The famous male yoga teachers behind the Hot 26&2 class are Krishnamacharya, Iyengar, Pattabhi Jois, Bishnu Ghosh and Bikram Choudhury. Each one left an idea in the room, and our Seminyak and Canggu classes still use all of them. This guide follows the line to Mr. Ian Terry, our own senior teacher.
Mr. Ian Terry, E-RYT 500, has taught more than 12,000 hours. He trained for five years, from 2014 to 2019, with the founder of the Bikram Hot 26&2 method. So he reads this family tree as a working teacher, not as a historian.
Most lists of famous male yoga teachers rank fame. This one asks a different question: what did each man change about the class you will stand in tomorrow?
Famous Male Yoga Teachers and What Each One Left in Your Bali Class
The table sets six famous male yoga teachers side by side. Five are figures from yoga history, and one is a teacher you can still book a class with. Dates and places come from published biographies. The last column ties each man to something you will notice on the mat.
| Teacher | Place and years | The idea he left | Where you notice it in class |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tirumalai Krishnamacharya | Mysore, later Madras; 1888 to 1989 | Yoga adapted to the person in front of you | The teacher watches your body, not only the script |
| B.K.S. Iyengar | Pune; 1918 to 2014 | Alignment explained in fine detail | Cues about where the hip, foot and spine go |
| K. Pattabhi Jois | Mysore; 1915 to 2009 | One fixed sequence, taught the same way each time | The same postures in the same order, every class |
| Bishnu Charan Ghosh | Calcutta | Yoga as physical training with visible results | Strength, mobility and recovery matter more than ritual |
| Bikram Choudhury | Calcutta, then Los Angeles | Fixed order, heat and a script in 90 minutes | No demonstration and no music, only the spoken dialogue |
| Mr. Ian Terry | Bali | 12,000+ teaching hours and five years inside the lineage | A senior teacher you can meet at Seminyak and Canggu |
This list holds only men by design. It covers famous male yoga teachers in one lineage and is not a verdict on yoga as a whole. Women have shaped modern yoga as well, and many of them teach at our studios. You can meet the full YogaFX teaching team to see the mix for yourself.
The Lineage at a Glance
Because dates make a family tree easier to hold in your head, we added a short timeline. These six numbers mark the points where the line moves from one teacher to the next.
So the line of famous male yoga teachers runs from a palace classroom in Mysore to a hot room in Seminyak in under a century. Each stop added one tool, and that is why the class holds together. Next, we show which tool came from whom.
Famous Male Yoga Teachers of the Mysore Branch
Krishnamacharya, the teacher of teachers
Tirumalai Krishnamacharya was born in 1888 and lived to 100. In Mysore, a yoga school opened at the Jaganmohan Palace on 11 August 1933. Several of the most famous male yoga teachers of the next century studied there, including Iyengar and Jois. That is why people call him the father of modern postural yoga.
His lesson for a hot room is simple: a class is for the person in it. A scripted dialogue gives everyone the same words, yet a good teacher still watches each body. That’s the part no recording can do for you.
Iyengar and the detail of alignment
B.K.S. Iyengar was born in 1918 and made his home in Pune. According to Encyclopaedia Britannica’s biography, his book Light on Yoga appeared in 1965, and he founded his institute in Pune in 1975.
His gift was detail, for example in how he described the hip, the foot and the spine. Where does the hip go? How long is the spine? Why does the foot turn? In a 90-minute class with a full room, those small cues keep people safe, and they are the reason you hear the same corrections again and again.
Pattabhi Jois and the fixed sequence
K. Pattabhi Jois was born in 1915 and taught in Mysore, where he set up his institute in 1948. He is known for one fixed sequence, taught the same way every time. That idea matters here, because the 26&2 class does the same thing in a heated room. Among famous male yoga teachers, Jois is the one whose habits you can see most clearly in a hot room.
One honest note belongs with this name. Former students have publicly raised serious complaints about hands-on adjustments in his teaching. A lineage is a record of teaching, not a certificate of character, so we read it with open eyes. It doesn’t tell you who to admire.
Three lessons carry over from the Mysore branch into a Bali class:
- Watch the person. A script is a frame, and the teacher fills it in with attention. That’s what separates a recording from a class.
- Explain the detail. Good cues say where a joint goes and why.
- Repeat the order. A fixed sequence lets you measure progress posture by posture.
The Calcutta Branch: Ghosh, Choudhury and the Hot Room
Mysore is only one branch of the famous male yoga teachers’ family tree. The branch that matters most for a heated class starts in Calcutta, with Bishnu Charan Ghosh.
Ghosh ran a college of physical education and treated yoga as training and therapy. Students worked on strength, mobility and recovery from injury. As a result, the postures were judged by what they did for the body, such as strength and recovery. Our guide to Bikram yoga history in Bali follows that thread in full.
What Choudhury added
Bikram Choudhury said he trained under Ghosh, then began teaching in Los Angeles in the early 1970s. He turned a set of postures into a format that could travel. Three choices did the work:
- A fixed order. The same 26 postures and 2 breathing exercises, every class.
- A scripted dialogue. The teacher speaks the same instructions each time, so any trained teacher can lead a full class.
- A 90-minute container. One length, so a student in Los Angeles and a student in Bali get the same session.
His legacy is contested. Lawsuits and serious allegations from former students and colleagues are on the public record, and we do not skip over them. In 2015 the Ninth Circuit ruled that the sequence is a system and not a copyrightable work. That means any properly trained teacher may teach it, so independent schools can use it. The method has outlived the reputation of the man who named it.
Heat Changed in Bali, the Class Did Not
One thing differs from the rooms these famous male yoga teachers taught in. Our studios run on natural tropical heat, about 40°C with around 40% humidity, instead of electric heaters. The class is the Original Hot 26&2: 26 postures and 2 breathing exercises over 90 minutes, led by a scripted dialogue with no demonstration and no music.
Many students say the natural heat is easier to settle into after a few visits, because it feels like the weather rather than a machine. Because the order never changes, you’ll see your own progress clearly. For example, a hamstring that locked in week one may soften by week four. That is the Jois idea again, set in a Seminyak hot room.
What Research Says About the Class These Men Shaped
None of these famous male yoga teachers saw this research. So it is fair to ask what scientists found when they studied the heated class itself. Every result below is a group average, and individual bodies respond differently.
The mood result
In a 2023 randomised trial in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, Nyer and colleagues compared community-delivered heated hatha yoga with a waitlist over 8 weeks. In the yoga group, 59.3% of participants cut their depression symptoms by half or more. In the waitlist group, 6.3% did. You can read the abstract on the journal’s page.
The trial recruited adults with moderate to severe depression, and it compared yoga with waiting, not with other exercise. So treat it as context, not as a promise, because a study group is not you.
Who the studies actually studied
A 2025 systematic review by Willmott and colleagues in Sports Medicine – Open pooled 43 studies and 942 participants. About 76% of those participants were women. As a result, the evidence on men is thinner than the evidence on women.
The authors link long-term practice to gains in bone mineral density, balance and flexibility. They call the psychological benefits promising but inconclusive. They also say claims that hot yoga beats other exercise are not yet substantiated, and they note case reports of ill-health after hot yoga.
Because heat adds real strain, please consult a healthcare professional before your first class if you have a heart condition, take regular medication, or are pregnant.
From the Lineage to Mr. Ian Terry: Your Senior Teacher in Bali
Of all these famous male yoga teachers, only one is a name you can still practise under in Bali. Mr. Ian Terry holds the E-RYT 500 credential and has taught more than 12,000 hours. He has run YogaFX since 2017, and 1,500+ graduates from 80+ countries have trained with him. He is also a Master Trainer of the Republic of Indonesia Yogasana Sports Federation.
His five years inside the lineage, from 2014 to 2019, sat beside the founder of the method. As a result, he teaches it with the standards intact, and he is open about what the record includes. Our profile of Mr. Ian Terry, Bikram yoga instructor in Bali sets out the numbers behind that claim.
Lineage also shows in the people it produces, so here are the results. Graduates of YogaFX have won 12 medals in total, 5 gold, 3 silver and 4 bronze. Mr. Ian is clear that medals measure a handful of athletes, not the whole school.
What students say about learning from him
Instead of our own praise, three students describe their teacher in their own words. We have kept first names, sources and years.
The primary instructor/owner, Ian, is a phenomenal teacher and a no less exceptional a human being.
Amanda, Yoga Alliance review, 2019
A life changing experience … thank you Mr Ian and your incredible team.
Anika, Google review, 2025
Agung, in a 2020 Google review, said he felt unsure of his ability when he first tried yoga. He credits a teacher who encouraged him and taught well, and he got through every part of the class.
How to Choose Among the Best Male Yoga Teachers for Your Practice
Searches for the best male yoga teachers mix three different things. Some lists count social media followers, some count book sales, and a few count real influence. For a student in Bali, a fourth question matters more: who stands at the front of your room? Use these three tests on any of the famous male yoga teachers you read about, or on a teacher you meet.
- Who did they train with, and for how long? Five years of study means something different from a weekend course.
- Can they show a record you can check? Hours, graduates and countries are numbers anyone can ask about.
- Do they separate the method from the personality? A good teacher honours the lineage and still says what they chose to leave out.
If you prefer to learn from a man, our guide to what a male yoga teacher in Bali does in the hot room shows what to expect.
Teacher candidates who want the longer family-tree version of this story can read this lineage guide on our teacher training site.
Try the Lineage in a Bali Class: Free Guest Pass
You don’t need to study history to practise the method. Instead, you only need a first class. Our Seminyak and Canggu studios are open every day from 6am to 10pm, so it is easy to fit a class around work or a surf session.
First-timers can claim a Free 1-Day Guest Pass for one Original Hot 26&2 class on us. The drop-in classes page has times and details. A few habits make the first visit easier:
- Drink water before class and replace fluids afterwards.
- Bring a towel and wear light clothing.
- Rest whenever you need to, because staying in the room is the goal.
- Tell the teacher about any health concern before class starts.
Mr. Ian and the team teach beginners every day, so nobody is the odd one out. After a few classes, the names of famous male yoga teachers in this guide stop being history and start being part of how you move.
FAQ
Who are the best male yoga teachers today?
There is no official ranking. A good measure is training and record: how long a teacher studied, how many hours they have taught and how many students they have certified. By those checks, Mr. Ian Terry, E-RYT 500, with 12,000+ teaching hours and 1,500+ graduates, is the senior male teacher at our Bali studios.
Which famous yoga teachers come from India?
Many of the best known male yogis of the last century came from India, including Krishnamacharya, Iyengar, Pattabhi Jois and Bishnu Ghosh. Most of the modern postural yoga taught worldwide traces back to Mysore, Pune or Calcutta, which is why this lineage shapes so many classes, including ours in Bali.
Did these famous male yoga teachers teach in heated rooms?
As far as we know, only the Calcutta branch led to the heated class. Ghosh’s school supplied the postures, and Choudhury added the fixed order, the heat and the script in Los Angeles. Our Bali studios keep that class but use natural tropical heat instead of electric heaters.
Can I take a class with a male yoga teacher in Bali?
Yes. Mr. Ian Terry and other teachers lead classes at our Seminyak and Canggu studios, open daily from 6am to 10pm. First-timers can claim a Free 1-Day Guest Pass for one Original Hot 26&2 class. Message the team on WhatsApp to confirm a time and ask who is teaching.
Is this official Bikram Choudhury teacher training?
No. YogaFX is independent training, not official Bikram Choudhury Teacher Training. Mr. Ian Terry trained with the founder of the method from 2014 to 2019 and then built his own programme. Our studios teach the Original Hot 26&2 class, with Yoga Alliance RYT 200 certification alongside the teacher training.
Still have questions? Message Mr. Ian and the YogaFX team on WhatsApp and we will answer them personally. A Free 1-Day Guest Pass is waiting for your first class in Seminyak or Canggu.
Mr. Ian Terry