Yogi Vishnu Panigrahi — Founder, Vinyasa Yoga Academy

Vishnu Ji started practising yoga when he was just 12 years old. At that age, he made a decision most people never make in their whole life — he left his home, his family, and his friends to follow the yogic path. His first teacher was Narayan Muni, who he met at the Jharsuguda Muni Samaj Yoga Ashram. From there, his search kept growing. Years later, he met Swami Niranjan Ji and began studying Jnana Yoga, the path of knowledge and self-inquiry.

His journey then took him to Sri Satya Sai Baba’s ashram, where he came face to face with Karma Yoga. During this time, he went through a heart surgery, and that experience changed how he looked at life completely. It wasn’t long after that he decided to become a monk. This decision, made in 2001, eventually brought him to Rishikesh.

Rishikesh is where everything came together. He entered the Himalayan Yoga Tradition once again, but this time, he stayed. Under his most important teacher, Swami Veda, he trained deeply and became a master in this tradition himself. It was this training that gave him the foundation to start his own school. In 2010, he founded Vinyasa Yoga Academy, so he could pass on everything he had learned to students from around the world.

Since then, he has taught over 10K students from more than 100 countries, all directly, without stepping back from the mat. He now splits his year between the Rishikesh and Bali campuses, teaching in both places personally. Whether a student joins in India or Indonesia, they learn straight from him, not from someone standing in for him.

He leads: 100, 200, 300 and 500 Hour Yoga Teacher Training — Rishikesh and Bali.