MSR Nagar, north Bangalore
The in-person class, in a hall in north Bangalore
One teacher, about 40 years of teaching, and a residents’ association hall in MSR Nagar, a few minutes from the MS Ramaiah hospital. It is a hall, not a studio, and the page you are reading is not going to pretend otherwise: mats on the floor, a teacher walking between them, and a class that starts on time. Nobody has ever taken a photograph of it for Instagram.
What happens inside it is traditional yoga, taught slowly: joints loosened first, standing poses, floor poses held long enough to be felt rather than passed through, pranayama once the body is steady, and savasana that nobody is allowed to cut short. The group is small enough that a correction can be given to one person by name, out loud, from across the room.
Where the hall is
The class is in MSR Nagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560054. It is a residents’ association building on an inner residential road, set back far enough from the main road that you stop hearing the traffic about a minute after the class starts. It is an ordinary neighbourhood building rather than a landmark, which is why the directions matter more than the description.
The exact door and the gate to use are sent to you on WhatsApp when you book. The hall sits inside a residents’ association compound, so a pin and a line of directions get you there faster than a street number would, usually within a few hours of your message. Every person who comes to a first class gets there that way.
If you would rather see the shape of the area before you ask, the map below is pinned to the neighbourhood. The nearest landmark most people already know is the MS Ramaiah hospital; the college campus is on the same stretch, and the Mathikere signal is the junction most students turn at.
The map is pinned to MSR Nagar, Bengaluru. Message on WhatsApp when you book and you are sent the exact pin and the gate to use.
When the classes run
Three batches, all Indian Standard Time. Which batch has room changes from month to month, so the timings below are confirmed with you on WhatsApp before your first class rather than left to a web page to get wrong. Ask for the batch you want and you will be told plainly whether there is space in it.
| Batch | Start time | Days | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Early morning | 6:30 AM IST | Monday to Saturday | The oldest batch and the fullest. Dark in December, warm by March, and the one most working people settle into because it is finished before the day starts. |
| Second morning | 7:30 AM IST | Monday to Saturday | For people who cannot make 6:30 and for anyone who would rather not practise in the cold. Slightly smaller, slightly slower to warm up. |
| Evening | 6:00 PM IST | Selected weekdays | For people who finish work in the city and come north against the traffic. Which weekdays it runs depends on the hall booking, so ask before you plan around it. |
A class runs a little over an hour. Come five minutes early: walking in halfway through the opening breathing is disruptive for the room and unhelpful for you, and the door is left open for latecomers only until the first standing pose. If you cannot make your usual batch on a given day, the other morning batch will take you without being asked in advance.
What it costs
The in-person class is ₹3,000 a month, or ₹500 to drop in for a single class, and your first class is free. There is no joining fee, no registration fee, no mat deposit and no annual charge, so that figure is the whole cost of practising here.
It is printed here rather than sent on request because almost everybody typing yoga classes in Bangalore with fees into a search box is doing it out of irritation: half the schools in this city answer a straightforward question about money with a phone number. Three months paid at once is ₹8,100, which saves ₹900 against paying month by month. One-to-one sessions are charged per session, and every one of those numbers is on the fees page in the same plain form.
Fees are paid monthly, in advance, and nothing is forfeited if you travel: you can pause once a quarter, for up to four weeks, and the weeks are added to the end of what you paid for. If money is genuinely the obstacle, say so and we will work something out.
In person, in Bangalore, monthly
₹3,000 / month
Six mornings a week
- Small group in the association hall
- Hands-on correction, every class
- Asana, pranayama and relaxation in every session
- All levels. The sequence is adapted to you, not the other way round
What to bring, and what to leave at home
Very little. There are mats you can borrow and props for the people who need them, so nothing on this list is a reason to postpone your first class.
A mat, if you have one
A yoga mat if you own one. If you do not, there is no need to buy one before your first class: mats can be borrowed in the hall, and a firm surface at home is enough to practise on in between. Nobody is going to comment on your mat.
Water, in a bottle you can cap
You will not need much. A class held at this pace does not leave you drenched, but it is sensible to have water beside you rather than to get up for it in the middle of a sequence.
Loose clothes you can bend in
A cotton kurta and pyjama, a track pant and T-shirt, leggings: all fine. Avoid anything with a stiff waistband, because a waistband that digs in during a forward bend will decide what you think of forward bends.
An empty stomach
Nothing solid for about three hours before class, and nothing at all in the last hour. Water is fine. Tea an hour before is fine for most people. Twists and inversions on a full stomach are unpleasant and, occasionally, worse than unpleasant.
What not to bring
- Shoes past the door. They stay on the rack outside, as they do in any hall in this city.
- A phone that is switched on. Silent is not enough when a roomful of people are in savasana.
- Perfume or strong deodorant. Everyone practises in the same room, and pranayama in a scented room is genuinely difficult for people with asthma.
- A watch or heavy bangles. They will end up on the floor anyway, and something on the floor is something to be stepped on.
How students actually get here
Every distance below is approximate, and every travel time is a guess made at six in the morning, when this city is a different place from the one it is at nine. Treat them as rough.
Most of the hall walks in. MSR Nagar itself supplies perhaps half the class, and for those people the journey is five or ten minutes on foot, which is the single biggest reason they are still coming after a decade. From Mathikere it is a short ride, two or three kilometres depending on which side of the Mathikere signal you start from, which is a short ride at that hour. From Yeshwanthpur it is about four kilometres. People coming from near the Yeshwanthpur metro station usually ride rather than take the train, because the last stretch is not a walk you want to make before a class.
From Malleshwaram and Rajajinagar it is roughly five to seven kilometres, fifteen to twenty minutes at dawn and considerably more later. Coming up past the Sandal Soap Factory metro is the simplest route, and it is a useful landmark even if you are not taking the train. From Sanjaynagar and RT Nagar it is a similar distance across the top of the city, and the later batch is worth asking about, because the road is easier once it is light.
From Hebbal it is longer, seven or eight kilometres, and the usual route comes down the Bellary Road side past the ISKCON temple and cuts across, which at 6:00 AM is genuinely quick and at 8:30 AM is not. From Jalahalli and Vidyaranyapura it is further still, roughly eight to eleven kilometres from the northern edge, and the early batch is the sensible one to ask for from there: the road is empty and the trip takes twenty minutes instead of forty.
If you work at or near the MS Ramaiah hospital or the college campus, you are already inside walking distance, which is about as convenient as a morning class gets. If you have been typing yoga class near me into a phone somewhere in north Bengaluru, the honest answer is that this is near you if you are in any of the localities above, and probably not worth the trip if you are south of the city centre. In that case the live online class is the same teaching without the ride.
Parking
There is room for two-wheelers at the building, and cars park on the road outside. The road is narrow and residential, so park close to the kerb and do not block anybody’s entrance: these are somebody else’s neighbours and the association hears about it. Arriving five minutes early is worth doing for the parking alone, because the closer spaces fill up first and the street is dark before a morning class.
When it is pouring
The class runs. Rain is not a reason to close a hall in this city. Flooring gets slippery once a few dozen wet feet have crossed it, so take your time near the door and leave the umbrella outside rather than dripping across the hall. Bring dry socks in June and July. If the roads on your side are genuinely under water, message on WhatsApp and join the online batch that morning instead of taking a risk on a flooded underpass.
Who is actually in the room
Worth knowing before you come, because the picture in most people’s heads is of a studio full of twenty-five year olds in matching leggings, and this is not that.
All ages, and no upper limit
The class is open to all ages and all levels, and people arrive for very ordinary reasons: a back that has been complaining, a blood report, a knee that has started objecting to stairs. Very few arrive because they want to get better at yoga.
Come on your own or come together
Two people from the same household on adjacent mats is a perfectly ordinary arrangement, and so is coming alone. Nobody is paired up, nobody is put in front of anyone else, and you are not asked who you came with.
Beginners are ordinary here
Never having practised before is a starting point rather than a problem, and it does not put you in a separate batch. Every pose is offered at more than one depth, and you take the one your body agrees to on the day.
No mirrors, no music, no ranking
There is nothing to watch yourself in, nothing playing, and nobody keeping score. What you hear is counting and instruction. If you were hoping for a studio experience, this is not one.
Around half the hall is women, and that is worth saying plainly because people looking for yoga classes for ladies usually want to know whether they would be the only one. You would not be. Correction is offered rather than imposed, you may decline a hands-on adjustment without giving a reason, and nobody will make anything of it.
Questions people ask
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.
Where exactly is the class, and how do I find the hall?
The class is held in a residents' association hall in MSR Nagar, in north Bangalore, a short distance from the MS Ramaiah hospital and college campus. The exact street address is not published on this site yet. Message on WhatsApp and you are sent the location pin and directions for the last stretch, which is what people actually need. The map on this page is pinned to the neighbourhood so you can see roughly where you are going before you ask.
What are the fees for the in-person class, and is there a joining fee?
The in-person class is ₹3,000 a month. There is no joining fee, no registration fee, no mat deposit and no annual charge, so the monthly figure is the whole cost. People searching for yoga classes in Bangalore with fees usually find a phone number and an invitation to enquire; the number is on the fees page instead, along with the quarterly rate and the one-to-one rate.
Is this suitable for ladies, and are there women in the class?
Yes. The class is open to all ages and all levels, women included, and it is a mixed class rather than a separate ladies' batch. It is worth being plain about that: people who search for yoga classes for ladies usually want to know what kind of room they are walking into, and this is an ordinary neighbourhood class rather than a men's one. Hands-on correction is offered rather than imposed, and you can say no to it at any time without explaining why.
What if I have never done yoga and I cannot touch my toes?
That is the ordinary starting point, not an obstacle. Stiffness is what most people arrive with, usually after years of sitting at a desk, and the class is built to be entered from there. Every pose is offered at two or three depths and you take the one your body agrees to today. Nobody is going to ask you to do a headstand in your first month, and nobody is going to look at what you can and cannot reach.
Do I need to bring a mat?
Bring one if you own one. If you do not, there are mats in the hall you can borrow for your first few classes. Buy a mat once you have decided you are going to keep coming, not before, and ask in class before you buy: a four millimetre mat is comfortable on a hard floor while a very thin one is not, and that is most of what there is to know.
What happens if it is raining, or if the roads are flooded?
The class runs. The hall does not shut for rain, and in a Bangalore monsoon the practical problem is the road between you and the hall rather than the class itself. Come with a change of socks, leave your umbrella at the door, and take your time on wet flooring. If the roads on your side are genuinely impassable, message on WhatsApp and join the online batch that morning instead.
Can I try a class before paying?
Yes. 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. Nobody asks for a card and there is nothing to cancel afterwards, because you were never signed up to anything. Come, put a mat down at the back if you want to, and decide afterwards.
Practise in the hall, in person
In a hall in north Bangalore, in a small group, with hands-on correction. The hall is within a short ride of MSR Nagar, Mathikere, Malleshwaram, Yeshwanthpur and further out.
You message on WhatsApp, we send the link. No card, and nothing to cancel afterwards.