Divya Jyoti has studied and practiced yoga since the age of 14, when she had her first class at Jak Pilozof Yoga Center in her homeland of Brazil. Jak Pilozof is a very traditional yoga teacher, who has 36 years of experience in yoga and yoga therapy, and who believes in one-to-one teaching only, in the ancient Indian manner.

Divya Jyoti received her yoga education as a teacher and as a yoga therapist – as well as her first diploma in yoga – under Jakji’s guidance after 4 years of hard work, dedication, and practice.

Jakji spent several years in India, living part of them as a monk in the Himalayas, at the Sivananda Ashram (Divine Life Society). While living there, he met Swami Chidananda, President of the Divine Life Society and direct disciple of Swami Sivananda, who became his teacher. Divya Jyoti would be blessed to meet with the same Swami Chidananda thirty years later while living in India herself. It is Swami Chidananda who gave to Ana the name Divya Jyoti, meaning Divine Flame. In 2007, again, a great blessing was poured upon Divya Jyoti: she met with Sri Krishna Kashyap (Shyam), who is Jakji’s dear Guru and, now, DJ’s Guruji as well.

Before moving to India in 2002, Divya Jyoti was a lawyer specializing in Urban Law, working with “favelas” (shantytowns) in Brazil. During that time, she managed to combine her law practice with her passion for teaching yoga. While in India (2002-2003), Divya Jyoti spent eight months as a resident student at The Yoga Institute, the oldest yoga institute in the world, where she was able to experience the very simple way of living in an ashram – an experience far removed from the comfortable Western lifestyle she had at home in Brazil.

Every day, more than 1000 people go to The Yoga Institute seeking a healthier lifestyle. Various health camps are offered throughout the year focused on conditions such as diabetes, cardiac problems, pregnancy, menopause, and obesity, among others. During her advanced teacher training at The Yoga Institute, Divya Jyoti was a regular teacher, participating in the health camps, carefully observing and witnessing people’s health improvements as they walked out of The Institute after being served by yoga therapy.

After completing the training course at The Yoga Institute, Divya Jyoti dedicated herself to total immersion in yogic living, staying at various ashrams and meditation centers throughout India, deepening her knowledge and practice of yoga and Ayurveda through various training programs and internships at Kaivalyadhama Yoga Institute (Lonavla), Vipassana Meditation Center (Igatpuri), Rajneesh Foundation (Pune), Sivananda Ashram (Rishkesh), and Gaumuck Ashram (between Gaumuck and Gangotry). She also studied Vedanta, Sanskrit, Hindi, South Indian classical dance (Barathanatyan), and Indian culture. Teaching for street children in Bombay (India) was part of her daily karma yoga (selfless work) at Akanksha Foundation.

In 2003, when she moved back to Brazil from India, there was no doubt in her heart that she wanted to devote her life to teaching yoga. At that time she founded Divya Jyoti Yoga Studio, where she conducted an average of 30 yoga therapy sessions a week, sharing her rich experience with her students.

In 2004, while spending time at Findhorn Foundation in Scotland, Divya Jyoti met her future husband, who happened to be American – and to America they went! In the U.S., she studied self-destructive behaviors and psychology at Harvard University, providing a strong base for her next steps with yoga psychology: conducting clinical research towards her master’s degree from Lesley University, where she investigated yoga psychology applied to eating disorders.

Divya Jyoti has also studied Ayurveda with worldwide Ayurvedic authority Dr. Vasant Lad at The Ayurveda Institute in Albuquerque, NM. During one of her visits, she was personally invited by Dr. Lad for an internship at his clinic in Pune, India, where she had the honor to learn the clinical art of Ayurveda, observing patients attended by Dr. Lad.

Divya Jyoti has served as a consultant yoga therapist at several hospitals and treatment centers for eating disorders in the Boston area. She is a trainer in yoga tools for mental health providers.

In 2005, DJ founded the Divya Jyoti Yoga Therapy Center, located in Brookline, MA. In 2007, while her husband was finishing his studies in Greek language and music and DJ was writing her Master’s thesis on Yoga Psychology, they lived between Greece, India and Turkey for one year. In 2008, they returned to the U.S. DJ is now in Boston to stay and to serve her students.

Divya Jyoti’s passion is private sessions, as they increase the possibility of her imparting yoga and Ayurveda with greater depth and results for her students.

In 2010, she entered a Ph.D. program in Psychoanalysis at the Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis. In the same year, Divya Jyoti Yoga Studio changed locations to a brand new space in Brookline where group classes and individual sessions are conducted.

DJ is a new mom and lives with her daughter Jasmin and her husband in Brookline.

She is currently working on her new book on Yoga for Eating Disorders.