Teacher

Reinhard Gammenthaler was the last student of Swami Dhirendra Brahmachari. After years of preparatory practice in Switzerland and West Africa he arrived in Delhi in the year 1988 and was introduced in all the ancient pranayama techniques laid down in the yoga shastra, the old text books of yoga. One year before, in 1987, Dhirendra Brahmachari had shut down all his ashrams in India, because until this time he had never found an apt disciple and successor amongst the many visitors and teachers of his ashrams. Reinhard showed great devotion and willingness to become a yogi, and so the guru accepted him and sent him to a remote valley in Indian Kashmir, where he lived and practiced in complete isolation in Aparna Ashram. There he learnt about the manyfold, subtle and mostly unknown techniques and aspects of pranayama, mudra and svara. The following years of empirical study were adventurous and sometimes dangerous and culminated in "diksha", the initiation by his guru at Naina Devi Mandir on a mountain near village Mantalai (J & K). There he was adviced to take care of all he had learnt and continue the work of his guru. This was exactly what he did, and after the sad demise of his master in 1994 he continued his sadhana. After the millenium he started to teach yoga and he completed the two books of Dhirendra Brahmachari with a third part about mudra and pranayama. With the publication of the "Kundalini Yoga Parampara", a comprehensive work about philosophy and practice of Hatha Yoga he paid deepest respect to the immortal heritage of his guru and to the saints and yogis of yore.