Our Teachers
“The only basis of true and lasting unity of all humanity is the religion of the heart.
Religion of the heart is the religion of love”
- Swami Sivananda Saraswati
Our Panel of Teachers
Our Yoga and Vedanta courses will taught by some of the teachers from the list below.
They are not really staying in the ashram throughout the year.
Swami Govindananda Saraswati
Swami Govindananda
SaraswatiWith 30 years experience teaching Yoga and Vedanta philosophy, graduating a few thousands of fledgling yoga teachers, Swami Govindananda Saraswathi is a gifted and charismatic teacher. Much loved by his students for his unique style and humour, Swami Govindananda is a rare jewel of integrity and truth, with hundreds of disciples throughout the world.
A direct disciple of Swami Vishnudevananda, Swami Govindananda started his ashram life in Sivananda Ashram Neyyar Dam, Kerala in 1987. Combined with his yoga teaching qualifications from the International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre organization ( www.sivananda.org), Swami Govindananda has graduated in Physics and a Bachelors degree in Education, giving him a unique ability to dispense complicated philosophical teachings to be easily understood by people from all cultures, of all ages, all over the world. Swamiji spent 23 years teaching yoga in the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres throughout the world.
From two-week yoga vacation courses, to month-long advanced teacher training courses, intensive sadhana courses and children’s Yoga Camps, Swamiji has empathetically engaged thousands of students, through a variety of material to help them bring Yoga into their day-to-day lives and share some of the joy with which he beholds the world. Teaching such subjects as: Raja Yoga, Yoga Asanas, Vedanta Philosophy, Baghavad Gita, Sanskrit, Hatha Yoga, Classic Hindu Scriptures, Yogic Diet, Kriyas, Meditation, Advanced Pranayama, Hatha Yoga teaching skills and Advanced Yoga teaching skills.
Swamiji served Sivananda Yoga Vedanta organisation in its ashram in Neyyar dam, Kerala from 1987 to 1993. He was instrumental in establishing the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Meenakshi Ashram in Madurai serving there from 2003 till 2010. During his association with the ISYVC organization Swamiji has travelled many times abroad visiting Canada, USA, UK, Germany, Austria and Bahamas. He left the Organisation in Apr 2010 to continue spreading the messages of his Gurus, Swami Sivananda and Swami Vishnudevananda, and established the ashram - Sivananda Yoga Vidya Peetham in South India.
Swami Govindananda will be follows and shares the teachings of his Guru Sri Swami Vishnudevananda Saraswati - the five basic principles of Yoga:
• proper exercise
• proper breathing
• proper relaxation
• proper diet
• positive thinking (vedanta philosophy) and meditation.
Since its beginning in 2010, Sivananda Yoga Vidya Peetham (SYVP) is guided by Swami Govindananda spending his time there conducting the ashram activities. He also travels to different parts of the world , meeting spiritual aspirants to share his Gurus’ messages with many more people. If anybody is interested in having him speak, lecture or teach at his/her organisation, yoga school, university or school, please email him to make arrangements.
Swamiji can be contacted directly by email: govindanandaswami@gmail.com or by mobile # ( 91 ) – 8547879642
Personal blog URL : http://swamigovindananda.wordpress.com
Robert Sankara Moses
Robert Sankara MosesA direct disciple of Swami Vishnudevananda, Robert Sankara Moses has 45 years experience as a teacher of Yoga and Vedanta. Born in South Africa, Robert studied architecture, travelled abroad and met his guru, Sri Swami Vishnudevananda, in 1972. Robert spent the next 22 years with Swamiji, studying and serving in the International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers (ISYVC). He directed ISYVC centers and ashrams and taught yoga teacher training and advanced training courses worldwide, including at the ISYVC ashram in Neyyar Dam, Kerala (from 1982 to 1994). In the early 1990s, Swamiji appointed Robert as one of seven original members of the newly formed executive board of ISYVC.
After Swami Vishnudevananda left his body in 1994, Robert left ISYVC to marry and raise a family. Robert continues to teach Yoga and Vedanta, and maintains his daily sadhana based on the teachings of H.H. Sri Swami Sivananda and Sri Swami Vishnudevananda. In 2003 he founded and continues to co-publish Namarupa: Categories of Indian Thought - a magazine about the philosophies and arts of India. Robert leads annual pilgrimages to sacred places of India. www.namarupa.org. He lives in New Hampshire, USA with his wife and three children.
Mani Raman
Mani RamanMani Raman is a dynamic, inspirational teacher of Yoga and meditation who brings his wisdom, high energy and humor to every class he teaches. Growing up in India, where he met and learned from many Yogis, saints and spiritual teachers, Mani developed a strong foundation deeply rooted in the Vedic tradition. He took to the practice of Yoga at the age of 12 and continued with Eastern philosophy and religious studies. After his wandering time in the Himalayas and a short stay at the Divine Life Society, Rishikesh in 1996, Mani devoted himself full-time to Yoga and joined the gurukula of the International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres at the age of 21. For almost two decades, Mani studied and taught in the tradition of Swami Sivananda and Swami Vishnudevananda, guiding thousands of graduates in many international Teacher Training Courses at the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Dhanwantari Ashram in Kerala/India, and travelling extensively worldwide for courses and workshops, mainly in North America and Asia.
For more than 12 years, he directed the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Nataraja Centre in New Delhi, and was the director of the Centres in Tokyo/Japan and Bangkok/Thailand. He is a recognized senior teacher for the international Teacher Training Courses and Advanced Teacher Training Courses. Mani teaches Hatha Yoga (asanas, pranayama, kriyas, bandhas) and meditation, and gives inspiring discourses on Vedanta philosophy and the Bhagavad Gita. Holding a M.Sc. in Western Psychology, and having studied many systems of Eastern philosophy, meditation and Ayurveda, Mani responds to each student's individual condition with profound understanding and insight. Much loved by students from beginners to advanced, he teaches appropriately on any level from gentle to challenging. Mani's unique strength lies in fusing the traditional yogic teachings with practical examples from modern life to allow his students to access the ancient messages with ease and incorporate them into their daily lives.
On a regular basis, he conducts yoga and meditation courses, teacher training courses, workshops and retreats all over the world. More details : www.yogavana.in
He can also be reached at : www.maniraman.org and pranamaya@gmail.com
Sri Raghav Kumar
Sri. Raghav KumarRaghav Kumar comes from a family lineage steeped in the Vedic tradition – a background which has guided himm & shaped his spiritual pursuits. After a degree in electronics engineering and a stint in the corporate sector as an IT professional, he felt drawn to a full-time pursuit of meditation and also charitable service activities to underprivileged sections of Indian society through the Ramakrishna Mission.
In 2001, Raghav first traveled the Himalayas, to Uttarkashi & Rishikesh, where he studied Sanskrit, Vedanta and Yoga Philosophy under the guidance of Swami Dayananda Saraswati and also other respected spiritual teachers. Since 2011, he has been dividing his time between Uttarkashi in the Himalayas, Thiruvannamalai in Southern India near the ashram of Sri Ramana Maharshi, and teaching Yoga philosophy, Bhagavad Gita and other Vedanta texts.
Raghav Kumar can be contacted directly by email: : raghavkumar72@yahoo.com / WhatsApp: +91 99491 75527
Smt. Dr. Sharada Raghav
Dr. Sharada RaghavDr.Sharada Raghav worked as Assistant Professor in an allopathic medical hospital viz., SRM Medical College, Chennai for eleven years. She had always been interested in spirituality and over the last twelve years, gravitated away from a regular career and chose to pursue a lifestyle based on Vedanta and Yoga at Thiruvannamalai near Sri Ramana Maharshi's ashram.
With her background in both modern Western medicine and a strong foundational degree in the Indian Systems of medicine, she loves to teach Yoga Anatomy and Physiology with several yoga schools and has been doing so since 2013. She also teaches holistic health care and Ayurveda and considers herself lucky to have learnt ethnobotany from senior Ayurvedic scholars. She has taught Yoga Anatomy in numerous 200hr and 300hr Yoga teacher training courses in Bali, Dharmashala, Goa and at the Angkor Vat, Cambodia.
Her focus is on bio-mechanics and the anatomy of movement along the lines of Western Yoga Anatomy experts like Ray Long, Leslie Kaminoff, David Keil, Jules Mitchell etc., and avoids a bookish information-heavy approach to teaching Yoga anatomy. This greatly helps with the practical assimilation of anatomical understanding relevant to Yoga postures.
Dr. Sharada Raghav can be contacted directly by email: srisunandini@gmail.com / WhatsApp: +91-8220863167
Other Teachers
Swami Tatwarupananda, Swami Govindananda and Swami Nivedanananda Swami Govindananda, Swami Tatwarupananda and Swami Nivedanananda will be assisted by many other internationally trained experts to run the ashram administration as well as to assist in teaching of the many of the courses of the ashram.
