Qualifications:  Founder and Director of the American Viniyoga Institute.

Personal History: Gary Kraftsow has been a pioneer in the transmission of yoga for health, healing and personal transformation for over 30 years. He began his study of yoga in India with T.K.V. Desikachar, in 1974 and received a Viniyoga Special Diploma from Viniyoga International in Paris, France in 1988.

Gary graduated with a BA, Magna Cum Laude, from Colgate University in 1976, and received his Masters Degree in Psychology and Religion from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1983. At this time he opened Maui School of Yoga Therapy. Since then, he has become a renowned speaker and teacher of the Viniyoga methodology at many conferences and schools nationally and internationally. In 1999 he founded the American Viniyoga Institute, LLC.

Gary has successfully developed protocol for two National Institutes of Health studies: "Evaluating Yoga for Chronic Low Back Pain" and "Yoga Therapy for Generalized Anxiety."

He is the Director and Senior Teacher of the American Viniyoga Institute, and the author of two books published by Penguin: Yoga for Wellness and Yoga for Transformation; and author of two educational DVD's 'Viniyoga Therapy for Low Back, Sacrum and Hips' and 'Viniyoga Therapy for Upper Back, Neck and Shoulders'.