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Swami Janakananda

Swami Janakananda was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1939. As a child he had already learned to use simple yoga poses and, when he was 19, realised that he wanted to be a yogi. This dream was not fulfilled immediately, but in the years that followed he began to explore the possibilities of yoga through his own practice - on body and mind - which he undertook with great enthusiasm and dedication.

In 1968, he met Swami Satyananda and followed him to India. After his preliminary intensive training Swami Janakananda decided to stay on and, among other activities, travelled around India with his teacher.

On his return to Denmark in the summer of 1970, Swami Janakananda founded the Scandinavian Yoga and Meditation School. The first school in Copenhagen grew quickly and branched out to other places.

Together with the teachers he has educated, he has strongly influenced the use of yoga and meditation in Northern Europe. The success is to a great extent due to his and his colleagues’ regular use of meditation in daily life, particularly Kriya Yoga, a combination of advanced yoga and meditation practices, as well as taking an active outwardly directed life using Karma Yoga, combined with his ability to limit himself creatively within a very rich tradition, namely the tantric tradition.

Swami Janakananda lives in Sweden where, apart from teaching meditation, he collaborates with various scientists, researching the benefits of yoga and meditation. Over the years, many people have been inspired by his clear way of showing how yoga and even advanced yoga and meditation can be used as effective tools for everyday life today. What makes his teaching so special? He uses the situation here and now and the way you are - without demanding that something should be changed first.

Swami Janakananda has published several guided meditation and relaxation tapes and CD's, including the deep relaxation "Experience Yoga Nidra" and is a writer for the periodical, Bindu. His book, "Yoga, Tantra and Meditation in Daily Life" (up to now translated into nine languages) has made him internationally acknowledged as an independent and consistent guide in yoga.

Often travelling abroad to give courses, Swami Janakananda is also a sought after speaker at conventions and international conferences, mainly in North and South America, England, Germany, Israel, Australia, New Zealand and India.

At the Håå International Course Center in Southern Sweden, Swami Janakananda teaches Kriya Yoga each year on the 1 and 3-month sadhana courses.

Read more about Swami Janakananada's programme: satsangs, lectures and retreats.

Read more about Swami Janakananda

In the text:
About the School and Swami Janakananda

And in the article from Bindu # 7 on the background and life of Swami Janakananda:
Kriya Yoga III – time for learning... time for insight... time for teaching...