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!

back