About Swami Ambikananda Saraswati

"Yoga is all those practices that enable you to discover health - which is not an absence of the symptoms of sickness, but which is a wholeness and holiness - an inner state of being in which there is no division at all" Swami Venkatesananda.

For twelve years until his death Swami Ambikananda studied with her teacher, the well-known Himalayan monk, Swami Venkatesananda. The teaching he gave her helped her to raise children while working and giving time and commitment to her sadhana (spiritual practices). After her children had grown up she was initiated into the ancient orders of sannyas by the then President of Sivananda Ashram, Swami Chidananda Maharaj (known by many as "The Sage of the Himalayas"). She founded the Anahata Touch Healing system and the Traditional Yoga Association to train Yoga practitioners to become teachers. When she discovered the need in India, Swamiji also founded The MUKTI Project for the education of children born into bonded labour in India. She has published several books on philosophy and health and popular translations of Sanskrit texts. Swamiji divides her time and teaching between Europe and India.

She sees her current work as the passing on of the unique teachings of Swami Venkatesananda that emphasize the need to embrace Yoga as that which has the power to integrate our lives rather than being an added fragment practisdisciplerately.

Her spiritual life is part of a lineage - her guru was a disiple of Swami Sivananda, founder of the International Divine Life Society, and having been born and living in the West, Swamiji understands both the traditional and modern applications of Yoga.

"We have now reached a level of maturity with our understanding of Yoga that calls us to a deeper knowledge without surrendering our own religious beliefs for something else and without abandoning the lives we already lead" Swami Ambikananda.

Contact the Swami

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