ABOUT YOGA MANDIR GOA
Yoga Mandir Goa is a boutique yoga school in Palolem, South Goa. The shala sits on a quiet rooftop, level with the palms and away from the busy beach areas. Classes happen alongside birdsong, the occasional langur, and sometimes a lizard making its way across the floor.
It is a quiet place. That is intentional.
Questions? We are easy to reach:
the teacher
All classes and courses at Yoga Mandir Goa are led by Akshey.
He began his personal practice in Uttarkashi, in the Himalayan region near the source of the Ganges. He later studied formally at the Bihar School of Yoga and continued scriptural study with the monastic faculty of the Sivananda Ashram in Rishikesh. From there, he came across the Iyengar method. It was the one that stayed.
Akshey’s approach is strongly influenced by this tradition. He is not a certified Iyengar teacher. He follows it because of the way asana becomes a place to practice philosophy, not just study it.
Akshey pays close attention to how you are working —— where your weight shifts, where effort leaks, where attention wanders —— and draws your attention to it. Over time, you begin to see these things for yourself. Making the pose is part of the work. So is noticing what happens as you practise.
Students sometimes call the experience “joy and suffering”. They are not wrong.
The work is demanding. The atmosphere is light. There is laughter in the middle of effort.
Akshey does not think of teaching as something separate from his own practice. He practices. He studies. He refines. What he shares comes from that ongoing process, one that has now spanned over 16 years.
He takes the practice seriously. He does not take himself too seriously.
He welcomes those who are willing to do the same.
HOW WE PRACTICE
The yoga practiced at Yoga Mandir Goa is traditional Hatha yoga. The practice is detailed and unhurried.
Poses are held long enough to observe, refine, and understand. Props are used intelligently to support the body, not to bypass effort. Instruction is specific: where to direct muscular effort, how the skin moves, how the bones are positioned. Even within a group class, each practitioner is seen and worked with as an individual.
The method is simple: practice, observe, adjust, repeat.
An instruction is not simply something to follow. It is something to test in the pose. What happens when you work this way? What do you feel? What is habitual? What changes when you work differently?
By observing the relationship between action and effect, you begin to understand the pose through direct experience. In doing so, you also begin to recognize the habits of your own body and mind.
WHAT PRACTITIONERS SAY
Some come for a week. Some for a month. Some come back every year. Here is what they share:
"You don't simply practice yoga with Akshey. You learn to understand yoga."
"Practicing yoga in many different places around the world — Yoga Mandir is by far the most authentic."
"Classes are not rushed or showy. They are honest, disciplined, and deeply nourishing."
"You really feel that he teaches from experience, not from a script."
FROM THE SHALA
