Esther Honig Radio interview

Interview of BK Bose and Annika Hanson of Niroga Institute as part of a public radio program grant with Mills College.

Issues in Yoga Therapy - Mindfulness, Meditation and Yoga: Competition or Collaboration?

Anyone doing yoga is practicing mindfulness, and anyone practicing mindfulness is doing yoga! BK Bose explores the relationship between mindfulness and yoga.

Two short Comcast Interviews with Bidyut Bose

Niroga Institute Founder and Executive Director Bidyut 'BK' Bose discusses the merits of yoga, and the work of Niroga Institute with Barbara Rodgers of Comcast Newsmakers.

Early Lessons: Teaching Yoga and Life Skills

Every Friday afternoon, 20-30 elementary school children prepare themselves to take a yoga class. When the teacher enters the cafeteria, the first cohort of students runs up to her smiling. "Can I help set up the classroom today?" "Ms. Danielle, Ms. Danielle, can I help too?" These 7-10 year-olds are enthusiastic about spending their Friday afternoons in a Niroga yoga class.

Changing the Face and Zip Code of Yoga

BK Bose talks about the beginnings of Niroga, challenges, and the outlook for the future.

Yoga for the People

Yoga International magazine features the work of Niroga Institute and founder B.K. Bose.

Changing a Life and Generational Transformation: The Real Value of Niroga

When Shelly was 16, doing Ecstasy and other drugs, and failing most of her classes, she never thought about turning 18, not to mention finishing high school or the future.

Paying it Forward: Natalie's Story

Defiance. That may be the most apt way to describe the first reaction of Natalie*, a student at the Emiliano Zapata Street Academy in Oakland, when she learned she would be participating in its new Niroga-led yoga program. Her Niroga yoga teacher, Annika, remembers that Natalie used to stand armed, refusing to take off her shoes during class, and swearing at the instructor.

Few could have guessed back then that Natalie would one day find herself not only embracing yoga, but also encouraging that practice in others as a peer educator, and even pursuing Niroga's Integral Health Fellowship Yoga Teacher Training to become a Certified Yoga Teacher herself. "You can take yoga with you everywhere. You can apply it to all aspects of your life," she said.

Catalyst for Change: Training Mental Health Professionals

Niroga representatives recently traveled to Los Angeles to conduct a comprehensive Transformative Life Skills (TLS) training for local agencies working with at-risk adolescents. Enhancing existing practice of mental health professionals, educators, and law enforcement with TLS can be a game-changer for positive youth development and a powerful catalyst at the organizational level, as the very positive response by training attendees showed.

Yoga for All Ages: Celebrating 90 Years

Turning 90 is no small feat—and what better way to spend the big birthday than with some of your peers and friends? For Joe, who recently turned 90 himself, attending BK Bose's weekly Yoga Class for Seniors was the perfect way to celebrate the very special day. Every week this Niroga Center class provides an opportunity for 60+ year-olds to come together in a physical space that allows them to feel strong and determined.

Yoga Program for At-Risk Youth Transforms Mind and Body

At age 16, Shelley Smith (not her real name) was on a path to ruin. At Berkeley Tech, one of the elective classes Smith took was yoga, offered under the name of "Transformative Life Skills" (TLS) by Niroga Institute. "It was one of the best things I did," Smith said. She added that soon after starting the class, "I began to have yoga highs, which was a lot better than weed highs."