Mitch Blum

My path to becoming a world-famous Yoga teacher was a curious one. As a small child in Kailash, my parents, Atri and Anusuya, would often get frustrated when I would wander off by myself to go play with my pet snake Addy. They would accuse me of being a daydreamer, although I tried to tell them that I wasn’t actually dreaming about anything at all.

In truth, I was an indifferent student. Sure, I rocked in Samkhya and grammar, but I was completely bored by math and geography. After graduation I was thinking about traveling cross-country for a while with my friends. But on the day that we were supposed to leave we ran into this weird guy Nandhi during breakfast at the diner. I sort of knew Nandhi from around town – he was older than us and seemed weird but harmless. My sister’s boyfriend Vasistha told us that Nandhi was actually pretty cool so we asked him if he wanted to go on the road trip with us. Nandhi was like: “dude, the only journey you need to take is within.” That totally blew my mind! Plus, we were kind of low on cash and the rainy season was coming, so we decided to stay in Kailash and hang out with Nandhi.

Nandhi turned about to be a very cool and smart guy and he taught us tons about life. He called his teachings Kriya Yoga. From that point on, I knew that learning and spreading Kriya Yoga was what I wanted to do for a living. (Pops didn’t agree, but that’s a story for another time!)

Then the weirdest thing happened. I was out the forest meditating one day and I had this crazy vision from this old dude called Sakyamuni. He started going on and on about noble truths and noble paths and all this cool, crazy stuff. I couldn’t believe what I was receiving! It was similar to Nandhi’s Kriya Yoga but different. I ran back to town to tell Nandhi what happened and he was being his usual jerky self (he calls it “concentration”) and told me to write it all down. So I did. I wrote down the best bits from Sakyamuni and I threw in some of Nandhi’s gems as well.

Well, the next thing you know my little book, The Yoga-Sutras, is the biggest seller of the year. Everybody’s reading it! I sell the theater rights, use the proceeds to buy a sweet ashram and hang out a shingle of my own: Patanjali Maharishi, Master Yoga Teacher.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Patanjali Maharishi is a world-renowned practitioner of his own brand of Yoga, which he calls Ashtanga Yoga. Ashtanga Yoga is a synthesis of the Kriya Yoga teachings of his Guru (Nandhi Deva) and the received teachings of Sakyamuni Buddha.

Patanjali teaches two meditation classes daily at sunrise and sunset at his ashram in Southern Kailash. Drop-ins are welcome. He also teaches Samkhya on Tuesday and Thursdays at noon. Privates are available. Please note that the ashram is closed on Saturdays and Moon Days.