Bharat Yoga Council was not born in a conference room or built by a committee.
It grew from a living ashram, two dedicated practitioners, and years of daily work – teaching, serving, and asking what yoga truly means when it is lived, not just studied.
Praanaa Kendraa Ashram is rooted in Tamil Nadu, South India – with a physical home in Elavambadi, one hour from Tiruvannamalai, and a center in Tiruvannamalai itself.
But the ashram is not defined by its location. It is defined by what it does every day – free yoga classes, service to village children, care for sacred cows, large community events, and a constant, quiet commitment to keeping authentic yoga alive and accessible.
Swami Vishnu is a Sivananda Yoga Acharya and a PR Secretary of the Indian Sanyasee Federation. By education, a physiologist. By nature – a master of silence.
He has a rare gift: the ability to guide people into genuine inner stillness, where all real answers arise. He founded Praanaa Kendraa Ashram and is the driving force behind Bharat Yoga Council.
His path of service began long before any organization existed. He personally adopted 20 children from difficult backgrounds – caring for their education, their stability, and their future. That same impulse – to give, to build, to carry others forward – is at the root of everything the ashram and the council do today.
Durga is a Sivananda Yoga Acharya and Vastu Shastra practitioner. She spent 20 years as an architect and interior designer in Tel Aviv, running her own studio specializing in private homes.
In her final seven years in that life, she found Vastu Shastra – the ancient Indian science of sacred space – and trained in the lineage of the legendary Sthapati Dr. Ganapati Sthapati, initiated by his direct disciple Mandodari.
At some point, studying was no longer enough. She closed her studio, left Israel, and came to India – not for a retreat, but to stay. That was two and a half years ago. She has not looked back.
We believe that yoga is one of the most profound answers to the confusion, anxiety, and disconnection of modern life. Not yoga as a fitness trend or a weekend workshop – but yoga as a complete inner science, moving through the body, the breath, the mind, and the depths of consciousness.
We believe it must be accessible. To every teacher, every seeker, every child in a village school. Not locked behind high fees or years of waiting for the right moment.
And we believe that those who carry yoga forward – teachers, practitioners, guides – deserve a real community around them. Not a database or a certificate. A living field of people who practice, share, and grow together.
That is why Bharat Yoga Council exists.
