Book a class at either of our two Bali studios and you will not be handed off to whoever happens to be free that hour. Every instructor teaching Bikram Hot 26&2 at YogaFX Bali, in Seminyak and in Canggu, trained directly under founder Mr. Ian Terry, E-RYT 500, and delivers the same scripted 26-posture, 2-breathing-exercise dialogue he has taught for more than a decade. One of our regular teachers came home from India this year with a world championship medal. This is who is actually leading your class.
Who Actually Teaches at YogaFX Bikram YogaFX Bali
Hot yoga studios vary enormously in who stands at the front of the room. Some rotate through freelance teachers with a weekend certificate. Others lean on video-led classes with no live instructor at all. At YogaFX Bali, every instructor on the schedule holds a dual credential: Yoga Alliance RYT 200 plus the Bikram Hot 26&2 certification earned through our own teacher training programme, taught in person by Mr. Ian Terry.
That matters more than it might sound. The Bikram method is delivered as scripted verbal dialogue, the same words, the same order, class after class, with no music and no physical demonstration from the instructor. Getting that right takes real training, not a weekend workshop. Every teacher on our roster learned the dialogue word for word under Mr. Ian’s direct supervision before ever leading a class solo.
You will find our instructors teaching the regular weekly timetable at both studios, not reserved for a special retreat package or a one-off workshop. Whether you drop in for a single class in Seminyak or become a regular at Canggu, the person cueing your Standing Bow has been through the same lineage-based training as everyone else on the team.
Mr. Ian Terry, Founder and Lead Instructor
Mr. Ian Terry founded YogaFX in 2017 and remains the studio’s lead instructor and the person every other teacher on this list trained under. He holds an E-RYT 500 credential, attended five direct training events under Bikram Choudhury between 2012 and 2019, and has logged more than 12,000 teaching hours across a career that has taken him to studios in the UK, USA, Thailand, India, China, and beyond.
Closer to home, he was confirmed in June 2026 as Master Trainer of the Republic of Indonesia Yogasana Sports Federation, a role that puts him at the centre of coaching Indonesia’s national yogasana team, including two of his own graduates who went on to win international medals. More than 1,500 students from over 80 countries have trained under him, and he still teaches regular classes at both the Seminyak and Canggu studios rather than stepping back to a purely administrative role.
Students who have taken his classes consistently describe something beyond technical instruction. He treats the 90 minutes as more than a posture sequence, weaving in the kind of steady, direct coaching that pushes people past a mental block as much as a physical one. If you want the founder’s own class on your Bali schedule, our current timetable is available through the studio’s contact page.
Ms. Ivara Candra Kartika, Seminyak Studio
Ms. Ivara Candra Kartika teaches regular classes at our Seminyak studio, and this year her name showed up somewhere most yoga instructor bios do not: a world championship podium. In June 2026 she won Gold and Bronze for Indonesia at the first-ever World Yogasana Sport Championship in Ahmedabad, India, adding to a Silver medal from the 2025 Asian Yogasana Championships in the UAE and a Gold from FORNAS VIII in July 2025.
A 2023 graduate of our teacher training programme, she is not a guest instructor flown in for a special appearance. She is on the regular weekly timetable, teaching the same 26&2 sequence to first-time visitors and long-time regulars alike. Students who book a class with her get the same alignment cues and the same patience with a nervous first-timer’s Eagle Pose as any other class on the schedule, just from someone who has also represented her country on a world stage.
You can read the full story of her Ahmedabad result, and that of fellow YogaFX graduate Mr. Arkan Fauzan Riyanto, in our write-up on the championship. If you want to take a class with her directly, she teaches on the Seminyak schedule and a free one-day guest pass is available for first-time visitors.
The Rest of the Teaching Team
Beyond Mr. Ian and Ms. Ivara, the wider YogaFX Bali teaching team is built entirely from graduates of our own six-day intensive teacher training, capped at 19 students per intake so Mr. Ian can work with each candidate individually on dialogue delivery before certification. Every graduate leaves with the dual RYT 200 and Bikram Hot 26&2 credential, and every one of them has stood in the same 40°C room they will later teach in, learning the script from the same source.
That shared training pipeline is what keeps the experience consistent whether you show up on a Tuesday morning in Canggu or a Friday evening in Seminyak. Instructors rotate across the weekly timetable, but the dialogue, the pacing, and the standard of cueing do not change from one teacher to the next, because they were all built the same way. If you are curious what separates a genuinely credentialed instructor from someone with a weekend certificate, our guide on verifying yoga teacher credentials in Bali walks through what to actually check.
A few of our graduates have gone on to teach professionally elsewhere after training with us, and some come back to guest teach or assist with workshops. If you are weighing whether teaching hot yoga could become more than a hobby yourself, our breakdown of what the instructor career path and income actually look like is a useful next read.
Why the Instructor Behind the Dialogue Actually Matters
It is tempting to think of a scripted class as instructor-proof, since the words are fixed in advance. In practice the opposite is true. A 2025 systematic review covering 43 studies and 942 participants found that structured Bikram-style practice is associated with measurable gains in flexibility, bone density, and general well-being (Willmott et al., 2025), and those outcomes depend on students being cued correctly and consistently, class after class, not on the script existing in isolation.
Instructor-led correction matters for strength gains too. A study measuring posterior chain strength after a defined block of Bikram-style classes recorded roughly a 20 percent increase alongside improvements in flexibility and body composition (Tracy and Hart, 2013), a result that assumes students are actually holding postures correctly under a trained eye rather than approximating the shape from memory. Get the cueing wrong, and a beginner can spend months reinforcing a posture that never quite works.
There is a psychological side to this too. Research out of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard found participants in an eight-week Bikram-style programme reported a 60 percent reduction in depression symptoms, with 44 percent reaching full remission (Nyer et al., 2023). A supportive, steady instructor voice through 90 minutes of physical and mental challenge is part of what makes that kind of outcome possible for a first-time or anxious student. This research describes general findings and is not a substitute for individual medical advice. If you have a pre-existing health condition, talk to a doctor before starting a hot yoga practice.
What a Class With Our Instructors Actually Looks Like
Walk into either studio and the room will already be warm, 40°C with 40 percent humidity, using Bali’s natural tropical heat rather than electric heaters. Your instructor opens the class with Pranayama Deep Breathing, then leads the full 26-posture, 2-breathing-exercise sequence in the same fixed order every time, calling the dialogue from memory without a script in hand and without demonstrating the postures themselves.
For a first-timer, that no-demonstration approach can feel unusual at first, since you are learning by ear rather than by copying a teacher on a mat at the front. In practice, our instructors are trained to watch the room closely and adjust their verbal cues to whoever is struggling, whether that means slowing down for a beginner in Half Moon Pose or pushing a regular student a little further in Standing Bow. If you want a fuller walkthrough of what your first class will feel like, our beginner’s guide to Bikram yoga covers it in detail.
Instructors also handle the practical side of a hot room well. If you need to step out and sit against the back wall for a minute, that is a normal part of heat acclimatisation and every teacher on our team is trained to support that without singling you out or breaking the flow of the class for everyone else.
One Team, Two Studios: Seminyak and Canggu
Because every instructor comes through the same training pipeline under Mr. Ian, you are not choosing between a “good studio” and a “backup studio” when picking between Seminyak and Canggu. Both locations run on the same weekly timetable structure, the same 90-minute class length, and the same instructor standard, open daily from 06:00 to 22:00.
| What You’re Choosing | Seminyak Studio | Canggu Studio |
|---|---|---|
| Instructor training standard | Same YogaFX dual-certified pipeline | Same YogaFX dual-certified pipeline |
| Notable regular instructor | Ms. Ivara Candra Kartika, world medalist | Rotating team of dual-certified graduates |
| Class length and heat | 90 minutes, 40°C natural heat | 90 minutes, 40°C natural heat |
| Founder-taught classes | On select schedule slots | On select schedule slots |
The practical difference usually comes down to which side of Bali you are staying on and which class times fit your day, not a gap in instructor quality between the two. Many of our regulars split their week between both locations depending on where they happen to be.
Take a Class With the Team
If you are planning a trip to Bali, or already here and deciding where to practice, the fastest way to meet the team is to take a class. First-time visitors can claim a free one-day guest pass at either studio, and our current weekly schedule for both Seminyak and Canggu is available through the contact page or by messaging us directly on WhatsApp. Tell us if you would like to land in a class taught by Mr. Ian, Ms. Ivara, or whoever happens to be leading the next available session, and we will help you find a time that fits.
FAQ
Who teaches classes at YogaFX Bikram YogaFX Bali?
Every class is taught by an instructor who trained directly under founder Mr. Ian Terry, E-RYT 500, holding a dual Yoga Alliance RYT 200 and Bikram Hot 26&2 certification. The team includes Mr. Ian himself and Ms. Ivara Candra Kartika, a 2023 graduate and current world yogasana medalist teaching regularly at the Seminyak studio.
What certification do YogaFX hot yoga instructors hold?
All instructors hold a dual credential: Yoga Alliance RYT 200 plus the Bikram Hot 26&2 certification earned through YogaFX’s own six-day intensive teacher training, capped at 19 students and taught in person by Mr. Ian Terry. Every graduate learns the full dialogue directly from him before teaching solo.
Can I request a specific instructor for my class?
Yes. Message the studio via WhatsApp or the contact page and let us know if you would like to land in a class taught by Mr. Ian Terry, Ms. Ivara Candra Kartika, or another specific instructor. We will match you to a suitable slot on the Seminyak or Canggu weekly timetable.
Is the founder still teaching regular classes?
Yes. Mr. Ian Terry still teaches select classes across both the Seminyak and Canggu studios rather than working purely in an administrative capacity. He also personally trains every instructor who joins the YogaFX Bali teaching team through the studio’s teacher training programme.
What makes a Bikram yoga instructor different from a general hot yoga teacher?
A Bikram-trained instructor delivers a fixed 26-posture, 2-breathing-exercise sequence from memorised scripted dialogue, without music or physical demonstration. This requires specific lineage-based training, unlike general hot yoga formats that vary sequences and often allow instructors to demonstrate poses freely.
