Meet Baiju - The Teacher Behind Yin Yoga at Living Yoga Johannesburg
Updated: Sep 25
Baiju teaches Yin Yoga at Living Yoga in Parkwood, Johannesburg on Friday evenings, and from 1 October, on Thursday mornings at 6:30 am as well.
If you've been to her Friday class, you already know what she brings.
If you haven't, this is a good place to start.
When Baiju told me the most unexpected place she's ever practised yoga, I had to smile.
A game lodge. In the Kruger. Surrounded by animals and the sounds of the bush.
Some of you will know why that landed the way it did for me.
For those who don't, the Kruger is a place I know well, and there is something about practising in that kind of stillness, that particular quality of silence broken only by nature, that stays with you.
Baiju found it too.
It tells you something about who she is.
Baiju didn't come to yoga as a teacher. She came as a corporate animal, her words, looking for a way to de-stress from a life running at full speed. Her first class was with a very experienced teacher, and she was hooked.
Immediately.
Completely.
The journey from there, she says, has been "nothing short of amazing and fulfilling on many fronts."
Many of you already know Baiju from her Friday evening Yin class at 17:00.
And if you've been to it, you'll understand exactly why we decided we needed more of her.
So we asked her back. Thursday mornings. 6:30 am. Same bliss, completely different hour.
Blissed Out
That is actually her word for what happens in her classes. Which is a fairly extraordinary promise for 6:30 in the morning, and one she consistently delivers on.
Yin is slow. Deliberate. Poses held for minutes rather than seconds, connective tissue opening gradually, the nervous system settling into something it rarely gets to feel in a busy day.
"You may come for a physical experience," Baiju says, "but you will feel like your whole being, body, mind and soul, has been awakened."
She used to believe that getting every pose right was what made a good yogi. Years of practice changed that.
Now she knows it's not about the perfect pose. It's about the journey to get there, in the way your body allows. Respecting your body. Enjoying the process. She wants every student leaving her class feeling better, physically and energetically, than when they walked in.
Outside of the studio, Baiju is an explorer. Travel is a big part of who she is, different countries, different cultures, absorbing all of it. She cooks, reads, dances, spends time outdoors. And when she's not doing any of that, she is very seriously binge-watching Criminal Minds.
Cat, our Yoga Strength teacher, is twelve seasons deep into Bones. If you missed her profile, you can read it here.
I'm starting to think our teachers have a type.
Baiju teaches because it gives her joy. Because immersing her students, and herself, in a soothing, reflective practice that builds both strength and the capacity to turn inward is exactly what she was meant to do.
Yin Yoga with Baiju
Living Yoga, 13 Chester Rd, Parkwood, Johannesburg
Thursday mornings, 6:30 to 7:30 am, starting 1 October 2026. Also available online.
Friday evenings, 17:00 every week, in studio.
Yin is the practice of slowing down. It's about letting your body open at its own pace, in its own time. If you've been curious but haven't tried it yet, pick a slot and come find out what blissed-out actually feels like.
About Baiju
Baiju Dharmalingam has over ten years of teaching experience in Hatha, Vinyasa, and Yin Yoga. She holds a 500hr ISHTA Yoga certification completed in 2015. She has since added specialist Yin training, including a 20hr Yin certification, a 60hr Myo Fascial Yin training, and a 60hr Chinese Medicine and Meridian Yin training completed in 2025. She has taught at ISHTA, Living Yoga, Virgin Active, and runs her own studio, BeYIN. She teaches Yin Yoga at Living Yoga in Parkwood, Johannesburg, on Thursday mornings and Friday evenings.
