From IIT to Yoga: How Saurabh Bothra Turned a Personal Journey into a Global Movement
From IIT to Yoga: How Saurabh Bothra Turned a Personal Journey into a Global Movement
Imagine a life where true fulfillment comes not from a high-paying job or a corner office, but from touching lives, one mindful breath at a time. This is the story of Saurabh Bothra, an IIT graduate who left behind the promise of a secure career to dedicate himself to yoga. Today, his classes reach over 7.5 lakh people live across the globe.
Saurabh’s journey began in the humble village of Dhanaj in Maharashtra’s Washim district, with ancestral roots in Rajasthan. His grandfather, Dr Laxmichand Ji Bothra, was a doctor who, despite city opportunities, chose to serve in a remote village lacking basic infrastructure. Over time, he became more than a physician—he built roads, opened a government health center, started a school, and was elected sarpanch by the villagers. Inspired by these acts of selfless service and the teachings of Swami Vivekananda, Saurabh grew up valuing purpose over prestige.
Life at home also shaped him deeply. In 1996, when Saurabh was just four, his father left a modest upbringing behind to start a business in Nagpur, not merely to earn a living but to create jobs for a hundred people. Sharing a cramped one-bedroom home with eight family members, Saurabh learned discipline, patience, and resilience early on. These values, coupled with his parents’ unwavering work ethic, would later guide him in ways no classroom ever could.
Both Saurabh and his sister, Trishala, secured spots at India’s top institutes—IIT-BHU and IIT Bombay, respectively. While Trishala eventually pursued an MBA in London and settled there, Saurabh’s path took an unexpected turn. During his second year at college, a spiritual book gifted by his grandfather sparked introspection. A chance encounter with a local meditation center during a trip from Banaras to Nagpur transformed his curiosity into practice. “I bought food for them from Nagpur’s famous Haldiram, and in return, they gifted me a free meditation session,” he recalls, a moment that helped ease his childhood asthma and set him on a path he could not ignore.
By the time he graduated in 2014, Saurabh was certain he wanted to share yoga with the world. He briefly returned to his family business but soon left to volunteer with a meditation group, traveling across India to teach. “You can’t imagine the joy. To just wake up every day and think about how I can teach this amazing practice to more people who can benefit. I enjoyed each day like a party,” he says.
However, the early years of this journey tested patience. During the COVID-19 lockdown, Saurabh conducted free online yoga sessions for hours each day, initially attracting only three participants. Concerned, his parents reminded him that while passion is vital, independence is necessary. “They were never against my passion. They just didn’t want me to be dependent. The only thing they asked me to do was to earn enough to survive, no matter what profession I chose. It made complete sense to me.” Following their advice, he began charging a small fee, which encouraged commitment among students and allowed him to sustain his work.
Encouragement from friends, including fellow IITian Anshul Agrawal, inspired Saurabh to scale up his efforts. From a small class of three, his sessions grew to over a lakh participants, eventually breaking records on International Yoga Day and beyond. Habuild, his platform, set multiple world records: largest virtual yoga class with 1,34,057 participants in 2023, Guinness World Record for most viewers in a yoga livestream with 2,46,252 participants in January 2024, and other records including 5,99,162 live participants in a single day, 2,87,711 in a virtual meditation session, and by 2025, 7,52,074 participants across 169 countries in a synchronized yoga session. The longest-running virtual yoga class completed in September 2025 became his sixth world record.
A personal lesson from his mother shaped the evolution of his teaching approach. “Most of my students were engineers like me — yoga was something good to know, not need to know. They were irregular, and few promoted it beyond their circle,” Saurabh reflects. When his mother sought help for knee pain, he guided her, and she in turn gave honest feedback: simpler movements and language were necessary, particularly for women over 40. Saurabh embraced this wisdom, introducing flexible timings, beginner-friendly asanas, and free physiotherapy, making yoga accessible to a wider audience.
Saurabh’s consistency is legendary. For five years, he hasn’t missed a single class, even during major life events or while recovering from illnesses. Chotu, his lifelong assistant and teacher, has helped maintain this consistency during injuries, reinforcing the discipline and dedication Saurabh embodies.
From a four-person initiative, Habuild has grown to over 300 employees, including Saurabh’s sister Trishala, who left a successful corporate career in the UK to join the family venture. “When Saurabh asked me to join him, it felt like life had come full circle. Joining Habuild gave me the chance to come back home, be with my family, and contribute to a purpose that truly matters,” she says.
Today, Saurabh greets over six lakh participants every morning with a cheerful message and continues to live the values he believes in. “I can never compare myself to Swami Vivekananda,” he says humbly, “but I guess that dream has come true — for that child who once imagined saying ‘brothers and sisters’ to a sea of people, and now gets to live it every day.”
Saurabh Bothra’s story reminds us that true success isn’t measured by wealth or fame but by the lives we touch and the habits we inspire.
