Our Teachers
Meet the teachers who guide Y Stream’s practice and learning, each bringing decades of experience, personal practice, and a deep connection to the traditions they teach.
Senior Ashtanga Yoga Teachers
Mark Darby & Joanne Darby
Senior Ashtanga Yoga Teachers
Darby and Joanne have practiced Ashtanga Yoga for more than 47 years.
In 1979, they traveled to Mysore, India, where they studied with Ashtanga Yoga master Sri K. Pattabhi Jois. They remained there for four years, immersing themselves deeply in the traditional method as it was originally taught.
They are among the very few teachers worldwide who were personally certified by Pattabhi Jois and authorized to teach the complete Ashtanga Yoga system.
In 2001, they returned to India to continue their studies. By then, Mysore had begun attracting students from around the world, and they witnessed both the growth of the teaching community and the changes that came with it. Throughout these changes, they remained committed to preserving the essential method and spirit of Sri K. Pattabhi Jois’s original teaching.
Darby’s teaching is clear, direct, and powerful. Through a lively and insightful approach, he guides students toward a deeper understanding of the relationship between breath, alignment, and energy. His humor, focus, and warmth make his classes both profound and engaging.
Joanne is known for her steadiness, flexibility, and quiet inner strength, inspiring generations of practitioners. For her, yoga is not simply a physical practice, but a way of life. After decades of dedicated practice, she continues to trust deeply in the strength, healing potential, and transformative power of the Ashtanga method.
Their teaching is not only about technique. It is also a commitment to preserving and carrying forward a living tradition.
Shankara Darby
Senior Ashtanga Yoga Teachers
Shankara was born in Mysore, India, the birthplace of Ashtanga Yoga, and grew up immersed in the tradition from an early age. In addition to yoga, he has also developed a deep interest in and understanding of Qigong. Having accompanied his parents throughout their own yoga journey, he began practicing yoga seriously at the age of 18.
During 2000–2001, and again in 2006, Shankara studied the Ashtanga Yoga Intermediate Series with Sri K. Pattabhi Jois in Mysore. He later continued his studies with Darby, working on the Advanced Series.
Since 2006, he has studied Tai Chi and Qigong, which has further deepened his understanding of breathing and bandha. He also has six years of experience studying Iyengar Yoga.
Shankara began teaching Ashtanga Yoga in 2002. In 2009, he collaborated with Darby on his first teacher training program. From 2010 onward, he began teaching internationally, leading workshops and trainings around the world while gradually developing his own distinctive approach to yoga practice and teaching.
Since 2012, Shankara has continued to study advanced pranayama. For him, the integration of pranayama and asana is central to practice, and he has spent extended periods devoting up to seven hours a day to these disciplines.
His teaching draws from decades of experience in Ashtanga Yoga, pranayama, Tai Chi, Qigong, and Iyengar Yoga, with a particular emphasis on breath, bandha, internal awareness, and the deeper energetic dimensions of practice.