About Philippa

Originally from London, Philippa Asher is one of the few Ashtanga yoga practitioners in the world (and the only British woman) to be certified by Sri K Pattabhi Jois to teach the Ashtanga yoga method in her tradition. She learned Primary, Intermediate, Advanced A, and Advanced B series directly from Pattabhi Jois and Sharath (at the Krishna Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute in Mysore, India) and shares the Ashtanga yoga system internationally ( in studio and on retreat) and also online (directed Sanskrit lessons and private lessons). After professional training at a ballet school from the age of twelve and twenty-five years of studying and teaching dance at universities and ballet companies across the UK, Philippa entered by chance in an Ashtanga yoga class in London. It was a life-changing incident that made perfect sense to me. Starting in the late 1990s, she began learning/practicing the Ashtanga yoga system, daily before working (in the media, film and music industries). For twenty years, she has studied for several months each year at KPJAYI in Mysore (and on tour), practicing under the guidance of guru Pattabhi Jois and her grandson Sharath Jois. In 2006, Philippa created and led the Ashtanga self-practice program at Triyoga Soho in London. She taught there for five years before moving to southern India to build her own shala (on a coffee plantation in the Western Ghats). ASHTANGA NIRVRTA is a superb homestay yoga retreat, which aims to bring Ashtanga yoga to all levels of practitioners, in nature, without distraction. In addition to teaching Mysore-style Ashtanga guided personal practice, leading classes and workshops at ASHTANGA NIRVRTA, Philippa also leads personal practice workshops and residencies in studios in London, Europe and on retreats across the whole world. When not in the studio, she teaches one-on-one online classes and primary, intermediate, and advanced Series A Sanskrit classes, as well as pranayama. Her approach to sharing yoga asanas (from beginners to more experienced practitioners) is serious, yet light and joyful. It emphasizes good technique, safe alignment, synchronization of vinyasa (coordinated movement/breathing sequences in Sanskrit) with tristhana (alignment of breathing, gaze points and movement), transmitting the method taught by Pattabhi Jois from the late 1990s and embracing the essence of Patanjali's sutras on yoga and asana. Philippa's passion for Ashtanga yoga, her training as a trained dancer and her experience as a qualified teacher (Adult Education Postgraduate Certificate) give her an intuitive and solid understanding of bodies, yoga asanas, people and how they learn.