The problem was obvious — once you lived here
If you've spent time in Gokulam, you know the routine. Someone posts a workshop announcement in a WhatsApp group. Forty replies pile in. Then eighty more. Within a few hours, the post has disappeared under a wall of messages — and the next week, they post it again, hoping more people catch it this time.
The groups themselves are maxed out at their member limits, so there are two or three parallel groups covering the same community. Teachers have to post in all of them. Practitioners have to be in all of them. Still things get missed.
Meanwhile, posters on café walls and bulletin boards do the same job they did twenty years ago. You only see them if you walk past at the right moment, if someone hasn't pinned something over them, if the event hasn't already passed.
For practitioners traveling to Mysore — sometimes from the other side of the world — this is a real problem. Finding a shala, a room to rent, a massage therapist, an Ayurveda practitioner, or a relevant event requires being plugged into the right groups at the right time. Newcomers rarely are.
The people behind Sutraha
Joy Patel
Founder
I'm originally from Navsari, Gujarat. I spent about nine years building software products — working across startups in the US and India, doing product work, building things end-to-end. I was good at it, but something was missing.
A close friend introduced me to Ashtanga and for a while I practiced online. Eventually I decided to come to Mysore and practice properly, with a real teacher. That was about two years ago. I came to study with Vijay Kumar, who is one of the most respected teachers carrying the Ashtanga tradition forward. His guidance and blessing is what gave me the confidence to also build something for this community.
In November 2024 I took a break from my career and decided to focus entirely on Sutraha. The idea had been forming for months — I kept observing the same friction, the same information chaos, every single week. I live in Mysore, I practice here, I talk to practitioners and teachers and business owners every day. That felt like the right foundation to build from.
I still live in Mysore. I still practice. That's not going to change. The plan is to get Gokulam right and then bring the same structure to other yoga hubs around the world.
Arpit Shah
Backend Engineer
Arpit and I met at a startup years ago and stayed close long after both of us moved on. When Sutraha needed someone to own the backend — the data systems, APIs, all the infrastructure that users never see but everything depends on — Arpit stepped in. He's based in Hong Kong, which means some late-night calls, but that's what good collaborators do.
He handles the full backend: the GraphQL API, the database, storage, and all the performance and reliability work that goes with it. Sutraha wouldn't exist without him.
What we're building
Sutraha is a marketplace for the yoga community in Gokulam, Mysore. One place to find yoga shalas and teachers, events and workshops, accommodation, services like massage and Ayurveda, and local businesses that serve practitioners. Listings are moderated — we review every submission before it goes live.
For practitioners, that means accurate, up-to-date information you can actually rely on when planning a trip. For teachers and service providers, it means visibility that doesn't require posting in five WhatsApp groups every week.
We're starting in Gokulam because that's where we are, and getting one place deeply right matters more than spreading thin. Once the model works here, we plan to bring it to other yoga hubs — Rishikesh, Bali, and beyond.
Get in touch
Questions, feedback, or want to list your shala or services? Reach out directly — you're talking to the founder, not a support queue.