About her style of yoga:
Jivamukti Yoga is one of the nine internationally recognized styles of Hatha Yoga. The name Jivamukti means “liberation while living.” This style of yoga was created by Sharon Gannon and David Life in 1986. They named this yoga practice “Jivamukti” to remind students of the ultimate aim of the practice: spiritual awareness and enlightenment. It is a vigorously physical and intellectually stimulating practice combined with an equally strong foundation in the ancient spiritual traditions of Yoga.
As a path to enlightenment through compassion for all beings, Jivamukti Yoga is grounded in the original meaning of the Sanskrit word asana as “seat, connection” - relationship to the Earth. Earth implies all of life. Citing Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra, which states that asana should be sthira and sukham, Jivamukti Yoga maintains that one’s relationship to others (asana) should be mutually beneficial and come from a consistent (sthira) place of joy and happiness (sukham). This is a radical idea that, when put into practice, can dismantle our present culture, which is based on the notion that the Earth and all other animals exist for our benefit and to be exploited for our own selfish purposes. So the practice of asana becomes more than mere physical exercise to keep one’s body fit or to increase strength or flexibility; it becomes a way to improve one’s relationship to all others and thus lead to enlightenment - the dissolution of the sense of separateness, the realization of the oneness of being, the discovery of lasting happiness.
Bio:
Tara is a Certified Teacher of the Alexander Technique, a Certified Jivamukti Yoga teacher and holds a B.A. in Music from Sarah Lawrence College. Her first love and her introduction to discipline was opera singing, and she sang professionally in New York City in the 1990′s. This led her to the Alexander Technique, which unraveled habits of tension and reactivity, but most importantly demonstrated that profound change is possible. A New Yorker, she stumbled upon Jivamukti Yoga at her gym in September, 2001, and has been engaged with it ever since. Tara loves rigor, clarity, music, depth, mojo, and yoga philosophy and endeavors to weave all these into her classes. She has extensive knowledge of anatomy and how the body works from over 15 years of teaching the Alexander Technique and enjoys the art of giving hands-on assists in class. Tara has worked extensively with her Alexander Technique colleague Peter Grunwald, a pioneer in the field of natural vision improvement, for over a decade. She has traveled widely, is an avid if unsophisticated harmonium player, and has an intimate relationship with language and writing. Tara’s youthful vegetarianism sprouted an abiding interest in all aspects of food from nutrition to spirituality and at this stage she most enjoys eating and preparing raw food, though she is also an accomplished cook and baker.
Tara Sullivan became vegetarian as a child, after reading Charlotte’s Web and deciding that she too wanted to save Wilbur from becoming the Christmas ham. Decades later, it was her yoga teachers, Jivamukti Yoga co-founders Sharon Gannon and David Life, who led her to make the connection and fully grok the astounding interconnection of all sentient beings that has grounded her fully as a joyful vegan for life.
Tara relocated to the Bay Area in 2010 after three years in New Zealand and currently lives in Berkeley with her son, who has been vegan since his inception.
