Guru
A Lineage of Direct Teaching
Before Swastha Yoga was a studio, it was a student and a teacher — a relationship that still shapes how every session is taught today.
Teaching Lineage
Meet Dr. Sumitra M Patil
Dr. Sumitra M Patil founded Swastha Yoga and, for years, led it in person — the guru whose guidance shaped Gandharva’s own practice, introducing him not just to postures, but to yoga as a complete discipline of body, breath, and attention, passed down through direct, personal instruction rather than a fixed curriculum.
In the guru–shishya tradition, teaching isn’t transferred through a manual — it’s built over years of closeness between teacher and student, refined through correction, patience, and trust. It’s a lineage carried forward in presence, not paperwork.
Dr. Sumitra has since stepped back from day-to-day teaching, and Gandharva — once her student — now leads Swastha Yoga. But that same relationship still shapes how the studio teaches today: every student met individually, every correction given by hand and by eye, not by template. The lineage continues in the room, one session at a time.
“A teacher doesn’t hand you the practice — they walk beside you until it becomes your own.”
Recognition
Honored for a Lifetime of Practice
At the 15th South Indian Yogasana Championship, hosted by the Yoga Academy of Karnataka in December 2017, that same discipline was recognized on stage — a small marker of a much longer practice.
Credentials
Dr. Sumitra M Patil
Founder of Swastha Yoga and the guru who shaped this practice — a PhD in Yoga, an MBA in Global Healthcare Management, and a career of recognition for teaching and women’s empowerment through yoga.
PhD in Yoga, Vels Institute of Science, Technology & Advanced Studies, Chennai.
Receiving her doctorate on stage at convocation.
MBA in Global Healthcare Management, Greater Manchester Business School.
Honored with the Yoga Lakshmi Puraskara for contributions to women’s empowerment through yoga.
Still on the mat, at the studio she founded.
Rooted in Tradition, Taught With Care
That same lineage — patient, personal, hands-on — is what every student meets at Swastha Yoga today.