Kamini Desai

Kamini Desai grew up inside the yoga tradition as the daughter of Yogi Amrit Desai, who founded the original Kripalu ashram, and she trained at Kripalu herself before studying anthropology and psychology at Smith College and La Salle University. She later ran education at the Amrit Yoga Institute and directed wellness at an executive retreat centre. In 2012 she was given the title Yogeshwari in recognition of her yogic study, and she teaches in English, Dutch and French.

Her central subject is yoga nidra, the guided practice of resting in deep awareness between waking and sleep. She co-founded the I AM Yoga Nidra method and directs I AM Education, which offers self-paced and in-person trainings built around five tools of the practice and the setting of a heartfelt intention, or sankalpa. Alongside the trainings she gives live masterclasses on yogic philosophy, from the gunas and Samkhya to the symbolism of Shakti, Kali and Durga, each closing with a guided nidra. Her books are a guide, Yoga Nidra: The Art of Transformational Sleep, plus a memoir, Life Lessons, Love Lessons, and her recorded practices reach a wide audience through two apps. Her in-person programmes take her to Europe, including Prague and an eco-village in Iceland, and to Kripalu in Massachusetts.