Gingi Lee
Co-founder & Lead TeacherA pioneering teacher with over 30 years of experience, Gingi was among the first to establish a dedicated yoga centre in London in 1997. His depth, rigour and warmth have shaped not just the Shala's culture, but the wider landscape of yoga in the UK.
A rare and gifted teacher
Approach
Gingi Lee teaches from the heart — with compassion, love and humour. Founder of the Shala Yoga Centre, which he ran for 25+ years until 2026, he is also co-founder and lead teacher of The Shala School of Yoga — a school built on the conviction that sharing yoga is a profound act of service. Gingi gently encourages his trainees to make the practice their own, nurturing each one to teach from their authentic self, journeying towards an opening of the mind, body and heart.
Gingi is widely regarded as one of the UK's most senior and respected yoga teachers. He has taught, trained and inspired thousands of practitioners and teachers, and has remained at the forefront of the UK's yoga community for nearly three decades.
Early years
Gingi's teaching journey began in the 1980s, studying and teaching martial arts alongside his father, Sensei Richard Taibong Lee. Early travels to India brought him into contact with yoga — initially through meditation and philosophy, not asana — and this orientation has profoundly shaped how he teaches to this day. The first of many trips to India, it inspired years of dedicated study and personal practice.
Training & influences
In the 1990s he trained in the Ashtanga tradition, apprenticing for two years with the late Derek Ireland — one of the most influential Ashtanga teachers of his generation — before continuing his studies in Mysore with Pattabhi Jois. He carries the rigour and reverence of that lineage, but it is the depth of his own inquiry — through philosophy, meditation, chanting, and decades of personal practice — that most defines how he teaches today. He has since deepened his knowledge through ongoing study, including trauma-informed approaches, which he brings with sensitivity into all aspects of his teaching.
Teaching today
His teaching is grounded, sensitive, inclusive and open-minded — deeply informed by decades of practice, study and personal inquiry.
Gingi is an extraordinary teacher. He somehow holds the entire space — every student's journey — with grace, humour, and a wisdom that is genuinely rare. Training with him changed not just how I teach, but who I am. 200-Hour Graduate, 2025
Specialisms
Teacher Training · Ashtanga Yoga · Intuitive / Somatic Movement · Yoga History & Philosophy · Chanting · Meditation · Yamuna Bodyrolling · Aerial Yoga · QiGong · Tai Chi
Training & Lineage
- 30+ years teaching and personal practice
- Ashtanga — Derek Ireland, K. Pattabhi Jois, Graeme Northfield
- Yoga Philosophy — Swami Shayam Yogi, Dr Matthew Clarke
- Tai Chi & QiGong — Sensei Richard Lee
- Yamuna Bodyrolling — Yamuna Zake
- Trauma Informed Yoga — Ellie Grace
- Yoga Nidra — Melanie Cooper & Jennie Wadsten Sharma
- Aerial Yoga — Richard Holryd
What Gingi Lee's students say
The Shala's training was the most profound experience of my life. Gingi and the faculty don't just teach you to teach — they help you become yourself.
200-Hour Graduate, 2024Gingi's philosophy teaching is extraordinary. He has a gift for making the deepest ideas feel immediately alive and personally relevant. I came away thinking about the world differently.
200-Hour Graduate, 2022There is a quality of presence in the room when Gingi teaches that is hard to articulate. You feel held, challenged, and deeply seen — all at once. That's not something you find everywhere.
200-Hour Graduate, 2023I came to the Shala as a practitioner and left as a teacher. But more than that, I left as a more complete human being. Gingi's leadership of the programme made that possible.
200-Hour Graduate, 2024His pranayama teaching alone was worth the entire training. Gingi brings a depth and precision to breathwork that I've never encountered anywhere else.
300-Hour Module, 2025Gingi is an extraordinary teacher. He somehow holds the entire space — every student's journey — with grace, humour, and a wisdom that is genuinely rare.
200-Hour Graduate, 2025
Interested in training with Gingi Lee?
Whether you're considering one of our trainings, a specialist CPD, or simply want to ask a question — we'd love to hear from you.