Sri K. Pattabhi Jois is best known as the creator of the systematized Ashtanga Vinyasa method. Considered by many to be one of the most influential yoga teachers of the last century, he dedicated his life to yoga practice and scholarship from an early age. Through extensive travel and teaching, he helped introduce yoga to a global audience.
Often listed among the most remarkable yoga teachers of the past century, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois began his journey as a devoted practitioner and scholar in childhood. Guided by Sri T. Krishnamacharya, widely known as the grandfather of modern yoga, he helped shape and share the ancient Ashtanga lineage around the world. The Yoga Korunta, an old text on asana attributed to the sage Vamana Rishi and passed from Rama Mohan Brahmachari to Krishnamacharya at the turn of the 19th century, was later given to Jois in 1927. It became the foundation of what is now called the Ashtanga Vinyasa system, a modern interpretation of Patanjali’s traditional Ashtanga yoga.
From 1948 onward, Jois taught at his Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute in Mysore, southern India, welcoming thousands of students from the West to study under his guidance. He traveled widely throughout his life, teaching and promoting Ashtanga yoga across the world. Jois passed away in 2009 at the age of 93. Today, his grandson Sharath and daughter Saraswathi continue teaching at the Sri K Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute in Mysore, preserving the lineage and sharing the practice with yogis internationally.