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I feel it is important to say a few words about the background of the teaching that I have been receiving.

I am practicing, studying, and teaching yoga in the tradition of Sri TKV Desikachar and his father Sri T Krishnamacharya.

This lineage states that yoga must be adjusted according to the needs of the individual. This idea has profound implications on how yoga is approached.

T Krishnamacharya has been amazingly influential on modern day yoga... He was the premium teacher of BKS Iyengar (known through what is commonly called "Iyengar Yoga", practiced today by millions around the world).

He also taught Pattabhi Jois (credited as the driving force behind what most people refer to as "Ashtanga Yoga" another hugely popular yoga style nowadays), Srivtasa Ramaswami (Krishnamacharya's longest-standing student outside the family and publisher of some excellent books on yoga), and of course his son TKV Desikachar, who is respected the world over as an authority on yoga.

The picture below shows the lineage T Krishnamacharya, his son TKV Desikachar, and his grandson Kausthub Desikachar.

This photograph is taken by Michael O'Neill for a publication in Vanity Fair Magazine.

My teacher is Mr Paul Harvey, one of the UK's foremost authorities on yoga. Paul has studied directly and intensively with Desikachar for a period of over 30 years.

Paul's overall experience in yoga spans 36 years in which he has run numerous teacher training programmes and seminars, led international retreats, founded what is now known as the Association for Yoga Studies in the UK, and published articles in UK yoga magazines.

Several of the UK's principal yoga teachers have studied with Paul.

In spite of the tremendous efforts of many wonderful teachers in the yoga community world-wide, there still is a degree of mysticism surrounding yoga which I feel can become a barrier for many (prospective) yoga students in the West.

Massive claims have been made in the name of yoga and one may wonder if this in fact isn't doing this undoubtedly powerful approach a disservice.

I am keen to demystify yoga. In my mind, the last thing a modern yoga student ought to be preoccupied with is becoming enlightened, clairvoyant, or immortal!

Let's just enjoy the practice and experience how it has the ability to make us happier.

So my premise is straightforward: real yoga, for real people. My teaching style is a practical one and—in case you know a little bit about the history of yoga—the underlying framework that I endeavour to follow is provided by Patañjali's Yoga Sutras, considered by the masters in the tradition that I'm following as the most authentic and valuable of all yoga resources.

For example, my emphasis on creating a learning environment in my classes is directly linked to the Yoga Sutras: Patañjali describes five activities of personal disciplines (niyama) and self-study (svādhyāya) is one of them. Here, 'self-study' can be taken as 'study of the self' and as well as 'study by the self'.

All students who are eager to learn more about yoga are welcome to join the "YOGA AUTUMN COURSE".