The School and Swami Janakananda
Scandinavian Yoga and Meditation School consists of mutually independent schools located mainly in Northern Europe. They are run by a group of professional yoga and meditation teachers.
Bindu Publishers, the school’s publishing house, brings out a periodical (also named Bindu) as well as books, tapes and CDs with various relaxation techniques and meditations.
Haa Course Center is a non‑profit organisation, managed by representatives from the course center and the other schools. The Center functions on the basis of voluntary work.
The place is run by the teachers, together with the teacher aspirants of the school and others who share an interest. Some live and work the year round in Haa, others are active in the branches of Scandinavian Yoga and Meditation School located in various cities in Europe.
Out of consideration for our students and other residents, we require participation in at least one course before a person can move in. Then the new resident will know how we work and can take part in the common meditations.
The teachers who lead the retreats have a deep personal experience of yoga and meditation. They have undergone many years of fulltime training at the Scandinavian Yoga and Meditation School. This makes them not only yoga instructors, but also guides in working with yourself.
The meditation teachers on the courses have all taught for more than 12 years. Read more about the individual teachers.
Swami Janakananda Saraswati is the school’s founder and educational leader. He is the architect of the courses at Haa Course Center, where he also lives and teaches.
He was born in Copenhagen in 1939. As a child, he had already learned to use a few simple yoga exercises. At the age of 19, he realised that he wanted to become a yogi, and started to practise yoga on his own.
From 1962 to 1965, he was part of a pantomime group in Copenhagen, learning through intensive training how to use physical yoga as a means for creative expression and concentration. This also resulted in other forms of artistic work ‑ painting and directing plays.
“During my time with the pantomime group, we would warm up with yoga for a couple of hours each day. I discovered that it not only sustained my inspiration, but my entire state changed. I felt more fundamentally awake and present in everything that I did. So I decided to explore yoga even more.”
From 1965 to 1968, he began to devote more and more time to yoga. Through his own exploration, he became a master of the yogic breathing exercises (pranayama).
From 1968 to 1970, he stayed with Swami Satyananda in Bihar in India. There he learned to use the advanced meditations from the tantric science, like Inner Silence (Antar Mauna) and Kriya Yoga.
“I was fortunate to go to India in the 60’s. The ashram was small and Swamiji taught all the practices himself, taking time for personal training and guidance. At the end of my initial course, I decided to stay on and experienced a co-operation with him where each day I learnt anew to remain awake and increasingly conscious.”
Subsequently he travelled around India together with Swami Satyananda for 3 months.
“This was how my yoga teacher education began, whether I wanted it or not. Many people came to Swamiji with a problem or a question. I had the task to teach each person the specific yoga or simple meditation to meet the individual’s requirements.
On this journey, and also later back at the ashram, I received a fundamental experience of yoga as not only a therapy – but also as a tool that can enrich daily life with a spiritual dimension.”
On the evening of Shivaratri, 15th of February 1969, Swami Janakananda took Sannyasa diksha into the Paramhansa order, the Dasanama Sannyasa spiritual order, which was founded by Srimat Srimat Shankaracharya (788-822). Thus he was initiated in the Swami tradition in the branch of his teacher that is called Saraswati.
“Apart from the initiation to Sannyasa itself, the earlier ‘initiations’ I had encountered in the form of visions and experiences in my meditation were also confirmed as definitely real and as something I should continue to use in my life.
Swami Satyananda confirmed with this initiation that he knew yoga was more than just a hobby for me and that I needed quite a large degree of independence.”
(Read more about Swami Janakananda’s life in "Time for learning... time for insight... time for teaching... , Kriya Yoga III " in Bindu #7)
Swami Janakananda’s work has strongly influenced the use of yoga and meditation in Northern Europe. With more than 35 years of teaching experience, he is a sought after teacher and writer. On his journeys, he visits the different branches of the school, leads courses around the world and gives lectures at international conferences.
Yoga, Tantra and Meditation in Daily Life, Swami Janakananda’s first book, is published in England, USA, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Germany and France and new translations in Spanish and Romanian are in progress.
“I don’t feel it is necessary to interfere with the way people think, whatever philosophy they might have; whether they are religious or atheists.
It is my intention to lead you through a process that will help you become more yourself and fully able to accept the way you have chosen to live.
Through a unique and scientific system of yoga and meditation, I will provide you with a tool that can be used in your daily activities and free time.”
(Swami Janakananda)
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Links to writings of Swami Janakananda
To sit near one's Shadow − The Experience, and avoiding that which hinders it
Kriya Yoga I – A bridge between the inner and the outer world
Kriya Yoga II - to the depth of your nature
Kriya Yoga III – time for learning... time for insight... time for teaching...
Harmony between the experiencer and the experienced
On the path to a greater Awareness – about a text by Swami Satyananda: Chronology of a yogi
