R. Sharath Jois Age, Death, Wife, Children, Family, Biography

Some Lesser Known Facts About R. Sharath Jois

• R. Sharath Jois’ grandfather, K. Pattabhi Jois, started learning yoga from T. Krishnamacharya at age 12 in 1927.

• He studied with his teacher until 1954.

• K. Pattabhi Jois dedicated over 70 years of his life to practising and teaching Ashtanga yoga.

• In 1948, K. Pattabhi Jois opened his first yoga school, the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute, at his home in Lakshmipuram. In 2002, Pattabhi started a new school in Gokulam to handle more students.

• R. Sharath Jois grew up in Mysore, India.
  

  A childhood picture of R. Sharath Jois

• He was born into a family involved in Ashtanga yoga.

• R. Sharath Jois faced many health issues as a child.

• When he was four years old, he spent a year in bed with glandular fever. When he was seven years old, he suffered a broken leg and rheumatic fever.

• R. Sharath Jois grew up around yoga and started practising informally when he was 7 years old. He practised casually until he turned 14.

• His grandfather believed young children could easily try poses from the primary and intermediate series, as many were simple for them.

• When he was 19 years old, R. Sharath Jois’s mother advised him to help his grandfather in the yoga shala.
  

  R. Sharath Jois while helping his grandfather at yoga shala

• His grandfather had many students and needed support due to his age.

• R. Sharath Jois became Pattabhi Jois’s full-time assistant from then on.

• During this time, his commitment to yoga deepened, and he understood its transformative effects.

• He began professional training in Ashtanga yoga under his grandfather.
  

  An old picture of R. Sharath Jois while practising yoga with his grandfather

• Later, R. Sharath Jois became a lineage holder of Ashtanga yoga.

• He studied both the practical and theoretical aspects of yoga with his grandfather.

• R. Sharath Jois waited until he felt fully prepared to guide others in the practice.

• He emphasized that understanding the asana and its vinyasa was important before teaching yoga.

• R. Sharath Jois spent many hours watching his grandfather teach and learn how to work with students of different body types.

• He developed an understanding of how to adapt yoga to individual needs.
  

  R. Sharath Jois while performing a yoga posture

• As a teacher, R. Sharath Jois highlighted that Ashtanga yoga was a process, with asanas being just one part of it.

• According to him, asanas prepare students to explore other aspects of yoga. The practice has many layers and is not simply a linear progression of adding new poses.

• Under his mentorship, students were encouraged to focus on physical practice because true learning happens through experience, not just theory.

• R. Sharath Jois believed that regular practice would be the foundation for applying yoga theory in life.

• He studied with his grandfather for 20 years.

• In the 1990s, R. Sharath Jois started travelling internationally with his grandfather to teach Ashtanga yoga.
  

  R. Sharath Jois while teaching his students during an international trip

• They wanted to bring an authentic yoga system to the West, where yoga was gaining popularity. They also aimed to counter non-traditional approaches to teaching yoga.

• R. Sharath Jois continued to travel globally to support the tradition and integrity of Ashtanga yoga.

• In 2007, when Pattabhi Jois could no longer teach due to poor health, Sharath became the director of K Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute (KPJAYI).

• R. Sharath Jois then took on the role of the institute and became the senior-most authority on Ashtanga yoga.

• He studied and practised all six series of Ashtanga yoga with his grandfather.
  

  R. Sharath Jois with his grandfather and mother

• His teaching style was described as a balance of strictness and compassion by senior students.

• R. Sharath Jois regularly held a summer teacher’s course for authorized and certified practitioners to continue the yoga lineage.

• The course ensured the Ashtanga method was taught in line with tradition and respected the lineage of yoga gurus such as Rama Mohan Brahmachari, T. Krishnamacharya, and Pattabhi Jois.

• In 2014, R. Sharath Jois was honoured at a celebration after completing one of these teacher’s courses.

• R. Sharath Jois continued his grandfather’s tradition by holding Saturday conferences after leading classes.

• These conferences covered key aspects of yoga practice, and theory, and addressed students’ questions.
  

  R. Sharath Jois while speaking at a conference

• R. Sharath Jois emphasized practising with the 4 D’s — devotion, dedication, determination, and discipline — for maximum benefit.

• In 2019, his mother, Saraswathi Rangaswamy, moved her yoga school to KPJAYI and renamed it the K. Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Shala.

• After that, R. Sharath Jois opened a new yoga school named Sharath Yoga Centre in Mysuru, India.
  

  Logo of Sharath Yoga Centre

• In 2020, R. Sharath Jois published the book Ashtanga Yoga Anusthana, which provides an introduction to Ashtanga yoga, explaining the eight limbs of the practice, the importance of Tristhana and Vinyasa, and the main asanas of the primary series, along with additional asanas for therapy.
  

  The cover of the book Ashtanga Yoga Anusthana

• After that, R. Sharath Jois authored the book Ageless: A Yogi’s Secrets to a Long and Healthy Life.

• On 11 November 2024, he passed away from a heart attack while hiking with students at Humpback Rock near the University of Virginia.

• R. Sharath Jois had been an advocate for yoga in school curriculums.

• The University of Virginia frequently hosted a traditional Mysore program led by a KPJAYI-authorized teacher.

• R. Sharath Jois wrote the foreword for the 2010 edition of Yoga Mala: The Original Teachings of Ashtanga Yoga Master Sri K. Pattabhi Jois.

• He had been featured in LA Yoga and Namarupa magazine through interviews and articles.

• R. Sharath Jois contributed articles to Pushpam Magazine and was featured in various yoga magazines and Indian newspapers.

• He had taught A-list celebrities, including Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow.

• In an interview with a media house, Jois once discussed his experience of teaching some of the world’s biggest celebrities. He said,
  

  Whether it’s Madonna, Sting or Gwyneth, once they sign up for classes, they are very disciplined.”

  

  R. Sharath Jois with Madonna

• Once, a newspaper reported that his yoga breathing technique drew the interest of former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

• In a 2017 CNN interview, Clinton shared that Alternate Nostril Breathing (Nadi Shodhana Pranayama) helped her cope with the stress of losing the 2016 presidential election to Donald Trump.

• According to some media reports, he was a teacher at the Contemplative Sciences Center at the University of Virginia.

• He was an environment enthusiast and often participated in tree plantation drives in Mysore.
  

  R. Sharath Jois while planting a sapling

• R. Sharath Jois liked travelling to distant places in his free time.
  

  R. Sharath Jois during a trip