Sharon Gannon
Encyclopedia
Sharon Gannon is a Philosopher who communicates her ideas through Art
and Yoga
. She is primarily known as a Yoga
Teacher, Animal Rights
Advocate, Musician
, Author
, Dancer/Choreographer and Painter
. Along with David Life, she is the co-founder of the Jivamukti Yoga
Method which is a path to enlightenment through compassion for all beings. Compassion, kindness and non-violence certainly are not new spiritual ideas but extending them to animals and the natural world is a new idea to most human beings. Asana practice is a core teaching of the Jivamukti Yoga method, but asana is redefined by Gannon, who states that the Sanskrit
word asana
means seat
and the English word seat means a connection to the Earth
and Earth implies all beings and things. So by practicing asana one is practicing refining their connection/relationship to all other beings. She has proposed a radical concept with this idea, because our present culture does not encourage one to strive to live harmoniously with all other beings. But a good relationship or connection to the Earth is when there is a mutually beneficial result. The compassionate ideas of Jivamukti Yoga challenge the memes of our present culture, which operates from the paradigm that the Earth belongs to us: enslaving and exploiting animals and the natural world is our right as human beings. Foundation to the teaching of Jivamukti Yoga are the concepts of shunyata or (emptiness) which are found in the ancient yogic scriptures. Simply stated as: everything you see and experience in the world comes from you. If you want to change someone or to change the world, you start by changing yourself. When you begin to embrace this concept and put it into practice then you cannot find solace in complaining or blaming others. As Sharon puts it: "How you treat others will determine how others treat you. How others treat you will determine how you see yourself. How you see yourself will determine who you are."
Jivamukti Yoga is taught worldwide at Jivamukti Yoga Schools, and affiliated centers, which are in NYC, Charleston, Washington, DC, Toronto, London, Moscow, Stavanger, Munich, Berlin, Bern and Sydney. She has taught many high profile yogis and yoginis, notably Sting, Russell Simmons
, Donna Karan
, Madonna
and Christy Turlington
. As musician she has collaborated with such luminaries as Run DMC's Reverend Run, The Beastie Boys' Mike D, Bill Laswell
and Don Cherry
. She has written and appeared in many books, most notably the international bestseller Jivamukti Yoga: Practices for Liberating Body and Soul which she co-authored with David Life, and the ground-breaking Yoga and Vegetarianism the seminal work which investigates the link between extending kindness to animals and our own material happiness and spiritual liberation . A life long advocate for the rights of animals, she is an outspoken advocate of ethical vegetarianism(veganism). She was nominated for the "Gutsiest Woman of the Year 1999" by Jane Magazine and awarded the Compassionate Living Award by Farm Sanctuary
in 2008.
, Christy Turlington
, Russell Simmons
, Joan Jett
, Willem DaFoe
, Madonna
, Mike D., Donna Karan
, Michael Franti
, Geshe Michael Roach and Christy McNally.
Since 1993 she has presented annually at various national and international conferences in American, Europe, China, Australia, Mexico and South America, hosted by The Omega Institute, Yoga Journal, Asian Conferences and others. In 2009 she began organizing the Jivamukti Tribe Gathering, a yoga conference that focuses on the Jivamukti Method where the advanced Certified teachers from around the world present. It is held in a different location each year. Additionally, along with David Life she teaches a one-month intensive Jivamukti Yoga Teacher Training course every year in the US at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck NY and in Europe and Central America at various locations.
to discover why and how a vegan diet is the diet of enlightenment. She is the author of Cats and Dogs are People Too!, an investigation of the corporate profit-driven insensitive attitudes that result in commercial "pet food" and the health risks to companion animals who are fed it.
In 1999, together with David Life and Janet Rienstra, (of META Records) she established the Animal Mukti Free Spay & Neuter Clinic, which was the first free spay and neuter clinic in New York City, at the Humane Society of NYC. The clinic continues to operate on monetary donations largely raised by yearly fundraisers by Jivamukti Teachers. The clinic to this date has reduced the number of pets who would normally be euthanized in the New York Area by 37%.
In 2011 along with David life she presented a multi-media interactive presentation at the Guggenheim Museum
Lab in NYC as part of the museum’s project “Confronting Comfort in the City.” Her radical presentation focused on practical ways to extend comfort to the many animals who we share our urban areas with including migrating birds, feral cats, and pigeons.
In 2004 along with David Life, she was recognized as "Friend of Ferals" by the Humane Society of New York and Neighborhood Cats. The Farm Sanctuary awarded Sharon and David Life the 2008 Compassionate Living Award. She is a long time vanguard member of PETA,
working with them on various projects and campaigns to help make this world a kinder place. In 2003 she appeared on a video screen in Times Square behind the New Years Ball performing a Yoga
Asana
and advocating Veganism as a step toward world Peace.
Along with Life she has established The Wild-Woodstock Forest Sanctuary, a 121-acre Wildlife Refuge in upstate New York to provide protection for the diverse species of animals and plants who reside in the Northeast area of the United States, which include white tail deer, black bear, turkeys, foxes, raccoons as well as a large variety of birds, snakes amphibians and other reptiles.
In 1979, long before Seattle was known for Cobain and Cornell, vocalist/violinist Sharon Gannon and guitarist Sue Ann Harkey formed, as Gannon describes it, “a stream-of-consciousness experiment” which they dubbed Audio Letter. Although other musicians would drift in and out of their orbit, the duo remained a constant as their experimental nature allowed Gannon to incorporate her interests in alchemy, meditation, and Eastern philosophy into their work.
Relocating to New York in 1983, Gannon and Harkey became fixtures in the downtown experimental and world music scene. Audio Letter’s wholly improvised gigs in East Village venues like Life Café and 8BC attracted a growing number of fans including legendary jazz trumpeter Don Cherry, drummer Denis Charles, and artist/musician David Life. Collaborations with Cherry, Charles, and Life resulted in Audio Letter’s first album, released in 1987.
The daughter of an opera singer, Gannon is a John Zorn
-influenced veteran of punk bands (Pyche-Run) and electronic collectives (Body Falling Downstaris and Sean Dinsmore’s Dum Dum Project). She has collaborated with the Beastie Boy’s Mike D on both Neti Neti and Bill Laswell’s album Asana II, as well as with Run DMC’s Reverend Run, DJ Cheb I Sabbah and the late Don Cherry on Neti Neti . Other credits include work with Jai Uttal
on MC-Yogi’s album Elephant Power, backing vocals for Wynne Paris, Shyam Das and David Newman and a turn as featured singer with Sean Dinsmore’s Dum Dum Project. She collaborated with Raven Recordings to produce Sundari: music for a Jivamukti Yoga Class. Gannon produced the CD Jai Ma for White Swan Records, a collection celebrating female singers, including Donna De Lory and Deva Premal, for the label’s acclaimed Yoga Masters series. In 2009, she served as Executive Producer on Kelly Britton's critically acclaimed album, Refuge.
In 2010 Gannon released her first solo album, Sharanam on the White Swan Record Label, collaborating with Parisian producer/composer Ferenz Kallos (Gypsy Kings, Mercedes Bahleda). Guest artists appearing on the album include David Life on vocals and theramin, cellist Noah Hoffeld (Bebel Gilberto, Mark Ribot) and trance DJ Fabian Alsultany on bass. Sharanam is hailed by Sting as “inspired, daring and essential.” Legendary Rock Producer Rob Fraboni
says that “Sharon is a visionary who embodies insightful wisdom and a deep understanding of music and sound.” Composer John Zorn
says that “Sharon heals the world through her life and her music.” Sharanam features three interpretations of the beloved mantra “Lokah Samastah Sukinoh Bhavantu,” including a propulsive remix courtesy of the Dum Dum Project’s Sean Dinsmore. The ethereally expansive “Govinda Fly” and “Hare Krishna” showcase Gannon’s celestial, operatic soprano.
She has co-authored two books on Yoga with David Life: Jivamukti Yoga, Practices for Liberating Body & Soul, (2002) which includes a foreword by Sting and has been translated into Italian, German and Russian languages, and The Art of Yoga (2002) which includes a foreword by Ravi and Anoushka Shankar
.
She is the author of Freedom is a Psycho-Kinetic Skill (1981) Cats and Dogs are People Too! (1999) and Yoga and Vegetarianism (2008) which includes a foreword by Ingrid Newkirk
and has been translated into German language, and the Jivamukti Chant Book (2003) for which she is the complier and translator, which has been translated into Italian, German, Spanish, and Japanese languages.
She contributes the Focus of the Month, a monthly essay, focusing on yogic topics, which provides monthly guidance for Jivamukti Yoga teachers worldwide and can be read on www.jivamuktiyoga.com. She is a past editor of Patio Table Magazine, published in Seattle WA by Cityzens for a non-linear future. She is also a member of the Woodstock Poetry Society.
Her essays and short stories have appeared in many publications including the books:
Arcana V: Music, Magic and Mysticism edited by John Zorn (2010)
What Comes After Money?, edited by Daniel Pinchbeck and Ken Jordan (2011),
The Vegan Cook Book (published in German language) by Sandra Forester (2009)
Toward 2012 edited by Daniel Pinchbeck and Ken Jordan (2008),
Semiotext(e)USA edited by Jim Fleming & Peter Lamborn Wilson(1987) Semiotext(e)SF edited by Peter L. Wilson, Robert A. Wilson & Rudy Rucker (1989)
She has written for magazines including:
Yoga Journal Magazine and Chronogram
She is currently working on several soon to be published books including:
Magic is a Shift in Perception-a collection of poems 1973-2012
Simple Recipes for Joy, a vegan cookbook which includes a foreword by Kris Carr
and along with David Life, Yogic Assists, a technical manual for yoga teachers focusing on how to give hands-on adjustments which includes a foreword by Geshe Michael Roach and Christy McNally.
Since 1979 Sharon has been a pioneer in developing the genre of “Asana Dance”—incorporating yoga positions into modern dance/ballet choreography. Her choreography is featured in the Video: Asana: Sacred Dance of the Yogi. Most recently she presented, Guruji, an asana dance for 4 dancers at the Omega Conference in NYC Oct 2008, which can be viewed on You-Tube along with several other archival dances by Sharon, which are posted there.
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
and Yoga
Yoga
Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient India. The goal of yoga, or of the person practicing yoga, is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while meditating on Supersoul...
. She is primarily known as a Yoga
Yoga
Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient India. The goal of yoga, or of the person practicing yoga, is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while meditating on Supersoul...
Teacher, Animal Rights
Animal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
Advocate, Musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, Author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, Dancer/Choreographer and Painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
. Along with David Life, she is the co-founder of the Jivamukti Yoga
Jivamukti Yoga
Jivamukti Yoga, co-founded by Sharon Gannon and David Life, is one of the nine recognized styles of hatha yoga. Jivamukti Yoga is a physical, ethical, and spiritual practice, combining a vigorous hatha yoga, vinyasa-based physical style with adherence to five central tenets: shastra , bhakti ,...
Method which is a path to enlightenment through compassion for all beings. Compassion, kindness and non-violence certainly are not new spiritual ideas but extending them to animals and the natural world is a new idea to most human beings. Asana practice is a core teaching of the Jivamukti Yoga method, but asana is redefined by Gannon, who states that the Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
word asana
Asana
Asana is a body position, typically associated with the practice of Yoga, originally identified as a mastery of sitting still, with the spine as a conduit of biodynamic union...
means seat
Chair
A chair is a stable, raised surface used to sit on, commonly for use by one person. Chairs are most often supported by four legs and have a back; however, a chair can have three legs or could have a different shape depending on the criteria of the chair specifications. A chair without a back or...
and the English word seat means a connection to the Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
and Earth implies all beings and things. So by practicing asana one is practicing refining their connection/relationship to all other beings. She has proposed a radical concept with this idea, because our present culture does not encourage one to strive to live harmoniously with all other beings. But a good relationship or connection to the Earth is when there is a mutually beneficial result. The compassionate ideas of Jivamukti Yoga challenge the memes of our present culture, which operates from the paradigm that the Earth belongs to us: enslaving and exploiting animals and the natural world is our right as human beings. Foundation to the teaching of Jivamukti Yoga are the concepts of shunyata or (emptiness) which are found in the ancient yogic scriptures. Simply stated as: everything you see and experience in the world comes from you. If you want to change someone or to change the world, you start by changing yourself. When you begin to embrace this concept and put it into practice then you cannot find solace in complaining or blaming others. As Sharon puts it: "How you treat others will determine how others treat you. How others treat you will determine how you see yourself. How you see yourself will determine who you are."
Jivamukti Yoga is taught worldwide at Jivamukti Yoga Schools, and affiliated centers, which are in NYC, Charleston, Washington, DC, Toronto, London, Moscow, Stavanger, Munich, Berlin, Bern and Sydney. She has taught many high profile yogis and yoginis, notably Sting, Russell Simmons
Russell Simmons
-External links:** * * * * * * from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum* *...
, Donna Karan
Donna Karan
Donna Karan is an American fashion designer and the creator of the Donna Karan New York and DKNY clothing labels.-Early life:...
, Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
and Christy Turlington
Christy Turlington
Christy Turlington Burns is an American model best known for representing Calvin Klein from 1987 to 2007. She has worked on dozens of modeling contracts with companies including Maybelline Cosmetics and Versace. Turlington starred in her fashion documentary Catwalk and Isaac Mizrahi's Unzipped...
. As musician she has collaborated with such luminaries as Run DMC's Reverend Run, The Beastie Boys' Mike D, Bill Laswell
Bill Laswell
Bill Laswell is an American bassist, producer and record label owner....
and Don Cherry
Don Cherry
Don Cherry may refer to:* Don Cherry hockey player, coach, and commentator* Don Cherry , trumpeter* Don Cherry...
. She has written and appeared in many books, most notably the international bestseller Jivamukti Yoga: Practices for Liberating Body and Soul which she co-authored with David Life, and the ground-breaking Yoga and Vegetarianism the seminal work which investigates the link between extending kindness to animals and our own material happiness and spiritual liberation . A life long advocate for the rights of animals, she is an outspoken advocate of ethical vegetarianism(veganism). She was nominated for the "Gutsiest Woman of the Year 1999" by Jane Magazine and awarded the Compassionate Living Award by Farm Sanctuary
Farm Sanctuary
Farm Sanctuary is an American animal protection organization, founded in 1986 as an advocate for farm animals. It promotes laws and policies that support animal welfare, animal protection and vegetarianism/veganism through rescue, education and advocacy...
in 2008.
Yoga Master
Sharon has studied yoga and meditation since 1969. Her gurus are Shri Brahmananda Sarasvati, Swami Nirmalananda, and Sri K. Pattabhi Jois. She started teaching in 1984. Her teaching blends scholarly study, innovative activism, artistic pursuits and a highly disciplined asana and meditation practice. Sharon has taught yoga and meditation throughout the United States as well as in Argentina, Australia, Mexico, the Caribbean, Canada, Columbia, Costa Rica, China, England, Egypt, France, Japan, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, India, Indonesia, Israel, Kenya, Lebanon, Norway, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, Thailand, and the United Arab Republic. Her high profile students include Sting, Trudie StylerTrudie Styler
Trudie Styler is an English actress and producer. She is the second wife of the musician Sting.-Life and career:Styler was born in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, England. She attended North Bromsgrove High School, where one of her teachers was Clifford T. Ward...
, Christy Turlington
Christy Turlington
Christy Turlington Burns is an American model best known for representing Calvin Klein from 1987 to 2007. She has worked on dozens of modeling contracts with companies including Maybelline Cosmetics and Versace. Turlington starred in her fashion documentary Catwalk and Isaac Mizrahi's Unzipped...
, Russell Simmons
Russell Simmons
-External links:** * * * * * * from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum* *...
, Joan Jett
Joan Jett
Joan Jett is an American rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer and actress.She is best known for her work with Joan Jett & the Blackhearts including their hit cover "I Love Rock 'n' Roll", which was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 from March 20 to May 1, 1982, as well as for their other popular...
, Willem DaFoe
Willem Dafoe
Willem Dafoe is an American film, stage, and voice actor, and a founding member of the experimental theatre company The Wooster Group...
, Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
, Mike D., Donna Karan
Donna Karan
Donna Karan is an American fashion designer and the creator of the Donna Karan New York and DKNY clothing labels.-Early life:...
, Michael Franti
Michael Franti
Michael Franti is an American poet, musician, and composer. He is the creator and lead vocalist of Michael Franti & Spearhead, a band that blends hip hop with a variety of other styles including funk, reggae, jazz, folk, and rock...
, Geshe Michael Roach and Christy McNally.
Since 1993 she has presented annually at various national and international conferences in American, Europe, China, Australia, Mexico and South America, hosted by The Omega Institute, Yoga Journal, Asian Conferences and others. In 2009 she began organizing the Jivamukti Tribe Gathering, a yoga conference that focuses on the Jivamukti Method where the advanced Certified teachers from around the world present. It is held in a different location each year. Additionally, along with David Life she teaches a one-month intensive Jivamukti Yoga Teacher Training course every year in the US at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck NY and in Europe and Central America at various locations.
Animal Rights Advocate
As a yogini, teacher, musician, author and artist, Sharon is first and foremost an animal rights activist. In all of her writing and teachings she incorporates a vegan message as well as a call to abolish our species' exploitive treatment of animals. She is the author of Yoga and Vegetarianism, an exploration into the Yoga Sūtras of PatañjaliYoga Sutras of Patanjali
The Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali are 194 Indian sūtras that constitute the foundational text of Rāja Yoga. Yoga is one of the six orthodox āstika schools of Hindu philosophy, and Rāja Yoga is the highest practice....
to discover why and how a vegan diet is the diet of enlightenment. She is the author of Cats and Dogs are People Too!, an investigation of the corporate profit-driven insensitive attitudes that result in commercial "pet food" and the health risks to companion animals who are fed it.
In 1999, together with David Life and Janet Rienstra, (of META Records) she established the Animal Mukti Free Spay & Neuter Clinic, which was the first free spay and neuter clinic in New York City, at the Humane Society of NYC. The clinic continues to operate on monetary donations largely raised by yearly fundraisers by Jivamukti Teachers. The clinic to this date has reduced the number of pets who would normally be euthanized in the New York Area by 37%.
In 2011 along with David life she presented a multi-media interactive presentation at the Guggenheim Museum
Guggenheim Museum
Guggenheim Museum may refer to:* The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, United States* The Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, Italy* The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain* The Guggenheim Hermitage Museum in Las Vegas, United States...
Lab in NYC as part of the museum’s project “Confronting Comfort in the City.” Her radical presentation focused on practical ways to extend comfort to the many animals who we share our urban areas with including migrating birds, feral cats, and pigeons.
In 2004 along with David Life, she was recognized as "Friend of Ferals" by the Humane Society of New York and Neighborhood Cats. The Farm Sanctuary awarded Sharon and David Life the 2008 Compassionate Living Award. She is a long time vanguard member of PETA,
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is an American animal rights organization based in Norfolk, Virginia, and led by Ingrid Newkirk, its international president. A non-profit corporation with 300 employees and two million members and supporters, it claims to be the largest animal rights...
working with them on various projects and campaigns to help make this world a kinder place. In 2003 she appeared on a video screen in Times Square behind the New Years Ball performing a Yoga
Yoga
Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient India. The goal of yoga, or of the person practicing yoga, is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while meditating on Supersoul...
Asana
Asana
Asana is a body position, typically associated with the practice of Yoga, originally identified as a mastery of sitting still, with the spine as a conduit of biodynamic union...
and advocating Veganism as a step toward world Peace.
Along with Life she has established The Wild-Woodstock Forest Sanctuary, a 121-acre Wildlife Refuge in upstate New York to provide protection for the diverse species of animals and plants who reside in the Northeast area of the United States, which include white tail deer, black bear, turkeys, foxes, raccoons as well as a large variety of birds, snakes amphibians and other reptiles.
Musician
Sharon is a vocalist, violinist and founding member of the Pacific Northwest-born art rock collective Audio Letter, whose debut album It Is This It Is Not This was praised by Ann Powers of Rolling Stone Magazine, as a “philosophical and musical stew different than any other aural communication in Seattle.” Gary Reel, writing for Art Express Magazine (1981) “Audio Letter brings to a ritualized tavern experience a level of self-consciousness usually reserved for art galleries, museums, and “fine” art. It is not really an art band but an “anti-rock” performance group. It is not for entertainment, enjoyment, or background for drinking or sexual rites. Audio Letter’s mesmerizing internal sounds and action serve as a sophisticated intellectual statement concerning American mass culture…presenting a strange electronic dream which moves counter to our modern urban nightmares.” With contributions from Run DMC’s Reverend Run, Beastie Boys’ Mike D and the late Don Cherry, the album was remixed and re- released as Neti Neti in 2003. Yoga Journal called the result “luminous and ethereal” whilst Billboard noted its “flawless musicianship".In 1979, long before Seattle was known for Cobain and Cornell, vocalist/violinist Sharon Gannon and guitarist Sue Ann Harkey formed, as Gannon describes it, “a stream-of-consciousness experiment” which they dubbed Audio Letter. Although other musicians would drift in and out of their orbit, the duo remained a constant as their experimental nature allowed Gannon to incorporate her interests in alchemy, meditation, and Eastern philosophy into their work.
Relocating to New York in 1983, Gannon and Harkey became fixtures in the downtown experimental and world music scene. Audio Letter’s wholly improvised gigs in East Village venues like Life Café and 8BC attracted a growing number of fans including legendary jazz trumpeter Don Cherry, drummer Denis Charles, and artist/musician David Life. Collaborations with Cherry, Charles, and Life resulted in Audio Letter’s first album, released in 1987.
The daughter of an opera singer, Gannon is a John Zorn
John Zorn
John Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...
-influenced veteran of punk bands (Pyche-Run) and electronic collectives (Body Falling Downstaris and Sean Dinsmore’s Dum Dum Project). She has collaborated with the Beastie Boy’s Mike D on both Neti Neti and Bill Laswell’s album Asana II, as well as with Run DMC’s Reverend Run, DJ Cheb I Sabbah and the late Don Cherry on Neti Neti . Other credits include work with Jai Uttal
Jai Uttal
Jai Uttal is an American musician and singer-songwriter born in New York City. Often performing with his "Pagan Love Orchestra," Jai's music is influenced by his R&B roots of the 1960s and '70s and by traditional Indian music, which he first became familiar with at age 19.When he was 19, Jai moved...
on MC-Yogi’s album Elephant Power, backing vocals for Wynne Paris, Shyam Das and David Newman and a turn as featured singer with Sean Dinsmore’s Dum Dum Project. She collaborated with Raven Recordings to produce Sundari: music for a Jivamukti Yoga Class. Gannon produced the CD Jai Ma for White Swan Records, a collection celebrating female singers, including Donna De Lory and Deva Premal, for the label’s acclaimed Yoga Masters series. In 2009, she served as Executive Producer on Kelly Britton's critically acclaimed album, Refuge.
In 2010 Gannon released her first solo album, Sharanam on the White Swan Record Label, collaborating with Parisian producer/composer Ferenz Kallos (Gypsy Kings, Mercedes Bahleda). Guest artists appearing on the album include David Life on vocals and theramin, cellist Noah Hoffeld (Bebel Gilberto, Mark Ribot) and trance DJ Fabian Alsultany on bass. Sharanam is hailed by Sting as “inspired, daring and essential.” Legendary Rock Producer Rob Fraboni
Rob Fraboni
Rob Fraboni is a California-born record producer and audio engineer well-known for his work with Bob Dylan, The Band, Eric Clapton, The Rolling Stones, Tim Hardin, The Beach Boys, Joe Cocker, and Bonnie Raitt, and as Vice President at Island Records where he remastered the entire Bob Marley catalog...
says that “Sharon is a visionary who embodies insightful wisdom and a deep understanding of music and sound.” Composer John Zorn
John Zorn
John Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...
says that “Sharon heals the world through her life and her music.” Sharanam features three interpretations of the beloved mantra “Lokah Samastah Sukinoh Bhavantu,” including a propulsive remix courtesy of the Dum Dum Project’s Sean Dinsmore. The ethereally expansive “Govinda Fly” and “Hare Krishna” showcase Gannon’s celestial, operatic soprano.
Author
Sharon is a prolific writer, mostly focusing on non-fiction, essays and poetry. She is sought after for interviews because of her skill at answering questions in both an informative as well as engaging and often humorous manner. Several of those interviews are posted on www.Jivamuktiyoga.com for public viewing.She has co-authored two books on Yoga with David Life: Jivamukti Yoga, Practices for Liberating Body & Soul, (2002) which includes a foreword by Sting and has been translated into Italian, German and Russian languages, and The Art of Yoga (2002) which includes a foreword by Ravi and Anoushka Shankar
Anoushka Shankar
Anoushka Shankar is a British Indian sitar player and composer who lives between the United States, the United Kingdom, and India. She is the daughter of Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar and Sukanya Shankar...
.
She is the author of Freedom is a Psycho-Kinetic Skill (1981) Cats and Dogs are People Too! (1999) and Yoga and Vegetarianism (2008) which includes a foreword by Ingrid Newkirk
Ingrid Newkirk
Ingrid Newkirk is a British-born animal rights activist and president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals , the world's largest animal rights organization...
and has been translated into German language, and the Jivamukti Chant Book (2003) for which she is the complier and translator, which has been translated into Italian, German, Spanish, and Japanese languages.
She contributes the Focus of the Month, a monthly essay, focusing on yogic topics, which provides monthly guidance for Jivamukti Yoga teachers worldwide and can be read on www.jivamuktiyoga.com. She is a past editor of Patio Table Magazine, published in Seattle WA by Cityzens for a non-linear future. She is also a member of the Woodstock Poetry Society.
Her essays and short stories have appeared in many publications including the books:
Arcana V: Music, Magic and Mysticism edited by John Zorn (2010)
What Comes After Money?, edited by Daniel Pinchbeck and Ken Jordan (2011),
The Vegan Cook Book (published in German language) by Sandra Forester (2009)
Toward 2012 edited by Daniel Pinchbeck and Ken Jordan (2008),
Semiotext(e)USA edited by Jim Fleming & Peter Lamborn Wilson(1987) Semiotext(e)SF edited by Peter L. Wilson, Robert A. Wilson & Rudy Rucker (1989)
She has written for magazines including:
Yoga Journal Magazine and Chronogram
She is currently working on several soon to be published books including:
Magic is a Shift in Perception-a collection of poems 1973-2012
Simple Recipes for Joy, a vegan cookbook which includes a foreword by Kris Carr
Kris Carr
Kris Carr is an American actress and filmmaker as well as the New York Times best-selling author of "Crazy Sexy Diet," a motivational speaker and wellness coach...
and along with David Life, Yogic Assists, a technical manual for yoga teachers focusing on how to give hands-on adjustments which includes a foreword by Geshe Michael Roach and Christy McNally.
Dancer/Choreographer
Sharon holds a BA in Dance and has studied ballet, modern, classical and various forms of Indian and African Dance. During the 1980s decade she directed and choreographed for her Seattle, Washington based dance company: Moon-Food as well as dancing with/for her long time dance collaborator: Kathleen Hunt on many occasions, most note worthy being a world premier of polish composer, Krzyszt Penderecki’s multi media concert Marzena performed in Seattle Oct 1988 with Penderecki himself.Since 1979 Sharon has been a pioneer in developing the genre of “Asana Dance”—incorporating yoga positions into modern dance/ballet choreography. Her choreography is featured in the Video: Asana: Sacred Dance of the Yogi. Most recently she presented, Guruji, an asana dance for 4 dancers at the Omega Conference in NYC Oct 2008, which can be viewed on You-Tube along with several other archival dances by Sharon, which are posted there.
Personal life
Sharon has never been married. She has two living half sisters: Ivy Gannon who lives in Seattle, Washington and April Gannon who lives in Marshall, VirginiaDiscography
- It is This it is Not This, with Audio Letter, 1987
- Neti Neti, Audio Letter Remixes, 2003
- Sharanam, White Swan Records, 2002