About:

Ben Kalra (he/him) is a Yoga teacher based in North Carolina. He has taught over 4,000 classes and completed more than 1,000 hours of in-person training with his teachers. He’s certified in Katonah Yoga® and remains in mentorship with Abbie Galvin and teachers at The Studio in New York City.

After his initial 200-hour training, Ben immersed himself in the study of āsana & functional movement, and led many workshops on handstands and arm balances. He later completed a 300-hour advanced training in California with Serge Bandura and Gloria Baraquio, which deepened his practice in the traditions of Yoga including mantra, meditation, prāṇāyāma, and studying the sacred texts. His path has included time with many styles: Awakening Yoga, Adaptive Yoga, Baptiste, Iyengar, Jivamukti, and plenty of Vinyāsa. Today, his teaching rests on two pillars: Katonah Yoga and traditional philosophy rooted in the Yoga Sūtras and Bhagavad Gītā.

Ben’s approach is both serious and lighthearted: he believes the best dharma talks leave room for a bad joke. He views Yoga as a slow-burning liberation practice that dismantles the obstacles of the mind to reveal the true Self. His favorite Yoga Sūtra is 1.12: “The state of Yoga is attained through practice and non-attachment.” We practice because it’s our nature, and we release the results. It’s less about how it looks and more about the devotion we bring to it.

In teaching, Ben explores the architecture of the body: backbends expand the lungs, forward bends nourish the kidneys, twists refresh the abdominal organs, props provide scaffolding, and adjustments open new perspectives. He uses an array of blocks, straps, sandbags, blankets, and chairs to help students meet the practice with depth and creativity.

Above all, Ben teaches Yoga for the love of it. He knows the path can be demanding, and life can get in the way. But as the Gītā says in chapter 2, “On this path no effort is ever wasted… even a little progress protects you from the greatest fear.”

When the mat is rolled up, Ben enjoys photography, baking, walking, and writing poetry. He travels widely to teach, study, and connect with Yogis across the world. 

If you’d like to host him for a training or immersion, or simply connect, you can reach him here.