Sivananda Yoga
Sivananda Yoga
Origins: In the early 1950s a small group of South Africans, inspired by the teachings of Swami Sivananda, began to disseminate the master’s teachings. Swami Sivananda encouraged them and sent them literature from The Divine Life Society of India, of which he was the founder-president. After having various names, “Sivananda School of Yoga” was finally decided on in 1962. After Swami Sivananda’s mahasamadhi (leadership) in 1963, the yoga school’s spiritual preceptor was his successor, Swami Chidananda, until the latter’s mahasamadhi in 2008. The president and chairman of the school is Swami Isvaramayananda and the vice-chairman and secretary is Swami Karunananda. Both were received into the Saraswati branch of The Holy Swami Order by Swami Chidananda, late president of The Divine Life Society.
Teachings: Every ingredient of yoga practice must lead into, and facilitate, meditation. Where there is no meditation, there is, literally, no yoga, they believe. At the Sivananda School of Yoga every practice in yoga sadhana (spiritual curriculum) is considered to be a function in support of yoga’s only purpose – mokshya, that is, liberation from reincarnation and other effects of nascence via God realisation.
Class focus: Hatha classes consist of asanas arranged in scientifically set sequences that have been followed by generations of yoga masters. The asanas are accompanied by a precise breathing procedure. A Hatha session lasts about an hour and a half, including guided relaxation at the end as a preparation for the advanced practice of yoga nidra, which is taught separately. Sivananda practitioners place much emphasis on prayer, japa (mantra repetition), contemplation, and meditation using a specific technique which is imparted at diksa (initiation).
Who can practice? Anyone who is capable of mind and breath control. Teacher training: The Sivananda School invites practitioners selected from among its own membership to be trained as yoga teachers. Trainees must be committed, satsang-attending vegetarians. They receive instruction not only in physiology and yoga, but also in Vedic philosophy and yoga’s traditional background of Hinduism. They are also encouraged to visit The Divine Life Society headquarters in India.
Philosophy: Swami Sivananda’s teaching is that it is meditation, and only meditation, which leads to enlightenment. Anyone who practises yoga with any lesser objective is not a yogi.
Contact details: For the Sivananda School of Yoga in Johannesburg visit www.yogajhb.co.za or, for the Ananda Kutir Ahrama in Cape Town, visit www.anandakutir.org.za.
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