(Text and photos from the sivananda europe website )
Swami Sivananda (1887 - 1963)
One of the great yoga masters of twentieth-century India:
Humanitarian work as a respected physician in Malaysia.

Intensive study and practice of yoga and meditation in Rishikesh, Himalayas.

Founded the Divine Life Society in Rishikesh (an Ashram which later developed into an international organization)
Published over 200 books in English on all aspects of Yoga.

Trained outstanding Yoga Masters who helped give classical Yoga the high reputation it enjoys today throughout the world.
Established the Yoga Vedanta Forest Academy in Rishikesh, which became the model for the first Yoga teacher training in the West.
Maintained personal correspondence with yoga students worldwide.

Swami Sivananda combined all known yoga systems and taught a yoga synthesis that is the basis of modern yoga practice in the West.

"Serve, love, give, purify, meditate, realize" - these teachings are the spiritual force behind the Sivananda Yoga Centres and have encouraged spiritual aspirants to live a life of neighbourly love and spiritual unity the world over.

Swami Vishnudevananda (1927 - 1993)

Is an internationally recognized yoga authority and founder of the International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres.
Intense training and practice as a close disciple of Swami Sivananda.
Hatha Yoga teacher at the Yoga Vedanta Forest Academy in Rishikesh, Himalayas
"Go to the West. People are waiting for you." - In 1957, Swami Vishnudevananda left India on his master's instructions; thus began more than 35 years of pioneering work in spreading Yoga throughout the world.
The Great Book of Yoga, a best-seller for modern yoga practice, was published in 1960.
His mission: universal peace. He was convinced that outer peace cannot exist without inner peace. He was the first yoga master in the West to develop a comprehensive teacher-training program that would later inspire countless others.
In 1969, first teacher training course in the West (Canada); today, over 1000 students graduate each year.
1970 marks the start of symbolic peace flights over regions of conflict. (Northern Ireland, Middle East, Berlin Wall) with the motto: 'Man is free as a bird'. His appeal to humanity: 'Man is free as a bird, destroy the borders erected by men with flowers and love, not with guns and bombs'.
The first Sivananda Yoga Centre in Europe opened in Vienna in 1974. Today, there are over 70 Sivananda Centres and Ashrams worldwide.
1985: first teacher training course in Europe (Spain)
Swami Vishnudevananda taught classical yoga in five main areas:
1. Appropriate exercises (Asanas)
2. Correct breathing (Pranayama)
3. Correct relaxation (Savasana)
4. Healthy diet (vegetarian)
5. Positive thinking and meditation (Vedanta and Dhyana)
"Health is wealth, peace of mind is happiness, yoga shows the way.