Sam Silversides

17/03/2025

Some weeks ago I shared a video from the Sharath Yoga Centre on Stories here on Instagram, you know the thing they copied from Snapchat. Seems like Stories are the main thing nowadays anyway, have been for years, posts aren’t the lifeblood of this platform the way they used to be,—but I digress. The video is a montage of practitioners busy practicing their hearts out in Mysore at SYC, beloved teachers attending to them, but what struck me right away was the mantra playing during the clips, and it is Sharath(ji)’s voice chanting the mantra. I only know it as “Karpur Gauram,” and my friend Ty Landrum was the first one to teach it to me. It was perhaps the first chant that brought unexpected tears to my eyes, a chant that feels… well, beyond what any words can describe anyway. I love that chant, and its resonance still gets me every time. I had been planning to write something about Sharath’s death, an unexpected and painful one, and I guess hearing his sweet voice chanting this mantra which I feel connected to finally stirred me to do it. It was just a few months ago I found myself in Miami walking around with him and an enthusiastic group, and at one point for a stretch of pavement it was just the two of us, and he was wonderfully down to earth. For years of my yoga journey I had only heard secondhand stories about Sharath, and many negative. I was negative too, for longer than I would like to admit, passing judgement on someone I had never met. This suited me back then because I fancied myself special, and anyway I was lacking the discipline to be what I thought a true Ashtangi had to be, so I could conveniently let myself off the hook. The blind faith I saw surrounding Sharath was off putting to me—and still is, but in my heart of hearts I knew that I was stopping short of finding out the truth for myself.

[continued in comments]

22/05/2024

Ashtanga Yoga, with its rigorous sequences and disciplined practice, traces its roots back to the lineage of Krishnamacharya and the Mysore Palace. Deeply embedded in the spiritual soil of India, many great teachers and key figures in our current yoga culture have origins that root back to the Ashta

18/03/2024

It’s surprising there is so much fuss in the United States about getting enough protein when less than 3 percent of adults don’t make the cut. (Presumably folks on extreme calorie-restricted diets who just aren’t eating enough food, period.) Indeed, 97 percent of Americans do get enough protein.

There is a nutrient, though, for which 97 percent of Americans are deficient. Less than 3 percent of Americans get the recommended minimum adequate intake of fiber. So, the question isn’t where do you get your protein? but where do you get your fiber?

Fiber is found in whole, unrefined plant foods, such as beans, fruits, whole grains, and vegetables. Although fruits and vegetables contain fiber, many of them are also made up of about 90 percent water. Therefore, the fiber superstars are legumes—beans, split peas, chickpeas, and lentils—and whole grains. And, it turns out that legumes and whole grains also contain plant-based proteins.

Watch the video "Do Vegetarians Get Enough Protein?" at http://bit.ly/2nXTcX9 and "Is Fiber an Effective Anti-Inflammatory?" at https://bit.ly/3gVFH2D to learn more.

05/02/2024

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT - THE ART OF ASHTANGA VINYASA YOGA Goa, INDIA, July 6th-August 3rd, 2024

I first came to Purple Valley Goa
in 2019 as an assistant for the dear on one of his inspiring intensives. To be returning this coming July, five years later, as a teacher running his own intensive is a great honour. Purple Valley Yoga Goa is a treat, among my favourite shalas to practice in, complete with wonderful longterm local & international staff serving.

I want to thank all of my teachers for preparing me for this moment. To all the fellow students of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga out there, I invite you to join us for this coveted opportunity to go deeply into your practice,—and brush up on your Yoga philosophy too. In addition to practical, alignment based posture workshops in the afternoons, we will also be working with Barbara Stoler Miller’s celebrated English translations of both The Yoga Sutra and The Bhagavad Gita.

I hope to see you there.

📷 .gvidal

21/01/2024

If you live in Europe or can get there, I highly recommend learning from these two worldly teachers. Apply now!

We will be offering our month-long Teacher’s Intensive in Darmstadt-Eberstadt, Germany from August 5 - 30, 2024.

This training has evolved over the last 20 years of teaching it to include a broad range of topics of study and practices geared for yoga teachers and students interested in deepening the practice.

In this year’s intensives we will meet weekdays to practice asana and experience the internal and external forms of the poses. We will also have a weekend silent sit, hands-on practicum sessions, lectures specific to interfacing yoga with Buddhism as well as how to apply the teachings to everyday life. We will explore other limbs of yoga, including chanting, pranayama, meditation, anatomy, therapeutics, and Indian philosophies.

We are delighted that our anatomy teacher, Todd Garcia, will be able to join us in Germany to teach two days of cadaver study as part of this course as well. Please apply if you are interested!

Link in our bio & on our website to learn more and apply🙏🏼

07/10/2023

Day 8: Any arm balance from 3rd series or yogis choice

Better late than never, for my sole contribution to this latest challenge I give you गालवासन / GĀLAVĀSANA.

Taken by my dear friend and yoginī back in the somewhat simpler days of 2017 in the unparalleled Montréal, Canada.

Join us by following these simple rules:
1️⃣Follow us hosts⬇️







2️⃣Follow our amazing sponsors⬇️


🏆 Winner will receive 100$ to and 6 months subscription to

3️⃣Repost this flyer and tag
,friends to join, and tag all hosts and sponsors in all your posts

🔺Daily themes
1. Warrior sequence
2. Paschimottanasana
3. Purvottanasana
4. Bakasana
5. Tittibhasana
6. Parighasana
7. Visvamitrasana
8. Any arm balance from 3rd series or yogis choice

21/03/2023

YIS | Yoga In Salento

Yoga In Salento is located in the small town of Zollino, in the province of Lecce in Southern Italy. It is where Giulia and I will be co-teaching our July 2023 Ashtanga & Meditation retreat, Finding The Joy. Here are some beautiful pictures of the centre, and you may not have known that YIS has its very own Ayurvedicamente Healing Center complete with various spa services, so we hope you will treat yourselves!

‼️ Remember that there are Early Bird discounts (up to 20% off!) available for both YIS’s fees as well as our teaching fee up until April 1️⃣5️⃣th, - so if you’re able to book early then don’t delay and email YIS today to make your reservation(s). I’ve also set up a Facebook group that has all the rooms & prices information, and will post other helpful info soon. Giulia & I are both looking forward supporting you in your practice, your sādhanā. All levels are welcome!

15/01/2023

Happy to announce that my dear colleague/co-practitioner and I will be co-teaching an Ashtanga Yoga retreat in the beautiful and bountiful in southern Italy this summer from July 8th to 15th. Giulia and I met through our beloved teacher and since then both her and I have practiced and assisted Ty many times around the world, so we are happy beyond measure to come together to offer you this special yoga retreat. I’ll have more to say and to share in the coming weeks and months, but perhaps most timely is that for those of you who are able to book before April 15th, then you could save between 15 and 20 percent off the total price. The theme of the retreat for both of us is the joy that the rhythm of Ashtanga Yoga practice creates, and also to take the time to steep in the complimentary practices of sitting meditation, prāṇāyāma, and Sanskrit chanting, as well as functional alignment and history workshops. Hoping you can join, and looking forward to this one with great enthusiasm.