ABOUT US
Towards wellness, wholeness & wisdom
YogaVahini is a vibrant and growing community of Yoga practitioners, students, teachers, and therapists. At YogaVahini, we are all co-learners. The student and teacher facilitate each other’s learning and growth. We strive to provide an environment such that our personal learning flows into daily life seamlessly, manifesting as coherent and harmonised action.
Founders
Saraswathi began her journey in the path of yoga and healing 25 years ago. She studied and trained under Sri TKV Desikachar for over 17 years in the tradition of Sri T Krishnamacharya that is strongly founded in the teachings of Patanjali and specializes in adapting yoga to the unique needs and abilities of each individual. She holds two Masters Degrees (in Nutrition and Psychology) and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Yoga. She has served as a yoga teacher, consultant, trainer and therapist for close to two decades at Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram in Chennai and has also been actively involved in yoga research bringing the much-needed scientific perspective to yoga therapy.
In 2010, Saraswathi, along with her husband Sundar, founded YogaVahini, dedicated to Specialised Yoga Training, Therapy & Research with centres in Chennai and Hyderabad and runs regular training programs for lay practitioners, teachers and therapists. Her dream is to bring personalised yoga therapy into mainstream health care in India and is seriously working towards that mission.
Sundar completed his Post-graduate Diploma in yoga studies at Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram (KYM) and studied with Sri TKV Desikachar and other teachers in the same tradition. He was associated with the KYM since 1992 while pursuing a full-time profession as an archivist in a Research library in Chennai. He has keen interest in yoga, Indian philosophy and traditional chanting.
Chennai
Anupama Das, an experienced Yoga therapy Consultant, trainer and mentor at Yogavahini has been teaching yoga to international groups, conducting workshops in India and abroad, training students, etc. since 2003. She also teaches yoga philosophy, chanting, and other aspects of yoga. Anupama switched careers, giving up the advertising field to do the Post graduate diploma in Yoga Studies from Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram (KYM). Alongside studying, she had also worked as a part time research assistant at KYM’s Research Dept., which was then headed by Mrs Saraswathi. Skilled in adapting practices to suit varying abilities of individuals, she firmly believes in the ‘power of the breath’, which is the hallmark of the Krishnamacharya tradition of yoga.Calm and well-grounded, she draws inspiration from the yoga sutras of Patanjali, and people whom she connects with. Based in Chennai, India, Anupama has a Master’s degree in Economics and enjoys music and creative activities.
A computer engineer turned yoga teacher & therapist, Jyothi first completed her Yoga Diploma at Yoga Rakshanam in Chennai in the tradition of Sri T Krishnamacharya. She has been teaching for the past 22 years and being a very enthusiastic teacher and learner, she continues to expand her repertoire of skills offering group and individual classes, workshops and corporate training. Since 2012 she has been teaching a group of special children and their families every Saturday, popularly called the Special Yogis. At YogaVahini she is serving as a teacher, therapist, trainer and mentor.
Partha is a yoga practitioner, teacher and software architect. He is currently exploring the praxis of Yoga as a householder – that is to juggle familial roles, growing wealth, sustaining health, social responsibilities and inner-work simultaneously. He has been practicing Yoga for close to 20 years. and has studied Yoga in the tradition of Shri Krishnamacarya with Shri Raghu Anathanarayanan at Ritambhara and with Smt Saraswathi Vasudevan at YogaVahini for over 10 years. A major part of his yoga teaching involves taking Yoga to rural India. He has trained teachers in two rural schools into becoming yoga instructors and wishes to take it to more schools in rural India.
Aarthi Jayakumar is a Yoga Acharya and Yoga Vaidya trained in YogaVahini, Chennai.
She has over a decade of experience in teaching yoga. She continues her studies under Saraswathi Vasudevan and other senior teachers in this tradition. Passionate about women’s health, she offers one-on-one and group yoga classes designed to support women through every stage of life, from menstruation to menopause. Her love for chanting enriches her practice, creating a holistic experience for her students.
Uttara Venugopal has studied in most of the traditional yoga schools in India. She has been teaching since 2006 and has found that teaching others has been the best and constant reminder of why she is on this path. She truly believes that the practice of yoga can bring great changes to the individual, to experience life in a deep meaningful way. She cherishes the Krishnamacharya tradition.
Hyderabad
Krishnaveni Alluri has been practicing yoga for over 12 years and teaching for 6 years. She is a certified yoga therapist from Yogavahini and facilitates YogaVahini training programs at Aviraam in Hyderabad. She believes it is her strong spiritual connection that keeps her alive and inspired in everything she is engaged with. She has the ability to connect with people joyfully and helps them connect with their own joyful potential. She lives in Hyderabad with a loving and supportive family and teaches at Madhapur and Gachibowli.
Passionate about spreading health and fitness through yoga, Kamala is a senior yoga teacher and therapist with extensive experience in healing and benefitting students through yoga therapy. She as she teaches and helps people heal themselves, she is also deeply committed to her own path of self-actualisation. She is currently a very busy therapist in Hyderabad and also supports YogaVahini Hyderabad’s courses as a trainer.
Mamatha Talluri, a yoga therapist trained by Saraswathi Vasudevan has been teaching yoga for seven years now. She was introduced to yoga as a child and to yoga therapy when she was in acute pain. A Computer Science major by education and a CPA by profession,she quit her work to train as a yoga teacher and subsequently a therapist when she experienced the healing power of yoga. She believes that her years journey as a teacher has taught her to look at different dimensions of herself. Her intention “I am healing even as I act as an instrument of healing”
Padmaja approaches yoga therapy as a complementary system of health which supports and works in conjunction with your normal medical treatments and in tandem with Allopathic, Ayurvedic and other healing systems to facilitate deeper healing. She adapts multiple tools of yoga to design a practice for specific individual needs and capabilities. The tools include purposeful asana practice, mindful breathing, meditation, visualization, diet and lifestyle modifications and counseling.
Padmaja is trained in Vedic healing chants from KYM, Chennai. She is a IAYT Certified Yoga Therapist and Yoga Alliance Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher (ERYT-500) and Continuing Education Provider (YACEP). She holds an MA in English Literature from Osmania University, Hyderabad.
Padmaja is also the founder of Shraddha Yoga studio based out of Austin, Texas. She offers online and in-person group yoga and chanting classes and individual sessions to help build the Yoga community.
Delhi
Apoorva has been studying and teaching yoga for over ten years now. She is a certified yoga therapist and is passionate about helping people break through their limitations and move towards their goals using simple practices. She is also a Reiki Master and a Breathwork Therapist and brings all her tools together when working with students. She teaches in Gurgaon and New Delhi and offers her services through one on one sessions, workshops, and teacher training programs.