YJ Interview: Artistry in Motion

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Thomas Fortel's early spiritual awakening led him to follow a guru and live in ashrams. These days, he travels the world creating "mini-ashrams," or sacred spaces of student-centered learning, in which yogis explore their inner Self and learn that yoga is a path of self-devotion.




How did you end up in California? While at the Manhattan ashram, I was doing hospice work. I'd chant in the morning, do a 12-hour shift with those near death, and then come back to a vi--brant ashram. Then I studied at an ashram in India for six months, where I met a lot of people from a Siddha Yoga ashram in Oakland. [They] said, "You should come out." I listened and moved to California in 1990. I started a three-year teacher training in 1994. I moved to Esalen in 1997 and learned massage and studied painting and astrology.

You are influenced by Iyengar Yoga. How do you teach now? I focus on the alignment of Iyengar and the Ujjayi breath [of] Ashtanga. I like flow, but with alignment. I'm also very influenced by Anusara in the way that I teach. I just freely speak from my heart. I'm opening my heart to seeing that God is in everyone. I want to honor Mother Earth—the sun and the moon and stars—and put the energy into that.

You also paint. How do art and yoga interact in your life? Creating art makes me feel like a child playing with colors and shapes. As a yoga teacher you take responsibility for others. With art I'm not responsible for anyone. It's pure enjoyment.