Ashtanga yoga · Indo-Tibetan Buddhist studies · Translation

I have practiced Ashtanga yoga since 1992 and studied Buddhist texts for nearly as long.

I began practicing in Mysore, India with Shri K. Pattabhi Jois, who certified me as a teacher in 2002. I hold a PhD in Religion from Columbia University, taught in universities for two decades, and now spend most of my time translating tantric Buddhist texts from Sanskrit and Tibetan.

Current work Vajra Yoga at Tibet House US, and the Guhyasamāja commentaries

I am core faculty at Vajra Yoga, the Indo-Tibetan yogic sciences program at Tibet House US in New York, where I teach immersions and retreats. I built the program alongside my teacher, the late Prof. Robert A. F. Thurman, and continue the translation work we began together: a multi-volume rendering of the commentarial literature on the Guhyasamāja Tantra for Wisdom Publications. The first volume, The Esoteric Community Tantra with The Illuminating Lamp, is out now.

Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute, MysoreCertified by Pattabhi Jois, 2002 Columbia UniversityPhD, Religion, 2009 University of VirginiaCo-founder, Contemplative Sciences Center, 2012
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Dr. John R. B. Campbell
Teaching

Yoga, meditation, and philosophy, taught the way I learned them.

Ashtanga yoga

Mysore-style practice in the tradition of Pattabhi Jois. I have taught since 1995, beginning at a center in New York City dedicated to the method, and now teach weekly at Newburgh Yoga Shala, with workshops and retreats in the US and abroad. Practice is not held on moon days.

Meditation and Tibetan yoga

I have studied Tibetan Buddhism for over twenty-five years and received initiations from senior Tibetan lamas. At Tibet House US and Menla I teach the internal yogas of the Tibetan tradition alongside asana practice, through Vajra Yoga immersions and winter retreats.

Philosophy and Sanskrit

I offer courses in yoga philosophy and Sanskrit at Newburgh Yoga Shala and on retreat, for practitioners who want to go to the sources. We read the classical yoga texts and the Buddhist tantric literature in the original, and I draw on my years translating and editing for Columbia's Center for Buddhist Studies. The aim is a practice informed by what the texts actually say.

Background

Thirty years between the shala and the library.

1992First practice with Pattabhi Jois in Mysore
1995Began teaching Ashtanga in New York City
2002Certified by Pattabhi Jois; one of few certified teachers worldwide
2009PhD in Religion, Columbia University
2012Co-founded the Contemplative Sciences Center at UVA

I studied with Shri K. Pattabhi Jois in Mysore from 1992 until his death in 2009, completing the Advanced Series and receiving certification from him in 2002. In 2011 I co-founded the Jois Foundation, which brings yoga to children in under-served schools.

At Columbia I studied Indo-Tibetan Buddhism under Robert Thurman. A Fulbright Fellowship took me to India in 2003–04 to research the history of tantric Buddhist yoga, and my dissertation examined the commentarial literature of tantric Buddhist practice systems in eighth- to eleventh-century India. I later received an award from the National Endowment for the Humanities for this work.

I taught at Seton Hall and then for many years at the University of Virginia, where in 2012 I co-founded the Contemplative Sciences Center, bringing mind–body practice into a major research university. From 2018 to 2021 I directed South Asian Collections for the Asian Legacy Library, which preserves rare and endangered texts in Nepal, India, and Mongolia. I now work as an independent scholar and translator.

Affiliations

Where I teach and work.

Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute, Mysore

  • Student of Shri K. Pattabhi Jois, 1992–2009
  • Certified teacher, 2002
  • Completed the Advanced Series

Columbia University

  • PhD, Religion, 2009
  • Indo-Tibetan Buddhist studies with Robert A. F. Thurman
  • Translator and editor, Center for Buddhist Studies

Fellowships and awards

  • Fulbright Fellow, India, 2003–04
  • National Endowment for the Humanities award
  • E-RYT 500, Yoga Alliance
Contact

Classes, retreats, private study, and translation inquiries.

I live in Newburgh, New York with my wife, children, and assorted animal friends, and teach at Newburgh Yoga Shala, Tibet House US, and Menla.