Sw Yoga Christopher

Sw Yoga

Wellbeing Meditation Directory – Chairman[1]

OmWeb Limited - Director[2]

IBM Smarter Planet - Retired[3]

Yoga, father of six children with two grandchildren began his meditation practise in 1967 under the direction of Venerable Swami Sariputra at the Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery, a Mahayana Buddhist temple in Singapore.

After returning to England in 1969 Yoga attended the first of the summer gatherings at Brockwood Park with J Krishnamurti. At this time he was inspired by the work of Buckminster Fuller who challenged us with a bold vision: “To make the world work for 100% of humanity” and started a career in computers. In the 1970’s Yoga joined IBM and after a successful few years of mainframe sales in the City of London was privileged to work in Scientific Programs on Sustainable Development a foundational aspect of the IBM “Smarter Planet” initiative. In 1989 Yoga received the IBM Chairman’s Award for Exceptional Achievement.

In the 80’s Yoga had studied with the Dalai Lama at Tzong Khapa Institute, Pomia, Italy, and visited Manjushri, Ulverston, home to the largest Buddhist community in the UK. Yoga attended a course at CAT, Wales that was leading the world in increasing awareness of environmental and social issues.

On 15 January 1982 he became an Osho sannyasin and was blessed with the name Sw Yoga Christopher. The same year he was with Osho for the first time at the First World Celebration in USA. On 19 January 1990, on the way back to London after running an IBM training programme with UNEP in Niarobi, Yoga and his eldest daughter Zoe arrived in Poona the day Osho left his body to participate in the celebrations.

In 1985 Yoga was honoured to drive a group of monks from Manjushri to Amaravati Buddhist Monastery, Hemel Hempstead where the Abbot Ajahn Sumedho used to talk at length about "The Sound of Silence”. This trip was to enable the monks from both monasteries to attend the opening ceremony of The London Peace Pagoda in Battersea Park, London. During a 90’s trip to Scotland Yoga visited Samye Ling, Europe's oldest Tibetan Buddhist Monastery and Findhorn a spiritual community that is one of the largest Communes in UK. Since 2005 Yoga enjoys a weekly Hindu group meditation and Satsang with mantra chanting at the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre, London.