“Conscious breathing and conscious thinking lead to conscious action.”

Aoananda Mahaprabhupada Baba Satguru

The Yogacenter Marbella and its founder

The Yogacenter Marbella was founded in 1986 by the German painter and sculptor Friedrich Spürkel, whose spiritual name is Aoananda.

Aoananda was open to spiritual, mystical experience since his childhood. He was educated in Yoga from the Indian Yoga master Swami Dev Murti in the 60s.

Thanks to the teachings of the Swami and then through the encounter with his master, Aoananda became an outstanding Yoga and spiritual master who then passed on his knowledge selflessly.

How Hatha Yoga works

Hatha Yoga, in its traditional form and as taught by Aoananda, serves our physical, mental and emotional health. Thus, it is a path to balance and harmony and is more valuable than ever in our time.

In addition, the regular practice of Hatha Yoga releases creative, inventive potential that can be used creatively in productive work, whether in the artistic field or in everyday life.

Thus, Aoananda, himself a painter and sculptor, encouraged his Yoga students to work creatively and instructed them in various artistic techniques.

This was the background that led to the gospel group Vayrocana, the Rainbow Puppet Theater, the annual cultural event “Art meets Cabaret” in Krefeld, the creative seminar “Pure Creativity!” held every two years at the finca El Tejar, and much more.

Aoananda’s teachings

Aoananda was keen to help his disciples develop their personalities as well as their mental and -spiritual being in the tradition of a true master-disciple relationship. Through years of intense work on himself, he attained tolerance, compassion, love – the essence of all religions, the cornerstones of genuine humanity – and gave these insights to his disciples selflessly. He fulfilled his purpose, to show those searching for a way to find themselves, to his last breath. He taught us that austerity and self-mortification are not the way to self-realization; we find that, rather, through the pleasure of learning and the enjoyment of life.

Aoananda’s work

With this in mind, Aoananda also founded the Yogacenter Düsseldorf and the ecologically managed finca El Tejar (in Ojén, southern Spain) as meeting places for people who are seeking spiritual development. And if you want to make a contribution to the ecological tasks of our time, you can do so at the finca, a small paradise.

After Aoananda, Friedrich Spürkel, died in 2002, his estate was incorporated into a charitable foundation (Humanitao Foundation), according to his will.

All course instructors and all employees work for this foundation on a voluntary basis.

In accordance with Aoananda’s mission and desire, Martina Beetz-Bohle, whose spiritual name is Labaoananda, continues his work. She was prepared for this task by him for many years.

Aoananda’s training with Swami Dev Murti

Swami Dev Murti was a Yoga master with extraordinary physical and spiritual powers and abilities. Already as a five-year-old, he was trained by a master in the Himalayas and later instructed by him to bring Yoga to the West.

For this reason, Swami Dev Murti came to Germany in the 60s and founded numerous Yoga schools there. He himself lived at his Yoga center in Aubach Castle.

There he taught Yoga in numerous courses. In addition, he taught his disciples the philosophy of Yoga, the spiritual background of all Yoga disciplines such as Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Jnana Yoga and Raja Yoga, but also Hatha Yoga.

Aoananda stayed in Aubach Castle for some time at the invitation of Swami and was trained by him. Under the guidance of Swami, he perfected his Yoga. The spiritual background that the Swami taught him met with fertile ground, since Aoananda had already dealt with the various world religions and philosophies for many years and, through numerous answers to prayers and spiritual healing, had experienced powers whose principles he sought to explore. In the philosophy of Yoga, he found the spiritual background that could answer all his questions and show him the laws he was looking for.