Yogamaharishi Dr Swami Gitananda Giri Guru Maharaj established Ananda Ashram in 1969 with a special interest in Bharat Natyam training and intense Yoga Sadhana. Until his MahaSamadhi in 1993 he personally conducted six month Teacher Training courses with emphasis upon Ashtanga Yoga plus a unique Kriya system and Yoga therapy (Yoga Chikitsa).

Under the current direction of Yogacharini Meenakshi Devi and Dr. Ananda Balayogi a new intake takes place each October. The live in six month course at Ananda Ashram commences October 2nd (in honor of Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday). I have arrived in February three times to teach Yantra for a month to the students. They are a truly international group comprising Sadhaks from America, Europe, Australia and India!

The ICYER International Yoga Teachers Training & Sadhana course extends from October 2nd through March 25th and is a life transforming experience. Ananda Ashram is the perfect environment to study traditional Rishiculture Yoga with excellent residential facilities.

South Indian culture is totally different and an extra feature for Western Students is an opportunity to study Bharat-Natyam and Carnatic vocal music with an integrated Yoga course.

Correspondence study is a prerequisite for entrance to the course. Contact the Director for admission information and procedures. Intake is select.

INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR YOGA EDUCATION AND RESEARCH (ICYER)
16-A, Mettu Street, Chinnamudaliarchavady, Kottakuppam,
(Six Kilometres North from Pondicherry on East Coast Highway)
Tamil Nadu-605 104. SOUTH - INDIA.
E-mail : yognat2001@yahoo.com (or) abb@doctor.com
Phone : (0413) 622902, 241561

This world famous Yoga Institute has been offering intensive Six Month International Yoga Teachers Training Courses from October 2nd through March 25th since 1968, without any break.Thousands of students from all over India and the world have been thoroughly trained in an intensive Yoga programme which starts at 4.30 am each morning and concludes only by 9.00 pm each evening. CLASSICAL RISHICULTURE ASHTANGA YOGA as expounded by the world famous Guru, Yoga Maharishi Dr. Swami Gitananda Giri Guru Maharaj is taught in carefully graded steps. Swami Gitananda, a Medical Doctor born in India but who spent forty years in the West, taught classical Ashtanga Yoga with a scientific, medical basis. The revered Swamiji, considered one of the five leading world experts in Ashtanga Yoga, attained Samadhi in December 29, 1993. Yogic cleansing practices and fasting, diet and nutrition are also basic to the course. More than 108 Asanas, 44 Pranayamas and 56 Kriyas are taught in the six months. Thorough study of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, Upanishads, Yoga Vashishta, Hatha Yoga Pradapika, Gheranda Samhita, Bhagavad Gita and other important Yogic texts is made. Training is also given in Carnatic Music, with emphasis on devotional Bhajans. Those interested may also study Bharat Natyam and Classical Instrumental Music. Training in Raja Yoga and Jnana Yoga techniques are given, including elaborate work with Yogic relaxation, concentration and visualisation practices. Seats in the course are limited to ten persons annually, who are accepted only after going through preliminary instruction with the Institute's trained teachers and participation in the 52 Lesson Correspondence Course, Yoga : Step-by-Step, which is the basic syllabus of the Six Month Course. The Institute has a traditional Gurukula setting, in an ideal garden atmosphere, on the shores of the Bay of Bengal. Students are also introduced to the Indian way of life, festivals, cultural programmes, community activities and Hindu rites and rituals, to cultivate an awareness of the culture from which Yoga has sprung. From October 2001, this course has been extended to an additional six months training, for those considered suitable,giving "hands-on" training in Yoga teaching and class organisation as well as undertaking senior Yoga practices. Those eligible for this advanced Yoga work will at the end of the one year training receive a One-Year International Diploma in Yoga Education.ICYER has sixty-five affiliated Yoga centres in twenty-two countries of the world. Twenty six books have been published, as well as a monthly magazine, Yoga Life, which has completed more than 35 years of publication for a world wide audience. The International Centre for Yoga Education and Research (ICYER) is also Head-Quarters for several world wide organisations, including Vishwa Yoga Samaj, Yoga Jivana Satsangha and the Society for the Preservation of Rishiculture Yoga (SPARC).

The International Centre for Yoga Education and Research is also the office head-quarters for Sri Kambliswamy Madam, a 128 year old Samadhi site of the great Ashtanga Yoga Guru Srila Sri Kambliswamigal at Thattanchavady,Pondicherry.The Samadhi of its founder, Yogamaharishi Dr. Swami Gitananda Giri Guru Maharaj, is also located at Kambliswamy Madam and has become a world famous pilgrimage place. Dr. Swami Gitananda left his body in Samadhi at 2.20 am December 29, 1993, Arudhra Darshan Day and the full moon in the Tamil month of Margazhi. Daily Pujas are conducted at Sri Kambliswamy Madam, with elaborate Pujas from 9.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. on Sunday. Sunday Pujas are open to public who wish to experience a traditional Hindu Puja. Grand Pujas for the Samadhis of the eight Swamijis of the lineage are conducted throughout the year, as well as many Carnatic Music Festivals at the Sri Kambliswamy Madam.

The City Centre of ICYER is called Yoganjali Natyalayam and it was established by Yogamaharishi Dr. Swami Gitananda Giri on March 29, 1993. The flourishing Centre of Yoga, Bharat Natyam and Carnatic Music with more than 300 actively enrolled students is located in Central Pondicherry, behind the Ayyanar Koil and near Naveena Theatre. It caters to the needs of the local populace as well as providing special individual and personally-tailored lessons for passing Tourists and those visiting Pondicherry on a short term basis. YOGANJALI NATYALAYAM has developed a very popular Bharat Natyam troupe, which specialises in performance of the difficult acrobatic Natya Karanas which are essentially a form of Yoga Asanas. The Centre presents a full three hour length Bharat Natyam Dance Drama each year in July - August to celebrate the birthday of Yogamaharishi Dr. Swami Gitananda Giri. Its Annual Day is held in June each year and is a feast of spectacular music, dance and Yoga demonstrations. It is located at 25, IInd Cross, Ayyanar Nagar, Pondicherry - 605 013. Ph: 241561,e-mail : yognat2001@yahoo.com

Chairman of the International Centre for Yoga Education and Research is Yogacharya Dr. Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani, who is a qualified Medical Doctor, Bharat Natyam Artist, Carnatic Classical Vocalist and an All India Radio Mridangam Artist. Dr. Ananda has released two cassettes of Carnatic classical music and is active in artistic circles of India. Director of ICYER and Ashram Acharya is Yogacharini Meenakshi Devi Bhavanani, who is a journalist by profession and also a Bharat Natyam Artist. She was honoured by the Pondicherry Government in 1999 with its highest title "PUDUVAI KALAIMAMANI" for her thirty years of work in performing and promoting Bharat Natyam. She is a writer with two books of poetry to her credit, one book of fiction, "The Rishi And The Rakshashas", and four technical books on Yoga. She is also a prolific writer of essays and articles on Yoga for newspapers and magazines in India and abroad. She has been Director of Studies for the Six Month Yoga Teachers Training Course, since the Samadhi of her Guru in 1993. An internationally acclaimed expert on Rishiculture Ashtanga Yoga, she was awarded "YOGAMANI" (Jewel of Yoga) title by President of India Sri Zail Singh in 1986 at World Yoga Conference, Asian Village, New Delhi. She was awarded BHASKAR AWARD in 1997 by Bharat Nirman in collaboration with the Indian Trade Organisation in New Delhi, one of fifty eminent Indians in the nation chosen for their contribution to the cultural and spiritual advancement of the nation. In December 1999 she was appointed to the Central Council for Research in Yoga, Ministry of Health, GOI, New Delhi for a three year term. She was one of four eminent experts in Yoga of the nation chosen to serve on this Council, which is chaired by Union Minister of Health. Yogacharini Smt. Devasena Bhavanani, wife of Dr. Ananda Bhavanani, is a professional Bharat Natyam artist and Carnatic classical vocalist, as well as a well-trained Yoga Teacher. Recepient of many awards for her excellence in art and Yoga, she presently holds a Bharat Natyam Fellowship from the Ministry of Human Resources, New Delhi. Yogacharini Devasena Bhavanani is the General Secretary and Yogi C. Shanmugam the General Manager of Yoganjali Natyalayam. A team of well trained artists and Yoga teachers assist the Chairman and Director in running their world wide organisation.

SPECIAL COURSES FOR TOURISTS AND PERSONS STAYING A SHORT TIME IN PONDICHERRY Special courses have been designed to aid tourists who are staying only a short time in Pondicherry and who wish to learn something of the ancient science of Yoga. These courses are set up in ten-class modules, and the timings and days can be adjusted to the tourists itinerary. These courses are taken in sets of ten classes. If the student wishes, and if the time is available, they may enrol in the next set of ten lessons on completion of the first. Information on these special courses can be had by contacting either ICYER or Yoganjali Natyalayam. SpecialLecture-Demonstrations of Bharat Natyam, Lectures on Yoga with Yoga Asana demonstrations or Lecture- Demonstrations of Carnatic Vocal and Instrumental Music can be arranged for Touristgroups on prior arrangement.

Contact : INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR YOGA EDUCATION AND RESEARCH
16-A, Mettu Street, Chinnamudaliarchavady, Kottakuppam, Tamil Nadu-605 104. SOUTH - INDIA.
Phone : (0413) 241561 622902
E-mail : yognat2001@yahoo.com (or) abb@doctor.com