Early Life
Acharya Bharat Shetty was born on 19th March 1979, in Udupi, a town in South Karnataka, India. Practicing yoga at an early age, he was further drawn to the practice after yoga helped him manage chronic asthma he suffered from. His first teacher was Yogacharya Kumara at the Shantivana Trust, close to his hometown. As a kid Bharath Shetty was always a keen observer and an avid learner. Most of his learnings and practice in the early period was very natural and self-taught without formal training. He was a loving son and insightful student of mother nature.
When a bus accident in 1999 incapacitated his legs, he steadfastly worked on his recovery and was able to walk again soon after. He credits this revival to the inner strength he acquired through his yoga practice.
In 2002, he personally studied and trained with world-renowned Yoga Guru, Padma Vibhushan B.K.S. Iyengar, in Pune, India. This was an invaluable experience that helped further deepen his knowledge and insight into yoga.
Bharat Shetty, a Yogacharya with 31 years of Yoga experience started his first training under the supervision of Yogacharya Kumara in Shantivana Trust, a Yoga & Naturopathy Center.
To spread the benefits of Yoga to the world, he decided to become a professional Yoga teacher and in this pursuit he underwent training with Padma Bhushan B K S Iyengar himself. It gave him deep insight into the Iyengar Brand of Yoga.
Bharath Shetty is certified by Indian Yoga Institute, Vivekananda Kendra, Bangalore (A – Grade) and International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center, Trivandrum (Grade – Excellent) and is awarded with Yoga Siromani and Yogacharya titles. He is the winner of Himalaya Yoga Olympiad (Indian National Yoga Championship) held at Haridwar in 1998 and in 2001 when it was held at Bangalore.
He began his teaching career when he started his first Yoga Studio ‘Creative Yoga Center’ at Bangalore in 1998. Later in 2004, he relocated to Mysore and re-christened his Yoga School as 'Bharatha Yoga Shala’ and continued the regular Yoga teachers' training. Bharatha Yoga Shala is certified by Yoga Alliance USA and students from all over the world seek training from the Yogacharya each year. There are 2100+ successfully trained Yoga teachers and are a part of Bharatha Yoga family.