Dear Yogis

Hi, I’m Chiara Travisi, founder of Yoga Unfolded and founder and director of the Iyengar Yoga Institute Milano, recognised by the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute (RIMYI) in Pune, India.

For more than twenty years, I have taught Iyengar® Yoga to practitioners and teachers at different stages of their journey. At the heart of my work is a question that continues to shape the way I practise, study and teach: how can we understand more clearly what we experience through Yoga?

I am a certified Iyengar® Yoga teacher, mentor and assessor. My teaching combines rigour and curiosity, with particular attention to alignment, precision, embodied sensitivity and the intelligent organisation of the body. I encourage students to understand not only what they are doing, but also how and why—so that practice becomes a living process of observation and discernment.

My aim is for Yoga not to remain confined to the mat, but to become a practice of self-regulation that can be genuinely applied in everyday life: learning to recognise our internal states, modulate our responses and adapt more consciously to changing circumstances.

Research has always been part of the way I learn. I hold two Ph.D.s—one in Ecotoxicology from the University of Milan and one in the Economics of Cultural and Non-Market Goods from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, where my research explored Yoga as a form of cultural heritage. I also hold a Master’s degree in Yoga Studies from Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, where I have taught.

This interdisciplinary background allows me to bring Yoga philosophy, anatomy, physiology and contemporary scientific research into dialogue with direct experience on the mat. I am particularly interested in movement and perception, in the continuous relationship between bodily and mental processes, and in how practice can refine the way we sense, respond and understand.

I am the author of peer-reviewed academic articles, essays on Yoga and five volumes in the Corriere della Sera Yoga series. Whether I am teaching or writing, my aim is to make rigorous knowledge accessible while preserving its depth and complexity.

I trained with senior Iyengar® Yoga teacher Emilia Pagani and continue to study regularly with the Iyengar family and RIMYI teachers in Pune, where I have also assisted in remedial classes. Between 2011 and 2013, I completed the three-year Iyengar® Yoga Therapy programme with Stephanie Quirk and later continued this area of study with Lois Steinberg.

Since 2011, I have contributed to the work of the Italian Iyengar Yoga Association in several roles, including examiner, teacher trainer and member of the Examination Committee. I also represented the Association during the development of the Italian UNI professional standard for Yoga teachers.

Yoga Unfolded grew from this ongoing inquiry: the desire to create a place where sustained Iyengar® Yoga practice can meet philosophy, Yoga Studies and contemporary research—and where practitioners and teachers can continue to question, explore and learn together.