Some scholars refer to svadhyaya with a more generalized
interpretation. Since sva is own, svadhyaya could mean study of the
Self:or the atma vidya or adhyatma vidya which is the subject matter
of the Upanishadic portion of the Vedas. It could include other
philosophies which help to understand the nature of the Self,  like
Yoga and Samkhya. Hence all studies in which the main goal is
realization of the Self or Soul can be termed as svadhyaya. Sri
Krishnamacharya made it a point to teach  several Upanishad vidyas and
other adhyatma vidyas as Yoga, the Gita, samkhya  etc.

But what does Patanjali indicate by Svadhyaya in the Niyamas? It is
the study and practice of the devotional rituals of the Vedas. This
can be inferred from the benefits Patanjali says would accrue by
svadhyaya. It is the communion with one’s own ishtadevata or personal
deity, “svadhyayat ishta devata samprayogah”. Sri Krishnamacharya
spent a lot of time teaching the Vedas and vedic philosophies.
Svadhyaya is a perpetual niyama. So every year on the full moon day
during the month July15 to August 14th, orthodox Indians renew their
pledge to study the Vedas, and follow it up on the following day by
the chanting of the Gayatri mantra 1008 times. They continue the
minimum practice of svadhyaya by chanting gayatri every day at least
108 times. Many chant the Vedas, like the Sun Salutation mantras or
the vedic hymns of Siva or the Upanishad etc., every day. This is
orthodox svadhyaya which Patanjali seems to include as a Niyama.

If we take a wider interpretation of the word svadhyaya to mean study
of the adhyatma vidyas or study about the Self, we have a number of
texts that compete for the Yogi’s attention. Apart from the main
philosophies like Yoga, Samkhya and Vedanta on this subject, almost
all the old texts like the Puranas and individual works have a portion
on Yoga, as “yogic discipline” was considered a prerequisite for the
study, understanding and meditation of the Self.

Such texts are many in number. They are not limited to Sanskrit alone.
In fact there are many classic texts on spirituality in a Dravidian
language called Tamil (Tamizh), which is my mother tongue. Several
Tamil scholars consider Tamil to be even older than Sanskrit and it is
one of the few Indian languages with a minimum of Sanskrit- derived
words. The philosophical works in Tamil are many. There is a beautiful
small text called “Kaivalya Navaneetam” or the butter of  Spiritual
Freedom. It indicates that if one studies that book, spiritual Freedom
takes place instantaneously, like the time taken to swallow a piece of
butter. Or kaivalya or spiritual freedom will appear to be as
delicious to the spiritual aspirant as butter would be to a child.
Children love butter and Lord Krishna as a child was said to be very
fond of butter.

Perhaps one of the best known Tamil works on spirituality is the one
written by a Sivayogi called Tirumular.  He says in his work
Thirumandiram that he was a contemporary of Patanjali and by
implication witnessed the dance of Lord Siva in Chidambaram. (For the
story of Patanjali please read the chapter “Story of Patanjali” in  my
book “Yoga for the Three Stages of Life”). Some scholars consider
Tirumandiram, the 3000 verse monumental work, as equivalent to the
works of the Bhagavatgita, Patanjali’s Yogautra and another Yoga
classic, Yogavasishta combined. It is hard to disagree.

Tirumular says:

By receiving Nandhi’s grace we sought the feet of the Lord
The Four Nandhis (Sanagar, Santhanar, Sanath Sujatar, Sanath Kumarar),
Siva Yoga Maamuni, Patañjali, Vyakramapadar and I (Thirumoolar)
We were thus eight disciples.

The story of Tirumular is also interesting. He was a Sivayogi and a
siddha yogi, one who had attained siddhis—like what you find in the
Vibhuti Pada of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra. Here is the story.

It is said that the Siva Yogi, Sundaranatha, who was one of the eight
direct disciples of Lord Siva, having received the blessings of Lord
Siva and also having become a Sidhha and being a great Vedic scholar,
decided to visit the South Indian sage Agastya (rhymes with Augustus?)
who was living in the Podihai mountains of Tamil Nadu in South India.
He worshipped the Lord in Kedhar and Pasupati in Nepal. He took a holy
dip in the Ganga and proceeded towards the South. He visited the
mountain range of Shrisailam, on the banks of the great Southern river
Krishna and worshipped Sivasankara. Travelling further south he
reached Kalahasti, another venerated hill temple of Siva. Then he went
to the dancing Siva’s (Nataraja) temple Alavanam and then went to
Kancheepuram and worshipped the Lord in the Ekambresvara temple, about
50 miles from the city of Madras (Chennai).  Then he reached the great
temple in Tillai or Chidambaram and witnessed the primordial dance of
Lord Siva, the same place where Patanjali also had the vision of the
divine dance. His heart was full of immense divine joy on seeing the
dance of the Lord. Then he slowly moved further south and reached the
banks of the river Kaviri.

One day, after taking his bath in the holy river Kaveri, he went to
another Siva temple in Aduthurai. He worshipped the icon of the Lord
in that temple and never felt like leaving the beautiful form and the
spiritual environs of the place. But he collected himself and started
proceeding towards the Podihai mountains to meet with the short
statured Agastya. As he was slowly treading along the bank of Kaveri,
he saw a herd of cows standing around a spot, not moving, not grazing
as expected. He went near them and saw to his dismay, the cowherd
lying dead in front of the cows. The orphaned cows which seemed to be
unable to bear the loss of their friendly cowherd were weeping with
their heads down. It was also time for the cows to return to their
habitats to be milked and such milch cows were struggling to stay in
place with their heavy udders.  The Yogi, who considers ‘Love is the
Lord’ (anbe Sivam), took pity on the cows.  He used his yogic powers
called “para kaya pravesa” and transmigrated into the body of the
cowherd, known as Mula. In an instant Mula woke up as if from sleep
and the cows instantly looked happy. The Yogi, now a cowherd, kept his
own body aside under a banyan tree-planning to re-enter his own body a
short while afterwards- and led the cows back to their habitats. He
waited for the cows to return to their respective spots and then
decided to get back to the forest where his original body was.
Reaching the spot where he had left his body, he was shocked to find
that his body was missing. Actually the King’s servants finding an
unclaimed body decided to dispose of it by cremating it as per the
custom. Now the Yogi who had renounced everything had now renounced
his own body.  Though he was taken aback by the turn of events, he
realized that the Lord Siva was directing him to propagate Sivayoga
through him in the Southern part of India through the medium of  the
Southern language, Tamizh . Shortly thereafter, some of the villagers
not finding Mula with the returning cows came in search of him in the
forest and brought him back to the village and left him in his house.
Mulan’s wife who herself was an orphan and childless found the
behavior of her husband odd. He said to her that he had renounced the
world and would not come back home and went into a Mutt and remained
there for the night, planning to leave the place the following day.
Mulan’s wife was restless all night. She had no relatives or grown up
children to take care of her. Early in the morning she approached the
elders of the village and narrated her plight and requested them to
persuade Mulan to return home. The elders after talking to him for a
few minutes realized that a transformation had taken place in Mula and
that he was not the illiterate cowherd anymore but an accomplished
Yogi and they thought it was due to the grace of Lord Siva. They went
back and consoled Mulan’s wife, telling her that her husband has
transformed himself to a Yogi and she should feel happy and proud of
her husband. They also persuaded the Yogi to stay near the village so
that his wife would feel more secure even though he would be separated
from her. The Yogi sat under a tree and meditated for one year and at
the end woke up from his Samadhi and composed one verse. Again he went
into Samadhi and at the end of the second year he opened his eyes and
composed the second verse and went on to compose three thousand
verses, it is believed in the following 3000 years! Thirumantiram
(lit., the sacred mantras) became a classic in Siva Yoga and there is
no one who would not be touched deeply by one verse or the other.

Here are a few verses translated, pertaining to Ashtanga Yoga.
1. Certain constraints and prescribed duties (dont’s and do’s),
countless postures, breath control, sense control, concentration,
meditation, and absorption are the eight aspects of yoga.
2. One who is steadfast in Yama, the first Anga, will never cause
injuries to anyone by word or deed (nor abet). Thoroughly truthful, he
never covets; possesses exemplary qualities, and is pious. Modest and
neutral he shares his possessions with others. Pure he abjures use of
intoxicants.
3. The Niyamas (vows) are cleanliness, both outward and inward,
compassion, dieting, forbearance, truth, sensitiveness and a mind free
from lust, greed, or sadism.
4. Further, austerity, chanting, contentment, faith, charity,
religiousness, scriptural study and its propagation, and worship are
the aspects of Niyama.
5. Asanas are many hundreds. The important ones are Bhadrasana,
Gomukhasana, Padmasana, Simhasana, Siddhasana, Veerasana, Sukhasana
and Swastikasana.
6. By the proper control of Prana (Pranayama) bliss arises in one
automatically. Why resort to intoxicating drinks? The gait becomes
sprightly and laziness vanishes. This is the truth, oh sensible one,
of the efficacy of Pranayama.
7. Usually Prana circulates in the body without control. If one, by
proper practice purifies and controls it, the complexion will become
golden, grey hair will turn black, and ultimately/untimely death will
be prevented.
8. Thirumular indicates that he, by the aid of Yoga lived long (3, 000 years). Knowledge of life and long life are essential, he says,to
attain spiritual knowledge. He says “Once I was under the impression
that the body need not be protected since it is perishable. Of late I
found that something is inside it, and that something is the all-
pervading entity, which is inside my body as though my body is its
temple. After finding that truth I have taken a vow to protect and
preserve my body temple and keep perfect.”

Here is Ganesa Prayer from Tirumular’s Tirumandiram, which I usually
chant at the beginning of my Yoga classes

Aindu karattanai
Aanai muhattanai
Indin ilampirai pondra eyitrinai
Nandi mahandanai
Jnaanakkozhundinai
Pundiyil vaittadi potruhinrene.

Him, who has arms five,
Him, who has an elephant face
Him, whose single tusk equals the charm of the crescent moon,
Him, who is the offspring of the Blissful Lord,
Him, who is wisdom overflowing
I worship (by) keeping His feet
In my consciousness (mind)

Here are a couple of gems

There is but one Race
There is but one God

The ignorant considers Love and God as different
And many consider Love and God separate
When one finds out Love and God to be identical
One becomes an embodiment of Love/Compassion

The entire text is published. I think there is a translation of it in
Indian English, with which you are now familiar.

Sri Krishnamacharya was an innovative yogi. He adapted yoga, using the
physical, physiological, psychological, devotional and spiritual
aspects to the requirements of individuals. But these adaptations were
based on solid footing in traditional yoga. There is a view among a
few yoga practitioners that Yoga is evolving and so they become
inventors of Yoga, without studying the huge amount of yogic wisdom
already available. My Guru spent the first four decades of his life,
went around different parts of the country studied under different
teachers different subjects before settling down to teach Yoga. In the
olden days, classical subjects like traditional music, grammar and
literature, vedic chanting, Ayurveda and Yoga were supposed to be
studied full time for at least seven years before one can claim to
work in that specific areas. Even in modern times, subjects like
Medicine, Law, Engineering and others require solid study for a number
of years before one can practice as a doctor or a lawyer or design a
bridge. So when Krishnamacharya taught Yoga or treated a patient with
yoga procedures, you could be sure that even as he would adapt to
individual requirements it was based on solid, thorough traditional
knowledge. He had one foot firmly grounded in orthodox approach. He
even would exhort his students to go around villages and approach
agraharamas (elite communities) and look for works of obscure yogis
that would be available with their families and bring them out and
study them. He used to quote sometimes from unusual sources, mainly
because he took efforts to unearth hidden treasures of yogic
knowledge. In Yoga Makaranda you come across references to many works
which we are not able to find nowadays, but which he had studied. Many
of the works remained unpublished like the Yogakuranta, for instance.
So svadhyaya is a vey important aspect of a Yogi’s development.
Without that, without those moorings, the yogi becomes rudderless and
could waste perhaps a lot of valuable time either with ineffective
innovations or lopsided practices within a narrow spectrum. Sri
Krishnamacharya was an orthodox Yogi with a lot of conventional,
traditional study (svadhyaya) and that was the secret of his
innovations. He made the obscure Yoga of yesteryears accessible to
modern times.

This article was written by Srivatsa Ramaswami and is reproduced here with his kind permission.

1) There is no statutory regulation of Yoga in the UK and none has been recommended. It was suggested in a government review that Yoga Therapy have Voluntary Self Regulation and I believe that the British Council for Yoga Therapy have formed with this in mind. As the title suggests this is voluntary and not statutory. BWY do not regulate Yoga in the UK.

2) The BWY governing body title is a Sport England award and refers only to their status with Sport England. Sports are allowed a number of governing bodies, it is not an exclusive title. Personally, I believe that this link is inappropriate anyway, as I do not consider Yoga to be a sport.

3) The BWY have no authority to monitor Yoga in the UK and is not a British authority on Yoga teaching or practice.

As an independent Yoga teacher I have public liability insurance, first aid training and a valid CRB certificate to operate as a safe and responsible teacher.

As a graduate of our training programme you will have access to insurance with the Independant Yoga Network or insurance is available through other brokers in the UK.

IYN graduates can also join REPS, if they wish to work in the fitness industry.

I hope this makes the current UK situation clear.
Please contact me if you have any further questions.

I first heard of Srivatsa Ramaswami as a student on PP10 when I read his book ‘The Basic Tenets of Patanjala Yoga’. I have read this book many times and like its clear and direct presentation. Some years later I bought Ramaswami’s book ‘Yoga for the Three Stages of Life’ which has also been well used.

When Ramaswami’s new book ‘The Complete Book of Vinyasa Yoga’ was released I began practicing the sequences that he presented and enjoyed the challenge trying different postures, sequences and variations. Having an overview of Vinyasa Krama helped to clarify my understanding of the system.  Here was another facet of Krishnamacharya’s legacy that I was keen to explore. I found some glowing reports on the internet by students that had studied with Ramaswami and I was hopeful of finding an opportunity to do so myself. I found that he offered some courses in the USA and The Chicago Yoga Centre was hosting a ‘Core Vinyasa Yoga’ teacher training programme so I booked the course, a flight and a hotel. On November 4th 2007 I arrived in Chicago and went to bed that night with eager anticipation about starting the course the next morning. The course was held at the conference room in Days Inn where I was staying.

I arrived for the first session and was greeted by Suddha Weixler, the director of CYC. He introduced me to Ramaswami and told him I had come from England. Ramaswami politely greeted me and I had an immediate feeling of joy and a sense of certainty that I had made the right decision in coming on the course.

Ramaswami began the first session with prayers and then a short talk. We then began practicing the tadasana sequence under his guidance. His calm, clear instructions lead us through the sequences. We completed many vinyasas and then took some rest. Ramaswami then took questions and gave some theory and insights into the practice. During the week we went through all the main sequences and postures that appear in his book with the exception of some advanced postures. During the sessions Ramaswami told delightful stories from the puranas and about his studies with Krishnamacharya. Sessions always ended with pratyahara, pranayama, meditation and a closing prayer.

In the evening we had lectures on the Yoga Sutra. Ramaswami presented this as a practical procedure that we could follow. I felt more confident and clear about my practice as a result. My faith in Yoga was renewed listening to Ramaswami’s inspired presentations.

It was funny that I had imagined one day meeting a Yoga master in a Himalayan location, but here I was practicing Yoga and listening to the sastras in Days Inn, Chicago!

It was a transformational week for me and I knew I wanted to study further with Ramaswami. He told me that there was a sadhana retreat organised for New Year at a location in New Dehli so I arranged to go on this. It was entitled ‘The Teachings of Krishnamacharya’ and was held at Purna Holistic, an Ayurvedic health centre and spiritual venue. It was my first visit to India and was all I could have hoped for. An authentic wonderful teacher, a beautiful venue where we were cared for with diligent attention, the company of lovely Yoga practitioners and hours a day immersed in Yoga study and practice. I was even sharing a bungalow with Christopher Chapple, the Yoga scholar, who had been instrumental in organising the event.

In the mornings we practiced asanas and then explored the therapeutic application of Yoga. After lunch we met for lectures on the Yoga Sutras. I loved every minute. Ramaswami taught with such clarity and enthusiasm that it made the subject practical, clear and achievable.

Back to the UK and I had decided to move from Yorkshire to Somerset to be with my partner Sally. I sold my house and took the opportunity to attend Ramaswami’s teacher training course at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. It was a five week intensive covering the whole spectrum of Krishnamacharya’s  Yoga teachings. I could write a book on the whole experience so I will just give a couple of examples of how Ramaswami taught.

We had a two week programme on pranayama in which we met for two hours each day. Ramaswami taught us the theory for one hour using the pranayama chapter in the HYP as a guide. We then practiced some asanas and sat in pranayama. We began the first day with 10 pranayamas and over the fortnight built up to the 80 recommended in the text. It brought a sense of freedom, achievement and a definite ‘can do’ attitude to my practice. I understood the process and was confident that I could do it if I applied myself. A number of limitations and boundaries were dissolved during the course.

Ramaswami created a beautiful atmosphere in the class and harmony was maintained in the group for the duration of the course. Everyone felt they had been blessed by the experience. He would often recite passages from the Vedas, while we sat or rested in Savasana, and we felt purified and uplifted by the beautiful chanting. 

I was keen to help share what Ramaswami has to offer with practitioners in the UK so arranged some programmes which ran in February 2009.  It was wonderful to be with Ramaswami again and I was so happy that everyone had an inspiring and uplifting experience.

Ramaswami has all the qualities of a great teacher, he is wise, patient, generous and kind with an authentic humility that is rare to see. His devotion and gratitude to his Guru is obvious. I feel very fortunate and grateful to have been able to study with him.

Also it is accepted in Yoga and Ayurveda that food affects the body and mind. Food will increase, balance or decrease the three doshas of vata, pitta and kapha leading to health or disease in the body. Food will increase, balance or decrease the three gunas of sattva, tamas and rajas so leading to peace, dullness or pain in the mind. It is very important to understand this and apply it to be successful in Yoga. Many people leave Yoga and say that it does not give the promised benefits. Others continue to practise and do not attain the full benefits suffering from vacillation and instability. This needs to be investigated. If you only boil potatoes for 10 minutes they will not be cooked, they will only be cooked if you keep them boiling for 20 minutes. In the same way the practice of Yoga needs the correct conditions and application to come to fruition.

Krishnamacharya gave three reasons for practitioners not succeeding in Yoga.

1) They are not following the rules such as vinyasa.
2) Their teacher is not teaching them using the secrets and techniques that are in his/her experience.
3) The teacher has not instructed them properly about the place and time of practice, the appropriate diet and drink and activities for the practitioner.

We can benefit ourselves and others by our practice of Yoga. It is considered that meat imparts rajasic vibrations to the mind and alcohol tamasic vibrations. Rajasic and tamasic input is to be reduced for success in Yoga. It is also estimated that if the wealthy nations reduced their meat and alcohol consumption by 50% this would release enough grain to feed all the worlds hungry. So by reducing the consumption of these items we could improve our health, progress steadily in Yoga, help many suffering beings and reduce our impact on the earth.

To give all the elements of a balanced Ayurvedic diet and lists of foods according to the gunas is beyond the scope of this article. I recommend that you investigate this subject with your teacher or through books. The following book is highly recommended on Ayurvedic aspects of diet. The Ayurvedic Cookbook. The recipes are mainly very Sattvic, therefore also meeting the requirements of a Yogic diet.

Please give careful attention to diet for health, to support your Yoga practice and for the benefit of other beings and the earth.

May you enjoy peace and happiness.

I first heard of Srivatsa Ramaswami about twenty years ago when I read Basic Tenets of Patanjala Yoga, his booklet on the Yoga Sutras. It struck me that the author was quite traditional, but also extremely learned – he wrote with clarity and authority. Ramaswami, I discovered, was a long term student of Krishnamacharya, a contemporary of Desikachar’s and one of the 3 original trustees of the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram (KYM), along with Desikachar and Mr. Kuppuswamy, one of Desikachar’s classmate. Paul Harvey told me that he had spent some time studying with him when he was in India in the early 80s; he also mentioned that he was a very nice man!

Since then Ramaswami has written a few other books – Yoga for the Three Stages of Life (Inner Traditions 2000), The Complete Book of Vinyasa Yoga (Marlow and Company, 2004) and Yoga Beneath the Surface (with David Hurwitz, Marlow and Company, 2006). In all of these books, the impression remained: clear, traditional, sincere and vastly learned.

When my good friend Steve Brandon went to study with Ramaswami for a fortnight in the USA a couple of years ago, he sent me some very enthusiastic emails telling me what a joy the course was. I remember Steve commenting that whilst certain of the American Big Names of yoga were drawing audiences of 70 or 80 to their classes, Ramaswami sometimes worked with fewer than 10 people – and yet his knowledge of the subject was obviously far superior. Steve was so impressed that not long afterwards he spent another fortnight with Ramaswami – this time in Delhi – and he shared a room with Christopher Chapple the well known Sanskrit scholar.  Finally Steve decided to join a 5 week intensive with Ramaswami in the States, and, still enthused he invited Ramaswami to come to the UK for some retreats and workshops.

I was lucky enough to attend the 5 day retreat that Ramaswami conducted at the beautiful Earth Spirit Centre near Glastonbury. Steve had done a great job of organising the retreat and it ran very smoothly. It was a fairly small group – and a mixed group. There were some experienced Viniyoga graduates, others who came were much less experienced or had come from different traditions. Being on retreat with my old friends – Chris Priest, Dave Charlton and Gail Reeves, Sheila Baker and many more – made me quite nostalgic for the old days at Hawkwood where we often were on retreat together.

I confess that the prospect of 6 hours of strong asana a day was rather daunting – the timetable consisted of 3 hours of asana in the morning, 3 in the afternoon and an evening talk. Although the asana was strong – it was actually great fun, and you could stop whenever you needed to. We were talked through 10 primary vinyasas – each taking up to two and a half hours to complete fully. Thus, for example, we worked on the tadasana vinyasa, the asymmetrical seated asana vinyasa, shoulderstand vinyasa, lotus posture vinyasa, prone backward bend vinyasa and more. Ramaswami was presenting an encyclopaedia of asana and their application – many variations in each posture were explored as well as some modifications. Going through the sequences and understanding how they were applied and taught changed my perception of the Vinyasa Yoga book (which in truth, I had only previously glanced at). Now I was beginning to see the logic and application of the vinyasas.

The asana work was in fact entirely consistent with what Paul had taught on his 4 year Viniyoga Teacher Training Programme – particularly when he talked about siksana (uncompromised) application. However, we went rather quicker and deeper into strong postures than I’m used to – and we also stayed in a few postures for far longer than is usual in most Viniyoga classes (for example, 3-5 minutes in pascimuttanasana).  I ached rather after a couple of days, but by the end of the week I felt really good in my body: it was a great workout detox!  Although it was out of the usual parameters of Viniyoga; I’m really pleased to have actually explored those areas in some detail. One of the great strengths of Viniyoga is its accessibility – the approach to asana is safe, user-friendly and skilful. However, if one were to level a criticism (and I’ve certainly heard this by others), I think it is that the range of asana – and even sometimes the intensity, can be limited. So it was a great complement to the Viniyoga Training that we have been so fortunate to receive that during this retreat we were practicing asana that we’re not necessarily going to do everyday; but it was OK – we could understand it and have some first hand experience of more siksana asana practice as taught by Krishnamacharya.

The evening lectures were short but direct forays into the world of the Yoga Sutras. Very clearly and precisely, Ramaswami presented his understanding of the essential teachings of Patanjali, as he had received them from Krishnamacharya. Again, I was struck by the traditional approach – he was very to the point and said: this is how it is. There was certainly no evangelism – in fact I thought there was some similarity between his approach to asana and pranayama and his teaching of the Yoga Sutras – clear, direct and uncomplicated.  Take it or leave it! Although this may be challenging for a relative new comer to the Sutras (for example, he did use quite a few Sanskrit terms without necessarily explaining them in detail); for many of us who are more familiar it gave an added dimension and plenty of food for thought.

Ramaswami was essentially generous with his teaching – I really had the impression he wanted to pass on what he had learned from Krishnamacharya – with no agenda other than to share. However, to say that anybody truly represents Krishnamacharya is difficult, as Ramaswami pointed out. He said that Krishnamacharya’s learning and teaching was so vast and varied that we can only hope to reflect some small aspect of it. As one of the very few remaining long term students of Krishnamacharya, I’m sure he is a credit to his Teacher. After some years of feeling rather distanced from the Krishnamacharya tradition, Ramaswami very much re-connected me – his gratitude to Krishnamacharya was evident, and a couple of times he stopped and seemed briefly overcome with emotion for his Teacher. This was clearly a man teaching in a lineage, very much “close to the Source” – and it was very moving to see. Once again, the tremendous breadth of these teachings was evident: so much has evolved from the work of Krishnamacharya and we are very lucky to have the opportunity to work with so many great and inspiring Teachers in the lineage

Ramaswami’s demeanour throughout the teaching was very simple, humble and humorous. He struck me initially as slightly shy – perhaps a little reserved; but as the week went on he joked and interacted more; he was great to be with! There was a sweetness to his presence and if you get the chance – do go and work with him! He will be at the aYs Convention, as well as running various workshops and retreats in the UK in July 2010.

For further info about Ramaswami, see www.vinyasakrama.com
For further info about Ramaswami’s teachings  in the UK including teacher training, see Ramaswami section on this site.
For further info about yoga with Ranju www.yogamala.co.uk
For further info about training with Ranju www.sadhanamala.com

Ranju Roy
April 2009

“You probably don’t realise what a huge impact you and your teaching have had on me. I know my continuing mobility and flexibility are superior to anyone I know of my age (and younger!) but far and away the most important lasting change has been my spiritual and mental wellbeing. It is over 9 years since my beloved husband died and I still have times of almost unbearable grief. But now I can bring myself back to calmness by practicing what you have taught me concerning correct breathing, relaxation and meditation.”
Brenda Offord

“I have an S-shaped curvature of the spine which was either caused by a congenital malformation or a hairline fracture in the lumbar region in very early childhood. My spine was surgically fused when I was 12 and there was no remedial treatment offered to me following that. Since 1994 (aged 35), I have been receiving treatment from an Osteopath in order to help me maintain good posture and keep me pain free (I was experiencing considerable pain at the time and some loss of feeling in my arms and legs.) My Orthopaedic Consultant recommended that I should wear a surgical corset for the rest of my life and that I was likely to need further surgery within 2 years in order to prevent partial paralysis in my lower body. 16 years on and I don’t wear the corset and haven’t needed surgery.

I asked Steve to teach me yoga and to devise an individual yoga programme for me as an additional support system to osteopathy. Having been advised by the Orthopaedic Consultant that my curvature was likely to progress as I got older, my aim was to maintain my current condition and prevent deterioration.

I have been doing my daily yoga practice, as advised by Steve, for the last 4 years and have been delighted with the results so far. What I have found is that my back feels stronger generally and my muscle tone is improved. This is most noticeable when I attempt those activities which I would previously have found very challenging as they would have caused pain in my back and legs. These were notably gardening and camping. I feel much less protective of my spine and less fearful of the future with respect to the health of my spine. I feel as though I am much more in control of this now and that my deterioration is not inevitable or something that I will just have to tolerate. In fact, as my muscles have strengthened, I’m beginning to notice some straightening in my lower spine. My Osteopath keeps a photographic record of the condition of my spine and she has commented that it looks to her to be in the best condition she has ever seen it. Since beginning Yoga Therapy, I’ve managed to reduce the number of osteopath appointments I need each year and haven’t even needed to visit her at all in the last year.

I have found Steve to be very patient and compassionate in his treatment of me. He always listens carefully to what I have to say about my practice and how I am feeling and treats me with respect and kindness. I find him professional and personable in his approach and he inspires me to be open to possibilities for my improvement which I hadn’t even dared to consider before I met him. My amazing progress so far, Steve’s encouragement and his confidence in the potential of Yoga are what motivate me to continue with my practice.”
Sally

““He’s the real thing,” Mary told me. She was right.”
Lynne – Doncaster.

“ I have benefited in many ways, to name a few: feel better, healthier, I lost 1 stone in weight and am now down to my ideal weight, have changed my daily routine for the better, including morning Yoga sessions, my friends have commented that I look younger.”
J.D.

“With dedication and discipline, the programme can work wonders for your health and your looks. Overall, an enjoyable experience and gave me plenty to think about in terms of changing aspects of my lifestyle.”
W.H.

“ I can recommend this for improving health, energy levels and clarity. Life becomes easier and more enjoyable.”
S.T.

“Having had a double hip replacement and being afraid of too strenuous movement, Yoga has given me the confidence to extend my hip movement safely and therefore enjoy more mobility without fear. Thank you Steve.”
B.L.