Institution Profile

Kaivalyadhama Yoga Institute, Lonavla Established in 1924, KYI is a premier, highly respected yoga teaching-learning institute offering teacher training and research opportunities for the growing number of yoga aficionados worldwideAlthough the ancient mind and body science that is yoga originated in India from where it has spread to the rest of the world ‚ especially the US where it is a $3 billion (Rs.12,000 crore) industry ‚ in its country of origin this popular science is a preserve of the informal sector and a few scattered institutions. “Our biggest problem is the shortage of trained yoga teachers and standardisation of curriculum and teaching. With thousands of small-time yoga institutes and trainers around, the essential principles and purity of yoga, which basically consists of asanas, pranayam, meditation and allied activities, have been diluted. At the same time, the growing craze for yoga among the rich and famous has created employment for yoga teachers in hotels, hospitals, health clubs and several other sectors,” says O.P. Tiwari (76) secretary of Kaivalyadhama Yoga Institute (KYI), Lonavla (Maharashtra).Established in 1924, KYI is a premier, highly respected yoga teaching-learning institute offering teacher training and research opportunities for the growing number of yoga aficionados worldwide. “The objective of this college is to train intelligent and educated men and women in the basics of yoga in its pure and pristine form,” says Tiwari. Currently this 83-year-old institute has 100 students (including 25 from abroad) on its muster rolls, instructed by a permanent faculty of ten.Located in the picturesque hills of Lonavla, the Kaivalyadhama Institute sprawls over a 170 acre campus on the Mumbai-Pune Express highway and houses several forested hills within its boundaries. Despite its austere ashram-style ambience, the institute boasts contemporary facilities including air-conditioned rooms with attached baths, seven classrooms, a library with 27,000-plus volumes and 35 journal subscriptions. Surprisingly, unlike most yoga institutes in the informal sector, KYI has an annual budget of Rs.1 crore and a well-developed infrastructure. The institute‚s green campus is dotted with 14 buildings representing a built-up area of more than 150,000 sq. ft. The SADT Gupta Yogic Hospital and Health Care Centre is housed in a separate spacious building. The hub of activity at KYI is the yoga training centre christened the Gordhandas Seksaria College of Yoga and Cultural Synthesis. This student and teacher training college is managed by the Kaivalyadhama Shreeman Madhava Yoga Mandira Samiti, and admits an aggregate 200 students and 150 teacher trainees per year.Yet perhaps the most distinguishing characteristic of KYI is the reputation it has built for conducting scientific research into this ancient mind, body and spirit science. The institute‚s research centres manned by five full-time researchers conducts studies in asanas, pranayam, meditation, etc. The development of yoga through note-taking and publication of study papers of the yogic sciences was the initiative of KYI‚s founder Swami Kuvalyananda, who after promoting the institute in 1924, presided over its growth and development until his death in 1965. O.P Tiwari, then secretary of the institute is his anointed successor.The…