History, Philosophy, and Techniques in Global Context
For Healthcare & Medical Science Professional Education
Introduction
Ananda Yoga represents a distinctive tradition within the global yoga landscape—one that explicitly positions physical practice as preparation for meditation rather than fitness. Founded on the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda (1893-1952) and systematized by his direct disciple Swami Kriyananda (1926-2013), this approach offers healthcare professionals a framework for understanding yoga as consciousness technology with measurable physiological effects.
This document provides comprehensive background for medical professionals seeking to understand the tradition’s origins, philosophical foundations, and unique methodological approach. The integration of ancient contemplative practice with Western accessibility has created a system particularly suited to clinical application.
Part I: Historical Foundations
Yogananda’s Early Life and Spiritual Training
Paramahansa Yogananda was born Mukunda Lal Ghosh on January 5, 1893, in Gorakhpur, in the United Provinces of British India. His birth into a devout Bengali family placed him within an established spiritual lineage—both parents were disciples of the renowned Kriya Yoga master Lahiri Mahasaya, establishing a karmic connection to the practice that would define his life’s work.
From childhood, Mukunda demonstrated unusual spiritual inclinations. Stories from his early years describe a young seeker intensely focused on finding his guru and experiencing divine realization. This searching led him through encounters with various saints and teachers across India, each contributing to his spiritual formation while pointing toward his eventual master.
In 1910, at age seventeen, Mukunda met Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri at a crowded marketplace in Benares. The encounter proved pivotal—Sri Yukteswar had been waiting for this disciple, having been told by his own guru, Lahiri Mahasaya, that a student would be sent to him. For the next decade, Mukunda trained intensively at Sri Yukteswar’s hermitages in Serampore and Puri, receiving comprehensive instruction in Kriya Yoga, scriptural study, and the integration of Eastern spirituality with Western scientific thinking.
Sri Yukteswar’s approach profoundly shaped Yogananda’s later teaching methodology. Unlike many Indian masters who dismissed Western materialism, Sri Yukteswar sought synthesis—demonstrating that spiritual truths and scientific principles described the same underlying reality from different perspectives. This integrative framework would become central to Yogananda’s appeal in America.
The Mission to America
In 1920, Yogananda received what he described as a divine commission to bring India’s spiritual teachings to the West. He traveled to Boston as India’s delegate to the International Congress of Religious Liberals, becoming the first Indian spiritual teacher to permanently establish residence in America. His address at the Congress, titled “The Science of Religion,” introduced themes that would characterize his thirty-two years of American teaching.
The early years proved challenging. Speaking limited English, possessing minimal resources, and presenting teachings unfamiliar to American audiences, Yogananda persevered through what he later called “divine tests.” Gradually, his magnetic personality, practical teaching approach, and systematic presentation of yoga philosophy attracted growing numbers of students.
By 1924, Yogananda had completed a successful transcontinental lecture tour, speaking to capacity crowds in major American cities. In 1925, he established the international headquarters of Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) at Mount Washington in Los Angeles, creating an organizational foundation for his expanding mission. The organization would eventually encompass temples, meditation centers, and monastic communities across multiple continents.
His 1927 visit to the White House, meeting President Calvin Coolidge, marked a significant milestone—the first invitation of a prominent Indian spiritual leader to that residence. The meeting symbolized yoga’s growing acceptance in American mainstream culture, a trajectory Yogananda actively cultivated through his emphasis on practical application and scientific framing.
Autobiography of a Yogi: A Foundational Text
Published in 1946, “Autobiography of a Yogi” became the tradition’s defining document and one of the twentieth century’s most influential spiritual books. HarperCollins named it among the “100 Most Important Spiritual Books of the 20th Century,” and it has sold over four million copies in more than fifty languages.
The book’s impact extends beyond the yoga community. Steve Jobs read it annually throughout his adult life and arranged for 500 copies to be distributed at his memorial service—the only gift attendees received. George Harrison credited the book with igniting his interest in Vedic culture, influencing the Beatles’ exploration of Indian spirituality that shaped 1960s counterculture. Contemporary figures across technology, entertainment, and business cite the autobiography as transformative.
The text accomplishes multiple purposes simultaneously. It provides Yogananda’s personal narrative from Indian childhood through American teaching career. It introduces readers to Kriya Yoga philosophy and practice in accessible terms. It recounts encounters with remarkable spiritual figures, validating yogic claims through eyewitness testimony. And it presents a worldview integrating science and spirituality, matter and consciousness, East and West.
For healthcare professionals, the autobiography offers insight into the philosophical framework motivating millions of practitioners. Understanding this worldview—where physical practices serve spiritual development, where breath control enables mental control, where consciousness represents fundamental reality—illuminates why patients from this tradition approach health and healing differently than secular frameworks assume.
Yogananda’s Final Years and Legacy
Yogananda continued teaching actively until his death on March 7, 1952. He died at a Los Angeles banquet honoring India’s ambassador to the United States, Binay Ranjan Sen, after completing a speech that concluded with his poem “My India.” Witnesses described him raising his eyes upward and entering mahasamadhi—the yogic term for conscious departure from the physical body.
The circumstances surrounding his death generated considerable interest. A notarized statement from the mortuary director at Forest Lawn Memorial Park testified that Yogananda’s body showed no signs of physical decay for twenty days after death—an unusual phenomenon attributed by devotees to his spiritual attainment. This account, while not scientifically verified by independent observers, became part of the tradition’s narrative about its founder’s extraordinary nature.
Self-Realization Fellowship, the organization Yogananda established, continues operating his original teaching programs, maintaining meditation centers worldwide, and publishing his writings. The organization carefully protects Yogananda’s legacy while serving hundreds of thousands of students through correspondence lessons and in-person programs.
Part II: Swami Kriyananda and the Development of Ananda Yoga
From Seeker to Disciple
James Donald Walters was born May 19, 1926, in Teleajen, Romania, to American parents—his father worked as an oil geologist. The family’s international lifestyle exposed young Donald to diverse cultures and perspectives, contributing to the cosmopolitan sensibility that would later characterize his teaching.
In 1948, while browsing a New York City bookstore, Walters discovered “Autobiography of a Yogi.” The encounter proved transformative. Reading through the night, he resolved immediately to become Yogananda’s disciple. Within days, he traveled to California, appeared at the Mount Washington headquarters, and spoke the words that would define his life: “I want to be your disciple.”
Yogananda accepted him, and for the next three and a half years, Walters trained directly under the master’s guidance. He witnessed Yogananda’s final years of teaching, absorbed his methodology, and received personal instruction in practices and principles that would inform his later work. This direct transmission—the living chain from guru to disciple—holds profound significance in yogic tradition, establishing authenticity and authority.
In 1955, Walters received formal monastic initiation, taking the name “Kriyananda” (meaning “divine bliss through Kriya Yoga”). He served Self-Realization Fellowship in various capacities—minister, lecturer, administrator—until 1962, when the organization’s Board of Directors requested his resignation. The circumstances surrounding this departure remain contested between parties and need not concern healthcare professionals primarily interested in practice methodology.
The Founding of Ananda
Following his departure from SRF, Kriyananda spent years traveling, writing, and developing his approach to sharing Yogananda’s teachings. In 1968, inspired by Yogananda’s 1949 vision of “World Brotherhood Colonies”—intentional communities where spiritual seekers could live and practice together—Kriyananda founded the first Ananda community near Nevada City, California.
The Ananda Village model represented something new in American spirituality: a residential community organized around meditation practice, service, and spiritual growth. Unlike monasteries requiring celibacy and renunciation, Ananda welcomed families, householders, and people at various life stages. The community approach addressed a practical challenge Yogananda had identified—maintaining spiritual practice amid worldly responsibilities.
Over subsequent decades, Ananda expanded to include nine intentional communities worldwide, forty-five teaching centers, and an estimated 140,000 practitioners globally. The communities—located in California, Oregon, Washington, Italy, and India—provide residential environments for intensive practice while also serving as training centers for teachers and leaders.
Kriyananda’s personal output proved remarkable: approximately 150 books covering yoga philosophy, meditation technique, spiritual living, and education; over 400 musical compositions; and countless lectures preserved in audio and video formats. His magnum opus, “The Art and Science of Raja Yoga,” provides a comprehensive 450-page course integrating physical practice, breathing techniques, meditation instruction, and philosophical study.
The Ananda Yoga System
Kriyananda systematized Yogananda’s physical yoga teachings into what became known as Ananda Yoga. While Yogananda taught yoga postures and emphasized their spiritual purpose, Kriyananda developed a comprehensive methodology specifying how poses should be practiced, what affirmations accompany each position, and how the physical practice relates to meditation.
The system’s distinctive features include:
Affirmation Integration: Each yoga pose is paired with a specific mental affirmation, silently repeated during practice. These affirmations direct consciousness toward the spiritual qualities each pose develops. For example, the Cobra pose (Bhujangasana) uses the affirmation “I rise joyfully to meet each new opportunity,” connecting spinal extension with psychological openness to life.
Energy Awareness: Practitioners focus attention on subtle energy (prana) moving through the body, particularly along the spine and through the chakra system. Physical positions are understood as tools for directing this energy toward higher brain centers associated with expanded awareness.
Meditation Preparation: Unlike fitness-oriented yoga styles, Ananda Yoga explicitly positions physical practice as preparation for seated meditation. Sequences are designed to calm the body, focus the mind, and direct energy upward—creating optimal conditions for contemplative practice.
Gentle Approach: The methodology emphasizes internal experience over external achievement. Practitioners adapt poses to their bodies rather than forcing bodies into idealized positions. Competition and comparison are actively discouraged; progress is measured in consciousness rather than flexibility.
These principles reflect Yogananda’s original orientation toward yoga as spiritual technology. In the contemporary yoga marketplace dominated by athletic approaches, Ananda Yoga maintains a meditation-centered identity that appeals to practitioners seeking something beyond physical exercise.
Part III: Philosophical Foundations
Yoga as Union: The Traditional Understanding
The Sanskrit word “yoga” derives from the root “yuj,” meaning to yoke, bind, or unite. This etymology points toward yoga’s fundamental purpose: uniting the individual self (jivatman) with the universal Self (Paramatman), reconnecting human consciousness with its divine source. Physical practices, breathing techniques, and meditation methods all serve this ultimate aim.
Classical yoga philosophy, codified in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras (approximately 200 BCE-200 CE), defines yoga as “chitta vritti nirodha”—the cessation of fluctuations in consciousness. When mental activity settles, the practitioner’s true nature becomes apparent. The eight limbs (ashtanga) Patanjali describes—ethical restraints, observances, physical postures, breath control, sense withdrawal, concentration, meditation, and absorption—constitute a comprehensive path from ordinary confused consciousness to liberated awareness.
Within this traditional framework, physical postures (asana) represent only the third of eight limbs. Asana literally means “seat”—a stable, comfortable position enabling prolonged meditation. The emphasis lies not on gymnastics but on creating bodily conditions conducive to mental stillness. Patanjali’s entire discussion of asana spans just three sutras, stating simply that posture should be steady and comfortable, achieved through relaxation and meditation on the infinite.
This context helps healthcare professionals understand why traditions like Ananda Yoga resist reducing yoga to physical exercise. From the traditional perspective, practicing asana without orientation toward meditation resembles building a beautiful entrance hall while ignoring the mansion it leads to. The physical is meaningful precisely because it prepares for something beyond itself.
Yogananda’s Integration of Science and Spirituality
Yogananda’s distinctive contribution involved translating these ancient principles into language and frameworks accessible to Western audiences. Rather than presenting yoga as mystical doctrine requiring faith, he emphasized yoga as science—systematic methods producing predictable results when properly applied.
This scientific framing appears throughout his teachings. He spoke of “life force” (prana) in terms resembling bioelectricity. He explained meditation’s benefits through analogies to radio reception and electrical circuitry. He presented spiritual development as following natural laws as reliable as physical laws—accessible to anyone willing to apply the techniques correctly.
The integration served multiple purposes. It made yoga intellectually respectable to educated Western audiences suspicious of religious claims. It provided explanatory frameworks helping practitioners understand their experiences. And it positioned yoga as complementary to rather than competitive with scientific medicine—a positioning particularly relevant for healthcare contexts.
Yogananda also emphasized practical application over theoretical knowledge. His oft-repeated guidance: “Read a little, practice more, realize always.” This orientation toward experience rather than belief aligns with empirical approaches that healthcare professionals find congenial.
The Prana-Breath-Mind Triad
Central to Yogananda’s teaching—and to understanding Ananda Yoga’s methodology—is the relationship between breath, life force, and mental state. In his framework, these three exist in constant interconnection, each affecting the others.
Prana, the Sanskrit term for life force or vital energy, flows through the body via subtle channels (nadis), concentrating at energy centers (chakras) along the spine. This pranic system, while not identical to the nervous system, overlaps significantly with it. The medulla oblongata—the brainstem region regulating autonomic functions—serves as the primary entry point for cosmic prana into the individual body.
Breath (Sanskrit: svasa) provides the most accessible point of intervention in this system. Breathing patterns directly affect pranic flow and, consequently, mental states. Rapid, shallow breathing correlates with agitation and anxiety; slow, deep breathing correlates with calm and focus. This correlation is not merely psychological—it reflects physiological connections between respiratory patterns and autonomic nervous system activity that modern research has extensively documented.
Yogananda taught: “As you change one, you also change the other two. If you excite one, the other two become excited and, conversely, if you calm one, the other two respond by becoming calm also.” This principle underlies all Ananda Yoga practices: physical postures affect breath and energy patterns; breathing exercises affect physical states and mental clarity; meditation affects the entire system by addressing mind directly.
For healthcare professionals, this framework provides rationale for yoga’s observed effects. Patients practicing yoga are not merely stretching muscles—they are intervening in a psychophysiological system where breath serves as the accessible lever for influencing autonomic function, stress response, and mental state.
The Chakra System: Energy Anatomy
Yogananda’s teachings incorporate the traditional chakra system—seven primary energy centers located along the spine from its base to the crown of the head. Each chakra associates with specific physiological regions, psychological qualities, and states of consciousness.
Muladhara (Root Chakra): Located at the base of the spine, associated with physical survival, security, and grounding.
Svadhisthana (Sacral Chakra): Located in the lower abdomen, associated with creativity, sexuality, and emotional flow.
Manipura (Solar Plexus Chakra): Located at the navel region, associated with personal power, will, and self-esteem.
Anahata (Heart Chakra): Located at the heart center, associated with love, compassion, and connection.
Vishuddha (Throat Chakra): Located at the throat, associated with communication, expression, and truth.
Ajna (Third Eye/Spiritual Eye): Located between the eyebrows, associated with intuition, wisdom, and spiritual perception.
Sahasrara (Crown Chakra): Located at the top of the head, associated with transcendence, unity consciousness, and divine connection.
In Yogananda’s teaching, spiritual development involves awakening and refining energy at each chakra level, eventually raising kundalini (dormant spiritual energy at the spine’s base) through all centers to the crown. Physical yoga practices, breathing exercises, and meditation all contribute to this energetic development.
While the chakra system derives from traditional Indian metaphysics rather than Western anatomy, correlations with nerve plexuses and endocrine glands provide points of contact with biomedical understanding. Healthcare professionals need not accept metaphysical claims about chakras to recognize that focused attention on different body regions produces different psychological and physiological effects—an observation consistent with both traditional frameworks and contemporary embodiment research.
Yoga’s Position Within Indian Philosophy
Yoga represents one of six orthodox schools (darshanas) of Indian philosophy, closely allied with Samkhya philosophy’s cosmological framework. Understanding this philosophical context helps healthcare professionals appreciate the worldview underlying Ananda Yoga practice.
Samkhya philosophy posits a fundamental duality between consciousness (purusha) and nature (prakriti). Prakriti encompasses all material existence—including mind and ego—while purusha represents pure awareness, eternally free and unchanging. Human suffering arises from consciousness identifying with nature’s modifications, forgetting its essential freedom.
Yoga provides practical methodology for reversing this identification. Through ethical living, physical practices, breath control, and meditation, practitioners disentangle consciousness from its material entanglements, eventually realizing purusha’s eternal freedom. Liberation (moksha) occurs when consciousness recognizes itself as already free, never truly bound.
This philosophical framework explains several features of traditional yoga practice that may puzzle Western observers. The emphasis on mental stillness rather than mental activity; the goal of transcending rather than improving the ego; the relative unimportance of physical accomplishment compared to awareness development—all reflect the underlying metaphysics of consciousness seeking to know itself as consciousness.
Part IV: Yoga’s Global Transmission
Early Western Exposure
Yoga’s journey to the West began in earnest with Swami Vivekananda’s address at the 1893 Parliament of World’s Religions in Chicago. Vivekananda introduced educated Western audiences to Vedantic philosophy and Raja Yoga—the yoga of mental discipline and meditation. Significantly, Vivekananda was largely dismissive of physical yoga, which he associated with circus-like demonstrations rather than spiritual development.
Following Vivekananda, various teachers brought different yoga emphases to Western audiences. Yogananda’s 1920 arrival marked a significant moment: the first establishment of a comprehensive yoga system—integrating physical practice, breathing exercises, and meditation within an accessible organizational structure.
Other influential figures contributed to yoga’s Western development. T. Krishnamacharya (1888-1989), teaching in Mysore, India, trained several students who became major yoga innovators: B.K.S. Iyengar (Iyengar Yoga, emphasizing precise alignment), K. Pattabhi Jois (Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, emphasizing athletic sequences), and T.K.V. Desikachar (Viniyoga, emphasizing therapeutic adaptation). Swami Sivananda’s disciples spread various yoga forms from the Divine Life Society. Each lineage emphasized different aspects of the vast yoga tradition.
The 1960s-70s Yoga Explosion
The counterculture movements of the 1960s and 1970s dramatically accelerated yoga’s Western spread. The Beatles’ engagement with Transcendental Meditation and Indian spirituality brought yoga-related practices into mainstream cultural conversation. Yoga studios began appearing in major cities, serving audiences seeking alternatives to conventional approaches to health and meaning.
This period also saw yoga’s transformation. As scholars like Mark Singleton have documented, modern postural yoga represents a synthesis of traditional practices with European physical culture movements—gymnastics, calisthenics, and body-building approaches that influenced Indian physical education in the early twentieth century. The athletic yoga forms dominating contemporary studios bear limited resemblance to yoga as traditionally practiced.
Within this context, traditions like Ananda Yoga maintained closer connection to yoga’s meditative purpose. While popular yoga increasingly emphasized physical accomplishment, Ananda continued positioning asana as meditation preparation. This orientation attracts practitioners seeking yoga’s original spiritual dimensions amid a marketplace dominated by fitness approaches.
Contemporary Yoga Landscape
The twenty-first century has witnessed yoga’s complete mainstreaming in Western societies. Estimates suggest over 300 million yoga practitioners worldwide, with yoga generating billions of dollars annually in the United States alone. Yoga appears in fitness centers, hospitals, schools, corporations, and military settings.
This expansion brings both opportunities and challenges. Healthcare systems increasingly recognize yoga’s therapeutic potential, funding research and integrating practices into treatment protocols. Simultaneously, yoga’s commercialization distances many contemporary forms from traditional purposes and methods.
The major yoga styles currently practiced include:
Iyengar Yoga: Founded by B.K.S. Iyengar, emphasizing precise anatomical alignment, use of props, and therapeutic application. Known for meticulous attention to physical form.
Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga: Founded by K. Pattabhi Jois, featuring fixed sequences of poses linked by breath, generating internal heat. Athletic and physically demanding.
Vinyasa/Power Yoga: Contemporary styles linking poses in flowing sequences, often accompanied by music. Fitness-oriented approaches popular in studios and gyms.
Bikram/Hot Yoga: Founded by Bikram Choudhury, practiced in heated rooms (95-105°F). Features standardized 26-pose sequences.
Kundalini Yoga: As taught by Yogi Bhajan, combining postures, breath work, mantra, and meditation for “awakening” kundalini energy.
Restorative Yoga: Gentle approach using props to support the body in passive poses for extended periods. Emphasizes relaxation and healing.
Ananda Yoga: As described throughout this document, emphasizing energy awareness, affirmations, and meditation preparation. Maintains explicit connection to Yogananda’s teachings.
Healthcare professionals benefit from understanding this diversity. Patients saying they “practice yoga” may engage with vastly different methods, intensities, and purposes. Assessment should clarify which approach the patient follows and what they hope to achieve.
Distinguishing Features of Ananda Yoga
Within the contemporary yoga landscape, Ananda Yoga distinguishes itself through several characteristics:
Explicit Spiritual Orientation: While many yoga styles now downplay or eliminate spiritual content, Ananda Yoga maintains its identity as preparation for meditation and spiritual development. This orientation shapes practice methodology and attracts practitioners seeking yoga’s traditional purposes.
Affirmation System: The unique pairing of poses with specific affirmations distinguishes Ananda from other styles. These affirmations direct mental attention, cultivate psychological qualities, and transform physical practice into consciousness training.
Energization Exercises: Yogananda’s original system of tension-relaxation exercises for directing life force remains central to Ananda practice. These exercises, predating contemporary yoga, provide techniques unavailable in other traditions.
Community Structure: The Ananda organization includes residential communities where practitioners live together, providing intensive practice environments and maintaining institutional memory of traditional methods.
Lineage Emphasis: Ananda maintains explicit connection to Yogananda’s teachings through the Kriyananda lineage, emphasizing authentic transmission from guru to disciple.
Part V: Scientific Perspectives
Physiological Mechanisms
Contemporary research has identified multiple mechanisms through which yoga practices produce observable effects. Understanding these mechanisms helps healthcare professionals communicate with patients and evaluate yoga’s appropriateness for specific conditions.
Autonomic Nervous System Modulation: Yoga practices consistently demonstrate capacity to shift autonomic balance from sympathetic toward parasympathetic dominance. Slow breathing, in particular, increases heart rate variability, enhances respiratory sinus arrhythmia, and improves baroreflex sensitivity. These effects indicate improved autonomic flexibility and stress resilience.
Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis Regulation: Yoga practice correlates with reduced cortisol levels, indicating modified stress response. Meta-analyses demonstrate yoga’s effects on cortisol, blood pressure, heart rate, fasting blood glucose, and lipid profiles—markers collectively suggesting improved stress system function.
Neuromuscular Effects: The tension-release patterns characteristic of yoga (and especially Yogananda’s Energization Exercises) parallel Progressive Muscle Relaxation, a well-validated intervention for anxiety reduction. Systematic activation and release of muscle groups reduces baseline muscle tension, interrupts anxiety-tension cycles, and promotes physical relaxation.
Respiratory Effects: Pranayama (breathing) practices modify respiratory patterns in ways affecting physiology. Slow breathing at approximately 6 breaths per minute maximizes heart rate variability amplitude and respiratory sinus arrhythmia—indicators of parasympathetic tone and autonomic health.
Neural Effects: Meditation practices associated with yoga demonstrate effects on brain structure and function. Research documents increased gray matter in regions associated with attention, interoception, and emotional regulation; modified default mode network activity; and enhanced connectivity between brain regions involved in attention and self-awareness.
Research Considerations
While extensive research supports yoga’s therapeutic potential, healthcare professionals should note several considerations:
Style Variability: Most yoga research does not distinguish between yoga styles, making it difficult to attribute effects to specific methodologies. Studies on “yoga” may involve practices quite different from Ananda Yoga specifically.
Dose-Response Questions: Optimal frequency, duration, and intensity of yoga practice for specific outcomes remain unclear. Most studies examine fixed protocols rather than individualized prescriptions.
Active Ingredient Uncertainty: When yoga interventions produce effects, determining which component(s) contributed—physical postures, breathing exercises, meditation, relaxation, group support, expectation effects—proves challenging.
Publication Bias: Positive results are more likely to be published than null results, potentially inflating effect size estimates in meta-analyses.
Comparison Condition Challenges: Control conditions for yoga research present difficulties. Wait-list controls cannot blind participants; active controls may share yoga’s active ingredients.
Despite these limitations, accumulated evidence supports yoga’s benefits for stress, anxiety, depression, pain, and various physical health parameters. The evidence base continues expanding through increasingly rigorous research designs.
Glossary of Key Terms
Ahimsa: Non-violence; the first ethical restraint (yama) in classical yoga.
Ananda: Bliss; divine joy; also the name of the worldwide organization founded by Kriyananda.
Asana: Physical posture; the third limb of classical yoga; literally “seat.”
Ashtanga: “Eight limbs”; refers to Patanjali’s eight-fold path; also a physically demanding yoga style founded by Pattabhi Jois.
Chakra: “Wheel”; energy center along the spine; seven primary chakras in most systems.
Dharana: Concentration; the sixth limb of classical yoga.
Dhyana: Meditation; the seventh limb of classical yoga.
Guru: Spiritual teacher; literally “remover of darkness.”
Hatha Yoga: Branch of yoga emphasizing physical practices; “ha” (sun) and “tha” (moon) representing balanced energies.
Hong-Sau: Sacred Sanskrit mantra meaning “I am He” (Spirit); the primary meditation technique in Yogananda’s teachings.
Jivatman: Individual soul; the Self as it appears in embodied form.
Kriya Yoga: Advanced pranayama technique taught by Yogananda; also the broader spiritual path he transmitted.
Kundalini: “Coiled”; dormant spiritual energy located at the base of the spine.
Mahasamadhi: “Great absorption”; a master’s conscious departure from the physical body at death.
Mantra: Sacred sound or phrase used in meditation; “man” (mind) + “tra” (tool/protection).
Medulla Oblongata: Brainstem region; in Yogananda’s teaching, the entry point for cosmic energy into the body.
Moksha: Liberation; freedom from the cycle of birth and death; yoga’s ultimate goal.
Nadi: Subtle energy channel in the pranic body.
Nirodha: Cessation; restraint; the goal in Patanjali’s definition of yoga as “chitta vritti nirodha.”
Paramatman: Supreme Self; universal consciousness; Brahman.
Prana: Life force; vital energy; breath-related but not identical to physical breath.
Pranayama: Breath control; the fourth limb of classical yoga.
Pratyahara: Sense withdrawal; the fifth limb of classical yoga.
Raja Yoga: “Royal yoga”; the meditative path systematized by Patanjali.
Samadhi: Absorption; union; the eighth limb of classical yoga.
Samkhya: One of six orthodox Indian philosophical systems; provides cosmological framework for yoga.
Sanskrit: Ancient Indian language in which yoga texts are composed.
Savasana: Corpse pose; deep relaxation posture typically concluding yoga practice.
Shakti: Spiritual power; creative energy; sometimes personified as the Divine Mother.
Shanti: Peace.
Siddhi: Supernatural power; spiritual attainment.
Spiritual Eye: Point between eyebrows; seat of concentration in meditation; ajna chakra.
Sushumna: Central energy channel running through the spine.
Sutra: “Thread”; aphoristic scripture; yoga philosophy codified in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras.
Yama: Ethical restraint; the first limb of classical yoga (non-violence, truthfulness, non-stealing, continence, non-greed).
Yoga: Union; the practice and state of yoking individual consciousness with universal consciousness.
Yogi/Yogini: Male/female practitioner of yoga.
References
Primary Sources
Yogananda, Paramahansa. Autobiography of a Yogi. Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1946.
Yogananda, Paramahansa. Scientific Healing Affirmations. Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1924.
Yogananda, Paramahansa. The Yoga of the Bhagavad Gita. Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 2007.
Kriyananda, Swami. The Art and Science of Raja Yoga. Nevada City, CA: Crystal Clarity Publishers, 2002.
Kriyananda, Swami. Ananda Yoga for Higher Awareness. Nevada City, CA: Crystal Clarity Publishers, 1967.
Kriyananda, Swami. Demystifying Patanjali: The Yoga Sutras. Nevada City, CA: Crystal Clarity Publishers, 2012.
Patanjali. Yoga Sutras. (Various translations available)
Historical and Contextual Sources
De Michelis, Elizabeth. A History of Modern Yoga: Patanjali and Western Esotericism. London: Continuum, 2004.
Singleton, Mark. Yoga Body: The Origins of Modern Posture Practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.
White, David Gordon. The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali: A Biography. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014.
Alter, Joseph S. Yoga in Modern India: The Body Between Science and Philosophy. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004.
Scientific Research
Streeter, C.C., Gerbarg, P.L., Saper, R.B., Ciraulo, D.A., & Brown, R.P. (2012). Effects of yoga on the autonomic nervous system, gamma-aminobutyric-acid, and allostasis in epilepsy, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Medical Hypotheses, 78(5), 571-579.
Pascoe, M.C., & Bauer, I.E. (2015). A systematic review of randomised control trials on the effects of yoga on stress measures and mood. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 68, 270-282.
Pascoe, M.C., Thompson, D.R., & Ski, C.F. (2017). Yoga, mindfulness-based stress reduction and stress-related physiological measures: A meta-analysis. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 86, 152-168.
Russo, M.A., Santarelli, D.M., & O’Rourke, D. (2017). The physiological effects of slow breathing in the healthy human. Breathe, 13(4), 298-309.
Tyagi, A., & Cohen, M. (2016). Yoga and heart rate variability: A comprehensive review of the literature. International Journal of Yoga, 9(2), 97-113.
Cramer, H., Lauche, R., Langhorst, J., & Dobos, G. (2013). Yoga for depression: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Depression and Anxiety, 30(11), 1068-1083.
Cramer, H., Lauche, R., Anheyer, D., Pilkington, K., de Manincor, M., Dobos, G., & Ward, L. (2018). Yoga for anxiety: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Depression and Anxiety, 35(9), 830-843.
Bhavanani, A.B., Raj, J.B., Ramanathan, M., & Trakroo, M. (2016). Effect of different pranayamas on respiratory sinus arrhythmia. Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research, 10(3), CC04-CC06.
Organizational Sources
Ananda Sangha Worldwide. https://www.ananda.org
Self-Realization Fellowship. https://www.yogananda.org
The Expanding Light Retreat. https://www.expandinglight.org
Document prepared for Holistic Wellness Education—Healthcare Professional Education
Light Being ॐ 
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