street 

Dalat, VIETNAM 

Tel.: +84 63 650 1900 

E-mail: dalatsyvc@gmail.com 

Web: www.sivanandayogavietnam.org 

Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Dhan 


wantari Ashram, Kerala, India 

Sivananda Ashram Yoga Farm, Grass Valley, California 

Sivananda Retreat House, Reith near Kitzbühel, Tyrol, Austria 

AFFILIATED CENTRES 

AUSTRALIA 

Sivananda Yoga Centre 

The ‘Shellin’ 40 Ninth Avenue 

Katoomba, NSW 2780, AUSTRALIA 

Tel.: +61 02 47 82 32 45 

E-mail: kamaladevi@bigpond.com 

Yoga White Lotus – Sivananda Tradition 

2a Castle Drive 

Lennox Head, NSW, AUSTRALIA 

Tel.: +61 04 77 94 36 97 

Tel.: +61 04 03 83 87 50 

E-mail: info@yogawhitelotus.com 

www.whitelotusyoga.com 

BOLIVIA 

Centro de Yoga Sivananda Santa Cruz 

Calle Junin 271 

Santa Cruz de la Sierra, BOLIVIA 

Tel.: +591 333 15 08 

Mobile: +591 77 06 04 72 

E-mail: info@sivanandascz.com 

www.sivanandascz.com 

BRAZIL 

Yoga Hall 

Av. Dr. Helio Palermo 2888 – Bairro: Jardim Samello 

Franca – SP CEP: 14401-000, BRAZIL 

Tel.: +55 16 30 12 29 88 

Web: www.yogahall.zip.net 

CANADA 

Yoga Sivananda de l'Outaouais 

745 Chemin d'Aylmer 

Gatineau (secteur Aylmer) 

Québec, J9H 0B8, CANADA 

Tel.: +1 819 684 20 84 

E-mail: info@yoga-aylmer.com 

www.yoga-aylmer.com 

Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre Vancouver 

1202-2055 Pendrell Street 

Vancouver, B.C. V6G 1T9, CANADA 

Tel.: +1 604 880 21 09 

E-mail: yoga@mail.com 

www.sivanandavancouver.com 

Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre affiliated 

Lakshmi, Sivaram & Sasi 

108 Des Berges, CANADA 

Vaudreuil-Dorion, Quebec, J7V 9X2 

Tel.: +1 450 510 26 56 or 57 

E-mail: psivaraman@sympatico.ca 

CHILE 

Centro de Yoga Sivananda 

Cinco Norte 1160 Depto. 21 

2520000 Viña del Mar, CHILE 

Tel.: +56 9 97 35 92 30 

Tel.: +56 3 23 20 73 02 

E-mail: info@yogasivananda.cl 

www.yogasivananda.cl 

GERMANY 

International Sivananda Yoga Centre 

Kleiner Kielort 8 

20144 Hamburg, GERMANY 

Tel.: +49 040 41 42 45 46 

Fax: +49 040 41 42 45 45 

E-mail: office@artyoga.de 

www.artyoga.de 

INDIA 


L-12, 26th Street 

Annanagar East 

Chennai, Tamil Nadu, 600102, INDIA 

Tel.: +91 44 26 63 09 78 

E-mail: durain@gmail.com 


236, 5th Cross, third block, 

HRBR Layout 

Bangalore, Karnataka, 560043, INDIA 

Tel.: +91 080 57 63 71 44 

Mobile: +91 94 48 46 44 48 

E-mail: yogaprabhus@yahoo.co.uk 

Arsha Yoga Gurukulam 

Double Cutting 

Calvarimount Post 

Idukki district, Kerala 680 681, INDIA 

Tel.: +91 480 284 60 80 

E-mail: harilal_k@yahoo.com 

www.arshayoga.org 

T. Raghavan 

Kripa, Kundanmur 

Maradu P.O. 

Kochi 682304, Kerala, INDIA 

E-mail: trmenon@vsnl.com 


Sarath Kumar 

Balan K. Nair Road, Asokapuram 

Kozhikode, Kerala 673 001, INDIA 

Tel.: +91 495 277 17 54 

Tel.: +91 495 277 03 84 

Mobile: +91 944 695 36 52 

E-mail: mail@sivanandayogacentre.com 


‘Laksmi Sadan’ 

College Road 

Palakkad, Kerala 678 001, INDIA 

Tel.: +91 491 254 51 17 

Tel.: +91 491 254 45 49 

E-mail: palghat@sivananda.org 


Nedunghattu Kalam 

Mankurussi, Mankara 

Palakkad, Kerala 678 613, INDIA 

Tel.: +91 491 210 75 50 

Mobile: +91 944 65 55 44 90 

E-mail: ajiyoga@gmail.com 

INDONESIA 

Bali Yoga and Wellness 

Jl Tunjung Mekar 58 

Br Peliatan, Kerobakan, Bali, INDONESIA 

Tel.: +62 081 23 80 40 46 

E-mail: info@baliyogawellness.com 

www.baliyogawellness.com 

IRAN 

Daneshe Yoga Centre 

No 16+1, beside zirak zade st., Aram Alley, 

Soleiyman khater St. Hafte Tir 

SQ. Tehran, IRAN 

Tel.: +98 021 88 304 505 

Tel.: +98 021 883 18 189 

Fax: +98 021 883 19 054 

E-mail: info@danesheyoga.com 

www.danesheyoga.com 

ISRAEL 


3 Reuven Street. Jerusalem 

Tel.: +972 02 671 48 54, ISRAEL 

E-mail: syvc@013.barak.net.il 

www.2all.co.il/web/Sites9/yogajerusalem/ 


8 Amnon and Tamar Street. Apt 1 

Herzelia, ISRAEL 

Tel.: +972 09 956 10 04 

E-mail: gerag@internet-zahav.net 

ITALY 

Sivananda Yoga Firenze 

Via de’ Marsili 1 

50125 Firenze, ITALY 

Tel.: +39 328 966 05 01 

E-mail: info@yogaincentro.it 

www.yogaincentro.it 

Elbayoga – Associazione Yoga Isola d'Elba 

Piazza Palestro 11, ITALY 

I-57036 Porto Azzurro (Li) 

Tel.: +33 92836494 or +33 94020074 

e-mail: info@elbayoga.eu 

JAMAICA 


17 Tremaine Road 

Kingston 6 

West Indies, JAMAICA 

Tel: +1876 381 15 04 

E-mail: alina133@yandex.ru 

LEBANON 


522 Gouraud Street. Third floor, Apt 3A 

Gemayzeh, Beirut, LEBANON 

Tel.: +961 1 56 67 70 

E-mail: info@beirutyoga.com 

www.vintob.com/beirutyoga/contactus.html 

NEW ZEALAND 


145a Tukapa Street 

Westown, New Plymouth, 4310, NEW ZEALAND 

Tel.: +64 (06) 753 82 34 

E-mail: info@sivanandayoga.co.nz 

www.sivanandayoga.co.nz 

POLAND 

Szkota Jogi „Odrobina Dobrej Woli” 

ul. Zarudawie 11 

30-144 Kraków, POLAND 

Tel: +48.509.83.85.86 

E-mail: omkar@yogopedia.org 

www.yoga.sivananda.org.pl/Home.html 

PORTUGAL 


de Lisboa 

Rua Jose Carlos dos Santos 

No. 12 – 1 Andar 

1700-257 Lisbon, PORTUGAL 

Tel: +351.21.7971.431 

e-mail: sivananda.lisboa@gmail.com 

www.sivananda.pt 

RUSSIA 

Yoga Yamuna Studio 

13aya Parkovaya, 27/3 

105484 Moscow, RUSSIA 

Tel.: +7 (495) 505 04 21 

E-mail: yoga@yamunastudio.ru 

www.yamunastudio.ru 

SINGAPORE 


Affiliated Singapore 

21B (third floor) Bukit Pasoh Road 

Singapore 089835 

Tel.: +65 90 67 91 00 

Tel.: +65 98 38 67 04 

E-mail: info@sivananda.com.sg 

www.sivananda.com.sg 

SPAIN 


Granada-afiliado 

Fundador Swami Vishnudevananda 

Calle Ángel 13 

18002 Granada, SPAIN 

Tel.: 660288571 

E-mail: sivanandagranada@gmail.com 

www.sivanandagranada.es 

SRI LANKA 

Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre (Affiliated) 

52 Colombo Road 

Piliyandala, SRI LANKA 

Tel.: +94 75 5 01 82 27 

E-mail: titus.wijeratne@gmail.com 

UNITED STATES 

Be In Awe Yoga 

2220 Rivenoak Ct. 

Ann Arbor, MI 48103, U.S.A. 

Tel.: +1 734 213 0435 

E-mail: info@BeInAweYoga.com 

www.BeInAweYoga.com 

East Aurora Yoga 

An affiliated Sivananda Center 

43 Pine Street 

East Aurora, NY 14052, U.S.A. 

Tel.: +1 716 319 07 25 

E-mail: info@eayoga.com 

www.eayoga.com 

Yoga Center of Key Biscayne 

971 Crandon blvd, Suite 911 

Key Biscayne, FL 33149, U.S.A. 

Tel.: +1 786 294 01 63 

E-mail: info@yogacenterkb.com 

Web: www.yogacenterkb.com 

Yoga and Inner Peace 

3964 Lake Worth Road 

Lake Worth, FL 33461-4054, U.S.A. 

Tel.: +1 561 641 88 88 

E-mail: b@yogapeace.com 

VIETNAM 

Sundari’s Yoga Studio 

Room 3408 - Floor 34th - Diamond Flower Tower 

C1 Lot - Hoang Dao Thuy Street - Thanh Xuan 

District 

Hanoi City, VIETNAM 

Tel: +84906226156 

Hotline: +84979751757 

Email: sundari.yogavietnam@gmail.com 

www.sundariyoga.com.vn 

More information about 

the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta 

Ashrams and Centres: 

www.sivananda.org 

and www.sivananda.eu 


77

The International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta 

Teachers’ Training Course 


(1887 – 1963) 

Swami Vishnudevananda 

(1927 – 1993) 

Over 37,000 

Yoga Teachers 

Certified 

since1969 

“Yoga is a system of integral education, not only of the mind, but also of the inner spirit.” 


An intensive four week 

immersion in the yogic 

way of life: 

Open to students of all levels 

who have a sincere desire 

to learn. Certificate given 

upon successful completion 

of the course. 

Recognized by Yoga Alliance. 

In depth study of: Asanas, 

Pranayama, Meditation, 

Mantras, Vedanta, Bhagavad 

Gita, Kriyas, Yogic Diet, 

Anatomy & Physiology. 

2016 DATES AND LOCATIONS 

ALUENDA, SPAIN 

August 15 – September 10, 2016 

BARILOCHE, ARGENTINA 

March 6 – April 3, 2016 

CHENGDU, CHINA 

September 24 – October 22, 2016 

DALAT, VIETNAM 

February 3 – March 12, 2016 

GAROPABA, BRAZIL 

January 6 – February 3, 2016 

GRASS VALLEY, CA, USA 

May 7 – June 4, 2016 

July 9 – August 6, 2016 

October 15 – November 16, 2016 

LONDON, UK 


May 28 – June 25, 2016 


MADURAI, SOUTH INDIA 

January 3 – 31, 2016 



November 20 – December 18, 2016 

NEAR VILNIUS, LITHUANIA 

July 2 – July 30, 2016 


January 4 – January 31, 2016 


March 4 – March 31, 2016 

April 3 – April 30, 2016, 

May 3 – May 30, 2016 

June 2 – June 29, 2016 

NETALA, HIMALAYAS, INDIA 

April 3 – May 1, 2016 

June 12 – July 10, 2016 

July 31 – August 28, 2016 


NEYYAR DAM, SOUTH INDIA 

January 10 – February 7, 2016 

March 20 – April 17, 2016 


ORLEANS, FRANCE 

May 18 – June 15, 2016 

July 1 – July 29, 2016 

July 31 – August 28, 2016 


QUEBEC, CANADA 

July 3 – July 31, 2016 


RUDRAPRAYAG, 

HIMALAYAS, INDIA 



THAILAND 


TYROL, AUSTRIA 

April 30 – May 29, 2016 

June 4 – July 2, 2016 

July 30 – August 28, 2016 


December 17, 2016 – 15 January, 2017 

USTKA, POLAND 


WOODBOURNE, NY, USA 

March 6 – April 3, 2016 

June 2 – June 30, 2016 


www.sivananda.org 

www.sivananda.eu

Celebrating The First International Day of Yoga

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