Author: Dr. Hansaji Yogendra Director, The Yoga Institute The Yoga Institute is the oldest organized yoga centre in the world Growth, expansion, killer-instincts are the buzz-words of this day and age. Everybody wants to grow and grow at lightning speed: the 3year old child wants to get rid of his tricycle and ride a bicycle, a graduate wants to become the CEO, the start-up wants to become a unicorn, a millionaire wants to be a multi-millionaire, a multi-millionaire wants to be a billionaire. And so on. You get the gist. If there is one word that is anathema to contemporary aspirations and am ..read more

Pujya Swamiji never liked yoga festivals ….. until he went to one. He thought them frivolous things that distract from the essential learning of Vedanta. But he was persuaded to go and talk at a Yoga Festival in Rishikesh and reluctantly went. He was amazed at how many were in the class. “Who are these people?” “Who brought them here?” “These are Yogis”, came the reply. “They brought themselves for the love of Yoga.” The talk, as you might expect, was a great success with many people coming up to Pujya Swamiji afterwards wanting to know more. Their interest in Vedanta was ignited. Later that e ..read more

Pujya Swami Dayananda-ji would have been pleased, I thought, as I read the email from an English lady called Amanda thanking my wife Sonali and I for starting the World Yoga festival. Her email continued: “I was introduced to yoga when I was 14 years old by my sister. I was spending a lot of my time sitting and studying and thinking of doing something to keep fit. She gave me an old book of yoga exercises and I found it fascinating. I have practiced the physical and breathing exercises ever since (I was 50 this year) The deeper aspects - meditation and philosophy I have only ever glimpsed, may ..read more

Interview as published on Iyengar Yoga UK: https://iyengaryoga.org.uk/men-in-iyengar-yoga/ Uday Bhosale is a regular Iyengar Yoga teacher at World Yoga Festival and we are pleased that he is returning in 2022! Uday Bhosale studied and taught for many years with the Iyengar family at RIMYI in Pune, India, and is keen to dispel the myth that only flexible people can do yoga How did you get into Iyengar yoga? My martial arts teacher Ali Dashti introduced me to RIMYI (Ramamani Iyengar Yoga Institute, Pune) and I was mesmerised by the brilliant teachers there – I could see why it is revered the wo ..read more

Dear friends, It is with great sadness that we announce the postponement of World Yoga Festival 2020 until summer 2021. We have been sitting tight until now in the hope that our small but beautifully formed festival would be able to run as expected at the end of July. However, with every day that passes it is becoming increasingly obvious that running the festival to the usual high standard wouldn’t be possible. With many of the masters unable to travel from overseas, the programme would have had to be compromised far too much this year. We also have to put the safety of our visitors, team, t ..read more

Many of you have been kind enough to make a donation to Arsha Kula Foundation (the charity behind World Yoga Festival) when you booked your ticket to this year’s festival. As a thank you, we will enter your name into our raffle with a separate 'ticket' for each £1 donated. The draw will begin 1 July 2019 and include raffle tickets for all donations made before then. So if you love what we do and want to support us with a donation, you still have time. Donations can be made at any time whether you have already purchased your ticket or not. Make your festival experience that little bit more luxu ..read more

Los Angeles-based Garth McLean is a senior Iyengar Yoga Teacher and Certified Yoga Therapist with the International Association of Yoga Therapists. He studies annually with the Iyengar family in Pune, India, and teaches yoga intensives locally and globally. Garth also offers workshops on the positive effect of yoga on MS and other neurological conditions. Garth will be teaching at the World Yoga Festival in Reading this 18th – 21st July. Iyengar Yoga (UK) members can book at a discounted rate using a special code (we have emailed members with the code but please contact us if you have not rece ..read more

Read on for student reflections of this year's Vedanta Camp trip to Rishikesh, organised by the charity behind World Yoga Festival, the Arsha Kula Foundation. The Arsha Kula Foundation has the key aim of promoting traditional yoga and vedanta to westerners. Learn more at this year’s World Yoga Festival, 19th-21st July 2019. Roni Conyers Chaos on the road performed in a very orderly and polite, stress free manner. Both mind blowing and amazing. Enhanced senses, smell, sights, sounds etc. This kept me on my toes, being extremely alert, mindful of all that I was experiencing and all that was aro ..read more

Returned from India a little over two weeks ago now and the impression the experience has provided me is as strong as ever. It was a fabulous trip made so by my interaction with each and everyone of you and all that you brought set against the mesmerising diversity that India encapsulates. I thank each and every one of you for this shared experience and look forward to the next venture to Rishikesh. For those of you who make up our weekly vedanta group, I am always grateful for your presence and your contributions because only by your regular attendance does the group thrive and with it my sp ..read more

When I saw in the brochure of last year's yoga festival that there was the possibility the attend a vedanta camp in Rishikesh and that 15 places had been reserved for yoga festival participants, I reacted immediately as I did not want to miss this unique opportunity. In all respects, my high expectations have been met. Swami Paramarthananda, probably today's leading authority on advaita vedanta, guided us step to by step through the Rama Gita, an advanced vedanta text. Although the presentations were sometimes challenging, not least because of the sanskrit terminology, the very clear and logic ..read more