Practice with a Master at Sharath Jois’ 2016 US Tour

Source: http://www.sonima.com/videos/sharath-jois-2016-us-tour/

Watch video on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJGicvFr2ZE

In the hour leading up to the 6:30 a.m. led primary class, students are buzzing. Old friends catch up, strangers greet each other, and seem to talk solely of yoga. The energy is high, but the focus is singular. Paramaguru R. Sharath Jois, the lineage holder of Ashtanga Yoga, arrives 15 minutes before class begins, and he sits on his chair at the front of the room. The room starts to hush even though we still have time before the practice begins. Hundreds of students stare up at their Guru, and he looks back, sometimes at individual faces, and other times, seemingly at us all.

“Samastihi,” he says. And everyone jumps to their feet. Class begins on these days, the same way it does for devoted Ashtangis every day. But even though the motions are the same, these days are different. We’re not in our living rooms or in our local shalas, we’re not doing our practice in our pajamas or with kids running around. We’re doing it in community, before the Guru. 

Related: 100 Most Influential Yoga Teachers in America

And though it may seem both grandiose and precious, in fact it’s neither — it’s quite simple. Humbling, even. These moments are the touchstone devoted practitioners return to. A way of checking in with the teacher, a way of connecting to the source. In the fabric of life, this …

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