Jivamukti Yoga

My TEachers

In 1984 Sharon Gannon and David Life created the Jivamukti Yoga Method, which is a path to enlightenment through compassion for all beings. They are pioneers in teaching yoga as spiritual activism/activation. The JY Method emphasizes vinyasa, scriptural study, devotion, prayer, music, chanting and meditation as well as animal rights, veganism, environmentalism and political activism. Jivamuktis passionate focus on the original meaning of the Sanskrit word „asana“ as seat, connection, relationship to the earth is as practical as it is radical at this time of global and consciousness shift.

SHARON GANNON
(Tripura Sundari)

Sharon Gannon started her quest for liberation upon her birth on July 4th in Washington, DC. Sharon views art as a means for uplifting the soul and her artistic pursuits enriched the community by educating and inspiring. In 1984 she shifted her main focus from the performing arts to teaching yoga in the hope of giving practical methods that would benefit people more directly and immediately. Sharon has studied yoga since 1976 with many teachers around the globe, most notably with Shri Brahmananda Saraswati, Swami Nirmalanada, Shri K. Pattabhi Jois, Swami Shankarananda, Shyam Das and Bhagavan Das. She brings a rare blend of scholarly study, artistic pursuits and a highly disciplined asana and meditation practice to her offerings as a teacher.

As a poet, musician, dancer and producer, Sharon views art as a means for uplifting the soul and her artistic pursuits seek to enrich the community by being both inspirational and educational. She holds a BA in Dance and has studied ballet, modern, classical and various forms of Indian Dance; as well as music, poetry, painting and alchemy. During the 1970’s & 80’s first in Seattle and then in NYC she was the vocalist and violinist for the jazz/rock band Audio Letter as well as directing and choreographing for the dance company ‘Moon-Food’. Her choreography is featured in the Video: Asana: sacred dance of the Yogi. In 2003 she produced the CD Neti-Neti, a remix of the 1987 Audio Letter album of the same name, receiving rave reviews and critical acclaim from Billboard Magazine, Rolling Stone, Yoga Journal and others. She collaborated with Janet Rienstra of Meta Records to create the cd: Chakra, seven centers. She collaborated with Raven Recording to produce Sundari, music for a Jivamukti Yoga Class. In 2004 she co-produced with White Swan Music Records, the CD, Jai MA, a collection of divine women singers. Sharon is a guest vocalist, appearing on CDs with innovative world-beat musicians including Bill Laswell, Mike D., Sean Dinsmore, David Newman, Shyam Das and DJ Cheb I Sabbah.

Together with David Life and Janet Rienstra, she established the Animal Mukti Free Spay & Neuter Clinic, which was the first free spay and neuter clinic in New York City, at the Humane Society of NY in 1999. In 2004 she was recognized as “Friend of Ferals” by the Humane Society of New York and Neighborhood Cats. She is a long time vanguard member of PETA, working with them on various projects and campaigns to help make this world a kinder place. In 2003 she appeared on a video screen in Times Square behind the New Years Ball advocating Yoga and Vegetarianism as a step toward world Peace. Along with Life she has established a 76-acre Wildlife Forest Sanctuary in upstate New York.

Sharon has co-authored two books on Yoga with David Life, Jivamukti Yoga, Practices for Liberating Body & Soul and The Art of Yoga.She is the author of Cats and Dogs are People Too and the newly release Yoga and Vegetarianism . She contributes the Focus of the Month, a monthly essay, focusing on yogic topics, which can be read on www.jivamuktiyoga.com. She is the compiler and translator of the Jivamukti Chant Book. She has contributed essays and short stories to Semiotext(e). She was a past editor of Patio Table Magazine. She is a member of the Woodstock Poetry Society. A collection of her poems and essays are complied in the book Freedom is a Psycho-Kinetic Skill. She is currently working on three soon to be published books, The Yogic Art of Assists, a book of Poetry as well as a Vegan Cookbook.

David Life
(Deva Das)

David Life was born in a small town in Michigan where his Catholic upbringing inspired devotion to the Christian mystics St. John of the Cross and St. Theresa of Avila. He holds a BA degree in Art with minors in Poetry and Psychology. He has had a lifelong interest in metaphysics and spirituality. David spent several years as an initiate of a lineage of yogic monks.

He has studied yoga around the globe with many teachers including Shri Brahmananda Saraswati, Sri Swami Nirmalananda and Shri K. Pattabhi Jois.

David is a certified Advanced practitioner of the Ashtanga Yoga method of Shri K. Pattabhi Jois, which he began studying in Mysore, India in 1988. He spent several years as a sannyas (renunciate) initiated by Swami Nirmalananda in 1989. 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. His classes are filled with metaphor, musicality and spirituality, spiced with humor, vigor and spontaneity. He is considered to be a “teacher’s teacher” and his teachings are internationally renowned.

Along with Sharon Gannon he teaches a one-month intensive Jivamukti Yoga Teacher Training course offered at various locations. He has written articles as well as being featured in many articles in Yoga Journal and is featured in Yoga an encyclopedic collection of asana by Linda Sparrow.

He has lived in New York City since 1979. When he created Life Cafe in 1980 it was a coffeehouse with vegetarian chili, and espresso made one-at-a-time on an electric hotplate. Life Cafe featured jazz, art, and poetry. David became an influential performer, artist and spokesperson in the political and social foment and lively arts community in the1980’s Lower East Side of New York City. Life Cafe has been featured in Newsweek, and in the Broadway play “Rent” as the setting for “La Vie Boheme.”

He is a long time vanguard member of PETA, working with them on various projects and campaigns to help make this world a kinder place.

Sharon & Davids Teachingschedule follow the link.

Transform Yourself with
Jivamukti Yoga

A vigorous Jivamukti Yoga class focusing on the integration of yoga practice and life and how this is reflected in asana sequencing, breathing, relaxation and meditation. Is activism a natural outgrowth of yoga? Isn’t yoga about focusing inwards?

Yoga teaches us that there really is no “out there,” out there. Everything we see out there is coming from inside of us. We create the world we live in. Our present reality is a projection of our inner reality. Our inner reality comes from our past actions, which are continuously shaping the way we think, speak and act. Our own thoughts, words and actions have created the world we live in, with all of its disconnection and disease. When we begin to take responsibility and embrace this idea, we discover the inherent power within ourselves which could transform the world into a place of harmony and ease. We realize that the transformation “out there ” starts by first transforming ourselves from the inside. If we want to be happy the best way to uplift our own lives is to uplift the lives of others. The popularity of yoga at this time of global transformation and shifting consciousness is no coincidence. By definition, a yogi is someone who is striving to live harmoniously with the earth and all earthly beings. A yogi purifies his or her karmas through good relationships

My TEachers

JIVAMUKTI YOGA

SHARON GANNON (Tripura Sundari)

David Life (Deva Das)

Transform Yourself with Jivamukti Yoga

A vigorous Jivamukti Yoga class focusing on the integration of yoga practice and life and how this is reflected in asana sequencing, breathing, relaxation and meditation. Is activism a natural outgrowth of yoga? Isn’t yoga about focusing inwards?

SHARON GANNON
(Tripura Sundari)

David Life
(Deva Das)

Transform Yourself with
Jivamukti Yoga