Jivamukti Yoga Explained with YuMee Chung

Join YuMee Chung in this video exploration and demonstration of Jivamukti Yoga. Born of the Manhattan yoga scene in the 1980s, Jivamukti Yoga has enjoyed explosive growth and popularity within it's relatively short lifespan. So much so, in fact, that it is considered one of the nine internationally-recognized forms of Hatha yoga, the other eight being Ashtanga, Bikram, Integral, Iyengar, Kripalu, Kundalini, Sivananda and Viniyoga.

With the vast landscape of yoga studios in Toronto, local practitioners have an almost intimidating array of styles and traditions from which to choose. For the beginner, finding a style that's right for you can be a daunting task. Which style best suits your individual tastes? What are the similarities and differences between them? Why do we need so many different styles of yoga anyway? While many physical postures, or asana, are common to the various styles of yoga, each style brings its own flavour, tone and emphasis.

This article is the first in the Yoga Explained series, which showcases the major styles of yoga, as explained by experts in the Toronto yoga community. Join some of Toronto's finest yogis as we navigate together through the previously uncharted waters of Toronto's rich and diverse yoga community.

YuMee Chung is an Advance Certified Jivamukti Yoga teacher, who has been teaching in North America since 2001. She trained directly with Sharon Gannon & David Life, the founders of Jivamukti Yoga in New York, after which she opened the first Jivamukti Yoga studio in Canada in 2002. She can now be found heading up Passport to Prana, a multi-studio yoga pass program that brings studios together in major North American cities to cooperatively promote the many practices of yoga.

In this article, YuMee discusses what makes Jivamukti Yoga unique and highlights what to expect from a 90 minute class. Jivamukti, which literally translates from Sanskrit as "living liberated," evolved out of the New York yoga scene in 1984. It has become a popular style of yoga for people looking for ways to root their physical practice in a spiritual context while finding ways to make it relevant to their everyday lives. At the core of this practice are the 5 Tenants of Jivamukti Yoga: Ahimsa (non harming), Bhakti (devotion), Shastra (scripture), Dhyana (meditation) and Nadam (deep inner listening). YuMee describes this practice as a strong, flowing, improvisational style of Vinyasa yoga, which can be hot, sweaty and rich with fluid dance elements. She also says it is unapologetically spiritual in its approach.

While peeling back the layers of this style, YuMee highlights the potential for Jivamukti Yoga to deepen your practice by marrying spiritual activation with social, political and environmental activism. She advocates taking one's practice off the mat and into the world to become agents of positive change while cultivating a mutually beneficial relationship with the world.

This video was filmed at Buddha Body Yoga in downtown Toronto, to whom we are grateful for allowing the use of their beautiful space. YuMee is joined by Scott Peterson, playing the ‘Mbira’ or Thumb Piano, and fellow Jivamukti Yoga teacher Lana Sugarman.

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