Swami Rameshwarananda Giri (Felix Balboa) was born on 2nd July 1968 in Bilbao (Spain). Already as a child, he had a great inclination towards spirituality and began to practice spiritual disciplines from a very early age with the help of his mother María Lezáun, today Swamini Madhavananda Giri, who spent a large part of the day dedicated to the practice of yoga and meditation. At the age of seven, Swamiji entered a yoga school where he was instructed in various yogic disciplines. At the age of thirteen he met his first spiritual preceptor, the Jesuit Father Ochoa, who immediately noticed the sensitivity, depth and intelligence of the young disciple and began to take care of him personally, taking charge of his inner development.
It was not until he was nineteen years old that he met the man who would initiate him on the spiritual path, his Master, Swami Ritajananda Maharaj, president of the Ramakrishna Mission in Europe. That was a turning point in the life of this still young aspirant. He devoted himself entirely to an introspective process of self-knowledge, contemplation and walking resolutely towards the state of awakening.
Simultaneously, he studied in Canada, receiving multidisciplinary training, and gaining experience in the fields of psychoeducation, special education, optical-acoustic perception and play pedagogy for children. As a culmination of this training phase, Swamiji spent some time with Amerindian shamans, learning from them cognitive techniques of introspection.
Swami Rameshwarananda's great interest in discovering ways to promote the development of human potential led him to focus on the study and practice of breathing techniques, dedicating himself especially to the study and practice of yoga applied to physical and mental health in the field of breathing (Yoga Therapy, Conscious Breathing, Therapeutic Yoga Breathing Techniques, Yoga Nidra). It was during these years when he designed and developed a novel breathing technique, based on yogic breathing techniques (kriyas), for introspection and self-knowledge which he called Holistic Breathing, which he presented at the First International Conference on Holistic Health and Development of Human Potential held in Madrid in December 1989.
In 1991 he assumed the position of Technical Manager of "Oceanide España", a company dedicated to importing state-of-the-art bio-feedback technology and bio-feeding systems for use in psychological therapies for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Later, in 1992, he founded the “Oceanide Centers” in Spain, conceived as centers that bring together professionals from different fields (medicine, psychology, education, and nutrition) involved in optical-acoustic research, the application of brainwave synthesizers, yoga, relaxation, postural integration, breathing and, ultimately, the development of human potential from the most global and holistic approach.
At this time, in his eagerness to deepen his knowledge of breathing, he became a rescue diver and received technical instruction on apnea and other breathing techniques aimed at naturally and non-invasively increasing blood oxygen levels. Together with professional divers, he successfully tested breathing techniques to, on the one hand, expand lung capacity and increase dive times by reducing air consumption; and on the other hand, minimize the effects of narcosis and avoid panic reactions.
Before he passed away, Swami Ritajananda expressed to him the wish that, when he passed away, Swamiji should continue his spiritual training with Swami Brahmananda Giri, a very advanced yogi, direct heir of the Kriya Yoga lineages and president of the Atmananda Mission.
At the age of 25, Swamiji formally took vows as a monk of the ancient monastic order of Swamis (Dashnami Sampradaya) of Swami Brahmananda Giri and became Swami Rameshwarananda Giri. He was sent to Spain where he established the PHI School of Yoga Vedanta and Meditation in 1993 and founded the Varanasi Vedantic Center in 1994.
In 1995 he began his collaboration with the Vicente Ferrer Foundation, raising funds to finance the foundation's activities. It is worth mentioning both the design and execution of the Valencian Community Cooperation Initiative project, which was carried out in Anantapur (India) and which provided support and infrastructure to a large part of the population. His close friendship with Vicente Ferrer led Swami Rameshwarananda to work actively at his side in many areas. He also collaborated in the structural development of the Vicente Ferrer Foundation, of which he was the first person responsible in the Basque Country and Valencia and was also involved in the opening of the Madrid office.
Swami Brahmanandaji Giri passed away in 1997, leaving the succession of the position of Mahant (president) of the lineage in the hands of Swami Rameshwarananda Giri.
Nine years of total retirement and silence followed. During this period, Swamiji worked intensely with numerous venerable spiritual instructors to deepen his spiritual development, devoting himself to the practice of meditation and the study of the scriptures. Once this intense period of retreat was over, various seekers of Truth began to visit him assiduously, seeking answers to their own spiritual questions and concerns. The clarity of his discourse in expounding spiritual realities was remarkable for its precision, simplicity, and insight. This made more and more people interested in getting to know him personally and participating in his teachings. Gradually, all this led Swamiji to develop an enthusiastic activity, in a totally disinterested way, consisting of giving spiritual retreats and seminars on Vedanta philosophy and meditation to various groups of people who demanded it in Europe, America and India, while simultaneously engaged in all kinds of actions and altruistic projects.
In 2006 he was the promoter of Phi Salud Natural where professionals from the fields of education, psychology and medicine converged, and launched a project on Adapted Education and Integral development for children and adults called "PHI Method". This method included an introspective process of self-knowledge, as an integral part of the therapeutic process.
In 2009, she founded and chairs the PHI Foundation, dedicated to promoting and strengthen the development of human potential and to harmonize body, mind, spirit and environment. The foundation promotes solidarity and cooperation between cultures and societies, stimulating the integral growth of the person to make a qualitative contribution to the process of harmony of man with himself and with others. Other aims of the foundation are the preservation of natural areas, the protection of the environment and the promotion of the use of clean and renewable energies as well as environmentally friendly architecture. It also promotes human contact with nature and the implementation of initiatives and projects aimed at equality, peace, and fraternity among all human beings.
Currently, Swami Rameshwarananda Giri is representative of the Vedic Community of Spain; director of the Vedantic Center of Spain; director of the European School of Yoga Vedanta and Meditation; member of the Kriya Yoga Parampara; expert in Vedanta philosophy, writer, translator, and collaborator in numerous publications to make known the essence of Hindu thought. Founder and president of the Fundación PHI and vice-president of the Fundació Mediambiental.
He is also developing CampusPHI (International Campus of Excellence), an innovative initiative that integrates technological projects in the field of sustainable development, international development cooperation and training, being the knowledge and meditation the transversal element. CampusPHI is the material manifestation of the inspiring principles and values of the PHI Foundation: ecology, knowledge, and spirituality. CampusPHI hosts a stable human settlement, in a rural environment, based on an ecologically healthy and economically viable system, which produces what is necessary for the satisfaction of its own needs, making a prudent, conservationist and non-polluting use of natural resources.
Creator and ideologist of the University of Consciousness Project of CampusPHI and promoter of its program Sharing Wisdom, an Act of Love. The University of Consciousness Project is an innovative teaching proposal, whose objective is to generate a space where reflection, analysis of new ideas, dialogue, critical thinking, and integral harmonic development can take place.
He is a founding member and president of the International Interreligious Forum "Transcendence" and representative of the Religions of India in the Elijah Board of World Religious Leaders, as well as in the International Mediterranean Conference of the Multaqa. He is also advisor for the Interreligious Dialogue and Relations with the Administrations of the Hindu Federation of Spain and spiritual advisor of the Hindu Forum of Europe. He has participated in numerous national and international forums.
