Sharath's Advanced A Ashtanga - Full Movie Chile in 1999. No edits or retakes

Great find and share from Adam Wade

This video was filmed in Chile in 1999. No edits or retakes. Enjoy!

Gustavo Ponce was born in Santiago, Chile, in 1947.  He is the founder of Yogashala and Canal Om Wellness by the Sea and is one of the pioneers of yoga in Chile.

In 1996 he introduced Iyengar, Ashtanga Vinyasa and Viniyoga methods that he had studied in India under the direction of the great masters themselves, B.K.S. Iyengar, K. Pattabhi Jois and T.K.V. Desikachar respectively.

He has also developed three yoga methods: Dynamic, Sattva and Prana Shakti and has a following of hundreds of students in Chile and abroad. He has recently opened a new branch of Yogashala.

He is the author of eleven books, speaks five languages fluently and still continues to study and pursue business exploits.

Gustavo Ponce lived 32 years abroad; 20 of those years in Japan and the rest between the U.S.A., Europe and India. He was eleven years old when he discovered in a second hand book store the book “Yoga and Sport” by Selvarajan Yesudian that was to change his life forever. Back then yoga was virtually unheard of in Chile so he had to train by himself with the aid of Yesudian’s book. Around that time he also started to practice martial arts like Judo, Aikido and Kobudo with Japanese immigrants. Many years later whilst competing in Japan he suffered a serious injury which terminated any further training in martial arts and from that moment on, at the age of 35, he devoted his time and energy to yoga which became his true and only passion.

In 1972 he travelled to India for the first time to formally study yoga for six months.  Besides the Indian masters mentioned above, he also studied with other renown teachers such as Shri J. Yogendra and his wife Hansaji of Mumbai, Sharath Rangaswamy (grandson of Pattabhi Jois, who has recently changed his family name to Jois), Kausthub Desikachar (son of T.K.V. Desikachar), Ramanand Patel, Donna Farhi, Eric Schiffmann, Angela Farmer, Sarah Powers and Shiva Rea from the U.S.A., Dona Holleman from Holland, Swami Ekananda from Chile, Swami Digambar from Spain and Per Winther from Norway amongst others. In fact Gustavo Ponce is one of the few teachers who has had the privilege of studying with so many respected Indian masters known worldwide.

Gustavo Ponce was the Chilean Ambassador to Japan from 1986 to 1990. Following this appointment he moved to Belgium where he was in charge of a multinational company until 1995. In 1996 he returned to Chile and the following year founded Yogashala, the cradle of most schools of Hatha Yoga existing in Chile today. It was then that Yoga came out of the esoterical circles and established itself in the Chilean community as a safe way to obtain mental stability through control of body energy.

In 2003, Gustavo Ponce was diagnosed with cancer to the immune system, Non Hodgkins Lymphoma, a condition that statistically gives a life span of 7 to 8 years. He successfully underwent intensive chemotherapy and it was during his illness that he developed Sattva Yoga and Prana Shakti Yoga having in mind the therapeutical benefits of both methods.  He had decided to defy the statistics and apply all his knowledge to remain in this world as long as possible doing what he knows best, teaching and spreading yoga in Chile and abroad.

Since 2000, Gustavo Ponce has been personally in charge of all teachers training at Yogashala and Canal Om. http://www.yogashala.cl/Eng_Fundador.htm

And about the Shala