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 yogakarma,
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 httpwww.sivananda.org.
Sources
Sivanada Yoga Om Page. httpwww.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.
