Himalayan International Institute of Yoga
Science and Philosophy of the U.S.A.
Organization teaching the yoga-centered Hinduism espousedby
Sri Swami Rama (19251996), 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.
Encyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology 5th Ed. Himalayan International Institute of Yoga . . .
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Swami Rama cooperated with them on psychophysiological
programs. Swami Ramas 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 childrens 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 InstituteEleanor 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 httpwww.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.
