HIMANSHU JOSHI
FOUNDER, HIMALAYAN YOGA ASSOCIATION & BALI YOGA SCHOOL
Himanshu Joshi is the founder of Himalayan Yoga Association and the driving force behind a growing community dedicated to yoga, conscious living, education, wellness, and service.
Born and raised in India, Himanshu’s journey has been shaped by courage, discipline, honesty, and a strong sense of responsibility toward others. Long before yoga became central to his life, he was deeply involved in sports and physical training. As a young athlete, he participated in multiple sporting disciplines and represented at state and national levels.
His physical strength, mental focus, and determination eventually brought him opportunities connected with the Indian Army during his college years. At that stage of his life, discipline, endurance, and physical achievement played an important role in shaping his character.
But an unexpected health challenge changed the direction of his life completely.
During a period of intensive physical and military-style training, Himanshu suffered an internal injury. Despite seeking medical support, he struggled to find a lasting solution. What initially appeared to be a difficult physical setback eventually became the beginning of a much deeper inner journey.
With limited options remaining, he turned toward meditation.
For more than a year, Himanshu committed himself seriously to meditation, self-observation, discipline, and inner exploration. Over time, the practice changed not only the way he experienced his body, but also the way he understood his mind, his priorities, and life itself.
This period became one of the most important turning points of his journey.
Yoga and meditation were no longer simply practices. They became a way of understanding life.
🌿 A LIFE GUIDED BY TRUTH AND RESPONSIBILITY
From an early age, honesty and a strong sense of justice have remained central to Himanshu’s character. Whether in sport, leadership, relationships, business, or spiritual practice, he has always believed that truth must be reflected through actions rather than words alone.
This philosophy continues to influence the organizations and communities he has helped build.
For Himanshu, yoga is not separated from everyday life. The way a person communicates, works, treats others, takes responsibility, cares for their body, respects nature, supports animals, and responds to difficult situations can all become part of a yogic life.
His approach is therefore grounded in practical living rather than appearance or identity.
Yoga, in his understanding, is not about becoming someone different. It is about developing enough awareness to understand ourselves more clearly and live with greater responsibility.
🌿 FROM PERSONAL TRANSFORMATION TO SERVICE
Himanshu’s personal experience with meditation gradually developed into a desire to share the knowledge and environment that had helped transform his own life.
Over the years, this vision grew into Himalayan Yoga Association in Rishikesh, India, followed by the development of Bali Yoga School in Indonesia and other initiatives connected with yoga, wellness, education, and conscious living.
What began as a personal journey gradually became a much larger responsibility.
Students from different countries and backgrounds began joining the schools to study yoga, meditation, philosophy, pranayama, anatomy, teaching methodology, and other traditional and modern wellness practices.
As the organizations grew, so did Himanshu’s understanding of what service could mean.
Teaching yoga was important, but he began to see that creating employment, supporting teachers, developing responsible teams, caring for animals, improving environments, and giving people opportunities to grow were equally meaningful forms of yoga.
This understanding became deeply connected with his belief in Karma Yoga — the path of selfless action and service.
🌿 SPREADING THE KNOWLEDGE OF YOGA ACROSS THE GLOBE
Himanshu believes that authentic yoga should help people become healthier, more aware, and more responsible in the way they live.
His vision has never been limited to teaching physical postures.
The deeper purpose is to help students understand and respect the three dimensions through which they experience life — the body, the mind, and the inner self.
When we begin taking care of these consciously, life can gradually become healthier, more peaceful, and more meaningful.
Through consistent yoga practice, a person can develop physical strength and balance, greater mental clarity, emotional stability, self-awareness, and a deeper understanding of what truly matters.
For Himanshu, one of the greatest values of yoga is that it gives people the opportunity to understand themselves before life passes by unconsciously.
The purpose is not simply to become flexible or learn advanced postures.
The purpose is to become more aware of how we are living.
🌿 AN UNCONVENTIONAL APPROACH TO BEING A YOGA TEACHER
Himanshu has never been particularly interested in fitting the traditional public image of a “yoga guru.”
His approach has always been more grounded.
He enjoys travelling, running, maintaining an active lifestyle, meeting people from different cultures, building organizations, solving everyday problems, and working closely with the people around him.
For him, spirituality does not require disconnecting from ordinary life.
Instead, yoga should help a person participate in life with greater consciousness.
Strength and softness, discipline and freedom, work and meditation, ambition and service do not necessarily have to exist in opposition. When approached with awareness, they can support one another.
This philosophy has strongly influenced the culture he seeks to create within Himalayan Yoga Association and Bali Yoga School.
🌿 BUILDING PEOPLE, NOT ONLY ORGANIZATIONS
As Himalayan Yoga Association and Bali Yoga School have grown, Himanshu’s role has gradually evolved.
Today, he personally teaches less than he did in the earlier years. His focus has expanded toward building sustainable organizations, creating employment, educating teams, mentoring people, developing systems, and providing teachers and staff with an environment where they can work with dignity, learn, grow, and build a better future.
The teachers now carry much of the responsibility for sharing yoga directly with students, while Himanshu increasingly focuses on creating the environment that allows both teachers and students to thrive.
For him, organizational growth is meaningful only when the people within the organization are also growing.
A successful yoga school should therefore not only serve its students. It should also provide opportunities for its teachers, staff, management teams, local communities, and everyone contributing to its journey.
🌿 A JOURNEY BUILT TOGETHER
Himanshu considers the growth of Himalayan Yoga Association and Bali Yoga School to be a collective journey rather than an individual achievement.
Many people have contributed their time, trust, skills, and energy over the years.
He shares a particularly close bond with Shailesh, whom he considers both a friend and a younger brother. From the early stages of the journey, Shailesh has worked alongside him across IT, technology, websites, digital development, and many of the systems supporting the organizations today.
Through different stages of growth, challenges, and change, their relationship has remained grounded in mutual trust, respect, and commitment.
Himanshu is equally grateful to his wife, who has consistently supported his vision and understood the responsibilities that come with developing an organization. Today, she also contributes to education and service development, helping strengthen the team and improve the ways in which people are supported through yoga and wellness.
His sister, Deepika, and his father have also played an important role in the journey. Their support, hard work, and involvement have helped create an environment where students from around the world can come to learn yoga while feeling welcomed and genuinely cared for.
Himanshu also acknowledges the teachers, management teams, ground teams, and staff members of Himalayan Yoga Association and Bali Yoga School who continue to place their trust in the shared vision.
Every teacher who shares knowledge, every team member who serves students, and every person who helps maintain the environment contributes to the larger purpose of the organization.
🌿 YOGA BEYOND THE MAT
For Himanshu, the purpose of yoga reaches far beyond a classroom.
Yoga can be reflected in how we treat another person.
It can be reflected in how responsibly we perform our work.
It can be reflected in how we care for animals, plants, and the environment.
It can be reflected in how we support someone who needs an opportunity.
And it can be reflected in the honesty with which we look at ourselves.
This is why service remains an important part of his personal philosophy.
He believes that creating employment, educating people, supporting animal welfare, caring for nature, building responsible teams, and helping others develop themselves are all meaningful expressions of a yogic life.
The objective is not simply to speak about consciousness but to apply it practically.
🌿 THE VISION AHEAD
Himanshu’s vision for the future is to continue developing spaces where people can learn, work, grow, and serve with dignity.
Through Himalayan Yoga Association, Bali Yoga School, and the wider community surrounding these organizations, he hopes to create environments where traditional yogic knowledge can remain meaningful in modern life.
The goal is not to convince everyone to live in the same way.
It is to provide people with knowledge and experiences that may help them understand themselves more deeply and make more conscious choices about how they want to live.
He believes yoga has the potential to support every stage of a person's journey — physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
When practiced sincerely, yoga can help us develop a healthier relationship with our body, bring greater clarity to the mind, understand our inner nature, and recognize what is genuinely important.
Ultimately, Himanshu's purpose is simple:
TO HELP PEOPLE USE YOGA NOT ONLY AS A PRACTICE ON THE MAT, BUT AS A WAY TO UNDERSTAND LIFE, RESPECT THEMSELVES, LIVE CONSCIOUSLY, AND MAKE THEIR JOURNEY HEALTHIER AND MORE MEANINGFUL.
For Himanshu Joshi, yoga has never been only a profession.
It is a way of living — rooted in truth, responsibility, service, awareness, and the continuous effort to create positive opportunities for others.
