The Bogotá School of Yoga was conceived in 1971 when Mr Fernando Sanz, after his long search for a guru, met Swami Satyananda in Paris. He was so enthused that after returning to Bogotá, he and his associates invited Swamiji to visit Colombia and start the school. Swami Amritananda became our founder and director. Classes were started the day after her arrival and the response was overwhelming. Within six months the ashram became widely known throughout South America.
Now general and private classes are given six days a week. Special classes are conducted for sufferers of a spectrum of ailments from asthma to epilepsy, and many have been cured. Children's classes are conducted once a week, and shankhaprakshalana is given every fifteen days. Every Sunday there is satsang, kirtan and bhajan. A large number of nuns, after attending our classes and satsangs, have adopted yoga as an aid to discovering the Christ within them. Yoga is also taught outside the ashram by swamis who travel all over the country, visiting the sick and teaching in villages and towns wherever there is interest and need.
We are currently researching the pre-Colombian culture and have found that yoga is part of our ancient customs. We held an exposition on pre-Colombian art in which relics, clearly depicting people doing asanas and meditation, were exhibited as reminders to every one that yoga was always in America. Our ashram hosted a world yoga convention in 1975 conducted by Swami Satyananda and Swami Amritananda. We have grown very much over the last six years and with Swamiji's guidance we will continue to spread the universal message of yoga.