The famous male yoga teachers behind the Hot 26&2 method are Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, B.K.S. Iyengar, K. Pattabhi Jois, T.K.V. Desikachar, Bishnu Charan Ghosh, Bikram Choudhury and, today, Mr. Ian Terry. Each one passed a piece of modern yoga to the next, and the 26&2 class sits at the end of one of those chains.
Most lists of famous male yoga teachers read like a hall of fame. This one is a family tree instead, because the real question for a future teacher is not who was popular. It is who taught whom, and what that means for the class you will one day lead.
Mr. Ian Terry, E-RYT 500 and founder of YogaFX, trained for five years, from 2014 to 2019, with the founder of the Bikram Hot 26&2 method. So he reads this lineage as a working teacher, not as a historian. We have checked every date below against published biographies.
The Short List: 7 Famous Male Yoga Teachers in the 26&2 Lineage
Seven men carry most of the weight among famous male yoga teachers in this story. Some shaped yoga in general, and others shaped the specific heated, scripted class we teach. Here they are in the order the lineage reaches them:
- Tirumalai Krishnamacharya (1888 to 1989): often called the father of modern yoga, and the teacher of several of the men below.
- B.K.S. Iyengar (1918 to 2014): turned alignment into a detailed teaching system.
- K. Pattabhi Jois (1915 to 2009): built a flowing, set-sequence practice in Mysore.
- T.K.V. Desikachar (1938 to 2016): Krishnamacharya's son, who adapted yoga to the individual student.
- Bishnu Charan Ghosh (1903 to 1970): a Calcutta physical culturist whose school is the root of the 26&2 postures.
- Bikram Choudhury (born 1944): fixed the sequence, the heat and the script into one class and carried it worldwide.
- Mr. Ian Terry: trained with the founder of the method, then built an independent teacher training around it.
The table puts the same seven famous male yoga teachers side by side, so you can see where each branch begins and why it matters to a 26&2 teacher.
| Teacher | Years | Base | Best known for | Link to the 26&2 class |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tirumalai Krishnamacharya | 1888 to 1989 | Mysore, later Madras | Teaching at the Mysore Palace; a school opened in 1933 | Shaped the modern idea of postural yoga that all later branches grew from |
| B.K.S. Iyengar | 1918 to 2014 | Pune | Alignment-based teaching; the book Light on Yoga (1966) | Set the standard for precise cues that good 26&2 teachers still use |
| K. Pattabhi Jois | 1915 to 2009 | Mysore | A fixed, flowing sequence; an institute opened in 1948 | Proved that a set sequence can be taught the same way to everyone |
| T.K.V. Desikachar | 1938 to 2016 | Madras (Chennai) | Adapting practice to the person; The Heart of Yoga (1995) | A reminder that one sequence still needs individual correction |
| Bishnu Charan Ghosh | 1903 to 1970 | Calcutta | College of Physical Education, founded 1923 | The postures of the 26&2 class come from his school |
| Bikram Choudhury | Born 1944 | Calcutta, then Los Angeles | The 90-minute heated class with a scripted dialogue | Gave the postures their fixed order, heat and script |
| Mr. Ian Terry | Teaching since the 2010s | Bali | 12,000+ teaching hours; 1,500+ graduates | Carries the method forward in an independent teacher training |
Famous Male Yoga Teachers of the Mysore Branch: Where Modern Postural Yoga Began
Almost all of the famous male yoga teachers of the 20th century trace back to one man. Krishnamacharya was born in 1888 in what was then the Mysore Kingdom and lived to 100. According to his published biography, he first taught at the Mysore Palace, and a yoga school opened there on 11 August 1933.
Three of the best-known names in yoga came out of that school. That is why people call him the father of modern yoga, and it explains how a Mysore classroom shaped yoga on every continent.
Iyengar, Jois and Desikachar
B.K.S. Iyengar was one of Krishnamacharya's earliest students. He was sent to Pune in 1937, published Light on Yoga in 1966, and opened an institute there in 1975. His gift was detail: where the hip goes, how long the spine is, why the foot turns. That habit matters in a 26&2 room. A teacher there corrects 40 bodies in 90 minutes.
K. Pattabhi Jois met Krishnamacharya as a boy of 12 in 1927 and later established his own institute in Mysore in 1948. He is known for a fixed sequence taught the same way every time. So he and Choudhury solved the same problem. How do you teach a complete class to a big group without it changing every day?
T.K.V. Desikachar was Krishnamacharya's son. He moved to Madras in the early 1960s and shaped his teaching around the individual student rather than the posture. Because of that, his work is a useful counterweight for anyone who teaches a scripted class.
One honest note belongs here. Published accounts of Jois describe complaints about improper physical adjustments from some of his students. A lineage is a record of teaching, not a guarantee of character, so read it with open eyes.
The Calcutta Branch: Yogananda and Bishnu Ghosh
Among famous male yoga teachers, the second branch is the one that matters for hot yoga. It starts a long way from Mysore, in Calcutta. Paramahansa Yogananda was born in 1893, reached the United States in 1920, and published Autobiography of a Yogi in 1946. He is the most famous Indian yoga teacher of his era in the West, though he taught meditation and philosophy more than posture practice.
His younger brother is the figure that matters here. Bishnu Charan Ghosh was born in 1903 and opened the College of Physical Education in Calcutta in 1923, at the age of 20. He was a physical culturist and hatha yogi, so his questions were practical ones about strength, mobility and recovery.
Ghosh died in 1970. Our guide to the history of Bikram yoga follows the postures from his school into the class that most people know today.
So the two branches are not rivals. They are parallel answers from the same era: one built around breath and individual instruction in Mysore, the other around the body and measurable change in Calcutta.
Bikram Choudhury: What Is Documented
Where he trained and what he added
Choudhury was born in Calcutta in 1944. He later said he trained with Ghosh from early childhood, but biographers place his regular training at Ghosh's gymnasium from about 1962. Ghosh died in 1970, and Choudhury began teaching in Los Angeles in 1971.
What he added is easy to list, and it is the reason the 26&2 class exists as a single format:
- A fixed order: 26 postures and 2 breathing exercises, always in the same sequence.
- A heated room: 90 minutes at about 40 degrees Celsius.
- A scripted dialogue: the same words each class, so any trained teacher can deliver a complete session.
The complicated part
His legacy is also complicated. Civil lawsuits brought by former colleagues and students led to a damages judgment against him, and the public record covers that case in detail. We do not skip it. Our profile of Bikram Choudhury and the man behind the method sets out the biography, the court record and what separates the method from the man.
In 2015 the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Bikram's Yoga College of India v. Evolation Yoga that the sequence is a system, not a copyrightable work. That means any properly trained teacher may teach it. The ruling also shows how a method can outlive the reputation of the person who named it.
The lineage in six numbers
1888
Krishnamacharya is born
The teacher behind the Mysore branch of modern yoga.
1923
Ghosh opens his college
The College of Physical Education opens in Calcutta.
1971
Los Angeles classes begin
Choudhury starts teaching the sequence in the United States.
5 years
Mr. Ian trains in the lineage
From 2014 to 2019, with the founder of the 26&2 method.
2017
YogaFX opens
Mr. Ian begins his own independent teacher training.
12,000+
Teaching hours
Mr. Ian's record across 1,500+ graduates from 80+ countries.
How to Read a List of Famous Male Yoga Teachers
Search results for the best male yoga teachers or famous male yogis tend to mix three different things. Some lists rank social media followers, others rank book sales, and a few rank real influence on how yoga is taught. We sorted this one by the third measure.
Here is a simple test you can apply to any name. First, check whether the man trained a teacher who then trained others. Second, check whether his method is still taught as he left it. Third, read the full record, including the parts that are uncomfortable. A teacher who passes all three has earned a place in a lineage.
That is also why famous male yoga teachers matter to anyone considering a certification. When you enrol, you join a chain of instruction. The better you understand it, the better you can judge the people offering to lead you along it.
What the Research Says About the Method Famous Male Yoga Teachers Passed On
Fame does not prove that a practice works. None of the famous male yoga teachers above had access to this research, so it is fair to ask what researchers found when they studied the class itself.
The mental health result
The strongest recent result is mental, not physical. In a 2023 randomised trial in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry (Nyer et al.), 59% of people in a heated yoga group saw their depression symptoms fall by half or more after 8 weeks, compared with 6.3% of a waitlist group. Harvard Health's summary of the study also notes it did not test whether hot yoga beats other kinds of yoga.
The physical numbers
The physical numbers matter to men who train in a gym or play sport. A 2014 University of Wisconsin study (Porcari et al.) measured calorie burn in a 90-minute Bikram class. It reported about 460 calories for men and 333 for women, at around 80% of maximum heart rate.
A 2013 study by Tracy and Hart reported a gain of roughly 20% in posterior chain strength, together with better flexibility. Meanwhile, a 2025 systematic review (Willmott et al.) pulled together 43 studies and 942 participants, and found consistent links to flexibility, bone density and well-being. We name these studies instead of linking them, because the journal sites block automated checking. You can find each one by its authors and year.
None of this makes hot yoga a treatment. Research suggests it may help, but heat adds real strain, so please consult a healthcare professional first if you have a heart condition, take medication or are pregnant. For a fuller answer to the practical question, our guide to hot yoga for men covers who benefits and what to expect.
Where the Lineage Lands Today: Mr. Ian Terry
Of all the famous male yoga teachers on this list, only one is a name students can still train with. Mr. Ian Terry holds the E-RYT 500 credential, has logged 12,000+ teaching hours, and has trained 1,500+ graduates from 80+ countries. He has run YogaFX since 2017, and in June 2026 he was confirmed as a Master Trainer of the Republic of Indonesia Yogasana Sports Federation.
Five years inside the lineage
His five years inside the lineage, from 2014 to 2019, run straight through the hardest chapter of its history. As a result, he teaches the method with its standards intact. He also chooses what not to carry forward. Our page on Ian Terry's track record sets out the numbers behind that claim.
Lineage becomes real when it produces people. Graduates of YogaFX have won 12 medals in total, 5 gold, 3 silver and 4 bronze, and at the June 2026 championships in Ahmedabad Indonesia took 1 gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze. Mr. Ian is clear that medals measure a handful of athletes, not the whole school.
What graduates say
Two graduates described the training in their own words:
"This is not only Yoga Teacher Training, this is a life coaching, and I want to say thank you to Mr. Ian."
Eliroas, Google review, 2023
"It's lifechanging experience ... this is a time that we can explore our potential as a hot yoga teacher."
Septa, YouTube review, 2024
Why Lineage Matters: Lessons From Famous Male Yoga Teachers
You do not need to admire any of these men to learn from them. But before you pay for a teacher training, ask three plain questions about whoever will train you:
- Who did they train with, and for how long? Five years of study means something different from a weekend course.
- Can they show their teaching record? Hours, graduates and countries are checkable numbers.
- Do they separate the method from the personality? A good teacher can honour the lineage and still tell you what they chose to leave out.
The Bikram Hot 26&2 Yoga Teacher Training MasterClass at YogaFX is a 6-day hybrid: an online pre-course, then an intensive in Bali. It leads to Yoga Alliance RYT 200 plus the Bikram Hot 26&2 200-Hour International Yoga Certification. The next intake runs from Sunday 24 January 2027 to Friday 29 January 2027 at Soham Wellness Center in Seminyak, with an Early Bird fee of US$1,899. See the full 2026 to 2027 dates, cost and formats to compare it with the longer route.
FAQ
Who are the most famous male yoga teachers in history?
The names that come up most are Krishnamacharya, B.K.S. Iyengar, K. Pattabhi Jois, T.K.V. Desikachar, Paramahansa Yogananda, Bishnu Charan Ghosh and Bikram Choudhury. Between them they shaped alignment-based, flowing, individual and heated styles, which is why most modern yoga classes trace back to one of them.
Who was the first teacher of yoga?
No single person can be named. Tradition credits Patanjali with compiling the Yoga Sutras, though scholars date them over several centuries and the practices are older. Modern postural yoga, the kind taught in studios today, traces mostly to Krishnamacharya in 20th-century Mysore.
Which famous yoga teachers are linked to hot yoga?
The postures of the Hot 26&2 class come from Bishnu Charan Ghosh's Calcutta school. Bikram Choudhury, who trained there, fixed them into one heated 90-minute class in Los Angeles from 1971. Mr. Ian Terry then trained with the founder of that method for five years before opening YogaFX.
Are male yoga teachers in demand?
Studios hire on teaching skill and reliability, not gender. Because most registered teachers are women, a well-trained male teacher can stand out, especially for students who want a male instructor. Still, nothing replaces a clear class and solid training, which is what a good certification should give you.
Is this training official Bikram Choudhury Teacher Training?
No. YogaFX runs an independent training, not official Bikram Choudhury Teacher Training. Mr. Ian Terry trained with the founder of the method from 2014 to 2019, then built his own programme, with Yoga Alliance RYT 200 certification alongside the Bikram Hot 26&2 200-Hour International Yoga Certification.
Still have questions about the lineage or the training? Message Mr. Ian and the YogaFX team on WhatsApp and we will answer you personally.
