Yoga Alliance International (YAI) is a network of dedicated, like-minded people and institutions devoted to the cause of authentic Yoga.

Inspired by Sri. Aurobindo and the mother of Pondicherry, YAI was founded by Swami Vidyanand, the well-known yoga master, assisted by Sri K.M.Chandrashekaran, who has had a lifelong interest in yoga and allied matters.

YAI has a number of divisions around the world, each headed by a dedicated director, who serve as our representatives in their respective countries. They come from all corners of the world and share a passionate commitment to the cause of authentic yoga traditions.

YAI’s ambassadors serve as our flag-bearers and take YAI’s message around the world. Swami Vidyanand, the renowned Indian master, first created Yoga Alliance Asia-Pacific in 2004. He was inspired by Sri Aurobindo’s vision for mankind and had a view to creating an organizational body dedicated to fostering this vision.

“….The third dream was a world-union forming the outer basis of a fairer, brighter and nobler life for all mankind. That unification of the human world is under way; there is an imperfect initiation organised by struggling against tremendous difficulties. But the momentum is there and it must inevitably increase and conquer…. ….there must grow up an international spirit and outlook, international forms and institutions must appear, perhaps such developments, as dual or multilateral citizenship, willed interchange or voluntary fusion of cultures…”

In 2006, Yoga Alliance India was born to lay the roots of this yoga community in the mother land of Yoga. After all India, is the birth place of yoga and there is a need for bringing the fundamentals back into the practice and life of those who truly aspire for progress. Yoga Alliance International® was officially established in 2007. The guiding principle behind its creation has since then been the forming and fostering of a strong worldwide community of yoga schools and teachers dedicated to encouraging the authentic values of yoga.

YAI has always had for first objective to spread the right principles of yoga and make the discipline wealthy in a healthy way with an aspiration towards spiritual progress. From the success of Yoga Alliance International® and with the support of the growing community, the first foreign office of YAI was established in 2010 with the creation of Yoga Alliance International Europe. Other branches followed and today Yoga Alliance International’s influence has reached all continents.