International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers

Founded in 1959 by Swami Vishnu-devananda, disciple of the late Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh, India, who sent Vishnu-devananda to the West in 1957. Vishnu-devananda became a world famous exponent of the science of hatha yoga and traveled throughout Western countries demonstrating and lecturing on the relationship of yoga to ethical life and peace. He is the author of one of the more popular textbooks on hatha yoga published during the last generation.

Swami Sivananda developed a system of "integral yoga," a combination of the main traditional forms of yoga— karma, jnana, bhakti, and raja. His system derives from the teachings of the Hindu sage Patanjali and involves the practitioner in the eight steps to self-realization: yama and niyama (moral restraints and ethical observance), yoga asanas (physical exercises), pranayama (breathing exercises), pratyahara (control of senses), dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation), culminating in samadhi (superconsciousness). In traditional Hinduism yoga is not simply a matter of practicing physical exercises, but is an all-around ethical and spiritual development.

Vishnu-devananda settled in Quebec and established headquarters in Val Morin. He eventually developed centers across the continent and retreat centers in the Laurentian Mountains and in the Bahamas, making close to 80 Sivananda locations. Address: 673 8th Ave., Val Morin, Quebec, Canada J0T 2R0. Website: http://www.sivananda.org/.

Sources:

Sivanada Yoga "Om" Page. http://www.sivananda.org/. March 27, 2000.

The Sivananda Yoga Center. The Sivananda Companion to Yoga. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1983.

Vishnudevananda, Swami. The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga. New York: Julian Press, 1960.

——. Meditation and Mantras. New York: OM Lotus Publishing, 1978.