Haidar Ali was born in Baghdad, Iraq. He started practicing Tae Kwon Do at age 13 and was introduced to yoga by his Tae Kwon Do master at the age of 16. His first studies were at the psychology research centre at Baghdad University and were mostly concerned with the psychological aspects of yoga, focusing on various meditation and relaxation techniques.
At 21 Haidar left Iraq to pursue his path of knowledge, first moving to Jordan where he began daily asana practice for the first time, and then on to Syria where he taught Tae Kwon Do. Continuing to follow his dreams, Haidar then went to Thailand where he studied traditional Thai massage in Chiang Mai and at Wat Po in Bangkok. Between 2000 and 2002 he taught Tae Kwon Do and yoga in Bangkok while continuing his own practice in Hatha yoga and Thai massage.
Haidar has practiced and studied with many great yogis in Japan, Taiwan, and India. He studied in Rishikesh under the guidance of Rodari Dev and in Mysore, the home of Ashtanga yoga, with Ajay Kumar. Other teachers include Rolf Naujokat, David Swenson, Tarik Thami, Louisa Sear, and Emil Wendel among others. He has also completed a number of other yoga courses and teacher trainings including Yoga Arts level 1 200 hour TTC and Ashtanga yoga first series TTC with David Swenson.
Since 2002 Haidar has been based in Osaka, Japan where he is teaching and practicing hatha yoga, meditation, martial arts and Thai massage.
