Govinda Kai

Govinda Kai is of Japanese-American descent, born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area in California. From a very young age, Govinda took a passionate interest in meditation, yoga and spiritual philosophy. Govinda’s father, Edward Yamaguchi, was a highly respected practitioner and teacher of martial arts (he held a high ranking in both Judo and Aikido) and like Govinda, nurtured a strong attraction to spirituality and philosophy from a very young age. Govinda began the practice of martial arts while in high school and began yoga, meditation and devotional chanting at age 18, studying with respected teachers such as Swami Muktananda and Sogyal Rimpoche. After university, Govinda considered becoming a Buddhist monk, but was advised by his teacher, Sogyal Rimpoche to enter into a more worldly career. Thus, Govinda became a practicing professional in the area of real estate, all the while still devoting much of his time to spiritual practice. At the age of 30, Govinda discovered the practice of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga and immediately fell in love with the practice. In 1995, Govinda made his first trip to Mysore, India to practice with Sri K. Pattabhi Jois. From 1995 to 2015, Govinda made over 20 trips to Mysore to practice Ashtanga with each trip lasting an average of 3-4 months. Govinda is one of a small number of teachers directly certified by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois to teach the ashtanga yoga method. In the past 30 years Govinda has traveled the world to teach workshops, hold retreats and run mid-term yoga programs in Europe, Asia and the US.