Swamiji in Mandala Yoga Ashram 2009

SWAMI NISHCHALANANDA SARASWATI established Mandala Yoga Ashram in 1986. He lived in India for 14 years as a disciple of Swami Satyananda Saraswati from whom he received extensive training in yoga and direct initiation into the spiritual mysteries. During his time in India, he underwent rigorous yogic practice, together with long periods of seclusion and silence (mouna). He also studied many of the classical yogic and tantric texts, gaining an insight into their deeper meaning.

Writing. Inspired by his Guru, he was instrumental in writing a number of books on Yoga such as Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha, Meditations from the Tantras, Sannyasa Tantra and A Systematic Course in the Ancient Tantric Techniques of Kriya Yoga. These are all currently published by the Bihar School of Yoga.
More recently, he has written Mantra Yoga and Ashram Chants and The Edge of Infinity, which are modern text books on yogic science. Both of these books are published by Mandala Yoga Ashram.
He has also written a number of small booklets which explain specific yogic topics. The titles are: Kena Upanishad – To Whom?; Bhaja Govindam – Open Your Heart to Reality; Vigyana Bhairava Tantra – Insight into Reality; The Chakras – Keys to a Quantum Leap in Human Evolution; Pancha Kosha – The Five Sheaths of the Human Being;, Bhagavad Gita – Its Symbolism and Practical Application; Bhakti Yoga – The Yoga of the Heart; The Mantra OM – Symbol of Primordial Vibration; Karma Yoga – The Yoga of Awareness in Action; Kriya Yoga; Two Yogic Paradigms of Human Nature – The Three Bodies and the Four States; and Balance, Integration & Transformation – as Symbolised by the Ida and Pingala. All of these are also published by Mandala Yoga Ashram.
For some years he was editor of Yoga, an international monthly magazine published by the Bihar School of Yoga.

Swamiji in Bangalore, India 2000

Teaching in India. He spent 8 years travelling all over India meeting yogis and yoga practitioners, living in different ashrams and teaching yogic science in the cities, towns and villages.

Return to the West. He returned to the UK in June 1985

His Teaching: Besides establishing and running the Ashram, he gives yoga seminars all over Europe on the following subjects: Hatha Yoga, Mantra Yoga, Raja Yoga, Gyana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Kriya Yoga, Mudras, Yoga Nidra, Meditation, the Chakras, the Koshas, Prana Vidya, Tattwa Shuddhi, Yoga Therapy, Symbols, Stress Management, Meditation – Going Deeper, and Embracing Life and Death. He also conducts regular seminars on the classical texts including Patanjali Yoga Sutra-s, Ishavasya Upanishad, Mandukya Upanishad, Katha Upanishad, Bhagavad Gita, Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Bhaja Govinda and the Vigyana Bhairava Tantra.
He has conducted and directed six 2-year Yoga Teacher Training Courses (YTTC) – two in France and four in the ashram. He is also directing the current YTTC in the ashram.

He is the ashram director and spiritual head. Apart from the winter months (when the ashram is closed) and when he is giving outside seminars, he is available at the ashram for teaching and guidance.

On November 5 2005, he married Michal Cohen. They gave birth to a little boy, Daniel, on the 15th November 2009.