Raj Patra

Incidentally, Raj grew up on the same street, blocks away from the birthplace and house of Swami Vivekananda, the personality single-handedly responsible for introducing Yoga and Hinduism to the United States in 1893. For Raj, yoga involved not only physical exercises, pranayama, and meditation, but a script of lifestyle, in close association with Hatha Yoga Pradipika, and helped ovecome ailments and improve quality of mental and physical connections. Over the the past four decades Raj has studied in the lineages and inspirations of Yogananda, Sri Anandamayi Ma, Swami Vivekananda, Bishnu Ghosh, Dr. A. G. Mohan, Zhander Remete, 17th Gyalwa Karmapa of Kagyu Lineage, venerable Chöje Lama Phuntsok Rinpoche, and most importantly, Guruji Andrey Lappa, founder of Universal Yoga and teacher of Tantrika. Raj is well-versed in systems of Hatha yoga, Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga and its western derivations, Bikram yoga, Power yoga, Yin yoga, Shadow yoga, and the extensive system of Universal Yoga and Shiva Nata (Dance of Shiva), and has spent time in Ramakrishna Mission, Dakshineshwar Temple, Balur Math Vivekananda Institute in Kolkata, and Karma Lekshey Ling monastery in Kathmandu, Nepal. With BS in Physics and in Mathematics and high profile corporate jobs since 1998 at Microsoft, Expedia, Vulcan, Cisco, along with several start-ups in various hi-tech industries as Program Manager and Management Consultant, Raj’s yoga practice and yoga teaching is grounded by the fundamental belief that stress through the rat-race of material success is the biggest contributor to the unhappiness and increasing health issues in the world, and that raising human consciousness is the means of attaining peace. “Yoga helps in not only re-balancing our lives, but also in raising an intellectual awareness that we are all connected beings living off of the same quantum mechanical resources.” Raj’s mission is to educate yoga practitioners and teachers about Yoga in its authentic and universal way, enriched by centuries of lineage. His activities and energy these days revolve around teaching ancient philosophies in modern and scientific contexts, and inspire people to live life in conscious and meaningful ways.