SHARON GANNON – TRIPURA SUNDARI
Sharon has studied yoga since 1976 and is a renowned teacher around the globe. She is also a dancer, a musician, an author, a producer, and outspoken advocate of animal rights. Sharon brings a rare blend of scholarly study, artistic pursuits and a highly disciplined asana and meditation practice to her offerings as a teacher. Together with Life, she has written Jivamukti Yoga: Practices for Liberating Body and Soul and The Art of Yoga. More about Sharon.
DAVID LIFE – DEVA DAS
David has taught yoga for twenty years. He spent several years as a sannyas (renunciate) of a lineage of yogic monks in India. He has received Kalachakra and Bodhisattva initiation from His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. His interest in yoga is supported by his artistic, literary and metaphysical studies. He imbues his classes with metaphor, musicality and spirituality, spiced with humor, vigor and spontaneity. He is considered to be a "teacher's teacher" and he is a respected, popular, and in-demand teacher around the globe. More about David.
THEIR GURUS
SRI K. PATTABHI JOIS
Shri K. Pattabhi Jois studied yoga under his guru Shri Krishnamacharya and also attended the Sanskrit College of Mysore, where he became a professor of Sanskrit and Advaita Vedanta. He and Shri Krishnamacharya developed the Astanga Yoga series based on the purifying practices described in the ancient texts. In 1948, he founded the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute in Mysore. In 1958, he wrote his classic book Yoga Mala, which explores Ashtanga and Yoga philosophy. He is still in his physical body and continues to bring light to many beings. – "If we practice the science of yoga...our minds will flood towards the Self."
SWAMI NIRMALANANDA
Swami Nirmalananda believed in the potency of Self rule, and he called himself the "Anarchist Swami." He lived in the serene B.R. Hills in Karnataka, India. Swami Nirmalananda was a naturalist and a "mauni". He practiced silence for 11 years, and sent thousands of letters to many people, including leaders of countries, encouraging non-violence, joyfulness, and simple living. "Love not anyone, not even God! – "Our picking and choosing love brings misery. Instead, let God love you. Be Love itself."
SHRI BRAHMANANDA SARASWATI
Shri Brahmananda Sarasvati, also known as Ramamurti S. Mishra, M.D, had an extensive background in Eastern and Western medicine. In 1958, he founded the Yoga Society of New York. In 1964, he founded Ananda Ashram in Monroe, New York, which continues to be devoted to his teachings and message. He was a master of the Sanskrit language and Nada Yoga (sound and vibration) and his life was dedicated to the union of science and the spirit. He is the author of Fundamentals of Yoga, The Textbook of Yoga Psychology (one of the definitive translations of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras) and Self Analysis and Self Knowledge, along with many essays. He left his physical body in 1993, but his teachings continue on today...