"Yoga Journal" writer Phil Catalfo highlights the influence of the Swami Sivananda, who developed the Sivananda yoga style and founded the Divine Life Society, on the yoga community. His teachings influenced other schools of yoga, including Integral yoga, founded by his student, Swami Satchidananda. According to the International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres website, there are nearly 80 Sivananda affiliated ashrams, schools and yoga centers around the world. The Sivananda style focuses on maintaining the purity of yogic teachings.
History
Swami Sivananda began his career as a physician in India and Malaysia, and according to Catalfo, eventually founded his Divine Life Society in 1936. The inspiration for his style of yoga started in Rishikesh, where he became a monk. The first Sivananda center in the West opened in 1957 in Canada under the direction of Sivananda's disciple, Swami Vishnu-devananda. Along with more than 200 books, Sivananda summarized his teachings in six words: serve, love, give, purify, meditate and realize.
Philosophy
Yogis of the Sivananda style learn five basic principles to help them live healthy lives. The International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres encourages yogis to perfect exercises, breathing, relaxation, diet and meditation. The Sivananda format aims to teach yogis to practice parts of each of the four paths of yoga to stimulate the mind, body and heart. Through study, service to others, physical poses and meditation, yogis can learn to join their personal consciousness with the universal consciousness.
Style
The physical practice of Sivananda yoga begins with sun salutations, a combination of several common yoga poses linked together for a warm-up. After sun salutations, Sivananda yogis learn 12 primary poses, such as headstand, shoulderstand, fish and spinal twist. Yogis practice these basic poses to increase basic flexibility. Once they are proficient, they often learn advanced poses, such as rooster and king cobra. Sivananda ends with relaxation. Yogis learn to meditate in the seated pose, lotus.
Teacher Training
Yogis who want to teach the Sivananda style to others enter a four-week training session at one of the Sivananda ashrams. Yoga instructor trainees wear a uniform during their stay and follow a vegetarian diet. The Sivananda teacher training course uses a gurukula system, which means that students combine their daily life with their studies. The curriculum includes daily meditation, study of texts, chores, lectures and chanting. There are Sivananda teacher training centers all over the world.
Considerations
The International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre lists 20 guidelines created by Swami Sivananda which encourage an integration of yoga into daily life. Guidelines include early waking, two hours of silence a day and carrying a japa mala, or rosary. The Sivananda style encourages those from all religious backgrounds to practice their yogic principles; its guidelines can enhance the spirituality of people from any religion.
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