About Us

Bys Team PhotoBristo Yoga SchoolBristo Yoga School

Bristo Yoga School started in the basement of Jericho House, a premises which is known as the Good Samaritan Suite. Karen Breneman and Krista Shirley set up Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga classes in this dusty, dark, cold space for the first time in the winter of 2008/09. The Good Samaritan Suite had previously been used as a meeting space for AA and NA meetings, with long periods of disuse, and was a derelict space for many years.

In 2009 and 2010, BYS continued to grow and expand. Developing ties with Edinburgh University, and with the help of many friends, teachers, students, and many others, Bristo Yoga School emerged from the darkness. BYS is still developing into a steadier and more organised institution of Yoga practice. Meanwhile BYS is transforming the premises itself, The Good Samaritan Suite, for use by the community.

Bristo Yoga School is now an independent, limited company offering classes at several venues including the GSS. BYS makes regular donations to Jericho House and continues to make improvements to the GSS premises on a voluntary basis.

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As an organisation rooted in community, the goals of Bristo Yoga School are:

  1. To improve the lives of community members through Yoga and spiritual education; ie, offering affordable high quality Yoga classes on a regular basis.
  2. To foster goodwill and a means of positive change for those in need through charitable works, in Scotland and in India.
  3. To promote further development of Teachers and Students in their Yoga practice; ie, setting up sustainable career paths and providing a means of continuous professional development through study and practice of Yoga in the UK and beyond.

Bristo Yoga School continues to run the only consistent, early-morning Mysore Style Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga programme in Scotland.

We invite beginners and seasoned Yogis to join us for practice on a drop-in basis or for daily Yoga practice.

“This calm steadiness of the senses is called yoga. Then one should become watchful, because yoga comes and goes.”

-Katha Upanishad