Gary Kraftsow has been a pioneer in the transmission of yoga for health, healing and personal transformation for over four decades. He began his study of yoga in 1974 in India and became the first American teacher to be certified by T.K.V. Desikachar.

Gary graduated Magna Cum Laude from Colgate University in 1976 and received his Masters Degree in Psychology and Religion from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1983.  Around that time, he opened Maui School of Yoga Therapy.

He went on to receive a Viniyoga Special Diploma from Viniyoga International in Paris, France in 1988. In 1999, he founded the American Viniyoga Institute™, LLC.  Since then, he has become a renowned speaker and teacher of the Viniyoga™ methodology at many conferences and schools nationally and internationally.

Additionally, Gary supports ongoing research projects by collaborating on yoga-related studies, successfully developing protocols for two National Institutes of Health studies: Evaluating Yoga for Chronic Low Back Pain and Yoga Therapy for Generalized Anxiety, as well for the Mind-Body Stress Reduction in the Workplace clinical trial for Aetna Insurance Company. His wide-range of educational and research experience demonstrates just part of the reason Gary is widely considered the leader in the field of Yoga Therapy.

He is the Director and Senior Teacher of the American Viniyoga Institute™ (AVI), the author of two books published by Penguin: Yoga for Wellness and Yoga for Transformation. Today he remains the only American authorized to train teachers in the lineage of T.K.V. Desikachar.

Courses from Gary Kraftsow