Satyananda Giri, also known as Acharya Swami Satyananda Giri Maharaj, was an Indian monk and chief monastic disciple of Kriya Yoga guru Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri. He was born on November 17, 1896, in Malkha Nagar of Bikrampore, which is currently located in Bangladesh. Satyananda's father, Mohinimohan Mazumder, was one of the founding fathers of Calcutta Deaf and Dumb School, and the family used to live on the school premises. Satyananda met his childhood friend and brother-disciple, Paramahansa Yogananda, when he was 11 years old and Yogananda was 14 years old.

Satyananda was the eldest of Mohinimohan's seven children. He studied at the Mitra Institution of Calcutta and was proficient in Bengali, Sanskrit, Hindi, English, and Oriya. He graduated with a B.A. with honors in Philosophy from the University of Calcutta and later became a part of the Giri branch of the Swami Order, of which his guru Sri Yukteswar was also a part. Satyananda and Ananda Mohan Lahiri, his school classmate and good friend, worked together at Yogananda's Ranchi school. In his later monastic life, Satyananda served as the leader of several yoga training institutions in East India. He passed away on August 2, 1971.

The technique that Goenka taught is claimed to represent a tradition that is traced back to the Buddha.[22] There is no requirement to convert to any religious belief system. Goenka explained that, "The Buddha never taught a sectarian religion; he taught Dhamma - the way to liberation — which is universal"[23] and presented his teachings as non-sectarian and open to people of all faiths or no faith. "Liberation" in this context means freedom from impurities of mind and, as a result of the process of cultivating a pure mind, freedom from suffering.[24] Goenka described Vipassana meditation as an experiential scientific practice, in which one observes the constantly changing nature of the mind and body at the deepest level, through which one gains a profound self-knowledge that leads to a truly happy and peaceful life.[citation needed]

Courses start with observation of natural (i.e. not controlled) breath, which allows the mind to become concentrated, a practice called Anapana. This concentration prepares one for the Vipassana practice itself which, in this tradition, involves observing bodily sensations with equanimity and becoming progressively more aware of the interconnection between mind and body.[25]