International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers, also known as “Sivananda Yoga organisation”, “Sivananda Yoga”, “Sivananda Yoga centres”
Creators: name: Augspurger, Jens Uwe
Publisher: name: Database of Religious History (DRH)
Year: 2023

description: The International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers (ISYVC) are an organisation that operates yoga and retreat or training centres (ashrams) in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. These Centres are the trademark holder of 'Sivananda Yoga', which is, amongst practitioners, widely perceived as a distinct style of Hatha Yoga and they credit the ISYVC as the legitimate bearer of this tradition or ‘lineage’. The organisation prides itself in teaching ‘traditional yoga’ and propagates neo-Hindu teachings, referencing the guru-parampara tradition (guru lineage) of Swami Sivananda (1887-1963) and Swami Vishnu-devananda (1927-1993). The main teachings concern the practice of the “4 paths of yogas” and the “5 points of yoga”, as well as a sequence of 12 yoga asanas (postures) commonly referred to as ‘Sivananda sequence or ‘Rishikesh series. The four paths are: Bhakti Yoga (path of devotion), Karma Yoga (path of selfless action), Jnana Yoga (path of wisdom, study of Vedanta), and Raja Yoga (control of body and mind, which includes Hatha Yoga/postural yoga). The five points of yoga are: 1. Proper Exercise – Asanas 2. Proper Breathing – Pranayama 3. Proper Relaxation – Savasana 4. Proper Diet – Vegetarian 5. Positive Thinking and Meditation – Vedanta and Dhyana. According to ISYVC’s self-published teacher training manual (Ch. 1.14), Vishnu-devananda was sent from India to the West in the late 1950s by his guru Sivananda, to teach yoga and Vedanta. Following prolonged international travel teaching yoga, Vishnu-devananda eventually settled in Montréal, Canada, where he established the first Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre, and later, the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Camp in the Laurentian mountains, a retreat and training centre, which serves as the organisation's headquarters. By March 2022, the organisation is running 11 ashrams (retreat and training centres) in North America (3), the Caribbean (1), Europe (2), India (4), and Vietnam (1), as well as 27 yoga centres located in bigger cities around the world, according to ISYVC's website. Another 33 centres are registered as ‘affiliated centres’ and are run in a franchise system by adherents of the organisation and graduates of their yoga teacher training courses. The ISYVC runs three resident programs: the four-week Yoga Teacher Training Course (TTC) and the Advanced Yoga Teacher Training Course (ATTC), as well as a three-week practice programme called Sadhana Intensive (SI). These programs also constitute the organisation’s main source of revenue, with prices ranging from approx. 1,500 USD (TTC in India, dorm accommodation) to 5,800 USD (TTC in the Bahamas, single accommodation) (prices valid in March 2022). During the Covid-pandemic, the organisation had to close most of its centres and retreat locations around the world and started to implement online courses for yoga classes and teacher training. From April 2022 until December 2022, the ISYVC programme calendar lists 36 TTCs that are due to start, with 3-5 courses of 4 weeks length starting each month, taught in a variety of languages. The model of a 4-week teacher training is an established standard in the yoga industry that is based on the 200h qualification recignised by Yoga Alliance. The ISYVC claims that the 4-week TTC method was first introduced by their guru-founder Vishnu-devananda in the 1950s/60s. According to the ISYVC, the organisation has trained around 50,000 yoga teachers since the implementation of their programme (as of March 2022, according to ISYVC website). Although widely perceived as a provider of yoga classes and trainings, the ISYVC organisation also operates as a religious group, upholding a monastic order, in which many full-time members are initiated. ISYVC commits to the aim to propagate Hinduism and the teachings of Sivananda. The organisation does not pay teachers in yoga or training centres and operates all their activities with volunteers (karma yogis) who work without remuneration for several hours per week (as non residents), or stay as volunteers for up to several months. Full-time residents are called 'staff' by the organisation, but are also unpaid and receive lodging, food and some access to the teaching programme in exchange for free labour. Many full-time residents are encouraged to take vows of renunciation, i.e. brahmacarya (novice status that requires celibacy) or sannyas (i.e. becoming swami: monk or nun). In 2019, a #metoo scandal shook the ISYVC community when several former adherents publicly made allegations of sexual abuse and other types of abuse against the gurufounder Vishnu-devananda and other senior leaders in the organisation. It later was established that allegations against the guru-founder had been known to the organisation's leadership since at least 2007 (see statement of the board members, Dec 16, 2019). Consequently, a community of former and current adherents of ISYVC formed a Facebook group and organised an independent investigation into allegations of sexual abuse and other types of abuse within ISYVC. This undertaking is called ‘Project SATYA’. The Project compiled three reports that contain a counter-narrative to the hagiographical stories provided by the organisation and its devotees and documenting over several allegations of sexual abuse and other abuses by the founder and others within leadership of ISYVC. . With only few etic and non-hagiographical accounts of the ISYVC and its history, the resources of Project SATYA are referenced throughout this entry. It should be noted that there is a lack of independent sources on the history of the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres and the biographies of its gurus. Even some academic work relies on hagiographical sources or inadvertently prioritises hagiographical accounts and reproduces admiration. Wherever this entry references resources of the ISYVC or other yoga organisations, it should be noted that they are likely hagiographical, even when not explicitly indicated. The organisation is not to be confused with Sivananda Ashram, Rishikesh (India) or its subsidies, which are operated by the Divine Life Society (DLS).