Gyan Yoga
For the questioning mind. Enquiry into what is permanent and what is passing, until the question dissolves the questioner.
Practice
Yoga
Yoga poses are tools to strengthen and relax the body. But yoga is far more than what happens on the mat.
Definition
What Is Yoga?
The word yoga comes from the Sanskrit root yuj, meaning to unite or to integrate. It is a body of knowledge more than five thousand years old, and its subject is not flexibility. Its subject is you.
Yoga harmonises the body with the mind and the breath through breathing exercises, yoga asanas and meditation. What most people call yoga — the physical postures — is the surface of a much deeper discipline. The postures are the doorway, not the room.
Practised regularly, yoga makes the body light, the breath even and the mind unhurried. Nothing has to be believed for this to work. It is closer to hygiene than to philosophy.
Philosophy
The Four Paths of Yoga
Different temperaments take different roads. Asana keeps all four in balance.
Bhakti Yoga
For the feeling heart. Music, chanting and surrender, where emotion is not suppressed but pointed upward.
Karma Yoga
For the restless hand. Work done well and offered freely, without a receipt attached to the outcome.
Raja Yoga
For the disciplined. The eight-limbed method of ethics, posture, breath and meditation, in that order.
Yoga asana is the practice that balances all four, which is why it belongs in every path and not only in the physical one.
Learn
Yoga Programs
Beginner and advanced classes, taught by certified volunteers.
YogaBeginner
Yoga Level 1
Foundational asana with correct alignment, plus breath work and a home sequence you will actually use.
YogaAdvanced
Yoga Level 2
Deeper asana, inversions with support, and longer pranayama sets for established practitioners.
Testimonials
Voices from the Mat
Shooting schedules destroyed my sleep. Forty minutes of asana and breath rebuilt it.
Vikram MathurActor
My recovery time between sessions halved. My coach asked what I had changed.
Shreya JaiswalAthlete
I used to think yoga was stretching. It is mostly attention. The stretching is a bonus.
Krisann BarretoTelevision host
Chronic back pain for nine years, gone in five months of unglamorous daily practice.
Lupe S. CuevasTeacher, Monterrey
Asana
Yoga Poses
Asanas are accessible whatever your age or fitness. You begin with the outer mechanics — where the foot goes, how the spine lengthens — and over months the attention moves inward, to breath, to ease, to the quiet underneath the effort.
Beginner
Tadasana
The reference posture. Feet rooted, spine long, shoulders soft. Everything standing is measured against it.
Beginner
Vrikshasana
One foot to the inner calf or thigh, never the knee. Balance is trained by falling and returning.
Beginner
Bhujangasana
A gentle backbend led by the sternum, not the neck. Elbows stay soft and close to the ribs.
Advanced
Padmasana
The classical seat for meditation. Half lotus or simple cross-legged is fine for years.
Intermediate
Trikonasana
Length along both sides of the torso matters more than how low the hand goes.
All levels
Shavasana
The hardest pose, because nothing is happening. It is where the practice is absorbed.
Breath
Pranayama
Pranayama is the extension and control of the breath. Deeper, slower breathing delivers more oxygen to the blood and, in the yogic view, more prana — vital life energy — to the whole system. Ten minutes of it will do more for a bad afternoon than an hour of arguing with it.
Results
What Regular Practice Does
Steadier sleep
Falling asleep faster and waking less often, reported within three weeks.
Lower reactivity
A longer gap between what happens and what you say about it.
Mobile joints
Hips, shoulders and spine that move through their full range again.
Better breathing
Diaphragm-led breath instead of shallow chest breathing.
Clear attention
Longer stretches of single-task focus without stimulants.
Even energy
Fewer crashes at four in the afternoon.
Breath & Meditation
Breath and Meditation Programs
Ojas Kriya sits at the centre of the Foundation's teaching. These programs pair it with asana and meditation.
3 days, 3 hrs/day
Ojas Kriya Foundation
Learn the core rhythmic breathing practice plus two supporting pranayamas.
4 sessions
Sahaj Dhyan
An effortless mantra-based meditation, taught one to one and then practised twice daily.
5 days, residential
Silence Retreat
Advanced practice in silence. Prerequisite: Ojas Kriya Foundation.
21 June
International Day of Yoga
The United Nations declared 21 June the International Day of Yoga on 11 December 2014. Since 2015 Oikantika Foundation has convened mass sessions each year, with Gurudev leading the opening practice from a different city every time. The 2026 gathering is planned for a riverbank in Bengaluru at sunrise.
FAQ
Common Questions
Flexibility is a result of yoga, not a requirement for it. Every pose in our beginner course has a supported variation.
Most people report better sleep within two to three weeks of practising four times a week.
A mat and clothes you can breathe in. Blocks and a strap help but are optional.
No. It is a set of techniques. People of every faith and of none practise them without conflict.
Early morning on an empty stomach is traditional. The best time in practice is the time you will actually keep.
Roll out a mat this week
Yoga Level 1 runs every fortnight. No experience needed.