Sivananda Radha Saraswati (March 20, 1911 – November 30, 1995), born Sylvia Demitz,[1] was a German yogini who emigrated to Canada and founded Yasodhara Ashram in British Columbia.

"Thoroughly sick at heart with the brutality and stupidity of the world", she survived and, in 1951, emigrated to Canada settling in Montreal, finding work in the advertising department of a chemical firm, and becoming a Canadian citizen.

His commitment to selfless service made a deep impression on her and Karma Yoga became a key practice in her own life and subsequently in the running of her Ashram.

Within a few months, she was offering yoga classes, had been interviewed on CBC radio, travelled to Ottawa to speak, and been sponsored by the Canadian-India Association to fly to Vancouver to lecture on Indian philosophy.

[6] Within a year, in 1957, in Burnaby, British Columbia, she founded Sivananda Ashram, in an old ten-roomed house, where she offered classes, meditation and satsangs.

Sivananda Radha also gave sanyas initiations to the young men who accompanied her and worked with her to establish the Ashram, beginning a new, Western based lineage, honouring the traditions of the Saraswati Order.

She lectured in many North American universities and, in 1976, co-led a conference with Herbert Guenther at Yasodhara Ashram on the role of gurus in the West.

Sivananda Radha opened yoga centres [9] in North America, Mexico and England where classes and satsangs were offered by teachers trained at Yasodhara Ashram.