Sri Venu, E.r.y.t., R.s.t.
Our Centre's Director has been practicing Yoga and Meditation since 1969.
In 1971 he moved to the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Ashram in Québec to study full time with Swami Vishnu-devananda.
One of North America's most experienced Yoga Masters, Sri Venu started to teach at the Sivananda Headquarters in 1972 and continued his advanced training in our California Ashram and in British Columbia until 1975. Also a graduate of the International Meditation Institute of India his studies take him to the Sivananda Ashram in Kerala, Auroville in Pondicherry, the Divine Life Society in Rishikesh and Kullu-Manali in the Himalayas.
Founder of the Vancouver Sivananda Centre, Yogacharya Sri Venu teaches traditional East Indian Yoga, Meditation, Philosophy and Chanting. He also produces a documentary film on Yoga and the role of Swami Vishnu in bringing it to the West. Sri Venu regularly hosts Yoga radio program Drishti Point on 102.7 FM.
‘‘Swami Vishnu gave me Darshan for the last time in 1993, a few weeks only before he entered Mahasamadhi. Our Centre is dedicated to His divine and everlasting memory’’
Sri Venu (front right) with other Swami Vishnu disciples
at the Sivananda Yoga Ashram, Val Morin, Canada 1972
Sri Venu is registered (E.R.Y.T. 500) with the Yoga Alliance and Senior Teacher with the Yoga Association of BC.
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Jithamaya, E.r.y.t., R.s.t.
Our Centre's Program Manager has been practicing yoga since 1986 and teaches since 2003.
She first trained at Prana Yoga and Zen Centre in Vancouver, and taught flow-style Hatha Yoga in Burnaby.
Wishing to deepen her personal practice and teaching of Yoga & Vedanta, she completed her Sivananda Teacher Training at the Ashram in Val Morin in 2004.
Her graded series of yoga DVDs, released in 2006, is available at the Centre.
She is a founding member of the Vancouver Centre and a full time teacher.
Jithamaya is registered (E-RYT 500) with the Yoga Alliance and Senior Teacher with the Yoga Association of BC.
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Narayani
Narayani started teaching Yoga at the Sivananda Yoga Ashram in California in 1977 after doing her Teacher Training Course with Swami Vishnu-devananda.
She then moved to India for two years where she was the personal secretary of Swami Mahadevananda at our Ashram of Neyyar Dam in Kerala.
Narayani is a founding member of the Vancouver Centre.
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Janaki, M.Y.
Janaki’s yoga studies have gratefully been with the Sivananda Yoga Organization since 1998 . She is one of the founding members of the Vancouver Sivananda Centre in 2004. She recently completed the Advanced Teacher Training at Sivananda Ashram Neyyar Dam, Kerala, South India where she was a staff member. Janaki also edits the Sivananda Organization’s monthly newsletter, the Gurugram, found in the publications section at www.sivananda.org. Besides teaching yoga & facilitating workshops, she also studies Vedantic Yoga philosophy during regular visits to Sivananda HQ Ashram in Québec.
Janaki is a certified Yoga Therapist and a member of IAYT. Any Questions?
Email janaki@sivananda.org
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Yeshie Palmo, M.Y.
Yeshie Palmo has been practicing Hatha Yoga since 1991 and began to study 
Tibetan Buddhism and Vedanta in India in 1996. Since this time, she has made annual pilgrimages to India to learn from great Yogic and Buddhist masters.
Her approach to yoga is based on the practice of mindfulness, finding quiet and bringing the body and mind into harmony.
She has completed both the Sivananda TTC and ATTC Certifications. Yeshie Palmo also hosts annual yoga tours of holy sites in India.
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Kalyani
In 2000, Kalyani started practicing yoga as a way to create greater body-mind alignment and deepen her understanding of breathing and meditation. 
It was then that she began to explore the balance between the physical, emotional and energetic body, and her passion for yoga evolved. She completed her teacher training at the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Ranch in Woodbourne, New York in 2006. As an instructor, she is dedicated to teaching with compassion and encouragement, emphasizing the role of breath in steadying the mind and opening the body, In helping others to heal through an increased awareness of body-mind-spirit connection, Kalyani fosters a safe and positive environment for students of all levels to investigate their minds and bodies.
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Jyoti
Jyoti's first experience with yoga happened in 2002. What began as curiosity continues to grow into an all encompassing way of being. She is excited to continue her journey as a student, while hoping to inspire others as a teacher by sharing what she learns, quietly encouraging others to take charge of their own happiness and extend it to the people and the environment around them. She strives to honour the traditional practices she learned in India in order to teach from the Heart of yoga. Jyoti has been truly humbled by the transformative power of the practice and feels very blessed to be on this path.
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Allyson
Allyson's yogic journey began rather inauspiciously, huddled between bookstacks in her local library. Living in outport Newfoundland, books were about as close to Yoga as she would get, and what ultimately produced her first practice. Her move to university in 2004 facilitated further development of her interest, where she punctuated study in philosophy and literature with hatha classes. She began teacher training with a direct disciple of both Swami Sivananda and Swami Vishnudevananda in 2006, to be followed shortly by a Sivananda one-month intensive TTC in the foothills of the Indian Himalayan mountains. From source to river delta, Allyson continued her studies along the path of the Ganga, in Yoga, Ayurvedic massage and Hindustani Classical Music. She continues to expand her practice and teaching ability through workshops and courses in and around Vancouver. A Bhakta by nature and heart, Allyson is overjoyed that Yoga has offered a way to fuse her love of music with devotion, and extends her gratitude to the Divine for the gift of kirtan. Expect to find her each Sunday at satsang.
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Almira
Almira began practicing yoga at a local gym in Mumbai in 2000. She discovered that she loved the spiritual aspects of yoga as well as the asanas. Almira has practiced various styles of yoga over the years, and she recently completed the Yoga Teacher's Training Course at the Sivananda Ashram at Neyyar Dam, Kerala.
In addition to yoga, Almira is a lawyer and trained in the art of Bharata Natyam (classical South Indian dance). She completed her Arangetram – debut graduation performance – with the Jai Govinda Dance Academy in 1999.
Almira speaks Hindi fluently and has traveled extensively through India, Nepal, and other parts of Asia.
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