John Scott began his yoga journey in the late 80's and has developed into one of the most inspiring and leading lights in the Ashtanga Yoga community. He has been a student of Shri K Pattabhi Jois since 1989 and has been certified to teach Ashtanga Yoga around the world by Guruji. Many students have been enlivened by his guidance and he counts Madonna and Sting as practitioners he has assisted in their Astanga yoga. It was during his early years of practice at the Astanga Yoga Research Institute in Mysore that the idea of the Shiva Mat was born. John and his fellow students would go to the local prison to see if they could use the cotton mats that were provided for the prisoners comfort. These proved to be more suited to the practice of Ashtanga than the mats they were using at the time, as the cotton absorbed the sweat which created a solid foundation. However the mats were not as robust as they could have been so John had to keep returning for more. It was this that inspired him for the creation of a thicker mat that had the grip of the prison mat, but a much thicker base for all the vinyasa's involved in Ashtanga yoga and the stability to withstand these.

He also realised that the mat, if made with natural materials, would increase the connection to earth and wouldn’t be lost through unnatural materials.
This has now been realised in the Shiva Mat.

John, with his wife Lucy, now teach at the Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga Retreat Centre in Penzance, Cornwall, UK, which is a brand new purpose built yoga centre they have set up together. He also guides classes and workshops around the country and across the world.