Sharon Gannon is the founder, along with David Life, of the Jivamukti Yoga method. She is a student of Shri Brahmananda Sarasvati, Shri Swami Nirmalananda, Shri K. Pattabhi Jois, and Shri Shyamdas and is an initiate into the Pushti Marg vaishnava sampradaya of Vallabacharya through Shri Milanbaba goswami.

She has been called a pioneer in teaching yoga as spiritual activism and is credited for making yoga cool and hip—relating ancient teachings of yoga to the modern world. Sharon’s book, Yoga and Veganism has been called the “seminal” work on the subject, a ground-breaking work that explores the relationship of veganism to the teachings found in Patanjali’s yoga sutra.

In addition to teaching yoga, Sharon is a polymath who excels in many disciplines including painting, dance, writing, and music. During the 1980’s she was the vocalist and violinist with the improvisational art band, Audio Letter. She has been a featured vocalist on many CDs including Sharanam, which is her 2010 solo album, produced by Ferenz Kallos. Sharon is a scholar as well as the author of fourteen books, which have been translated into many languages. Please visit the Books page at www.jivamuktiyoga.com

She was born in Washington, D.C. in 1951, the eldest of 3 children. She lived in various cities throughout the US during her childhood, arriving in Seattle, WA with her family where she attended the last two years of high school and college, where she graduated with a BA in Dance from the University of Washington. After college she pursued an artistic career. In 1983, she moved to NYC, where her focus shifted to the study, practice, and teaching of yoga. She currently resides in a forest ashram in upstate NY.