About Us
Over ninety years of unbroken Integral Yoga tradition
The Origin of a Tradition: 1934
The history of Integral Yoga® in Argentina begins in 1934, when Swami Asuri Kapila — born Héctor Durville — arrived in Buenos Aires with a clear mission: to transmit the ancient science of yoga to the West in a systematic, accessible and profoundly transformative way. What distinguished Asuri Kapila from other masters of his era was not only the depth of his knowledge, but his visionary understanding that teaching yoga required a structured pedagogical method to truly reach people.
At that time, the teaching of yoga in the West was fragmentary and largely reserved for a small circle of spiritual seekers. Asuri Kapila radically changed that landscape by creating the first formal teacher training program in yoga in the Western world. This Teacher Training in Integral Yoga® — offered without interruption ever since — would become the model that inspired hundreds of schools throughout the twentieth century.
"Yoga is not the property of any religion, race or culture. It is the common heritage of humanity, and our mission is to ensure that every human being has access to this science of the full life."
— Swami Asuri Kapila
Integral Yoga®: A Visionary Synthesis
The system that Asuri Kapila developed and named Integral Yoga® was not a direct derivation of any particular Indian school, but an original synthesis that integrated the main yoga traditions into a coherent and progressive method. Inspired in part by the integral vision of philosopher and mystic Sri Aurobindo Ghose — who from his ashram in Pondicherry, India was developing a philosophy of integral evolution of consciousness — Asuri Kapila translated these principles into a practical pedagogy applicable in the Latin American context.
Integral Yoga® encompasses six great paths: Hatha Yoga, with its work on the physical body through asanas and pranayama; Raja Yoga, which cultivates the mind through concentration and meditation; Karma Yoga, which transforms everyday action into spiritual practice; Jnana Yoga, the path of discernment and wisdom; Bhakti Yoga, the way of devotion and love; and Tantra Yoga, which works with vital energy in its subtlest dimension.
Growth and Expansion: The Locations of Argentina
During the 1940s and 1950s, the school founded by Asuri Kapila in Buenos Aires began to multiply. The first graduates of the Teacher Training became teachers who carried the tradition to new cities: Rosario, Córdoba, Mar del Plata, La Plata. Each new location was not simply a franchise, but an authentic expression of the same tradition, with teachers trained directly at the mother school in Buenos Aires.
In the following decades, the network extended to virtually every corner of the country: Mendoza, Santa Fe, Bahía Blanca, Corrientes, San Juan, Chaco, Misiones, Entre Ríos, Bolívar and even the remote Patagonia, with locations in Chubut. The expansion did not stop at Argentina's borders: affiliated schools arose in Montevideo (Uruguay) and Paraguay, consolidating the presence of Integral Yoga® throughout the Southern Cone.
Thirty Thousand Teachers: A Living Legacy
The most eloquent measure of Purna Yoga Integral's impact is quantitative: over ninety years of history, more than thirty thousand people have completed the Integral Yoga® Teacher Training and graduated as certified teachers. Currently, more than eight hundred new teachers complete their training each year. These figures place Purna Yoga Integral as the most important yoga teacher training institution in Argentine history, and one of the most significant in all of Latin America.
But beyond the numbers, the real legacy of this school is measured in the quality of transformation it generates: in the thousands of practitioners who found in integral yoga a way to heal their bodies, order their minds and give meaning to their existence. In the teachers who, with each class they give, continue the chain of transmission that Asuri Kapila began over nine decades ago.
The Three Masters of the Tradition
The Integral Yoga® tradition recognizes three master figures who shaped the teaching we transmit today. Swami Asuri Kapila is the founder and root teacher, whose intuition and knowledge created the system. His work was continued and deepened by teachers of the second and third generation who expanded the teaching into new dimensions: therapeutic yoga, teaching for children, prenatal yoga, and applications of yoga in the field of mental health and wellbeing.
Each teacher of the tradition has received the teaching directly from their teacher, in a line of oral and experiential transmission that guarantees the authenticity and depth of the knowledge transmitted. This chain from master to disciple is what distinguishes a living tradition from a mere academic reproduction.
The Present: Purna Yoga Integral Today
Today, Purna Yoga Integral maintains active the programs that have defined its identity throughout the years: the Annual Teacher Training — beginning in April each year —, the one-month Intensive Course for those who prefer accelerated training, and the Master Program for already-certified teachers who seek to deepen and specialize.
The school continues to be an undisputed reference in yoga teacher training in Argentina. Its graduates teach in gyms, health centers, hospitals, schools, community centers and private yoga studios throughout the country. Integral Yoga® — that visionary synthesis that Asuri Kapila brought to Buenos Aires ninety years ago — remains today as relevant and transformative as at its origins.
Be part of this history
The tradition of Integral Yoga® lives on because each new generation chooses to continue what Swami Asuri Kapila began. We invite you to take the first step.