Hahkialan Uiskola - The History of Uiskola

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How Yoga Came to Hauho

Yoga found its way to the Hauho-based Viittakivi International Folk High School in an interesting way: in the latter part of the 1950s, Dhiren Datta from India came to Viittakivi in order to teach sociology. In addition to his interest in sociology, Datta was a passionate yoga enthusiast. Datta, who was a friend of Mahatma Gandhi and had fought alongside him, had spent two years in prison, during which time he became familiar with yoga.

In 1967 an Indian yoga teacher Roshan Lal made a yoga program for the Finnish television and wanted to pay a visit to Viittakivi during the process. After his visit, Viittakivi began to organize a couple of yoga courses annually.

The yoga activity continued vigorously in Viittakivi until the mid-1970s when the Yoga Federation of Finland was founded.

The History of Uiskola

The developments that have taken place during the past few decades have shaped Uiskola into its current state. Uiskola belonged to the Hahkiala Manor until 1948 when the then land steward, Haukkamaa, received the lands of Uiskola as a retirement gift. On these lands Haukkamaa built a guesthouse which he called Haukkalinna.

In 1951 the land steward sold Haukkalinna to the Christian-Social Work Center Association, known today as The Finnish Settlement Association.

The Work Center Association got to work immediately during the summer of 1951 and begun to renovate Uiskola with the help of an architect. Simultaneously, a competition for renaming Haukkalinna was organized and, as a result, the place was called Viittakivi.

Viittakivi began to offer language courses, seminars and yoga courses.

Time went by and the next large transition Viittakivi experienced took place in 2007. The Viittakivi Folk High School was bought by the current owner of the Hahkiala Manor and it was again annexed to Hahkiala.

The Folk High School’s buildings, built in the 1950s and in the 1970s, were fully renovated and redecorated. Simultaneously, the edge of the surrounding Uiskosuo bog and the overgrown garden were landscaped.