Asanas
The postures, one page each: how to get in, how long to hold, what it is for, and, on every one of them, who should not do it. That last part is the part most sites leave out.
Vaithialingam · 89 years old, still teaching every class
Yoga, taught live, in person and online
Stiff, nervous or starting late? The class is adjusted to you, not the other way round. Your first one is free.
Asana held rather than rushed, pranayama taught once the body is steady, and relaxation at the end. In a residents’ association hall in north Bangalore, or live online from wherever you are. All ages, all levels.
You message on WhatsApp, we send the link. No card, nothing to cancel.
- Free first class, any batch
- Every health claim cited
- Contraindications on every pose
Start where it hurts
What brings you here?
Most people arrive with a problem rather than an ambition. Whichever of these is yours, the page says what helps, what makes it worse, and which poses to leave alone, with the sources given.
A back that hurts
What helps a lower back, what makes it worse, and the poses to leave alone until it settles.
Nights you do not sleep
A short sequence done on the bed or beside it, and the breathing that is given for a mind that will not stop.
A blood pressure reading
Which practices are safe, which inversions are not, and why this page names the ones to avoid first.
Weight you want to lose
An honest account of what yoga does and does not do to a waistline, and the weekly shape that works.
Stress you carry in the chest
The breathing practices given for anxiety, counted properly, and what the evidence for them actually says.
Starting after forty
What has genuinely changed in the body, what has not, and the five things not to begin with.
The hall, or the camera
Two ways to practise, and they are genuinely different
Most schools sell one and treat the other as a fallback. These are taught as two separate classes because they demand different things: one gives you a hand on your back, the other gives you a class you will not skip because of traffic. Pick honestly.
In person, in Bangalore
In the association hall in north Bangalore, in a group small enough that nobody practises unnoticed.
- Hands-on correction, the thing video cannot do
- Mats and props are there; bring yourself
- Students walk or ride in from MSR Nagar, Mathikere, Malleshwaram, Yeshwanthpur and further out
Live online, from anywhere
The same class, taught live over video. Not a recording, not an app: the teacher can see you and will say your name when your shoulder creeps up.
- Camera on, corrected out loud, one batch at a time
- A recording if you miss one, but the live class is the class
- Slots that land in the evening in the Gulf and the UK
Six shelves
What you will actually learn
The classes and the writing cover the same ground, so you can read ahead, revise a pose you half-remember, or work something out at home between Tuesdays.
Pranayama
Breathing, taught after the body is steady rather than before. Counts, ratios and durations are given as numbers, because 'breathe deeply' has never taught anybody anything.
Sequences
Routines you can follow start to finish, with a time against each pose. Surya Namaskar first: twelve positions, in order, each one linked to its own page.
Yoga for…
Back pain, PCOS, the thyroid, anxiety, starting again after forty. What helps, what a weekly plan looks like, and which poses to leave alone, with the sources cited.
Styles of yoga
Hatha, vinyasa, yin, restorative: what actually separates them, side by side, so you can tell which one you have been doing and which one you want.
Guides
How to start at home, what to wear, how often, the eight limbs, and a glossary. The plain questions nobody wants to ask a teacher out loud, answered plainly.
Guides
How to begin at home, what to wear, how often, the eight limbs. The plain questions nobody wants to ask a teacher out loud. What to wear, how often, whether to eat first, and whether any of it needs a mat you have not bought.
Seventy minutes
How a class runs
In the hall, sixty online, and the shape is the same every time. Knowing it in advance is most of what settles a first-timer’s nerves. There is no surprise, no competition, and nobody is going to ask you to stand on your head.
Settling and breath
Sitting, eyes closed, watching the breath without changing it. It is the part beginners want to skip and the part that makes the next hour work.
Loosening the joints
Neck, shoulders, wrists, hips, ankles: the sukshma vyayama that stops a stiff body meeting a strong pose cold.
Asana
Standing poses, then floor. Held, not flowed through. A pose you pass in two breaths has taught you nothing. Everything is offered at two or three levels and you take the one your body agrees to.
Pranayama
Anulom vilom or bhramari, usually. Counted aloud, so you are not guessing.
Savasana
Flat on the back, no phone, no rush. The class does not end when the last pose ends.
The person who teaches
One teacher, about 40 years of teaching
He has taught yoga for about forty years, at a residents’ association hall in north Bangalore. Not a studio, not a chain, not an app: one teacher and one hall, open to whoever turns up. Beginners and people who have practised for years are in the same room, and so are people in their twenties and people well past sixty.
What that length of time buys is not a more advanced sequence. It is an eye for the knee that is about to complain in vajrasana, the shoulder that is compensating in chaturanga, and the moment to tell a determined person to stop. The class is not labelled by style. It is asana, pranayama and relaxation: poses held long enough to be felt, and the breath treated as the point rather than the accompaniment.
Every class is taught by Vaithialingam himself. He is 89, and he has not handed a class to anyone else. There is no rota of substitutes and no recorded library standing in for him. You are corrected by name, in the hall or on camera, from the first class.
If you read nothing else
Start with these three
Between them they cover the salutation the whole practice is built around, the breathing everybody gets slightly wrong, and the page written for the person who thinks they have left it too late.
Surya Namaskar, step by step
The twelve positions in order, with the mantra for each, how many rounds to start with, and the two places almost everybody rushes.
Bhramari, the humming bee breath
Where to put the fingers, how many rounds, and why it is the practice most often given to somebody who cannot get to sleep.
Starting yoga after forty
What actually changes after forty, what to begin with, and the five things not to begin with. Written for the person who thinks they have left it too late.
Nothing on request
The fees, in plain numbers
Published rather than sent on request, because being asked to enquire about a price is a small insult and because everybody searching for a yoga class in this city is typing “with fees” on the end. There is no joining fee, no registration fee and no annual charge.
- In person, in Bangalore: one drop-in class
- ₹500/class
- In person, in Bangalore, monthly
- ₹3,000/month
- In person, in Bangalore, three months
- ₹8,100/quarter
Quarterly payment carries a discount. The online fee is the same wherever you live.
Asked before a first class
Questions people ask first
If you came here with a problem rather than an ambition, start with the page written for it: yoga for back pain, yoga for anxiety and stress, yoga for weight loss, yoga for PCOS, yoga for thyroid, or starting yoga after forty. Each one says what helps, what to leave alone, and what the evidence actually shows. If you would rather practise first and read later, begin with Surya Namaskar, all twelve steps, the ten minute morning routine, or the guide to how to start yoga at home.
I have never done yoga and I am not flexible. Can I still join?
Yes, and flexibility is not the entry requirement people think it is: it is one of the things the practice produces, not something you need beforehand. Every pose in a class is offered at two or three depths, and you are given the one your body agrees to today. Most people arriving in their forties and fifties cannot touch their toes on the first morning, and that is an ordinary starting point, not a problem to solve before you come.
How is an online class corrected? Can the teacher actually see me?
The class is live, not a recording, and cameras stay on. The batch is capped at about fifteen so every person is on screen at a usable size, and corrections are given out loud by name, 'drop the left shoulder', 'bend the front knee more'. Set the camera side-on, about two metres away, so your whole mat is in frame. It is not the same as a hand on your back, which is why the in-person class exists; it is far better than following a video that cannot see you at all.
What are the fees, and is there a joining fee?
In-person classes in Bangalore are from ₹3,000 a month and live online classes from ₹3,500 a month, with a discount for paying quarterly. One-to-one sessions are from ₹2,000 each. There is no joining fee, no registration fee, no mat deposit and no annual charge. The monthly fee is the whole cost. Every figure is published on the fees page rather than sent on request.
Is there really a free class, and what is the catch?
There is one free live class a week and there is no catch, because there is nothing to cancel: you are not asked for a card, and you are not signed up to anything by attending. You message on WhatsApp, you are sent a link, you come. The reason it exists is straightforward: yoga teaching is the kind of thing you cannot judge from a website, and a class you have sat through tells you more than any amount of copy on this page.
I have a back problem. Is yoga safe for me?
Often it helps, and sometimes a particular pose is exactly the wrong idea, which is why every pose page here carries its contraindications and why you are asked about injuries before your first class rather than after it. Tell the teacher what a doctor has told you: a disc problem, a recent surgery, high blood pressure, glaucoma, pregnancy. The sequence is then adapted for you. Yoga supports your treatment; it does not replace it, and nobody here will tell you otherwise.
What time are the classes, and what if I miss one?
In-person classes run in the early morning, 06:30-08:30 IST, with evening batches on some days at 18:00-19:00 IST. Online classes run in the morning on the same schedule, plus slots timed for the Gulf, the UK and the American evening. A missed online class is recorded and sent to you, and a missed in-person class can be made up in the online batch that week. Nothing is deducted and nothing is forfeited.
Come to one class before you decide anything
Your first class is free, in any batch, on any day. No card, nothing to cancel. Come once and see whether the teaching suits you before you pay for anything. You will be asked your age and whether anything hurts, and the sequence will be adapted for you on the spot.
You message on WhatsApp, we send the link. No card, and nothing to cancel afterwards.