Bihar School of Yoga
# Bihar School of Yoga

The Bihar School of Yoga is a modern school of yoga founded and developed by Sri Swami Satyananda Saraswati in Munger, Bihar, India, in 1963. The system of yoga taught at the Bihar School of Yoga is recognized worldwide as Bihar Yoga or the Satyananda Yoga tradition. In 2019, the Bihar School of Yoga was awarded the Prime Minister’s Award for Outstanding Contribution Towards Promotion and Development of Yoga.

## History

Swami Satyananda inaugurated Bihar School of Yoga (BSY) on 19th January 1964, Basant Panchami, by lighting the akhanda jyoti (eternal flame) as a dedication to his guru, Swami Sivananda Saraswati.

The Bihar School of Yoga first became a centre of Yoga training from the mid-1960s: Regular fifteen-day and one-month courses were conducted in Munger, as well as a six-month sadhana course and a nine-month International Teacher Training course in 1967. In 1968, to propagate the teachings of the BSY, Swami Satyananda went on his first world tour to Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, Japan, USA, Canada, England, France, Holland, Sweden, Austria and Italy. There, he presented yoga as a science for balancing the physical, emotional and spiritual aspects of the personality, suitable for every walk of life. Between 1969 and 1985, he traveled throughout India and the world many times, propagating yoga from "door to door and shore to shore"

The gatherings and conventions became a regular feature in many countries and he was recognized as a teacher, inspirer and yogi and yoga became a household name. In 1973, the Bihar School of Yoga hosted the Golden Jubilee Yoga Convention to celebrate the 50th year of renunciation of Sri Swami Sivananda, and the 50th birth anniversary of Swami Satyananda. Eminent speakers were H.H. Jagadguru Swami Shantananda Shankaracharya of Dwarakapeeth; Sri B.S. Iyengar, Swami Chidananda of the Divine Life Society, Rishikesh; Swami Sivananda, Assam; and Kaviyoga Shuddananda Bharati of Madras.

In 1983, Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati, spiritual successor to Swami Satyananda Saraswati, took over the presidency of Bihar School of Yoga. In 1988, Swami Satyananda Saraswati left Bihar School of Yoga and settled in the small hamlet of Rikhia, Jharkhand, to pursue higher sadhana and work for the upliftment of the deprived and neglected section of society.

Following the mandate of his Guru, in 2009 Swami Niranjanananda, relinquished and renounced all institutional responsibilities. He now lives as an independent sannyasin, following the lifestyle and sadhanas of a paramahansa sannyasin.

An institute of Yogic studies was created in 1994.

The school publishes Yoga Magazine. The school teaches traditional yoga in a modern style, for example making use of software apps to distribute knowledge of mantra yoga, hatha yoga, jnana yoga and raja yoga.

### History of Research and Social Application

In the 1970s and 1980s the Bihar School of Yoga propagated its yoga practices One of the founding principles of the Bihar School of Yoga was to 'impart yogic training to householders and sannyasins alike'.

In centres, hospitals, medical colleges in India and around the world and at the Bihar School of Yoga, research was conducted to establish the effects of yogic practices and a yogic lifestyle on diseases such as asthma, diabetes, coronary and common diseases. A 40-day diabetes camp was conducted in Bilaspur in 1971, and a therapy program for diabetes in Sambalpur, Odisha, in 1978.

In 1977, the Yoga Research Centre was established at Bihar School of Yoga which expanded and grew into the Yoga Research Foundation founded in 1984.

In 1982, the BSY assisted in the yoga and research program conducted by Dr Hiroshi Motoyama.

Bihar School of Yoga was also called to teach yoga in the coal and steel industries such as the Bhilai Steel Plant, Tisco Jamshedpur and subsequent years, Hindustan Copper Ltd in Ghatsila, at Barauni Refinery Officer’s Club, the Indian Oil Corporation in Assam, the Indian Oil Refinery in Haldia, West Bengal, at BARC, Trombay and BHEL, Bhopal, and paper industries, the Indian railways and government undertakings such as the Indian Chamber of Commerce, Kolkata, the Bhopal Management and Training Institute. Participants were able to increase efficiency at work and thereby the output. Besides the corporate section, Swami Satyananda introduced the BSY teachings in schools, prisons and as a therapy in the medical field.

Research in yoga was initiated in India at the K.E.M. Hospital, Bombay, by Dr K.K. Datey and at the Burla Medical College, Orissa by Dr Panda.Further research was conducted In Australia on the Management of cancer and the increase of melatonin, in the USA on cardiac disorders, addiction, biofeedback and alpha waves.

In 1987, 300 school teachers received yoga training at Ganga Darshan, according to a new education policy of the Department of Education, Government of Bihar, introducing yoga in all government schools.

### The next generation

From 1983, Swami Niranjanananda introduced the Satyananda Yoga–Bihar Yoga tradition in all areas and sectors of society through practical and social application. Business interests, medical practitioners, educational institutions, government bodies and spiritual organizations requested seminars, workshops and classes. These seminars and courses were conducted at the Officer’s Club, Barauni, at the Indian Oil Refinery in Mathura, UP, for the Central Industrial Security Force, at the Orissa University of Agricultural Technology and at the National Aluminium Co., Bhubaneshwar, at the Railway Medical Society, Eastern Railway, Jamalpur. Other institutions where Swami Niranjan addressed a large gathering were: Bhabha Atomic Research Centre School, Mumbai, Chembur, Kothari Medical Centre, Kolkata, DIPAS (Defense Institute of Physiology and Applied Sciences), Delhi, AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences), Delhi, Indian Army Central Committee Headquarters, Lucknow.

Yoga Research Foundation continued with the Yoga Asthma Study Camps internationally, research was conducted in England on AIDS and on addiction in various countries of Europe.

A project that took off was yoga in prisons in the state of Bihar.The Indian army also requested for the chance to learn and apply yoga. Bihar School of Yoga conducted yoga camps for army personnel in the desert at Bikaner, in Ladakh and at the Siachen Glacier base camp.

In November 1993, Swami Niranjanananda hosted the Tyag Golden Jubilee World Yoga Convention at the BSY to celebrate Swami Satyananda’s 50 years of renunciation. Swami Chidananda Saraswati of the Divine Life Society, Rishikesh, gave the inaugural speech to a gathering of about 16,000 people from India and abroad. Many eminent scholars, spiritual personalities and artists took part such as: Swami Poonyananda Giri, Acharya of Niranjan Akhara, Varanasi; Dr H.R. Nagendra, President VYASA, Bangalore; Dr Ganesh Singh, Head of Department of Yogic Studies, Hari Singh Gore University, Sagar (MP); Gajapati Maharaj, Sri Divya Singh Dev, Odisha, Sri Ramananda Brahmachari, sthanapati of Agni Akhara, Varanasi; Swami Parameshwarananda Saraswati, Kailash Ashram, Rishikesh; Sri Swami Vidyananda Giri Maharaj, Acharya Brahmavidyapeetha, Kailash Peethadishwara.

In 2008, Swami Niranjanananda retired and handed over the administrative responsibilities of Bihar School of Yoga to the new generation.

In 2013, yoga shivirs, programs and conventions were conducted throughout India, by senior teachers of Bihar School of Yoga and trainees of the next generation. A total number of 232 shivirs were conducted in 20 states of India and in almost 500 venues – in public places, schools, places of worship, corporates, yoga centres, government bodies, health centres and hospitals, special needs homes and prisons. The yoga shivirs reached 60 cities, 60 towns and 17 villages.

In October 2013, the World Yoga Convention and Golden Jubilee of Bihar School of Yoga took place in Munger. Over 50,000 yoga practitioners, teachers, students and aspirants participated in this historic event either in person or through the internet. The Convention marked the completion of fifty years of yoga propagation by the Bihar School of Yoga.

In 2015, Bihar School of Yoga embarked on its Second Chapter of Yoga, exploring the depth of yoga vidya, the science of yoga, to attain an understanding and experience of the aim of yoga. The focus of the second chapter is yoga vidya and a yogic lifestyle which can be developed by applying it in one’s day-to-day life. Teacher training courses were discontinued and yoga capsules for health and sequential yoga yatras for hatha yoga, raja yoga and kriya yoga began. An annual one-month training, Progressive Yoga Vidya Training is offered to sincere and committed aspirants.

In 2018, the Munger Yoga Symposium officially launched the Second Chapter in which over 1,000 yogacharyas and yoga teachers from around the world participated. Since 2020, Bihar School of Yoga offered online presentations for the management of health and stress-related imbalances. Bihar School of Yoga remains an independent institution, without any branches.

## Awards

The Prime Minister of India conferred the National Yoga Award 2019 on the Bihar School of Yoga for outstanding contributions to the promotion and development of yoga.

