About Yoga Nisarga: a yoga teacher training school since 2007

Our story

Swami Chaittanya Hari was six years old when his elder brother, Yogi Abhay, introduced him to meditation. That early practice became a lifelong search. As a young man he travelled to places in India and Nepal where yoga and meditation are lived rather than studied: the ashrams of Ramana Maharshi and Swami Rama, the Osho ashram, places connected with Yogananda, Meher Baba’s pilgrimage site, Shivpuri Baba’s ashram in Nepal, Sufi teachers and a Tibetan monastery.

He then turned to the physical practice. In Anjuna, Goa, he studied Mysore-style Ashtanga with the teachers Rolf and Marci, and he practised Hatha and Iyengar yoga alongside it. In 2007 he founded Yoga Nisarga to teach what he had found: that yoga works as a practical science, and that students do not need to adopt a belief system to benefit from it.

Over the years Swami Chaittanya Hari has taught on teacher trainings in India, China, Russia, Thailand, Egypt and Lebanon. The school’s permanent home is its own centre near Mandrem Beach in North Goa.

Today Yoga Nisarga runs 200-hour trainings in all three places, 7-day retreats in Goa, Bali, Thailand and Sri Lanka, and drop-in Ashtanga, Hatha and meditation classes in Goa. You can read more about the founder on his profile page.

How we teach

From the source, without dogma. Yoga Nisarga does not belong to any single orthodox lineage. We teach from yoga’s source texts, above all Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, and we treat yoga as a science: a set of methods you can test on yourself and keep if they work. We do not ask students to take on any religious belief. Our aim is to show you how the practice works so that you can carry it into daily life and, later, into your own classes.

Styles. In Goa the core practice is Hatha yoga and Ashtanga Vinyasa, taught through the half primary series in led classes and supervised self-practice. The Koh Samui training is built around Hatha and Yin yoga. The Bali training includes Ashtanga Vinyasa Flow.

What a 200-hour course covers. Asana, pranayama, meditation, yoga philosophy, anatomy and physiology, teaching methodology, the shatkarmas (cleansing practices), mudras and bandhas. Every trainee receives a course manual.

A typical day in Goa. Practice starts at 6:30 am with Ashtanga Vinyasa. Late morning is anatomy, then philosophy and meditation. Afternoons cover alignment and teaching theory, and the evening class is Hatha or a focused session. Classes run Monday to Friday, Saturday is a half day and Sunday is free.

Language. All courses are taught in English, and basic English is enough to follow along.

Who the training is for. We recommend 4 to 6 months of regular practice before a teacher training. You do not need to be flexible or advanced.

Our centres

Mandrem, North Goa, India

Our own centre sits among coconut trees about five minutes’ walk from Mandrem Beach, with a swimming pool and a mountain nearby. Students stay in standard or air-conditioned superior rooms, each with its own bathroom and hot shower. On the Goa teacher training we serve three vegetarian meals a day, Monday to Saturday, made mostly from local and organic ingredients. Goa is also home to our 7-day retreat and our drop-in classes.

Address: Yoga Nisarga, near La Blanca Resort Junaswada, Junos Vaddo, Mandrem, Goa 403527, India. See the Goa teacher training.

Koh Samui, Thailand

Our Thailand training is a 21-day residential course on Koh Samui. Accommodation and two vegetarian meals a day are included. We also run a 7-day retreat in Thailand, which includes three meals a day. See the Thailand teacher training.

Ubud, Bali

In Bali we train at Om Ham Retreat and Resort, about 10 minutes’ drive from the centre of Ubud, in the foothills among rice fields. The resort was designed by Balinese architects and built by local craftspeople. Accommodation and two vegetarian meals a day are included. See the Bali teacher training.

Accreditation and standards

Yoga Nisarga is a Registered Yoga School with Yoga Alliance at the 200-hour level (RYS 200), and our 200-hour course is Yoga Alliance certified.

When you complete the course you receive a Yoga Alliance certificate of completion. With it you can apply to register with Yoga Alliance as a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT 200), the credential most studios, gyms and retreat centres ask for. You will be able to plan and teach safe, well-sequenced general classes, and the 200 hours can count towards a later 500-hour qualification.

Our lead teachers hold Yoga Alliance’s experienced-teacher designations: Swami Chaittanya Hari and Dima are E-RYT 500, and Parvati is E-RYT 200.

Our teachers

Swami Chaittanya Hari, Founder and Director (E-RYT 500)

Swami Chaittanya Hari has led Yoga Nisarga’s teaching since founding the school in 2007, teaching asana, pranayama, meditation and yoga philosophy. His elder brother, Yogi Abhay, introduced him to meditation at the age of six. He went on to study Mysore-style Ashtanga in Anjuna, Goa, with Rolf and Marci, practised Hatha and Iyengar yoga, and spent time at ashrams and spiritual centres across India and Nepal. He has taught on teacher trainings in India, China, Russia, Thailand, Egypt and Lebanon, and leads workshops in Tibetan sound healing, reiki and mindfulness meditation. He is still a student himself, currently learning Tai Chi and Chi Gong. Read his full profile.

Parvati (Jessica), co-founder (E-RYT 200)

Parvati is Yoga Nisarga’s co-founder and an E-RYT 200 teacher with Yoga Alliance. She grew up in a spiritual family and has practised meditation since childhood, exploring methods from Buddhist meditation to Osho’s techniques. She is a clinical psychologist, with an MA in Clinical Psychology from Amity University, Noida (2020). She facilitates meditation retreats in India and Nepal, including “Antarmaan: Celebrate Your Inner Child”. Her aim is to bring psychology, yoga and Ayurveda together, with meditation at the centre. Read her profile.

Dima (Dmytro Vrubel), yoga teacher, Koh Samui (E-RYT 500)

Dmytro Vrubel, Dima to his students, is an E-RYT 500 teacher based on Koh Samui. He took up Hatha yoga at 19 to overcome health problems, has practised Hatha yoga and meditation since 2002 and has taught since 2005. He studied yoga therapy in Rishikesh, in Thailand and in his home country, Ukraine, and trained in the Sivananda tradition and in Ashtanga Vinyasa in India. His classes join modern anatomy with traditional yoga and Ayurveda, and he specialises in yoga therapy. A professional musician, he plays the bansuri (Indian bamboo flute) and the handpan, and runs sound healing sessions with his wife, Tatyana. Read his profile.

Nathalie, yoga teacher

Nathalie spent 16 years in corporate tourism before travelling to India for her 200-hour yoga teacher training, and came home changed in body and mind. She works as a yoga teacher, breathwork facilitator and retreat leader, specialising in Yoga Nidra, pranayama and Yin yoga. Her classes are less about flexibility and more about helping people find their footing again through breath, stillness and the kind of slowing down most of us resist. She draws on traditional yoga foundations but speaks to modern stress and noise. Read her profile.

By the numbers

What graduates say

“The teachers are not only highly professional but also incredibly kind and supportive.”

“The teachers are incredible, especially Swami Chaittanya Hari, who teaches with such clarity and compassion.”

“I did the 200-hour yoga teacher training with Yoga Nisarga in Thailand. The classes were varied and I learnt a lot to use in my teaching career.”

Read more student reviews.

Visit or apply

Choose your training:

• 200-hour yoga teacher training in Goa, India
• 200-hour yoga teacher training in Koh Samui, Thailand
• 200-hour yoga teacher training in Ubud, Bali

Ready to join a batch? Apply for a place and we will reply with dates, room options and next steps. Prefer to talk first? Message us on WhatsApp or email us, and we will answer your questions.