To be in balance within is to live in harmony with life itself — with creation, nature, the universe, and the deeper intelligence that holds it all together.
This inner alignment is Yog.
When we lose this balance, life can begin to feel unclear. We may feel directionless, doubtful, emotionally reactive, or disconnected from ourselves.
In search of comfort, we often reach outward — toward work, money, relationships, substances, pleasure, distraction, or control. These may give us temporary relief, or new ways to express ourselves, but they are not always tools of real transformation.
So the question becomes:
What are we truly looking for?
At some point, we return to the beginning.
To the breath.
To the body.
To awareness.
To practice.
And now, Yoga.
अथ योगानुशासनम्
Atha Yogānušāsanam.
AND NOW YOGA echoes the opening words of Patañjali's Yoga Sūtras.
अथ (atha) — now; an auspicious beginning; a call to attention.
योग (yog) — union, integration.
अनुशासनम् (anuśāsanam) — discipline, systematic practise.
Together they are often translated as:
"Now begins the discipline of Yoga."
The word ¨atha¨ means far more than simply "now" in the chronological sense.
It suggests:
Now that the student is ready.
Now that the seeker has cultivated sufficient maturity.
Now that attention is fully present.
Now begins direct experience, rather than merely talking about it.
This is the spirit that gives AND NOW YOGA its name.
Every practice begins in this moment.
Every breath begins now.
Every opportunity to return to balance begins now.
Arun Kolagada
Yoga Sādhaka · Practitioner · Teacher
I come from Mysore, India — the city where modern yoga took root — and I now live and teach in Tulum, Mexico. The practice has been my constant companion.
Yoga found me early, at the age of eight. It became a dedicated practice in 2014, and I began teaching in 2016. Since then I have had the privilege of sharing it with more than 25,000 people across the world — in studios, on screens, in open air.
My path here was not a straight line. I studied Computer Engineering. I trained in Capoeira. I arrived at yoga through curiosity, restlessness, and eventually — stillness. My teachers shaped everything.
Guruji Vijay Kumar in Mysore gave me the classical foundations of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga.
Maestro Rafael Chaman in Tulum deepened my understanding of the energetic dimensions of practice.
And with Yogi John Scott — one of the most respected senior practitioners of Ashtanga Vinyasa in the world — I went deeper into a tradition that I continue to study with humility.
In 2020, at the height of the Covid pandemic, I collaborated with Nomade Tulum on a one-hour Ashtanga Vinyasa class on YouTube. At a time when studios were closed and routines had collapsed, the class reached more than half a million people — many of whom found in it a way to maintain a consistent practice through an uncertain time.
I have also been a featured instructor on Boho Beautiful — one of the most-watched yoga channels in the world. Six classes, still live on their platform, each with more than 150 comments from practitioners around the world. It has been one of the most humbling experiences of my teaching life — to offer something and watch it travel so far.
And Now Yoga grows from all of this — a school rooted in traditional methods, open to anyone ready to begin, or deepen their understanding of Yoga.
