Our Lovely People
The Ashram is staffed by a resident team of teachers and students working in the spirit of service. This has been the way here in all the 35 years since the Ashram's founding.
Our senior teachers have nearly 100 years of yoga teaching experience between them, creating a rich culture of grounded spirituality.
Our Founder
The Ashram was founded in 1986 by Swami Nishchalananda Saraswati upon his return from India, where for 14 years he studied and practiced the different paths of Yoga under the direct guidance of his guru, Swami Satyananda Saraswati. He is a recognised Yoga Acharya - Master of Yoga.
More about SwamijiAshram Teachers
In addition to Swami Nishchalananda's yoga mastery, the Ashram benefits from the presence of our highly experienced senior teachers who have over 60 years of teaching experience between them. Many of the other members of our team are also yoga teachers or teachers-in-training.
More about our teachersThe Team
Our team is made up of a stable core of long-serving senior teachers, a slowly shifting mantle of medium-term residents, and a more fluid group of shorter-term members. What unites us all is our commitment to deepening our own understanding and supporting others to do the same.
Interested in joining our team?Our Founder
Swami Nishchalananda
Swami Nishchalananda is a rare gem in the world of yoga, combining a deep and extensive classical training in yoga and tantra with a naturally humane, down-to-earth and non-dogmatic approach to spirituality. He has lived a life committed to the path of yoga, first spending 14 years in India with his Guru, Swami Satyananda Saraswati, and then returning to the UK to found Mandala Yoga Ashram,Ā which over the course of three and a half decades he has nurtured into an internationally renowned center of yogic studies.
He has taught countless courses on yoga, advaita and tantra in India, here at the Ashram, and all over Europe, and authored a number of classic modern yogic texts, most notably 'Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha', the encyclopedic 'Yoga & Kriya - A Systematic Course in the Ancient Tantric Techniques of Yoga and Kriya', and 'Insight Into Reality - The Tantric Teaching of the Vigyana Bhairava Tantra.'
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Our Teachers
Swami SatyaDaya
Swami SatyaDaya is a born seeker who brings a very meditative and reflective style to his practice and teaching. As a gyana yogi, his main path is gyana yoga (the path of reflection and insight). He has been fundamentally inspired by his time at Mandala Yoga Ashram under the direction of Swami Nishchalananda and through his contact with other teachers, and has now fully stepped into the role of teacher, guide and director.
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Swami Krishnaprem
Swami KrishnapremĀ has been living, practicing, serving and teaching in the ashram since 1997. He is a senior resident teacher and director of the Ashram's Teacher Training Course. His yogic understanding has gradually matured over the years through contact with inspirational teachers, combined with sustained and dedicated practice.
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Tulsi
Tulsi is the Ashram Manager. She has been practising yoga for 35 years in the Satyananda tradition and teaching since 2001. She has specialised in working with people with a wide range of mental and physical health issues. In addition to running weekly classes, retreats and 1:1 sessions, she has worked in day centres, schools, prisons, hospitals, mental health projects and residential homes. She joined the Ashram and its teaching team in September 2019.
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Visiting Teachers
In addition to Swami Nishchalananda and the senior teachers based in the Ashram, the Ashram also plays host to a number of highly experienced visiting teachers.
Swami GyanDharma
Trained in India, Swami Gyan Dharma has been practicing and teaching yoga for over 40 years. His life is rooted in a meditative connection with his inner being. Just being in his presence can catalyse transformation.
Reva
Reva is an Ashram qualified yoga teacher and former team member. Her background is in psychotherapy and shamanic work, and she is dedicated to reawakening the Divine Feminine. She weaves all these elements into her teaching and practice.
Anandadevi
AnandaDevi was the Ashram Manager from 2021-2023. She graduated from the Ashram's Yoga Teacher Training Course in 2017. She brings a warmth and generosity of spirit to her teaching, as well as a wise dose of Irish humour.
Dr. Hania Kramlund
Hania is a specialist in family and general medicine in Sweden. She has practiced Yoga for 23 years and has been teaching yoga since 2002. She is fascinated by the intersection of Yoga and medicine, and heads our Yoga Therapy course.
Amritasara
Amritasara is a deeply nourishing yoga teacher. With her husband and family, she runs a sustainable farm near Monmouth. She is a graduate of the 2002-2004 Ashram Yoga Teacher Training Course, and teaches online sessions for the Ashram Sangha.
YogaBijananda
YogaBijananda is an accomplished and inspirational kirtan teacher, as well as an experienced yoga and meditation guide. She holds a compassionate and humorous teaching space, and runs a nature inspired yoga 'centre' in Germany.Ā
Residential Retreats
Our residential retreats are rare opportunities to go deep into the mysteries of yoga in an environment of great natural beauty and focused spiritual energy. Set in 25 acres of lush gardens and grounds, nestling amidst beautiful, remote hill-country in Southwest Wales, UK, the Ashram has been a hub of spiritual practice for over 35 years. During that time it has been a place of profound learning and transformation for thousands of people from all walks of life. We currently offer fully residential retreat courses of between 2 and 10 days in length, as well as longer sadhana courses combining multiple residential retreats with guided home-study.
Explore our residential retreats
Our Online Offerings
Online Courses
We offer two kinds of online course: live courses broadcast via Zoom, and self-study courses provided through our own online portal.
Online Satsang
Join Swami Nishchalananda on Zoom for one-hour satsang sessions. These free sessions usually take place twice per month. Register below to receive invites.
Ashram Sangha
The Ashram Sangha is our new online hub, a space for us to support all those who feel a connection with the Ashram, its teachings, and its vibrant yoga community.
