Yogi Vishnu Panigrahi

Long before Yogi Vishnu Panigrahi ever taught a class, he was growing up beside a Radha-Krishna temple that his grandfather had built in western Odisha. Born into a Brahmin family, he spent his early years around that temple, serving the sadhus who passed through it, and it was there that his relationship with spiritual life began, long before he had a name for it. That upbringing later carried him into the Himalayan yogic tradition, where he studied for years under Swami Veda Bharati, himself a disciple of Swami Rama of the Himalayas.

Over the past 25 years, this early grounding has grown into a life spent almost entirely in service of others’ spiritual growth. He now travels widely to teach yoga, meditation, and what he calls inner-faith, and remains closely involved at Samadhi Yoga Ashram, in Rishikesh and Bali, where he guides students who have come looking for something beyond a physical practice.