Swami Sivananda Radha

Swami Radha was among the first Westerners and first women to bring yoga to the West. In 1955 after having a powerful visionary experience of her guru, she left everything and traveled to India to meet Swami Sivananda. In February 1956, she was initiated into sanyas, a commitment to a life of selfless service and renunciation, and was asked to return to Canada to start an ashram and many centres of Light. Swami Radha was 44 when she went to India, and spent the remaining forty years of her life passionately committed to the teachings. During this time she founded Yasodhara Ashram and the Radha Yoga Centres, as well as Timeless Publications, which has published her books on yoga.  The Ashram in Kootenay Bay, B.C. and the Radha Yoga Centres continue to present her work in the spirit in which it was given, maintaining the quality and integrity that were the essence of Swami Radha’s life.