The way Ashtanga Yoga took hold in the western world

Andre van Lysbeth, Norman Allen, David Williams, Nancy Gilgoff are just some of the people who have helped introduce Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga to the West.

In 1964 Andre van Lysbeth, a Belgian, found his way to Pattabhi Jois' small Yoga Shala in Mysore. Already quite into Yoga and knowing Sanskrit very well, van Lysbeth became interested in this ancient system, and spent two months to studying the primary and intermediate series with Pattabhi Jois. Among the many books he wrote in later years, there was one called "Pranayama", which he wrote just after his time with Jois and which included a photo of the guru along with his name and address. Thus the name Pattabhi Jois slowly spread in the western world, but mostly in Europe. Many of the first people that travelled to India to meet Jois came from there.

The first American to study with Pattabhi Jois was Norman Allen in 1973. He had been watching a Yoga demonstration given by Manju Jois, Pattabhi's son, at Swami Gitananda's Ashram in Pondicherry. Impressed by this demonstration, he set out to study the system.

A little later David Williams and Nancy Gilgoff arrived at the small Yoga-Shala in Mysore. In 1975, they invited Pattabhi Jois to give a workshop in California, USA. Only about ten or fiteen people were at that first workshop, a far cry from the hundreds that attend his workshops today.

On that trip Manju Jois who had joined his father in America, decided to stay to teach the traditional technique of Ashtanga Yoga there.

As time went by and Ashtanga Yoga became more known in the west, Pattabhi Jois was invited for workshops not only to the USA but also to Brazil, England and many other countries. Nowadays Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga has grown to become one of the worlds most known Yoga systems. You can find Ashtanga Yoga classes all around the world. Stars like Madonna and Sting say that they to follow this ancient practice, something which has increased the popularity of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga even more.