Swami Vishnudevananda

Over the course of his life, Swami Vishnudevananda (1927-1993) became one of the world’s most recognizable and respected teachers of yoga, as well as one of the most dedicated activists in the cause of global peace and understanding. As a young man in India, he spent a dozen years of intense study under the direction of his teacher, the renowned Swami Sivananda. In the late 1950s, Swami Vishnudevananda received his guru’s approval to travel outside India to offer the world timeless insights into yoga’s many benefits for physical, mental, and spiritual health.

Swami Vishnudevananda first traveled across Southeast Asia, then to the English-speaking world as he visited the United States, Australia, and Canada. In Montreal, he founded the first of many Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres, and he established a related yoga camp in the Laurentian Mountains. This network, which he named in honor of his beloved teacher, would eventually span the globe, with centers, retreats, and ashrams in New York, London, the Bahamas, and many other major cities and regions. Students and visitors can learn as part of the same tradition that nourished Swami Vishnudevananda, Swami Sivananda, and other gurus for centuries before them.

Swami Vishnudevananda’s pioneering work also includes writing the classic manual The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga and establishing the first training courses designed specifically for teachers of yoga.