Ashtanga Yoga
On this page, I show numerous links concerning Ashtanga Yoga. I do not take any responsibility for the contents on the linked websites.
The majority of the links mirrors my own path through the world of Ashtanga Yoga and of the encounters that I have had on that path. In this sense, this page is perhaps more personal than usual for link pages.
Should there be no pictures or logos, the respective person or studio has not replied to my email in which I had asked for their approval to show their picture or use their logo – or it was not possible to contact them due to the email address being out of date.
Over the years, I have studied with many yoga teachers. I am very grateful to all of them, for their inspiration and their patience. The links indicated here are only a selection.
During the relatively long period of my practice, I have learnt the most from the teachers with whom I practiced day after day in the Mysore classes. Ashtanga Yoga is based on this longer term approach to teaching. The many years that I regularly drove 5 or 6 times per week to Frankfurt to take part in the Mysore class at the Private Yoga Institute were the most important for my practice.
For the past few years I do self practice –like at the beginning -, as a rule 6 times per week. Then it is important to have certain people as a fixed contact point, with whom one meets on a regular basis or at least can exchange ideas, in order to stay “on track”.
My current teachers
My Sanskrit teacher Zoë taught Ashtanga Yoga and Sanskrit for more than 20 years in New York and Sanskrit online. Her website also contains many chants and interesting articles as well as blogs.
Since she finished her Ph.D. in Sanskrit, she is teaching at the Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and also continues to teach Sanskrit online via the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies.
I came across Zoë through her book, which I found fascinating, but also intimidating. When she started her online courses in 2018, I was very happy to join in. Since then, I have also started to take private classes with her online, to deepen my (slow) understanding of Sanskrit and as a supervisor for my baby steps in passing Sanskrit on.
In the Private classes, we also from time to time deviate to the topic of Ashtanga Yoga. So if I mention her here, it is mainly in her capacity as my Sanskrit teacher, but she also has given me valid advice concerning the asana practice.
Greg Nardi is teaching in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA, internationally and also online under the label “Grassroots Yoga”. Greg has been coming to Germany on a regular basis to teach workshops, also here at Ashtanga Yoga Plus in Königstein, since 2015.
Between 2016 and 2019 I have participated at least once per year in his Mysore programme and taken private lessons from him. We met for the first time in 2014, in Salento, Italy at the second round of John Scott’s teacher training, where Greg taught the part about yoga philosophy. I was also fortunate to assist him once in Preston, United Kingdom, in 2016.
The most important lesson that Greg is trying to teach me is: “Less is more.” I guess that this webpage is living proof that I have not yet totally incorporated this message.
These are the teachers who have accompanied me in the Mysore classes over the years
My first Ashtanga teacher was Ursula Cox, starting with private lessons in January 2008 at Balance Yoga in Frankfurt.
I can still remember that my first question to her was, whether at 49 years of age I was too old for Ashtanga – well, 12 years later, what can I say…
These days, Ursula is teaching in Virginia, North Carolina, USA.
The six months of regular Mysore classes with Chris Braun in Bornheim were an important step in my development to become a teacher. On the one hand, I started a regular Mysore practice with him, and on the other hand, at his place, I met Olivia Martinez, who not only inspired me to significantly intensify my practice, but also nudged me in the direction of considering to teach. Chris continues to teach in Frankfurt.
Gibran Gonzalez is probably the teacher who helped me over the longest period in time, beginning in 2010 at the Private Yoga Institute in Frankfurt. He was very patient with me, and I have learnt a lot from him.
When I had my last contact with him in the Corona summer of 2020, he was in Spain, on his way back to his home country of Mexico.
Gibran has a 2nd level authorization by Sharath. He continues to work as a travelling teacher and has no website of his own. You can reach him via shivranji (at) gmail.com.
I met Rachel Grey at a retreat at Samahita on Koh Samui. She gave two workshops at my studio and was one of the guest teachers at the Private Yoga Institute in Frankfurt for one or two years.
These days, Rachel is teaching in Chiang Mai in Thailand. She has an interesting channel on Youtube “Yoga with Rachel Grey”.
Elena Riess followed Ursula Cox as my teacher, mainly in private lessons. I am most grateful to her, as she showed me what growth potential there was still with a regular practice at around 50 years old. With her, I also experienced the magic of adjustments for the first time.
Elena has been teaching only privately for years, and she currently also does not accept new students – therefore no link.
Also Lucia Andrade taught me for many years beginning in 2011, initially for a short period at the former Studio Y in Königstein and then as an always very welcome guest teacher at the Private Yoga Institute in Frankfurt Sachsenhausen. She now lives on Ibiza with her husband and her son, and she also teaches there.
Lucia was one of the first students of Sharath to receive certification to teach 4th series from him. She can be reached via email luciashtanga (at) gmail.com.
Steve Lapham and his wife Sacchi followed Rachel as guest teachers at the Private Yoga Institute.
The encounter with Steve was important for me since it motivated me to focus on self practice.
Following a short stay in Cornwall, where Steve and his wife were running their own studio, I lost his trace. Therefore, I am also unable to offer a link.
On my Ashtanga path, I have also met a large number of internationally active teachers in teacher trainings or at workshops. I have enormous respect for their work and for their enthusiasm.
In 2003, Paul Dallaghan and his ex-wife founded Yoga Thailand, now Samahita Retreat, on Koh Samui. I got to know and respect him at one of his well-known 4-week teacher trainings that I took with him and his team in 2010.
I am especially grateful to Paul in that he introduced me to the pranayama in the tradition of Sri O.P. Tiwari. The continued education in this style of Pranayama has brought me back to Samahita almost every year since 2010.
Paul is currently finishing his doctoral thesis on the topic of pranayama at Emory University in Atlanta. He is one of the few who manage to combine the academic world and the world of yoga. This is a common trait with my Sanskrit teacher Zoë Slatoff – and it is perhaps no coincidence that both met for the first time in the middle of the Nineties at their respective first teacher training.
Paul has been certified by Patthabi Jois.
The website of Germany’s probably best known Ashtangi, Ronald Steiner, has a trove of interesting information, on the exact practice of the first three series of Ashtanga Yoga, yoga therapy and also on yoga philosophy.
Ronald also regularly teaches workshops in Frankfurt at the Private Yoga Institute, and over the years I have also participated in a number of them, also on yoga therapy.
Petri teaches yoga (at least in my experience) primarily through the touch and through his charisma. One can feel that he also worked as a Finnish folk healer.
His two books on Ashtanga Yoga that he wrote in close coordination with Patthabi Jois and Sharath Jois are amongst my favourite books.
I met Petri for the first time at Balance Yoga in Frankfurt and visited other workshops with him with Chris Braun, later at the Private Yoga Institute and a few times also in Sweden.
I would also like to mention Petri’s wife Wambui, with whom he has two sons. In the meantime, Wambui is also teaching side by side with Petri.
David Swenson’s teacher training was the first one that I attended – more out of coincidence, already 10 months after beginning to practice. At the end of the training, I promised myself to never ever start teaching… Well, a little bit more than two years later (having attended two more workshops with him) I also took part in his teacher training for the Intermediate series (“The next step”), at minus 20 centrigrade in Edinburgh, Great Britain, again too early to teach something that I myself had not integrated in my own practice. Nevertheless, many adjustments that I offer in the Intermediate Series have been taught to me by him.
I still remember his answer to a question that I asked in quite a big workshop in Paris: “Do you have some advice on how in a led class one can bind the legs faster behind the head in Supta Kurmasana?” His answer was perfect: “Do you think that this will make you a better person?”
Marla Meenakshi and Ron Reid from Toronto have in the past offered a workshop in Paris once per year at the studio of Linda and Gerald. They are not “traditional” Ashtanga teachers, but still I have learnt a lot from them about the finer aspects of the individual asanas. Marla has also worked as a Shiatsu practitioner, and one can feel that clearly in her touch.
David Keil has been a student of John Scott for many years. He is also a well-trained physiotherapist and as such has a clear focus on anatomy.
His website is a trove for good tips and teaching videos (also concerning the topic of “safe adjustments”, highly recommendable). He is also author of the excellent book “Functional Anatomy of Yoga“.
He teaches in Miami, Florida, USA, around the United States and in Europe.
I met him also at the teacher training of John Scott and Lucy Crawford Scott.
I saw Anne first as a co-practitioner at a workshop with Sharath in Helsinki. Then she taught for a short while as a guest teacher at the Private Yoga Institute.
Anne Nuotio in my experience is a precise, strict and direct teacher with a lot of experience. At some early point, she stopped me from doing the 2nd series, because she did not think that I was ready for it. She certainly was right – actually, I still don’t feel ready for it 10 years later.
Scott Johnson is also a student of John Scott. He has been teaching in London for many years, and is increasingly teaching throughout England as well as internationally. He also offers a lot of interesting material, in blogs as well as in podcasts.
Together with Greg Nardi and other teachers, mainly from the United Kingdom, he has founded Amaya, an ashtanga association based on ethical principles. It also serves as an international place for continued education.
Over the years I have participated in Scott’s Mysore classes in London a few times.
Hamish Hendry teaches in London – in a totally normal flat. You start your practice in one room, and when a place becomes available in the living room, you move there. For the finishing sequence, you return to the guest room.
Hamish is an immensely experienced and at the same time very modest teacher – unfortunately,, I have had only once the chance to practice with him so far.
Hamish has also written a beautiful little booklet about yoga philosophy, and he is the editor of the magazine Pushpam (well – since the last edition came out in 2015, it would probably be more precise to say “has been the editor”).
Clayton Horton is an American, but he has been living in Asia for a long time. He has been practicing for more than 30 years, and teaching for almost 25 years. He is one of the few practitioners certified by Sharath.
Clayton Horton is also one of the international teachers who in the past came regularly to the Private Yoga Institute. There I participated in several workshops with him. At least back then, he would never travel without his guitar.
Kathy Cooper has been practicing Ashtanga Yoga since 1976 – her main teachers are Nancy Gilgoff and David Williams (who in 1974 brought Patthabi and Manju Jois to the United States). She splits her time between Sri Lanka and the United States – and, if possible, she also teaches in Europe when traveling back and forth.
I met her at a workshop at the Private Yoga Institute in Frankfurt.
Matthew Sweeney was the first international teacher with whom I attended a workshop – in May 2008 in Frankfurt. I haven’t had any more contact with him since then. Nevertheless, I have not forgotten his answer to my totally naïve question 5 months after beginning my Ashtanga practice: „Matthew, do you have some advice, what I can do to improve my practice?“ „Well, Matthias, practice – and all will be coming.“
Matthew is no Ashtangi in the strict sense of the word. He has also developed some personal sequences, for instance the moon sequence, for the practice during the moon days.
From this one contact I found him refreshing, and honest: ”I would never have thought that one can make a living by teaching yoga internationally.“
These days, he is teaching in Bali.
Since 2018, R. Sharath Jois has been running his own Yoga Centre in the suburbs of Mysuru (called Mysore in the past) and continues to teach internationally.
His grandfather Patthabi Jois taught Sharath all six series of Ashtanga Yoga. Sharath assisted him for decades, both at the KPJAYI in Mysuru and internationally. After his grandfather’s death in 2009, he initially continued to teach at the KPJAYI together with his mother Saraswathi. He is considered to be the lineage holder, e.g. the official successor of Patthabi Jois.
The reason that I show him not on top of this page is that I cannot consider Sharath to be my teacher. I only practiced with him once at a one week workshop, in August 2009 in Helsinki, a few months after the death of Patthabi Jois.
Manju Jois is the oldest son of Patthabi Jois. He has been living in the United States since the middle of the Seventies. He teaches worldwide.
I have participated in a number of workshops with Manju, for instance his teacher trainings for the Primary and the Intermediate Series. In the meantime, he is over 70 years old. I find Manju very very impressive due to his energy and the joy that he radiates. There is certainly no one around who practices and teaches Ashtanga Yoga as long as he has.
I have participated in a number of Ashtanga specific teacher trainings, and I learnt the most in the one offered (in the past) by John Scott and his former wife Lucy Crawford-Scott, back in 2014. It was organized in two parts of two weeks each, one in Mousehole, Cornwall, England and one in Salento, in the south of Italy.
In the second half, I also got to know Greg Nardi and David Keil. Greg was teaching the part on Yoga Philosophy and David anatomy.
I met David Garrigues for the first time at the Private Yoga Institute in Frankfurt in 2013. I was fortunate to study with him for a couple of years. Once, I could also assist him in Philadelphia.
David is offering an unbelievable amount of material online: “Asana recipes”, video courses for a fee and a large number of blogs.
David has been certified by Patthabi Jois.
Kino MacGregor is, together with her husband Tim Feldmann, owner of the Miami Life Centre in Miami Beach, Florida, USA. She teaches worldwide and online and also offers a number of helpful videos about the different asanas, amongst other things. She has also created the online platform OMStars that is based on a monthly fee and offers a lot of material on Ashtanga Yoga and beyond.
Between 2011 and 2015 I visited several workshops with Kino, some that she taught on her own, some that she taught together with her husband.
At some point in time, she suggested that I should go to Mysore regularly – a proposal that I appreciated, but did not deem feasible due to my private situation (at that point both my parents needed to be looked after).
Kino is one of the few teachers worldwide certified to teach 4th series.
Tim Feldmann, Kino MacGregor’s husband who originally is from Denmark, was for me one of the most important teachers for adjustments.
Tim holds a 2nd series authorization by Sharath.
Both in workshops with him on his own and in those together with Kino, I have learnt a lot from him – in particular concerning the differences in the practice with increasing age. One quote from him: „At my age, every morning, I humbly ask my body what it is prepared to do on the mat.” I definitely can relate to that.
Dena Kingsberg and her husband Jack have their own shala in Byron Bay, Australia. In addition, they teach internationally. Dena is one of the few women who received certification by Patthabi Jois.
My first workshop with them was in Paris in July 2010, followed by two wonderful weeks in the beginning of 2011 at the Purple Valley Retreat in Goa, India.
Mark Darby comes from Québec in Canada. Together with his wife Joanne, he is part of the “first generation” of the international Ashtanga teachers. Their Ashtanga path had started already in 1979 with Patthabi Jois. In the meantime, their son Shankara is also teaching – he was born in Mysore. His parents these days are mostly to be found in Costa Rica.
I met Darby in 2009 at the Balance Yoga Institute in Frankfurt. He and his wife as well as their son have also offered workshops in the former studio Y in Königstein.
Nancy Gilgoff was probably one of the first, if not the first female American practitioner, who learnt yoga from Patthabi Jois in Mysore, back in 1973.
She keept teaching worldwide until a few years before her death in early 2024.
I met her once in 2010 in a workshop at Andrea Lutz’s studio in Berlin.
Juha Javanainen has founded the Ashtanga Yoga School of Helsinki together with Petri. I ran into him in Helsinki during a workshop with Sharath Jois (was that already been already back in 2009?) and once I attended a workshop given by him at the Private Yoga Institute in Frankfurt.
I enjoyed the refreshing combination of a very modest yet unbelievably experienced teacher (he has been practicing since 1989).
These days, he seems to be only teaching workshops from time to time, together with his long-term friend Petri.
Richard Freeman has been practicing yoga for more than 50 years. Based on an intensive training with B.K.S. Iyengar and his own inner perception, he teaches Ashtanga Yoga in a very precise, alignment-based way.
I have participated in one of his workshops in Berlin.
These days he spends most of the year on Koh Samui in Thailand, together with his wife Mary Taylor. He offers workshops at the Samahita retreat there. I highly recommend their books (a third one about the Bhagavad Gita has just appeared), if you are interested in the philosophical aspects of yoga.
Kia Naddermier has her own yoga studio in Paris (Mysore Yoga Paris), and she also teaches internationally. She is another student of John Scott. She has also been a longtime student of Sri O.P. Tiwari and teaches Pranayama in his tradition.
So far, I have participated in her Mysore classes only once– and I liked it very much. Two yoginis who came to my studio to practice before the Corona pandemic, participated in a workshop with her in Brussels and were very impressed.
Monica Marinoni has lived in Auroville, Tamil Nadhu, India for more than 20 years, and started teaching there in 2004. These days she teaches as a guest teacher at shalas around the world and at the beginning of 2019 she also teaches at the Private Yoga Institute.
That is where I met her – a few years earlier – during a Mysore week that she was offering there.
I only visited a workshop with Tim Miller once, for a day. A number of Ashtanga friends are very impressed by him. He was the first teacher to be certified by Patthabi Jois.
Tim’s studio is located in Encinitas in California, the town where Patthabi Jois and Manju Jois taught Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga for the first time outside of India.
One of the wonderful things about Ashtanga for people who travel a lot is that one can visit an Ashtanga studio with a Mysore program anywhere around the world and start practicing, even if one does not speak the local language.
In my inner picture, the many Ashtanga studios around the world are like a network spreading the teaching of Ashtanga. The parts of the network that I mention here are a small selection – these are the parts to which I have some form of personal relationship.
Here, I would also like to mention the colleagues and studios in the wider Frankfurt area where Ashtanga Yoga can also be learnt and practiced.
in Germany
in Ahlen/Westfalen
Sea of Yoga is Gudrun Seyler’s studio. I met Gudrun via Greg’s workshops at my place.
She has been practicing Ashtanga Yoga since 2011. She did her teacher training with a student of Beate Guttandin. Her interest encompasses also yoga philosophy and Sanskrit.
in Berlin
Grisha Steffin is a student of Richard Freeman – and because of this, I had the pleasure of meeting Richard once in Berlin, outside of Grisha’s former shala, despite nearly 100 participants.
Grisha recently moved his shala to the Prenzlauer Berg.
in Berlin
Saskia Rand was one of the co-practitioners at the Private Yoga Institute – and before that also at the Balance Institute and with Chris Braun. She has been living in Berlin since 2018, where she offers private classes for individuals and groups. She has regularly practiced with Sharath in Mysuru (Mysore), and a few years ago received his authorization to teach the Primary and Intermediate Series.
in Darmstadt
Sonia Kirchner, the owner and director of Pure Yoga, is also an acquaintance from the time in the Mysore classes at the Private Yoga Institute. She has studied intensively with Dr. Ronald Steiner, and she teaches Ashtanga Yoga Innovation in his style.
in Frankfurt
Chris Braun, the owner and director of Ashtanga Raum Frankfurt in Bornheim, has been practicing and teaching Ashtanga since 2005, longer than any other resident teacher in Frankfurt.
I took Mysore classes with him from middle of 2009 to early 2010 and also participated in a few workshops. At his place, I met Olivia Martinez – and she was the reason for then changing to the Private Yoga Institute, where she started to teach the Mysore programme.
in Frankfurt
For a long time, the Private Yoga Institute was my home base for my (almost) daily Mysore practice. Jutta Gonder founded it in 2009, and over the years has been bringing many authorized Ashtanga teachers as guest teachers as well as for workshops to Frankfurt.
I am also grateful to Jutta that I could make my first experiences in teaching in the Mysore style at her studio. Also my participation in two of her teacher trainings were a lot of fun and helped me develop my teaching skills further.
in Hamburg
Inke Shenar has been practicing Ashtanga since 2000. She is a Level 1 authorized by Sharath Jois, and she has also done the teacher training with John Scott. She is the author of two books, one as an introduction to Ashtanga Yoga (in my opinion the best that exists in German) and one about yoga during pregnancy.
She is also teaching pranayama in the tradition of Sri O.P. Tiwari.
Inke Shenar and I have never met in person – I only once visited a workshop with Ron Steiner at her studio.
in Munich
Antje Gruber is the owner of Jivamukti München. We had only a short contact by telephone, when I was checking out different air refreshers for my shala. During the conversation, she mentioned that her studio is also offering Mysore classes, and she immediately agreed with me linking her studio on my website.
The main teacher for the Mysore classes is Manfred Gauper, originally from Austria. He also is one of John Scott’s students, and he mentions Chuck Miller and Maty Ezraty (who passed away in 2019) as his two other important teachers.
in Schönaich close to Stuttgart
Kristine Sandkühler-Mensch, the owner and director of Simply Ashtanga, has been practicing yoga since 2001 and Ashtanga Yoga since 2008. Initially, she taught in Florida, USA, and now for many years close to Stuttgart.
Kristine was the first host for Greg Nardi here in Germany. She and I met through the contact to Greg – and we are also in a regular exchange.
in Wiesbaden
Jeannine Heller, the owner and director of the Daily Ashtanga studio, has been practicing Ashtanga since 2007. She opened her studio in 2017. She teaches according to the AYInnovation method, developed by Ronald Steiner based on Ashtanga Yoga.
in Bad Soden im Taunus
Palma Lacanfora has been practicing Ashtanga Yoga since 2005. Like Annette Weinert from Ashtanga Yoga Hanau, she has received her foundational yoga teacher training from Beate Guttandin in Cologne. I met Palma at Chris Braun’s studio and then practiced side by side with her at the Private Yoga Institute.
in Berlin
In the Ashtanga Studio Berlin with Andea Lutz, I participated in my only workshop with Nancy Gilgoff and in several workshops with Manju Jois. It is located at the Prenzlauer Berg – conveniently 5 minutes away from the apartment of very good friends 🙂.
in Berlin
My only contact with Katharina Fengler and Tom Austin from Studio Ashtanga Mitte Berlin has been via eMail with Tom. Their studio is one of the stops on Greg Nardi’s yearly tour through Germany (well, almost yearly). Tom is also a student of John Scott.
in Cologne
The Ashtanga Yogawerkstatt Köln was founded by Beate Guttandin in 1993, and these days is directed by Jürgen Freitag.
As far as I know, Beate Guttandin is the teacher with the longest experience practicing and teaching Ashtanga in Germany.
in Cologne
The Dvipada Ashtanga Yogastudio in Cologne Ehrenfeld is run by Heike Katharina Schmitt. She has been teaching for more than 20 years. Actually, she was the third German teacher to be authorized in Mysore. In addition to traditional Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, she offers Vedic chanting, amongst other things.
In 2009, Heike recommended that I take my basic training as a yoga teacher with Paul Dallaghan in Thailand. I remain grateful to Heike for this great advice.
in Frankfurt
The Balance Yoga Institute is one of the largest yoga studios in Frankfurt, with branches in Sachsenhausen (a part of Frankfurt south of the river Main), Darmstadt and Mainz.
It is also well known for its teacher trainings, where for instance Chris Braun and Jutta Gonder participated.
As for Ashtanga, they currently (September 2020) don’t offer as much – a few led classes and no Mysore classes.
in Frankfurt
As far as I know, Huong is the only Ashtangi in the Frankfurt area who has received Sharath’s authorization 2nd level. She continues to go to Mysore regularly to further her practice. She came to Ashtanga from an Anusara background.
I know her from the time when we practiced mat to mat with Gibran and Lucia as teachers, trying to come to grips with the Intermediate series.
in Freiburg
Ashtanga Yoga Freiburg consists of a young team of Ashtangis who are supported on a regular basis by Susanna Finocchi. Susanna ran the Ashtangayoga School in Copenhagen for almost twenty years, together with Jens Bache.
They have translated Sharath’s book on Ashtanga Yoga into German. Should you be interested in the German version, you can order it here.
Many years ago, I met one of their teachers, Miriam, at a workshop with Manju Jois in Berlin.
in Hanau
Annette Weinert, the owner and director of Ashtanga Yoga Hanau, has also from time to time practiced at the Private Yoga Institute in Frankfurt and participated in workshops there. She learnt the foundation for her teaching with Beate Guttandin in Cologne, the “bedrock of Ashtanga yoga” in Germany.
in Ulm
The AYInstitute is the home base for Ron Steiner who teaches all over Europe (mainly in Germany). One has to be lucky to have him personally as a teacher – he is travelling too much for that. Naturally, all the teachers have been trained in the AYInnovation method developed by Ron, a method combining traditional Ashtanga with modern knowledge from sport medicine and yoga therapy.
in Wiesbaden
Bernd Cüppers has been practicing Ashtanga since 2009, and he has been teaching it since 2013. He received his teacher training with Ronald Steiner and the grand lady of Hatha yoga in Germany, Anna Trökes.
As he currently does not have a website (and also no logo), you may contact him via email: bernd–d (at) web.de
in England
in der Nähe von Cambridge, in Hemingford Grey
in London
Ashtanga Yoga London has been run for many years by Hamish Henry – he has been practicing since 1995 In 2001 he received certification by Patthabi Jois, which makes him the most experienced teacher in London.
in London
Stillpoint Yoga was founded in 2009 by Scott Johnson together with a colleague, Ozge Karabiyik, who in the meantime has passed away. , Stillpoint now has two studios.
Scott is a student of John Scott. Together with Ashtanga Yoga London, his Mysore program is, according to my knowledge, the most visited one in London.
in London
Triyoga is operating 5 yoga studios in London these days– many yoga styles, but also Mysore classes in all 5 studios.
I know Triyoga from their Ashtanga workshops with David Swenson and Kino MacGregor that they offer every year.
in Finland
in Helsinki
The Helsinki Ashtanga Yoga School was founded in 1997 by Juha Javanainen and Petri Räisänen. Today it has 5 studios in Helsinki. Juha and Petri have retired from „daily“ business.
I participated in Mysore classes there in 2009 in July and in December, with a lot of joy. Funny, how the brain works: I can still remember how a teacher there brought for the first time for me both feet behind my back in Supta Kurmasana, and how I was so frightened that I screamed out loud. The teacher thought that he had injured me, and also became frightened – but it had only been out of surprise how easy that had been.
in France
in Aix-en-Provence, Marseille and Paris
Vanessa Brouillet is operating three yoga studios in Aix-en-Provence, Marseille and Paris, where she is offering different yoga styles, workshops and other events. The Ashtanga classes are usually led classes. She and other teachers offer a week of Mysore from time to time.
Vanessa and I met in 2009 at a workshop with Sharath in Helsinki and have stayed in touch more or less intensively since then.
in Paris
Kia Naddermier, the owner and main teacher, teaches Mysore, Pranayama and workshops, also internationally. She has been practicing Ashtanga for more than 25 years and is a student of John Scott (for Ashtanga) and Sri O.P. Tiwari (for pranayama).
in Paris
Linda Munro started her yoga practice in 1995 with Ron Reid in Toronto, practiced for more than three years with Eddie Stern in New York and has been living in France since 2000. She started to teach in her own studio in 2002 there.
Gerald Disse has been practicing Ashtanga Yoga since 1981 and has founded Ashtanga Yoga Paris together with Linda in 2004 after teaching internationally for more than a decade.
Since 2019, they both are living and teaching mainly on the Côte d’Azur, in their small studio Ashtanga Yoga Golfe Juan. They can also still be found in Paris on a regular basis.
I am grateful for the workshops that I could attend there, with Meenakshi and Ron Reid, David Swenson, Tim Miller, David Garrigues and Sri O.P. Tiwari and his son Sudhir. Linda has also kindly sent me the files for the pictures hanging in the corridor of the shala.
in India
near Mysuru (Mysore)
R. Sharath Jois has established his own yoga center, the Sharath Yoga Centrein 2018 in a suburb of Mysuru (used to be called Mysore) It welcomes all practitioners of Ashtanga who have practiced for at least two to three months with a teacher authorized by Sharath.
near Puné
The Kaivalyadhama Institute was founded in 1924 by Swami Kuvalayananda, with the goal to investigate yoga from a scientific point of view. Today it is one of the leading institutes for education and research on yoga, and has a huge collection of old manuscripts.
One of the directors is Sri O.P. Tiwari, a leading expert on pranayama.
The Kaivalyadhama Institute workshops and trainings for Indians as well as for foreigners. It also operates branches in Japan, the US and China.
Strictly speaking, it does not belong on this link page, as it does not offer Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga. But it is one of the leading authorities on yoga in general – and the „home“ for the pranayama tradition that I offer.
in a suburb of Mysuru (Mysore)
This is the shala (e.g. the yoga studio) where Patthabi Jois taught together with Sharath from 2002 up to briefly before his death in 2009.
After that, Sharath ran it together with his mother Saraswathi. These days, the shala is run by Saraswathi together with Sharath’s sister Sharmila.
in Mysuru (Mysore)
Shri V. Sheshadri has been teaching Ashtanga Yoga in Mysuru (before called Mysore) since 1994, these days together with his son Harish. They are also teaching in Europe from time to time.
Early in 2011 on a trip to Purple Valley in Goa, I stayed in Mysore for a night. After a short visit to KPJAYI (back then, if one was lucky enough to secure a place, one had to stay for at least a month), I was able to join Shri Sheshadri in his Mysore class on the morning of my departure.
in Portugal
in Portugal
Annette Hartwig and Daniel Schudt founded Yoga Bija in 2010 in Portugal, as a center for retreats, workshops and as a nice place for a yoga holiday.
Annette has been practicing since 1997 and she has been teaching for almost the same amount of time. Her main teacher is Dena Kingsberg.
I met Annette at a workshop with Dena and Jack in Purple Valley in 2011 where Annette was assisting them,.
in Russia
in St. Petersburg, Russland
In 2019, I practiced here for a few days in the Mysore setting – directly above a discotheque that was still running full volume at 6.15 a.m. in the morning. White nights at the Newa.
Ashtanga Yoga is represented quite well in Russia overall.
in Sweden
close to Gothenburg, Sweden
At Balance Yoga, about 20 minutes by car outside of Göteborg, I visited a number of workshops – with Kino MacGregor, Petri Räisänen and Tim Feldmann.
Unfortunately, due to the Corona pandemic, the beautiful studio had to close during the summer of 2020. Annika Lundberg is, under the logo Balansyoga Annika Lundberg, establishing a new presence, probably in cooperation with an existing studio.
in Stockholm and in Järfälla, Sweden
YogaDevi has two locations in Stockholm and one in Järfälla. 2 1/2 years into the Covid pandemic, they seem to be the only one in Stockholm to offer early morning Mysore. The owner, AnnSophie Sjöblom, is very kind and welcoming. Her adjustments are both gentle and helpful.
She works with several international teachers – as Petri Räisänen had just given a workshop at one of her shalas, his energy was very present.
in Gothenburg, Sweden
The Ashtanga Yogashala Göteborg is situated in the middle of the city. When I practiced there for a week in 2017, it was still owned and operated by Olle Bengström, a good friend of Tim Feldmann. In the meantime, it lies in the hands of Pake Hall and is no longer solely dedicated to Ashtanga, even though Pake has also been practicing Ashtanga since 2008.
in Stockholm, Sweden
Yogayama is Laruga Glaser‘s local base, when she teaches Mysore classes. Unfortunately, she was filming something when I was in Stockholm in 2018 – so I joined the Mysore classes with the other teachers, and one led class with Laruga’s partner David Fredriksson.
Yogayama is for sure the yoga studio with the largest collection of yoga mats in their basement – at least 100, if not more.
in Visby on Gotland, Sweden
Petri more or less regularly gives workshops at the Lila Shala (“little Shala”, much bigger than the one I have :-)) on Gotland, and in 2016 I could take part in one of them. Mariancila Kim is the owner and director of the shala. I have very fond memories of my short summer vacation on the island, the workshop and also of the energy in the shala.
in Spain
near Malaga
Andrea Panzer is authorised by Sharath to teach the 1st and 2nd Series. She used to teach in Memmingen.These days she offers Mysore Intensives, yoga retreats and other workshops in Andalusia, Spain, together with her partner Govinda, a musician.
I know Andrea only from an email exchange and because I have her information material on display in the studio. Two yoginis who regularly join me for constellation work are her students.
Andrea is one of the most experienced German Ashtanga teachers.
in USA
in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Grassroot Yoga was founded by my Ashtanga teacher Greg Nardi together with Amanda Palermo. Due to the corona pandemic, Grassroot Yoga currently offers mainly online Mysore classes, workshops and courses following the principles of Amāyu.
Amanda was introduced to Ashtanga Yoga in 1995, and she has been practicing continously since about 20 years. Since 2016, she has been teaching together with Greg.
Greg has been practicing Yoga since 1996 and teaching for more than 20 years, in the US and internationally. He is a 500 hr E-RYT with yoga alliance. He studied extensively with Sri K. Patthabi Jois and Sharath Jois. Recently, he returned his level-2 authorization at KPJAYI and is now focussing on building a practitioner-centered teacher education programme at Amāyu.
in Miami, Florida
Miami Life Centre was founded in 2006, by Kino MacGregor, Tim Feldmann, Greg Nardi and others.
I have visited some workshops there both with Kino and Tim as well as with Tim on his own.
on the Outerbanks, North Carolina, USA
For me personally, the Outerbanks are one of the nicest areas in the US. They area 180 mile long chain of islands along the coast of North CarolinIn the most northern part, there is a very beautiful yoga studio, owned and operated by Michelle Dorer since 2005. Michelle is a student of Tim Miller.
Fortunately, David Garrigues used to offer workshops there, and I spent wonderful days there.
in New York
Ashtanga Yoga Upper West Side belongs to Zoë Slatoff, my Sanskrit teacher (and yes, sometimes we are also talking about Ashtanga) Zoë has been practicing Yoga, since she was 15 years old. In 2000, she studied for the first time in Mysore with Patthabi Jois and Sharath, and she received her authorization for 2nd level in 2009. 2009 was also the year when she started her shala.
Zoë also offers Sanskrit, yoga philosophy and chanting.
Unfortunately, I did not yet have the opportunity to practice Ashtanga at her shala.
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Originally, Ashtanga Yoga Philadelphia was founded by David Garrigues. Today, it is owned and directed by Elizabeth Crozier.
In 2015 I could practice there for a week, and also assist David Garrigues during one of his workshops.
in Thailand
in Thailand
Samahita was founded in 2003 by Paul Dallaghan and his former wife. It is on the one hand known for the international yoga teacher trainings (the one that I participated in in 2010 had participants from 28 different countries), as well as for workshops offered there by Paul, Sri O.P. Tiwari and international teachers. In addition, one can just go there for a “yoga vacation” – or enjoy their wellness programme.
Also via the internet, I found a number of inspirational people and websites full of dedication and interesting and helpful information. I just mention a few of them here. Also this is part of the Ashtanga network, and even more so in times where online yoga is on the rise, not just during lockdowns.
David Williams is a key figure for the entire Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, since without him it might possibly never have made its way to the Western world. On his search for “real yoga, in 1972, he saw Manju Jois practicing Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga on the beach in Pondicherri, Tamil Nadhu, India by coincidence. Manju refused to teach him and sent him to his father in Mysore. Well – you know the rest, if you read that far on my website 🙂.
David was born in 1949 and he has almost completely stopped teaching. He has written an autobiography and designed a poster with all the postures of the Ashtanga Yoga system, which can both be bought from him. Once the current editions are sold out, that is it, he wrote to me. And if one lives in Germany, one has to have the poster sent to a neighbouring country, because it is one inch too long for the German mail service.
Under the title of Ashtanga Dispatch, Peg Mulqueen and her daughter Meghan Powell are offering workshops, blogs and in the meantime also loads of podcasts – initially by ashtanga teachers who are well known internationally, in the meantime (they at no. 51 by July 2020) also on more general issues.
Peg and I met twice, when she was studying with David Garrigues in 2014.
Eddie Stern is one of the most prominent Ashtanga yogis in the US and worldwide. He teaches in the US and internationally. In addition, he regularly turns up on TV, organizes workshops and in 2019 published a small, but very fine book on yoga in general and its effects: “One simple thing – A new look at the Science of Yoga and how it can transform your Life.”
Monica Gauci and Gregor Maehle are living in Australia. After operating their own shala (8limbs) in Perth for a long time, they now only teach workshops.
Gregor has written a number of books, on Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga as well as on meditation and pranayama. In addition, he is relatively active on social media, and he has also been quite involved regarding the allegations against Patthabi Jois about inappropriate adjustments that, as a part of the MeToo-movement, were publicized by approximately 10 of his female students a decade after his death.
The student with two teachers is dead.
Sri K. Patthabi Jois (1915 – 2009)