Considered one of Yoga's premier luminaries of the 20th and 21st centuries, Sri Dharma Mittra - known as the Rock of Yoga - was born in Brazil in the late 1930s. In the late 1950s he moved to New York City and was initiated as a sanyassi by Sri Swami Kailashananda (also known as Yogi Gupta), one of the first Himalayan masters to teach in the West.
It may be noted that Sri Swami Kailashananda was a master of nine forms of classical Yoga. He was a visionary on raw foods and taught the complete yogic system to return radiant health - concentrating his efforts between an ashram in NYC as well as a holistic healing center in Rishikesh, India. His own guru, rarely left his samadhi in the Himalayas. Not even his name is known. Only what he handed down. . .
As a full-time karma yogi, Sri Dharma spent nine years in selfless service to his guru. He began teaching classes in 1967 and has done so every day since.
In 1974, Sri Dharma opened the Yoga Asana Center (later renamed Dharma Yoga Center) in NYC. It was the first independent Yoga School in the US. It was also the first by-donation school. Students were invited to drop some spare change into a large jar at the front desk and, after class, encouraged to take home all of the sprouts they could carry.
In 1984 he completed the Yoga Master Chart. He offered it first to his guru, and then to all aspirants as a source of inspiration.
While known as an innovator as a hatha yogi, it is Yoga's foundation of ahimsa or compassion that is at the core of Self Realization. It is this seed principle that Sri Dharma has shared with countless students all over the world.
Teaching every day since 1967, Sri Dharma shows no signs of stopping. Maintaining this timeless link to Yoga's ancient roots through steadfast and selfless service, yet teaching amongst NYC's constant change has helped to forge a profound practice for the eternal present. As Sri Dharma jokes, "like the song says, if [in NYC] you can make it [yoga practice], you can make it anywhere!."
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