Matsyendra

Originally from England, Matsyendra hitchhiked to India in the 1980’s, where he happened upon the Maha Kumbha Mela festival in Prayagraj, northern India — the largest gathering of humanity with over 25 million people. Pilgrims, gurus, shamans, and yogis gather every 12 years at this festival to bathe at the confluence of three sacred rivers: the Ganges, the Yamuna, and the mystical Saraswati.

Living among some of the most respected and revered spiritual practitioners during the months in which the festival took place sparked a deeper search to understand this encounter. In the years that followed, he travelled across India, visiting monasteries, ashrams, temples, and mountain caves, and receiving numerous teachings and initiations.

Yet despite all this, it was surprisingly difficult to follow the simplest instruction: “sit down, shut up, and be still.” Sitting for extended periods brought physical torment, and all attempts to quiet the mind led to even more restless and uncomfortable thoughts. In practice, stillness remained an elusive concept—something that seemed to exist only theoretically in books. Realising there was no quick or easy shortcut, and that the path of Yoga required thorough preparation, he returned to Europe and entered the ashram of Swami Janakananda, in the lineage (parampara) of Swami Satyananda, undertaking a ten-year training in the depth and breadth of Yoga.

Deep in the forests of Sweden, Swami Janakananda provided a space to fully explore both physical and mental capacities through Yoga, and to gradually loosen the inner knots that bind. Life in the ashram was not limited to spiritual practice alone — it also included biodynamic farming, forestry, printing, cooking, construction, and whatever else was needed.

He returned for a ritual bath at the Maha Kumbha Mela in 2001, marking the end of his time in the ashram and beginning a new chapter as an independent yoga teacher, establishing his own yoga space in Copenhagen. Following another visit to the festival in 2013, he relocated to Amsterdam and co-founded Mangalam Yoga School. More recently, coinciding with the 2025 festival, he founded Fisher King as a platform to explore and focus on yantras.

Matsyendra teaches a range of traditional meditative practices, including Kriya Yoga, Antar Mauna, and Yoga Nidra. He offers classes, workshops, and teacher trainings both locally and internationally.