Was one of the great yoga masters of twentieth-century India:

• Humanitarian work as a respected doctor in Malaysia

• Intensive study and practice of yoga and meditation in Rishikesh, Himalayas

• Founded the Divine Life Society in Rishikesh (an ashram that later developed into an international organisation)

• Published more than 200 books in English on all aspects of yoga

• Trained outstanding yoga masters, who would be instrumental in giving classical yoga the great reputation it now enjoys throughout the world

• Established the Yoga Vedanta Forest Academy in Rishikesh, which would become the model for the first Yoga Teachers’ Training Course in the West

• Carried on personal correspondence with yoga students worldwide

• Swami Sivananda integrated all known yoga systems, teaching a yoga of synthesis which is the basis for the modern practice of yoga in the West

"Serve, love, give, purify, meditate, realise” – these teachings are the spiritual strength behind the Sivananda Yoga Centres and have inspired spiritual aspirants around the world to live a life of brotherly love and spiritual unity

Find out more about the life and legacy of Swami Sivananda >>

• Is an internationally recognised authority on yoga and the founder of the International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres
  

• Training and intensive practice as a close disciple of Swami Sivananda
  
  
• Professor for Hatha Yoga at the Yoga Vedanta Forest Academy in Rishikesh, Himalayas
  
  
• “Go to the West. People are waiting” – in 1957, Swami Vishnudevananda leaves India on the instruction of his teacher; over 35 years of pioneering work in spreading yoga across the globe begins
  
  
• The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga,  a best-selling book for the modern yoga practice, is published in 1960
  
  
• His mission: Universal peace. He was convinced that outer peace cannot exist without inner peace. He became the first yoga master in the West to develop a comprehensive training programme for yoga teachers, who would then inspire countless numbers of people in turn
  
  
• In 1969, the first Yoga Teachers’ Training Course in the West (Canada); today, some 1,000 students graduate each year
  
  
• 1970 marks the beginning of symbolic peace flights to the world’s trouble spots (Northern Ireland, the Middle East, divided Berlin) under the motto: “Man is free as a bird.” His appeal to mankind: “Man is free as a bird, overcome man-made borders with flowers and love, not with guns and bombs!”
  
  
• The first Sivananda Yoga Centre in Europe (Vienna) is established in 1974; today there are more than 70 Sivananda Centres and Ashrams worldwide
  
  
• In 1985, the first Teachers’ Training Course in Europe (Spain)
  
  
• Swami Vishnudevananda taught classical yoga in five basic points:
  
  1. Proper exercise (Asanas)
  2. Proper breathing (Pranayama)
  3. Proper relaxation (Savasana)
  4. Proper diet (vegetarian)
  5. Positive thinking and meditation (Vedanta and Dhyana)
  
  
• “Health is wealth, peace of mind is happiness, yoga shows the way.”

Find out more about the life and legacy of Swami Vishnudevananda >>