Associate Professor
Area of Specialization: Psychological insights in the Vedas, Sanskrit, English, Yogic Science and Applied Psychology.
Dr. Vinayachandra Banavathy, being one of the members of the Founding Team of the Chanakya University, currently holds the position of the Director – Communications and as the Director -Centre for Indian Knowledge Systems at the University. He is also a Co-founder of Indica Yoga, a platform that offers authentic, immersive and transformative yoga experiences across the world. Recently, he has set up Ritambhara Retreat, an idyllic space for contemplation and learning close to Bengaluru city.
Dr.Vinayachandra is a dedicated teacher who has been traveling across the world conducting courses, lectures and workshops with a unique blend of Yoga, Psychology and Sanskrit.
He has had the privilege of being a tutor at the European Union of Yoga Congress, Zinal, Switzerland during the years 2013 and 2014. He was also the Guest of Honour at the same event in 2017. He has also served as a visiting faculty at the Department of Contemplative and Behavioural Sciences at Sri Sri University, Cuttack, Orissa
Vinayachandra brings with him nearly two decades of rich experience in the domains of research, teaching and policy formulation owing to his varied engagements. He has served as a Senior Consultant to the Committee – to Draft the National Educational Policy (NEP) under the chairmanship of Dr. K. Kasturirangan – set up by Ministry of Education, Govt. of India;
He has also served as the Director of Veda Vijnana Shodha Samsthanam, a Bengaluru-based research centre dedicated to Sanskrit and Shastric studies; Research Associate at Development Foundation, Bengaluru; Research Associate and Head of Centre for Indian Psychology, Jain University, Bengaluru and Research Associate at Karnataka Knowledge Commission, Govt. of Karnataka. Lecturer, Dept. of Sanskrit, Jain College, Bengaluru and Lecturer, Dept. of Yoga and Spirituality, SVYASA Yoga University, Bengaluru.
His publications include a report on Standardization of Yoga Terminologies for WHO; a book co-edited with Dr. Anuradha Choudry titled ‘Perspectives on Indian Psychology’, published by Jain University Press. Another book co-authored titled ‘Happiness: Indic Perspectives’ was published by Development Foundation – besides a few articles, papers, booklets on Yoga, Indian Psychology, Culture and Spirituality.