English version ~ Ashtanga Yoga Center

Welcome to our Center! You can learn here the practice of Hatha Yoga of any level of complexity under the guidance of qualified instructors. We have been practicing and teaching Yoga within the tradition of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga (tradition of Sri T. Krishnamacharya - Sri K. Pattabhi jois), the Delhi school of Yoga (lineage of Dhirendra Brahmachari), Shivananda Yoga (south and north Indian lineages) and our russian Hatha Yoga masters - Andrey Lappa and Andrey Sidersky.

Our Center exists since 1999, where it started as a community of people, who were intensively practicing Hatha Yoga. We all passed the instruction of various Yoga masters in India and Russia, and shared our experience with friends and the friends of the friends. Step by step, the number of people willing to practice Yoga has grown so considerably that we decided it was high time to start the regular classes of Yoga for those people. So, that's how our Center came into being.

With respect we would like to mention those of the teachers who taught us the great art of Hatha Yoga. This is Yogacharya Jayakumar Swamesree from Mysore (Karnataka state, South India), who had been teaching Yoga at the Indian Embassy in Moscow; Yogacharya Bal Mukund Singh, a disciple of Swami Dhirendra Brahmachari, who had been instructing us in Delhi; Yogacharya Gopal Krishna from Bangalore (Karnataka), Yogacharya M. Madhavan (Vivekananda Yoga Therapy Institute, Karur, Tamil Nadu), Yogacharyas of Shivananda Ashram in Uttarkashi (Uttar Pradesh, Himalayas).

Our teachers of Ashtanga Vinyasa style - the disciples of great Sri T. Krishnamacharya: Guruji Shri K. Pattabhi Jois and his grandson Sharath Rangaswamy (Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute, Mysore), Yogacharya  B.N.S. Iyengar from Mysore, master of ashtanga vinyasa yoga Lino Miele from Italy. And of course, we would like to thank our home masters of Yoga, Andrey Lappa and Andrey Sidersky, for their great input in the development of Hatha Yoga in Russia, Ukraine and other countrys of former USSR.

Senior teachers and founders of our center in Moscow are: Denis Zaenchkovsky, Mikhail Konstantinov, Olga Bulanova, Katya Sivakova, Ilya Zhuravlev, Alexey Raev. There are also senior teachers Alexander Nikitin and Juliana Zhavoronkova working in St. Petersburg.

The instructors teach relatively small groups of 10-15 people, give detailed explanations on the poses and show the correct performance of every asana and vinyasa; they take a close look on your performance and makes necessary corrections if required. The groups are divided into the beginners, beginners-2 (after 1 year of practice), intermediate and intensive (for experienced practitioners) levels of complexity, plus there is a group for older people with milder and therapeutic routine of the practice.

The beginner level groups are based on the principal of gradual, progressive facilitation of the simple poses towards more advanced level of practice. The great deal of attention is paid to the trauma safety techniques.

There are also special courses on Pranayama (breath techniques; only for students who have enough expirience in asana practice) and deep relaxation practices, like Yoga Nidra and Cyclic Meditation. During workshops we give shatkarma classes (traditional yogic cleansing procedures), and lectures about history and philosophy of Yoga, main Hindu scriptures, sattvic diet, basics of Ayurveda. We regularly arrange workshops in the outskirts of Moscow, as well as in Crimea (Black Sea coast, Ukraine), Egypt, Turkey, Thailand and India. For students who decide to became qualified yoga instructors we provide half-year Teachers Training according to standarts of International Yoga Federation and European Yoga Alliance.

Our basic course is meant for quite strong and healthy people. The regime of practice is rather intensive but it's quite within the potential of the students who lead an active life-style and do not have any serious troubles with their nervous system or extremities. For better adjustment into the practice we recommend to attend classes no less than 3 times a week.

No prior registration is required, you can come and visit any class (all classes are "drop-in") but better within your level of physical abilities. The beginner level students are being taught while performing their practice.

The classes are offered in center of Moscow, near the metro stations Novokuznetskaya (or Tretyakovskaya), Mayakovskaya, Kropotkinskaya, Arbatskaya. There are morning, daytime and evening groups as well as the individual practice with the instructor (by arrangement).

In addition, we would like to mention that Ashtanga Yoga Center is not a religious organization. We are striving for teaching people how to work with their body, breath and energy, but do not preach any religious doctrine.

Om Namah Shivaya!