29th September 2021 (5.30pm-7pm Indian standard Time) An online birthday party took place….

With a little over 2 weeks Ashtangis mobilised to celebrate their teacher, in a wonderful display of unity and love to show gratitude for a man whom has given them much in life, as he turns the milestone of his 50th Birthday.

Welcome Illustrations

Everything was a surprise for the birthday man, all he knew was he had to log into a zoom link sent to him at a specific time. It was a fantastic effort by many to keep all the preparations from being published in social media to keep the surprise. Upon entering Sharath’s favourite musician, Bollywood legend, Kishore Kumar was playing and an animation created specifically for this party by, newly minted father Boonchu Tanti, authorised teacher from AYBKK also known for his popular Ashtanga Illustrations ‘All is Coming’…. with baby Boone in the other arm.

Opening Speech

Fresh from arriving home in Miami after a tour of workshops in Europe, international certified teacher Kino Macgregor, looking radiant and completely unaffected by travel, initiated the celebrations with a moving opening speech.

Message of Unity

Kino’s heartfelt message was followed by another heartfelt message made in unity by hundred of teachers around the world. The Message of Unity was no small feat, I won’t lie were were at home yelling at each other across the living room ( and between countless trips to the hospital ER when a cat bite almost killed my mother mid organisation) trying to figure out how to not overlap words allocated to participants, attempting to contact the over 660 teachers listed at www.sharathyogacentre.com and trying to scan our memories whom we know may not yet updated their details and so much more. There was no way we could have pulled this off without the help of power houses Simona Nucera and Digna Popat whom helped Manuel and I contact every teacher across South , Central & North America, Europe , Middle East, Asia and Australasia, intensely updating my Google Documents and send back numbered videos to compile. Some emails bounced back, some had no response and some was devoured by the notorious black hole that is known as the internet. I am truly sorry for anyone that didn’t receive the email to participate or who’s videos may have been missed out in the process, I really wanted to have EVERYONE make part both in the video and at the event and may have failed a few out there. I also want to thank everyone that took the time to send in and even resend videos to make this segment possible.

3/4 of the quartet that pulled this off had some heavy personal stuff going on with most of us communicating while in and out of clinics and hospitals or both. I look back and I am in awe of the human spirit and selfless determination to bring everyone together to show love.

After seeing the happiness and tears of joy it brought to so may , it was all worth it. After all don’t we learn Yoga to spread love and unity? Isn’t that the spiritual path to use our time here birthday after birthday to help others tap into the love that is inside them?

Forever Young

Epic moments were created when long standing teachers of Ashtanga, whom have known Sharathji for several decades came on live to share entertaining stories and happy memories . In a rare moment in history Certified teachers Dominic Corigliano and Hamish Hendry whom have known Sharath for the past 26 years and Richard Freeman and Mary Taylor whom have known Sharath for 34 years, since he was 16 years old and starting his teaching career, all got together online at the same time for one event to reconnect, reminisce and set an example for all that the beauty created by yoga is ageless and what it looks like to be forever young.

Musical Tribute

The musical tribute was given to long time student and teacher Aimee Echo whom teaches at AYLB in Los Angeles and happened to be a professional rockstar… literally. Together with certified teachers Eddie Stern in New York and Clayton Horton in Hong Kong whom are also talented musicians, a song tribute was created from 3 mega cities around the world! But a huge thank you must also be mentioned here, to Aimiee’s husband, Jaime, whom while sick with covid helped to produce the musical tribute. No event is without it’s behind-the-scenes drama. And these guys pulled off a wonderful moment in the party. Manuel and I added lyrics so everyone could singalong.

Birthday Speech & Cake

The last part of the celebration was handed over to the man of the hour with the family. Natural and with the flow but most precious of all … from the heart.

Exit

As we close and ended the party, long time student and teacher Nick Evans had wanted to dedicate a song to his teacher, whom we left everyone enjoying listening to as we ended the celebration with photos contributed by Ilpo Koponen, Nea Ferrer, Boonchu Tanti, Simona Nucera & Google.

Love & Unity exists.

Below was what transpired over the 90mins moving , raw , pure hearted and love-filled event….

A Massive Thank You to All that Contributed & Participated in this event to make the energy one to remember for decades.

Invitation Design by Boonchu Tanti

Welcome Animation by Boonchu Tanti

Welcome Background Music by Sharath ‘s favourite musical Kishore Kumar (courtesy Apple Music)

Opening Speech by Kino Macgregor

“Message of Unity” by hundreds of Ashtanga teachers around the world- written by Yan Ong, edited by Manuel Ferreira with special thanks to Simona Nucera & Digna Popat for helping contact all the certified and authorised teachers in the world.

“Forever Young” - Remember the Journey with Dominic Corigliano, Hamish Hendry, Richard Freeman & Mary Taylor

Musical Tribute ‘Landslide - Fleetwood Mac’ with Aimee Echo, Eddie Stern & Clayton Horton

Birthday Cake organised by Shruti Jois

Closing song dedication by Nick Evans

Closing slideshow photo credits Ilpo Kokonen, Boonchu Tanti, Simona Nucera & Nea Ferrer. Compiled by Manuel Ferreira

Hosted & Curated by Yan Ong

Segment of Message of Unity can be found independently.