Trained in the traditional Mysore lineage since 2017. Vinaya Shala brings that practice — and the discipline behind it — to individual students and workplaces across Europe.
Born and raised in Kerala — a state where temple rituals, backwaters, and daily discipline sit close to ordinary life — Vinay came to yoga the way many do — as something practiced alongside a career, not instead of one. In 2017, he left a stable job to move to Mysore and train in the traditional Ashtanga Vinyasa lineage.
What began as a personal search became a teaching practice — and later, a bridge between two worlds: the discipline of the Mysore shala, and the corporate life he once left behind, now re-entered as a wellbeing consultant in Berlin. The thread connecting Kerala to Berlin was never the geography — it was the same daily practice, wherever the mat happened to unroll.
Teaching since 2017, in the traditional Mysore style — self-practice guided by individual adjustment, not a class led from the front.
Ashtanga — from Sanskrit ashtau (eight) and anga (limb) — refers to the eight-limbed path Patanjali laid out in the Yoga Sutras, roughly two thousand years ago. In one line: yoga is the settling of the mind's restlessness. Everything below is a rung toward that, not a checklist to complete.
Restraint in how you act toward others — honesty, non-harm, non-excess.
Discipline turned inward — contentment, self-study, consistency of practice.
The physical postures — a steady, comfortable seat, and by extension, a body capable of sitting still.
Breath control — lengthening and steadying the breath to steady the mind. See below.
Withdrawal of the senses — turning attention away from external distraction.
Concentration — holding attention on a single point, without wandering.
Meditation — sustained, effortless attention, once concentration stops requiring effort.
Absorption — the mind so settled that the boundary between observer and observed thins.
In a Mysore-style practice, breath is not background noise to the postures — it's the metronome the whole sequence is built on. Ujjayi breath (a soft, audible, throat-controlled breath) paces every movement, and its steadiness is often a better gauge of practice depth than how far a body can fold. Pranayama practiced on its own — without asana — is a separate, more advanced study, usually introduced only once the physical practice is stable.
Group and private teaching, built around the same Mysore-style method — individual attention within a shared practice space.
A focused, small-group intensive for 25 practitioners this August in Berlin. Not open for public registration — but future workshops will be.
Vinay works as an employee benefits and wellbeing consultant alongside his teaching practice — bringing a rare combination to corporate sessions: a real understanding of how workplaces function, and an authentic yoga lineage behind the practice itself.
Sessions delivered for corporate teams in Berlin, including at Delivery Hero.
Notes from the mat and from Mysore — published as they're written, not on a schedule. First entries coming soon.
For 1:1 teaching, workshops, or corporate wellbeing enquiries — tell me a little about what you're looking for, and I'll follow up directly.