Free and Donation classes

Sharmila Mahesh

We are so happy to announce Sharmila Jois is leading Free and donation based Ashtanga Yoga Classes.

Sharmila will be leading 4 classes for any audience, ¡anywhere!

Classes will be lead on April 25th and 26th, and May 2nd and 3rd, at 6:00 AM CST

Classes on Saturday will be for Free!!! since Sharmila wants everyone to practice, and to shear the love on these times, no matter what your situation is.
Classes on Sunday will be donation based ($10 USD suggested) (all donations will be granted to COVID19 patients in India).

Feel free to donate to Sharmila´s PayPal account. https://www.paypal.me/donations20/925​ (this amount is placed in Ruppies, which is about $12 USD)

Classes will be led by ZOOM.

Register here 

Upon registration, you will receive an email a day before the class with your ZOOM link

Sharmila (affectionately know as ‘Shammi’) was born in Mysore in 1969 and was blessed to have grown up in a yoga family. From an early age she and her brother Sharath started practicing yoga informally by imitating students who had come to study with their grandfather, the esteemed and world-renowned, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, known by his students as ‘Guruji’. She would demonstrate her abilities to her friends and neighbours and she and Sharath were even asked to give demonstrations at the local police department. At the age of 14, Shammi began formal instruction with her mother every day after school in her regular afternoon classes. While in school, Guruji would ride his bicycle to her school each day to bring her and her brother their home-cooked lunch. She continued practicing yoga while in college in Mysore where she received her Bachelor of Commerce degree. After working in finance for one year, she got married to Mahesh at the age of 21 and moved to Bangalore to start a family.

Sharmila has been practicing yoga continuously since the age of 14 with the exception of the first trimesters of both of her pregnancies. Her first child, Pruthvi was born in 1996 and her daughter Prakruti was born in 2002. When pregnant with Prakruti and in labour, she was doing ashtanga yoga under the guidance of her grandfather and thanks to his wisdom and the postures that he prescribed, she overcame the pain and was able to give birth to her daughter without the doctor’s presence Her personal experience became a testament to how the ashtanga system and methodology can support pregnancy and prepare a woman for childbirth. One of Shammi’s specific contributions to teaching is her ability, based on first-hand experience, to guide pregnant women in the practiceof ashtanga yoga to best support them in all stages of their pregnancies.

When Shammi was 18 years old, she began teaching with her mother, Saraswathi. Her mother was pivotal in shaping her teaching style and her commitment to teaching. Shammi loved the dynamic of teaching alongside her mother whose natural feminine gift of combining strength with tenderness began to inform her own teaching style.

In 1996, Pattabhi Jois opened the Ashtanga Yoga Institute in Bangalore as a branch of his Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute in Mysore. He then nominated Sharmila Mahesh as the principle teacher for the center. Since then, Shammi has been teaching students in the traditional Mysore style as well as led classes, taking students through the ashtanga series with individual attention and according to the student’s ability, thus preserving the spirit of the practice as taught to her by her grandfather.

The teachings that Sharmila has received from her grandfather are numerous. She is inspired by his patience, devotion and love; his unending wealth of knowledge and wisdom and his unwavering commitment to the teachings and practice of ashtanga yoga. She endeavors to impart to her students what she has learned from Guruji . . . in the silence of the practice, there is a calmness and this state of being is available to anyone who undertakes a daily practice!

Organized in Mexico by Olivia Martinez from Ashtanga Yoga Mexico, and the support of Sādhak Yoga Institute

Subscribe here:

NOTE: Once registered, you will receive an email on friday April 24th with your access.

Feel free to donate to Sharmila´s PayPal account. https://www.paypal.me/donations20/925​ (the amount is placed in Ruppies, which is about $12 USD)