Prana NidraHome · Andrei Ram
Who transmits the practiceAndrei Ram
Master of Integral Yoga and direct disciple of Sri Dharma Mittra. He has practiced since 1996, spent more than ten years with his teacher in New York, and has traveled the world for almost two decades teaching yoga as a complete path: the eight limbs, from ethics to meditation, into coherence lived out in daily life.
He came to yoga looking for medicine for the Soul.
In 1996 Andrei was studying anthropology in Bogotá and spending his days with Danza Común, his contemporary dance company. Several times a week they warmed up with yoga.
He was coming out of a decade marked by the violence in Colombia and by griefs he had left half-finished. Movement was, as he tells in the book, "a plank after a shipwreck": the first way he found to attend to what he felt. For five years he practiced postures and breathing with fiery discipline. He didn't yet know that yoga was also about learning not to do.
More than ten years with Sri Dharma Mittra.
In 2002 he arrived at Dharma Mittra's studio on Third Avenue in Manhattan. In one of the first classes, between two postures, Dharma had them lie down and guided their attention with the breath. It lasted a couple of minutes and changed his life.
Andrei left everything behind. He lived for two years as a renunciate in the temple: by day he practiced with Dharma, and by night he slept in the same room, repeating, lying down, the energy and breathing exercises he had learned. Then he stayed nine more years at his side, now teaching as part of his team. Dharma Mittra ordained him to continue transmitting these practices.
Dharma is one of the main disciples of Yogi Gupta, and what Andrei teaches comes from that lineage. In those nights of practice he gathered into one clear sequence what his teacher handed down in separate pieces. That sequence is the one he explains in the book Prana Nidra.
"Every year I lead courses in the United States and in several countries across Europe, Asia, and Latin America. My courses are a window into different cultures and ways of perceiving reality."
Integral Yoga: the eight limbs.
Andrei teaches the whole of yoga, not just its physical side. The postures are one of eight limbs; without the others, the practice breeds incoherence.
That's why his trainings, under the name Breath Based Yoga, cover the complete path. Prana nidra is one of its pieces.
- Yamas and niyamas. The ethical principles, the seed of the habits that sustain and transform everything else.
- Asana. Hatha Yoga: body awareness, sun salutations, vinyasa, and the mother postures.
- Pranayama. Breath as the science of the vital force.
- Pratyahara. Withdrawing the senses and resting: this is where prana nidra lives.
- Concentration, meditation, and absorption. The work with the mind, developed in his Raja Yoga trainings.
Every year, from Latin America to Japan.
Andrei spends a good part of the year traveling. Schools and centers on three continents invite him to lead teacher trainings, immersions, and retreats, and he returns to many of them year after year.
- Colombia and Latin America.
- Europe. Spain, Italy, and Switzerland.
- Japan.
- United States. Where he was born, trained, and began to teach.
- Online. Trainings and intensives for those who can't travel.
Among the schools that host him every year: Happy Yoga, YogaOne Surya, Yogaia, Yoga Norte, Breath Based Yoga Japan, and ATA Yoga.
Each year's dates are on his Instagram, @andreiram1.
What he teaches in his workshops, to practice at home.
After twenty years of personal practice and of sharing prana nidra in workshops around the world, Andrei wrote it down with the writer Jorge Caraballo Cordovez and recorded five guided practices in his own voice.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Andrei Ram?
Andrei Ram is a Master of Integral Yoga and a direct disciple of Sri Dharma Mittra. He has practiced since 1996, spent more than ten years with his teacher in New York, and has traveled the Americas, Europe, and Asia for almost two decades teaching the complete path of yoga, from ethics to meditation, into coherence lived out in daily life.
Where does the prana nidra Andrei teaches come from?
From a lineage. Andrei received it from his teacher, Sri Dharma Mittra, who in turn trained with Yogi Gupta. During his years at the temple in New York, Andrei gathered into one clear sequence what Dharma taught in separate pieces, and that sequence is what he shares today.
What is Integral Yoga?
Yoga understood as a complete path, not just physical exercise. It follows the eight limbs of classical yoga: the ethical principles (yamas and niyamas), the postures (with body awareness as their base), breathing, withdrawal of the senses, concentration, meditation, and absorption. Prana nidra rests mainly on breathing and the withdrawal of the senses.
Who was Andrei Ram's teacher?
Sri Dharma Mittra, whom he met in New York in 2002. He lived for two years as a renunciate in Dharma's temple in Manhattan and stayed nine more years at his side, teaching as part of his team.
Where does Andrei Ram teach?
Every year he leads trainings and retreats in Colombia and across Latin America, in Europe (Spain, Italy, and Switzerland), in Japan, and in the United States, plus online trainings. Among the schools that host him every year are Happy Yoga, YogaOne Surya, Yogaia, Yoga Norte, Breath Based Yoga Japan, and ATA Yoga. Up-to-date dates are on his Instagram, @andreiram1.