Website sivananda.org | ||
Motto Serve, love, give, purify, meditate and realize Purpose To teach yoga and Vedanta Official language English, French, German, Spanish Key people Vishnudevananda Saraswati | ||
The International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres is a non-profit organization named after Swami Sivananda and founded by his disciple Swami Vishnu-devananda. Its purpose is to propagate the teachings of Yoga and Vedanta as a means of achieving physical, mental and spiritual well being and self-realization. However, many have referred to this institution as "cult yoga" and have expressed their concerns about the use of brainwashing techniques.
Sivananda Yoga
The style of yoga taught in the centres and ashrams is referred to as Sivananda Yoga. It is a non-proprietary form of hatha yoga. Teachers are all graduates of the Sivananda Yoga Teacher Training Course, an intensive month-long immersion course. Classes emphasize proper breathing (pranayama), exercise (asanas), relaxation (savasana), diet (vegetarian) and positive thinking and meditation (vedanta and dhyana).