Ramana Erickson

Ramana Erickson has taught Kirtan, Sanskrit and Yoga philosophy courses for more than thirty years in the United States, India, and Japan. Born in the U.S., Ramana first started practicing yoga and singing kirtan at the ripe old age of 10 under the tutelage of Swami Vishnudevananda at the Sivananda Ashram Vrindavan Yoga Farm in Grass Valley, California. At 13, Ramana became the youngest hatha yoga student to graduate from the Sivananda Yoga teacher training course, taught by Swami Vishnudevananda himself. Ramana’s mother, Swami Shraddhananda, served as one of the first directors of the Yoga Farm.

After meeting Swami Muktananda in 1974, Ramana’s mother moved the family to Muktananda’s Siddha Yoga Ashram in Oakland, California in 1975, and then to the main ashram in Ganeshpuri, India, in 1976. It was here that Ramana spent his high school years, and where he practiced all aspects of kirtan music: singing, tabla, harmonium, hand cymbals, and other percussion instruments. He also immersed himself in the study of Sanskrit, Yoga Sutras, Vedic chanting, Vedanta, Kashmir Shaivism, tantric puja, and Yoga, and was guided in his studies by Swami Tejomayananda, a Vedanta scholar and early close disciple of Swami Muktananda. It was from the knowledge and instructional style imparted by Swami Tejomayananda that Ramana devised his core Sanskrit and Yoga philosophy courses. Ramana spent eight years on the Siddha Yoga staff until Swami Muktananda’s passing in 1982.