The Institute
Overview

The Ananda Institute of Alternative Living is an institute for higher education based on the spiritually unitive principles contained in the word yoga. The Institute offers students not only the information and tools they need for achieving success in today's world, but also the subtler understanding that is becoming increasingly necessary today for people to live as complete human beings. Completeness may be described as including, physically: balance, fitness, and energy; mentally: focus, clarity, and intuition; and spiritually: direction, serenity, inspiration, and higher guidance.

These objectives provide the essential foundation for all aspects of the Institute. All our degree offerings approach their topics from this unitive perspective. The faculty, in addition to their academic qualifications, have a long history of involvement with these principles through their personal practice of yoga.

The concept behind the institute has a long history, its roots having been sunk in the soil of society by Paramhansa Yogananda when he founded a school for boys in 1917 in India. In 1970 these ideas found expression in the US with the founding of the first Education for Life elementary school at Ananda Village. The first Education for Life high school commenced in 1997 and has accreditation through the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. In 2003, the Ananda Institute of Alternative Living was established at Ananda Village and has received certification by the Bureau for Private Post-Secondary Colleges.The degree-granting Institute was named the Yoga Institute of Living Wisdom in 2006.