Manju Jois
Our teacher
As the foremost student and teacher of Ashtanga Yoga with his lifetime of experience, Manju prefers to be known simply as the messanger. He humbly shares the practice with the guiding principle that yoga already belongs to you. It’s his message that guides you to your own practice in an open and healthy way. To highlight this, he has referred to his style of teaching as Freedom Yoga.
After spending his career traveling to his students all over the world, Manju now limits his travel to workshops and classes mostly organized by the European Academy of Ashtanga Yoga. He believes that small groups of students makes for a more personal and authentic way to share knowledge.
For many years, his trainings have included Ayurvedic cooking, pranayama and chanting shanti mantras. His students believe it is thanks to him that these practices are becoming more popular in the west as a way to round out an already peaceful way of living. Spending time with Manju is always light and joyful. One of our favorite quotes of his is “Be curious, not serious. Too serious makes you furious.”
Manju came from Mysore, India with his father to California in 1975. He began operating his first studio with friends David Williams and Nancy Gilgoff soon after. His message of the healing benefits of yoga eventually caught on and students from all over the world were coming to learn from him.
Listening to him talk about meeting his wife Nancy is to hear a beautiful love story. After they were married, they had their daughter, Sathu whom Manju is most proud to have certified to teach yoga.
