Satyananda Views
Swami Satyananda Saraswati (24 December 1923 – 5 December 2009), was a yoga master and guru in both his native India and the West. He founded the International yoga Fellowship in 1956 and the Bihar School of Yoga in 1963.[1] He has authored over 80 books, including the well-known Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha, recognised internationally as one of the most systematic yoga manuals today.[2] Since its first publication by the Bihar School of yoga in 1969 it has been reprinted seventeen times and translated into many languages.
Swami Satyananda Saraswati was born 1923 at Almora (Uttaranchal) into a family of farmers.[3] His ancestors were warriors and many of his kith and kin down the line, including his father, served in the army and police force. However, it became evident that Swami Satyananda had a different bent of mind, as he began to have spiritual experiences at the age of six, when his awareness spontaneously left the body and he saw himself lying motionless on the floor. Many saints and sadhus blessed him and reassured his parents that he had a very developed awareness. This experience of disembodied awareness continued, which led him to many saints of that time such as Anandamayi Ma. Swami Satyanada also met a tantric bhairavi, Sukhman Giri, who gave him shaktipat and directed him to find a guru in order to stabilize his spiritual experiences.[4]
Swami Satyananda's teachings emphasize Integral Yoga with a strong emphasis on Tantra.[7][8] Integral Yoga, not synonymous with Aurobindo's Integral Yoga, looks upon the many different traditional yogic practices developed in India over centuries with equal vision, acknowledging the validity of all of their methods for spiritual development. His system of tantric yoga involves the practice of:
Satyananda Yoga is a system of yoga developed by Swami Satyananda Saraswati and his lineage, which incorporates practices derived from ancient and traditional sources. Satyananda Yoga uses practices in a traditional way, asanas (postures) to balance the body and mind through the physical body, pranayama (breathing practices) to work on the energy body (equated with Ki or Chi in other systems), and meditation to calm and focus the mind. It also takes a broader outlook by teaching and encouraging yogic lifestyles, not only for renunciates but also for householders and lay practitioners.
Satyananda Images
