Swami Padmapadananda was born in Johannesburg, South Africa and began his yoga practice in 1970. A devastating near-fatal accident in which he was involved as a teenager, in his own words, “smashed my body into a 1000 pieces. Unfortunately, I was able to put together only 800”, and this condition led him to his first yoga teacher, who had been trained by Swami Sivananda. Rising early every day he immediately took to serious practice. The satsangs held twice a month had a magical effect on him, awaking a yearning for the spirit.
Two years after beginning his practice, he traveled and settled in Israel. In search of further knowledge and practice, he left Jerusalem to spend a month at the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center in Tel Aviv as a resident.
There he came in contact with the teachings of Swami Sivananda and Swami Vishnu-devananda. Recognizing Swami Vishnuji as his Guru, he committed himself to serve the Sivananda organization full time. After a number of years the Center began to flourish.
In 1979, he was initiated as a sannyasi (swami) by Swami Vishnu-devananda in the lineage of Saraswati, one of the 10 classical monk orders in India founded by Adi Sankaracharya in the 8th century AD. He was named after a disciple of Sankaracharya, Padmapada, the "lotus-footed one".
He presently directs the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center in San Francisco. He is a frequent visitor to the Yoga Farm, where he conducts various programs during the year.
He is by nature a "bhakta", one who is easily drawn to Bhakti Yoga, the devotional aspect of yoga. He teaches with heart and humor.
After directing the Center in Israel, he traveled to direct/co-direct Centers in London, New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and the Yoga Ranch in upstate New York.
