How a 60 year old yoga organisation came online in 6 weeks

In just six weeks we managed to bring this sixty-year-old organisation fully online. This transformation was made possible by digital media. We were just following the example of our gurus who utilised all available technologies during their time to propagate the teachings of yoga. Swami Sivananda was among the first people in Rishikesh to import a printing press in circa 1936 and Swami Vishnudevananda purchased the organisation’s first computer in the 1980s which was among the first in the state of Kerala.

The process of coming online was challenging, at times frustrating, and often funny. We hope you enjoy a peek behind the scenes.

The machine was a Heidelberger Druckmaschinen from Germany, and was used to publish many of the Divine Life Society's books with titles as varied as ‘How to Get Good Sleep’ to commentaries on the Upanishads.

In the same spirit of improving efficiency of administration, accounting and communication Swamiji introduced computers to our ashrams and centres in the early 1980s.

The computer in our Trivandrum centre became an instant attraction for engineers, students and even scientists from Indian Space Research Orgnisation (ISRO)! Swamiji had plans of networking, to connect the ashram and centres worldwide, something unheard of at that time.

Using tripods and mobiles became easier, and searching for the most scenic shoot locations within the ashram became fun! Satya, one of our teachers and technical support team is seen teaching an Open Class on the rooftop terrace at the Neyyar Dam Ashram with a view to the western ghats in Kerala.

On the other hand, where it was not possible to acquire the right equipments, jugaad was the friendly route adopted and made us very creative at times. An example is this selfie stick in a vase, improvised by one of our teachers teaching from his home!

As our Madurai Ashram is in a rural location, the network signal and wifi connection are not strong enough to conduct an uninterrupted yoga class. The ashram drivers therefore shuttle teachers back and forth to a nearby building, an Ayurvedic hospital, to conduct the sessions. Teachers run the sessions on their mobile data plans. The teachers (and drivers) have adapted to the new online schedule by keeping strictly to the timings – which is not so common in India – and also making sure that their devices are always fully charged and ready to go!

Here's a satsang in progress with a few staff "backstage" as it were, drumming and providing the response during chanting. All of the staff are like family members, living together under lockdown for several months. Rahul's drumming helps us to keep the rhythm. Om Adi Guru, Advaita Guru, Ananda Guru OM, Chid Guru, Chid Ghana Guru, Chinmaya Guru Om.

We involved the entire team who underwent training sessions, constantly experimented and gave feedback on what worked and what did not. A core team of around 15 people drove this agenda centrally by getting points-of-contacts across all centers who showed abundant enthusiasm and a keen desire to make yoga available to anyone who needed it.

By the end of April all centers across the country were running sessions online.

With a well-built website and active social channels, we were able to get good outreach for our programs. In addition, we adopted new softwares and platforms like Zoom, GetOnYoga, Razorpay etc. for managing online classes and payments. All this infrastructure was well supported by tech grants from Google, Microsoft and Facebook. While the courses and classes were played out on our digital platforms, the Sivananda staff needed to unlearn and relearn approaches in a short span of time. As a result of all these efforts in the first six weeks, our site traffic surged and we offered 250 classes completely free of cost with more than 8,600 online registrations.

With the example of our gurus, we adapted to the new situation and achieved a paradigm shift in the way we operate.