Swami Ambikananda is a Hindu monastic and the founder of The Traditional Yoga Association. As well as teaching Yoga, she is a certified acupuncturist and Jyotish (Vedic astrologer). Her publications include Principles of Breathwork, Healing Yoga and Age with Spirit, as well as translations from the Sanskrit of the Katha Upanishad and The Uddhava Gita, among others.

“The ancient tradition of Yoga is one that I have long respected as a means of addressing very modern challenges. It is a tradition without dogma – remaining alive by enfolding into its practices the wisdom of each age that embraces it. No doubt, the wisdoms we offer into this living tradition now will be tested through time.”

“I founded the Traditional Yoga Association to honour all the ancient traditions of Yoga – from the Katha Upanishad, the very first teaching on Yoga in recorded history, through to the philosophical and practical sutras of Patanjali and the Yoga teachings of Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita and the Sage Vasishtha in the Yoga Vasishtha, as well as the medieval texts of the Nath people.”

“However, in the forty years of my own practice I have also encountered living Yogins who deserve our equal respect and honour. First among these is my beloved guru Swami Venkatesananda, a scholar and respected authority, who offered us Yoga as a means of healing ourselves and each other as we make this walk to freedom – moksha.”

“The training thus given to our TYA teachers provides them with the knowledge and the skills to not just present a set of asanas as exercise but to offer the whole of Yoga as a means of dealing with the stress and anguish of modern living.”

“In addition to training new teachers, I teach public classes as well as practising acupuncture and teaching privately in my Yoga Bhavan at home.”