Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy of the U.S.A.

Organization teaching the yoga-centered Hinduism espousedby Sri Swami Rama (1925-1996), a Indian spiritual leader. Swami Rama was at one time a monk, but left that life behind in order to pursue his teaching. In 1971 he founded the institute in India and brought the organization with him to the United States.

The reason Swami Rama came to the United States was the work of Elmer E. and Alyce M. Green in the Voluntary Controls Research Project at the Menninger Foundation of Topeka, Kansas. The project conducted experiments with autogenic training, involving the use of biofeedback instrumentation. Swami Rama cooperated with them on psychophysiological programs. Swami Rama's spiritual work received a significant boost from his spectacular success in the Greens' experiments.

At the institute, yoga, meditation, and holistic health are taught with a special emphasis on hatha yoga as a means of balancing the body-spirit dichotomy. The practice of yoga, it is believed, will lead to a spiritual worldview. The institute sponsors seminars on a wide range of personal growth topics, maintains a speakers bureau, operates a children's school, and runs a program in Eastern studies and comparative psychology in affiliation with the University of Scranton Graduate School. The program culminates in a Master of Science degree. The institute has established the Eleanor N. Dana Research Laboratory and the Himalayan Institute Teachers Association, which certifies yoga teachers. The Honesdale Institute maintains a library of 20,000 volumes. Publications include: Dawn magazine, quarterly; Himalayan Institute Quarterly, bimonthly; Research Bulletin of the Himalayan International Institute/Eleanor N. Dana Laboratory, annual; and Yoga International, bimonthly. The institute also publishes a large number of books and audiotapes on all aspects of yoga, meditation, and holistic health.

The address of the 422-acre campus of the Himalayan International Institute is R.R. 1, Box 400, Honesdale, PA 18431-9706. Website: http://www.himalayaninstitute.org/.

Sources:

Green, Elmer M. "How to Make Use of the Field of Mind Theory." In The Dimensions of Healing: A Symposium. Los Altos, Calif.: Academy of Parapsychology and Medicine, 1972.

Rama, Swami. Lectures on Yoga. Arlington Heights, Ill.: Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy, 1972.

——. Path of Fire and Light. Honesdale, Pa.: Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy, 1986.