Sharathji Bio
The late Paramaguru Sharath Jois was the leader of the Ashtanga Yoga world that was passed on to him from his late grandfather Sri K Pattabhi Jois in 2009 until his own passing in 2024. Under his leadership Ashtanga grew exponentially around the world and in their own town of Mysore, India. He taught classes at his shala of over 400 students and hundreds of thousands around the world thru his workshops and talks. He was the most advanced practitioner and the only person to have practiced all the sequences of Ashtanga until this day. Known for his hardwork and relentless mission to teach and spread Ashtanga Yoga he was a strong yet kind man that had an unreplicable energy to all that he met and touched, he was deeply loved by hundreds of thousands of his students around the world who’s lives he changed and was affectionately referred to as Sharathji.
More information about Sharathji and the institute upholding his teachings and legacy by his family can be found at http://sharathyogacentre.com
Sharathji Conference Archives.
PDF transcripts, Audio Files & Zoom Video recordings
The following is an ongoing project by Yan to collect and share talks given by Paramaguru Sharath Jois over the years, from the year he started leading these conferences independently after the passing of his grandfather.
Talks given by Sharathji had always been Yan’s favourite time of learning with her teacher, as with many others. His passing has made her realise these valuable words she held on to shouldn’t be lost, but shared to as many as possible. It is during his talks that his students had a chance to realise what was behind the mind about this otherwise quiet man of little words. Living in Mysore for several years and following him on tour in Europe and Asia meant Yan heard almost every single conference given in a year for many years, she has heard Sharathji’s words in conference more times than most and paid attention to what were the most asked questions during the Q&A sessions, giving rise to understanding the most important messages he tried to convey.
Photo by www.omstars.com
Over the course of 15 years Yan watched Sharathji grow as a teacher, from short talks of occasionally 30mins to lengthy ones of 2 hours, as his English vocabulary grew alongside his confidence on stage and ability to access and share more of his knowledge verbally.
Earlier conferences are PDF transcripts written by Yan herself while in Mysore, India using audio recordings she made in 2012 in-person which unfortunately are now lost. The process of transcribing his words allowed for so much more information to be heard that was missed by just sitting in conference. During those years when Yan lived in Mysore to study with Sharathji, it was during conference with him that she learnt the most about Yoga, this led her to the desire to transcribe his words into a journal for her own keeping.
Video recordings of Sharathji’s conferences are rare, but in the time of the pandemic he allowed her to record the online led classes followed by conferences that she hosted. These sessions share a glimpse of both his knowledge of the practice but also his energy & love for his students. It may be emotional for many, as he happily calls out the names of students at the end of every session during pandemic and connects directly. Some of these recording are in audio only as the video setting was not ideal for sharing.
If you have any audio or video recordings of conferences by Paramaguru Sharath Jois and would like to contribute to this archive, please reach out to Yan at yan.ong@me.com.