A Master Teacher of teachers Nataraj Chaitanya has a deep understanding of yogic philosophies and methods. An initiate in the Tantric tradition, he has directed yoga and meditation teacher training programs throughout the world for over 15 years. A skilled Kirtanist, he is an enthusiastic and devotional teacher who creates dynamic environments and experiences in which people from all walks of life can directly contact the fullness of their own Being.
Before Nataraj, I did yoga poses: I exercised, I was flexible, and I worked up a sweat. Nataraj taught me yoga. I had the good fortune to sign up for teacher training classes that Nataraj happened to lead. I had started teacher training with the intention of only focusing on the physical, but the universe had other plans for me.
During teacher training, he introduced me to and taught me meditation and the ideas of detachment, equanimity, and surrender. Chanting with a harmonium was like coming home, only I never knew I was lost. My life needed these teachings desperately, especially at the time they came to me.
Nataraj is an instrument of yoga; without him, I would not have found the spirituality and the peace I unknowingly sought and craved. His realness, vulnerability, knowledge, and wisdom are disarming and encourage me to peel away all the maya to (try to) get to what’s real. As an added bonus, he’s taught the most challenging physical classes I’ve ever taken.
— A, Costa Rica
Here’s what students are saying…
I’d had many yoga teachers who helped me develop my deep love for the practice, but it wasn’t until studying with Nataraj that I grew to know and feel the depth of what the yoga practice had to offer. I grew exponentially as a person and as a yoga teacher through our time together. He is a master teacher who is beyond his years and changed my life. I’ve always felt I had a life before yoga and after yoga. I also feel I have a life before I met Nataraj and he introduced me to the richness of yogic philosophy, and I now have a life after. I could not recommend Nataraj more.
— M, Indianapolis
‘’Drag everything you’ve got on the path with you, it will serve you’’, Nataraj said on the first day of yoga teacher training as I was clearly both excited and overwhelmed at the same time—and what a path that it has been ever since! I had been considering yoga teacher training to deepen my practice for a few years, but it clicked when I met Nataraj. Like a body of water that never runs dry, he has this everlasting way of communicating ancient wisdom that rings true to anyone in any phase of life. He is so supportive and encouraging to students to find a way for them to listen to their inner shakti. I can not recommend being in his presence enough. It will be glorious, uncomfortable, broadening and confronting. But as Nataraj would say: ‘’we have been playing hide and seek with the Beloved, waiting for grace and greatness to be seen when she has been inside us all along’’.
— K, Melbourne
Nataraj is a beautiful, high-holy being and I am proud to call him, 'teacher.' Studying with Nataraj is a singular experience. He is like no teacher I have had before or since. His abilities reach far beyond basic knowledge and information and venture into that vast unknown of the Great Mother and the Great Father, which we all yearn for. I once heard a fellow student comment that they would come to 'hear Nataraj read the phone book,' and I concur. He is a bridge between the physical and ephemeral, the seen and unseen. Being in his presence is beautiful and moving and I always want more.
— A, New York City
I can’t recommend the work of Nataraj highly enough.
As a mindset mentor myself, I’ve done quite a bit of personal development but much of my work was done before and towards the end of a decade long trauma bonded relationship. Soon after my separation, I found myself in a mental fog and consumed by body contorting physical pain (that I now believe to be a sign of significant nervous system damage). I found that no traditional therapy was able to help me to alleviate the pain that screamed through my body all day, every day. It seemed to be very much a case of “the thinking that got me into the situation was not the thinking that could get me out of it”.
Enter Nataraj, who I had previously only experienced as a phenomenal yoga teacher. This time Nataraj was in the role of coach, mentor, transformational healer… and more. Nataraj’s ability to ask questions, to listen with presence (no matter my response) and to provide enough deep empathy for me to feel seen and heard was second to none. Critically, he was always able to connect to the core of the issue he heard on the day and then offer a story or a piece of wisdom from his deep understanding of tantra, meditation, and spiritual life.
I found Nataraj’s reflections and advice allowed me to think in new ways and to avoid the strong logical blocks that I had unconsciously created and thus he was able to gradually assist me to bring the pain under control. He also had me start to appreciate the benefits of taming my mind with simple mantras.
At every step of the way, Nataraj was willing to be open about his view on what or where I should focus, but he was never overly attached nor offended if/when I took a different path that felt more congruent to myself.
I’m sincerely grateful for all the work Nataraj did with me and, as I said way back at the start, I can’t recommend him highly enough.
— N, Mount Eliza
My Yoga Teacher Training with Nataraj enhanced my ability to connect deeper to Source. Using Krtan, Breath work and the unique ability to stretch past a comfortable edge, I found myself mystified by a flood of Shakti which continues to guide my life path today.
Nataraj’s natural ability to draw out the best in his students exemplifies what a truly great teacher embodies and what each student aspires to become.
It is said, when the student is ready, the Master appears. Nataraj is that Master drawing you to stretch farther into your highest self–Guaranteed to elevate your practice & your life! Highly recommended for new or seasoned practitioners.
— V, Indianapolis
I am so grateful to have Nataraj as my teacher.
Before commencing teacher training earlier this year I remember saying to him that I had to re-read the Yoga-Sutras of Patanjali. His reply was, “Don’t worry I will teach you.”
Nataraj teaches from the heart & shares many of his life experiences.
He is devoted and passionate. Being in his presence is an uplifting experience
— S, Melbourne
In 2016, I had the pleasure of meeting Senior Teacher Nataraj at Pure Yoga NYC while pursuing my own 200 hour yoga teacher training. I was so connected to his style of teaching I wanted to enrich my learning beyond my 200 TT and he took me on as a mentee. Nataraj forever not only changed my practice but taught me to slow things down and truly enjoy the present moment. Nataraj was the medicine that my soul never knew I needed. 6 years later I still hear his voice, mantras, and energetic chants when I teach my own students around the world.
— L, New York City
I had been practicing yoga for over 10years before I met Nataraj. As a chiropractor I was seeing how Yogic practices may help to patients that I was seeing and felt that yoga would give them tools to empower them on their health journey. Working with Nataraj over the last year has been such a blessing.
Our growth as healers and teachers are definitely synonymous with our personal growth. Nataraj holds a space that nurtures a deep wish to grow. Over the year I definitely felt Nataraj’s intuitive ability to keep meeting us as his students where we were at. This was with both our progress and our blocks to growth. This loving awareness provided the fertile soil for me to brew in. Nataraj will always guide you inside to remind you of your own innate intelligence, that the knowledge and loving awareness you seek can only be found inside and there is no better place to teach, live and work from than this beautiful authentic space inside. Nataraj empowered me to bring all of my life experience to my teaching and work and for this I am so grateful. This has inspired me to use yoga in a completely different way than what I initially intended. What a gift this has been.
-M, Melbourne