My teachers

My TeacherS

Sri K Krishnamacharya

I cannot speak about my teachers without beginning with Sri K. Krishnamacharya whose wisdom, knowledge, and uncalculated contribution to yoga has guided my practice through the years.
Born in 1888 in a remote Indian village, T Krishnamacharya who lived to be over hundred years old was one of the greatest yogis of the modern era.
Fernando Pages Ruiz probably summed up Krishnamacharya's immense contribution to yoga when he wrote in an article entitled, “The Legacy of Krishnamacharya," (Yoga Journal, May/June 2001): "You may have never have heard of him, but Tirumalai Krishnamacharya influenced or perhaps even invented your yoga. Whether you practice the dynamic series of Pattabhi Jois, the refined alignments of BKS Iyengar, the classical postures of Indra Devi, or the customized vinyasa [of Desikachar], your practice stems from one source: a five-foot, two-inch Brahmin born more than one hundred years ago in a small south Indian Village".

Over the years, I studied with or was greatly influenced by many different teachers, Indians and Westerners, from different yoga schools. I am deeply thankful to all of them for the knowledge, the light and the understanding of yoga they gave me. Below are the ones who have been especially important to me over the past few years.

Ajay

Ajay has been my Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga teacher since 2006. In total, I have studied almost two year under his guidance. Ajay has given me so much thanks to his patience, his concern towards my practice and his deep knowledge of yoga. He is very important to me, not only as a yoga asanas teacher but as well as a person who incorporates yoga philosophy into his daily life.

Ajay is only 25 years old but shows an amazing maturity when it comes to teaching yoga. Having started yoga at a very early age, he has now been a teacher for 6 years, and he knows how to work with any kind of student, from the complete beginner to the advanced practitioner.
Ajay teaches his students taking into account the specificities of their body and his adjustments are gentle and precise.
www.sthalam8.com

V. Sheshadri

Sheshadri was my first Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga teacher, beginning in 2005. I arrived in Mysore for 2 months and ended up studying 6 months under his guidance.
Sheshadri is an international, national and state yoga champion. Early on his training, he did some volunteer teaching for blind children, which undoubtedly contributes to his amazing touch when articulating the postures.
www.sheshadri.com

A.G. Mohan

I followed a Yoga Therapy Teacher Training with A.G. Mohan in November-December 2007, in Chennai, India. A.G. Mohan was a personal student of Sri T. Krishnamacharya for 18 years, from 1971 to 1989. He is the author of Yoga for Body, Breath and Mind (1993) and the co-author, along with his wife and son, of Yoga Therapy (2004).
www.svastha.com

V. Vinkatesha

I studied with V. Venkatesha for 3 months in Mysore beginning of 2007. I practiced pranayama, hata yoga and one month of backbending class. V. Venkatesha is an amazingly advanced practitioner. He is very well known for his precision, dignity, discipline and ability to grade and handle the students of all levels. He developed his own hatha yoga sequence and he is renowned for his backbending classes.
www.atmavikasayoga.com

I would like as well to mention Doctor Nagaraj for his course on Yoga Sutras and Yoga Therapy, and Vinay Kumar for his pranayama classes.

Stéphanie François
Email: steff_francois@hotmail.com
Mobile France: + 33 (0)6 85 35 75 28