The Astanga Yoga Association is a community dedicated to sharing and sustaining traditional Astanga Yoga in Copenhagen.

Our work is rooted in the Mysore method as passed down by K. Pattabhi Jois and Sharath Jois from the Sharath Yoga Center SYC (formerly knows as K. Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute) , and guided by values of openness, integrity, diversity, and personal growth.

As a non-profit, member-based organisation, we carry out public educational activities that use yoga practice, study, dialogue, and debate to support and strengthen people’s ability and motivation to take responsibility for their own lives and to participate actively and meaningfully in society.

We see yoga as both a personal path and a way of engaging with the world around us.

What We Do

• We work to support the tradition, the practice, and the people in our community by:
• Offering traditional Astanga Yoga teaching — Mysore-style classes, led classes, workshops, studies, and talks.
• Carrying out public educational activities that support reflection, learning, empowerment, and active citizenship.
• Maintaining a traditional school led by an authorised or certified teacher to ensure continuity and quality.
• Creating an open, inclusive, and safe practice environment with a focus on accessibility, diversity, and shared responsibility.
• Strengthening the living tradition through teacher–student transmission, cultural exchange, and ongoing practice.
• Providing non-commercial, member-focused activities developed with and for the community.
• Sharing knowledge on digital platforms to make information accessible and support members’ ongoing learning.
• Encouraging active membership and participation in the association’s development, daily operations, and democratic processes.

Membership

Everyone who supports the association’s purpose may be admitted as a member. Membership provides the opportunity to contribute to and have influence within the community, as well as access to member benefits such as mat storage (MatSpace) and use of our beautiful and calm facilities outside of class hours in OpenSpace. You can become a member here.

If you are new to Ashtanga Yoga, visit our start guide here to lean more about how to get started with your practice. In case you already have an independent ashtanga practice, you are more than welcome to start directly at the classes. We offer Mysore classes all week days, as well as led and guided classes. We also offer classes in yoga technique, yoga philosophy, pranayama, chanting, and meditation. Once in a while, we host different kinds of workshops and international teachers.

The Astanga Yoga Association offers ashtanga yoga classes based on the tradition of Sharath Yoga Center SYC (formerly knows as K. Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute). Our teaching method allows anyone learn ashtanga yoga one step at a time at a pace that suits teh individual. With help from the teacher, you build an independent and personal yoga practice that you can take with you anywhere.

It is important to us that the different needs and situations of each individual student is taken into account and that the teaching is continuously adapted. This means, among other things, that we have students of all levels, ages and bodies. The teaching style is deeply inclusive, attentive and engaging.

We want to inspire and motivate everyone interested to immerse themselves in ashtanga yoga and to provide the best possible environment needed to experience the strengthening and healing powers of the method. We believe that a steady and regular practice is essential to gain the many benefits of ashtanga yoga. Therefore, one of the most important things for us is that the students show up for practice and do what they can.

The Astanga Yoga Association is located in the Astanga Yoga Studio at Nørrebro in Copenhagen - at the corner of Fensmarksgade and Tagensvej. We are a multicultural community, with nationalities from around the world. Most of our students live and/or work in and around Copenhagen.

The ambience of the studio is calm, open, respectful and kind - a result of the approach we have to the practice and to each other. We motivate each other by showing up and we all look after the studio and make sure it is a comfortable place.

Astanga Yoga Mantra

Ashtanga Yoga Opening Mantra

ॐ
वन्दे गुरूणां चरणारविन्दे सन्दर्शितस्वात्मसुखावबोधे ।
निःश्रेयसे जाङ्गलिकायमाने संसारहालाहलमोहशान्त्यै ॥
आबाहुपुरुषाकारं शङ्खचक्रासिधारिणम् ।
सहस्रशिरसं श्वेतं प्रणमामि पतञ्जलिम् ॥

Oṃ
vande gurūnāṃ caraṇāravinde sandarśita-svātma-sukhāvabodhe |
niḥśreyase jāṅgalikāyamāne saṃsāra-hālāhala-moha-śāntyai |
ābāhu-puruṣākāraṃ śaṅkha-cakrāsi-dhāriṇam |
sahasra-śirasaṃ śvetaṃ praṇamāmi patañjalim ||

I acknowledge the teachers who help reveal the deep happiness already within,
and who guide us toward freedom and clarity
by calming the confusion of the mind that keeps us entangled in habitual patterns.
I honor the spirit of Patañjali — embodying strength, clarity, and expansive awareness —
as a symbol of the integration of wisdom and action.

Listen here to Dr. M.A. Jayashree, one of the most respected Sanskrit scholars from Mysore, chanting the Ashtanga Yoga Opening Mantra.

Ashtanga Yoga Closing Mantra

ॐ स्वस्ति प्रजाभ्यः परिपालयन्तां न्यायेन मार्गेण महीं महीशाः ।
गोब्राह्मणेभ्यः शुभमस्तु नित्यं लोकाः समस्ताः सुखिनो भवन्तु ॥
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ।

Oṃ
svasti prajābhyaḥ paripālayantāṃ nyāyena mārgeṇa mahīṃ mahīśāḥ |
go-brāhmanebhyaḥ śubham astu nityaṃ lokāḥ samastāḥ sukhino bhavantu ||
Oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ |

May those who guide society protect the well-being of all people,
and may they lead with justice and integrity.
May there be harmony and prosperity for all living beings,
and may all beings, everywhere, live in happiness.
Oṃ Peace, Peace, Peace.

Welcome