AshtangaNews

Guru, the new documentary about Sri K. Pattabhis Jois, Ashtanga and Mysore, will have its San Francisco premiere on Sunday, March 19 at 11:30 am at the Victoria Theatre (in San Francisco – you can buy tickets on the theatre’s website).

Robert Wilkins, the filmmaker, should be there and hopefully, Guruji, Saraswati & Sharath will be able to attend, too.

Based on Lori’s review of Guru from London, I think this will be a great opportunity to see a well-done film with a lot of our fellow Ashtangis and I’m really looking forward to it. For those of you going to the World Tour that day, you should have plenty of time after practice for a nice breakfast with friends before heading over to the theatre.

Robert Wilkins also kindly sent us these beautiful photos from Guru. Thank you, Robert!

Here’s a little information about Robert and his work:

Director Robert Wilkins has been making documentaries for over 10 years covering subjects as diverse as Al Jazeera London for BBC 4’s The Desk, forensic science for The Discovery Channel, Mummy Autopsy, and the award winning Calling Young Hong Kong about the 1997 handover of Hong Kong to China as told from a young person’s perspective. He edited Guru in his lounge-room on Final Cut Pro.

The movie sounds fantastic…from Robert’s press release:

But having devoted himself selflessly to yoga throughout his life, is he happy with the accolades of the past few years? What does he actually think of his ’foreign’ students with their yoga dreams? What do his Western devotees get out of travelling all the way to India to see him? Some would go as far as to say he is an enlightened being…

This film’s narrative is structured around preparations and celebration of Sri Pattabhi Jois’s 90th birthday in India last year, attended by a cavalcade of international guests. Jois provides philosophical insights along the way…Pattabhi Jois’s family themselves reveal how hard it was to grow up with such a focussed father…

The DVD is availabe for $20 (US price)on the Guru website.

Guruji in prayer
with Zoe Slatoff from Yoga Sutra School in New York

Leading class

Hamish Hendry
Astanga Yoga London

Rolf Naujokat
a travelling teacher