Shir Shemesh

Music has been Shir’s main passion and occupation since childhood, playing the recorder and violin. Now, he shares his love of music and the divine consciousness through leading Kirtan sessions (chanting mantras). Shir is inspired by the healing power of magical sounds and uses this inspiration regularly in his teachings. Born in Israel, Shir was always occupied with moral and political questions, longing for a more peaceful environment. As a teenager, he guided a socialist youth movement (similar to Scouts) following the belief that there could be a better society. These early non-conformist ideas transformed with time to become more philosophical and spiritual ones.

Shir has studied many different forms of yoga ranging from Vijnana to Sivananda to most recently studying under his Guru, Sri Dharma Mittra. Beyond yoga, Shir has studied other healing modalities like Ayurveda and Thai Yoga Massage. He has been teaching for over six years with over 500 hours of training certifications. Shir describes his first yoga class as an experience and sensation of great relief, like coming back home. He encourages his students to do the same in their practice, exploring and deepening their own inner bases.

“When I first went to a yoga class I experienced a sensation of great relief like coming back home. I discovered yoga during a difficult period in my life and with yoga practice I could find space in my mind, stability, strength, balance, and silence, which helped me to overcome those hard moments and to let go.

“Practicing yoga for me is like going into nature and breathing some clean air after staying in the city for too long. It taught me that there is a lot of peace and joy inside each one of us that doesn’t depend on anything external. But beyond all the benefits of yoga, I see it as a spiritual path for my life.”

Music has been Shir’s main passion and occupation since childhood, playing the recorder and violin. Now, he shares his love of music and the divine consciousness through

leading Kirtan sessions (chanting mantras). Shir is inspired by the healing power of magical sounds and uses this inspiration regularly in his teachings.

Born in Israel, Shir was always occupied with moral and political questions, longing for a more peaceful environment. As a teenager, he guided a socialist youth movement (similar to Scouts) following the belief that there could be a better society. These early non-conformist ideas transformed with time to become more philosophical and spiritual ones.

Shir started his yoga journey in 2004 when he took his first traditional Hatha yoga classes. As a professional musician, in order to improve his body awareness and posture, Shir studied the Alexander Technique and Feldenkrais Method. While living in Israel, he practiced mainly Vijnana Yoga, a yoga style invented by Orit San-Gupta. It is a mix of Iyengar and slow flow that brings a lot of awareness into yoga postures, as well as to the breathing techniques. In Vijnana yoga there is a lot of emphasis on the different Vayus (spaces) of the body. Many of the yogic imprints in Shir’s practice stem from this unique yoga style.

His first teacher training course was a Sivananda Yoga 300 hours Teacher Training. In this one month life transforming experience, Shir discovered his life purpose of sharing this beautiful gift of yoga with others. Many of Shir’s teachings are directly connected to the teachings of Swami Sivananda Saraswati and Swami Vishnudevananda.

In his quest of searching for a more subtle experience of yoga, Shir looked for a living master. At that time he found his Guru, Sri Dharma Mittra. By meeting him, Shir felt that many questions about how to live and embody yoga fully were answered. That meeting helped Shir to have rapid progress in his own Sadhana (practice of yoga towards self realization). Shir completed his advanced teacher training with Dharma Mittra, with eternal gratitude toward his teacher.

Shir has been teaching yoga for the last 6 years, sharing his knowledge all over the world, in both regular classes as well as special workshops on various topics. Shir has taught topics such as Master Classes, Pranayama-Bandha-Mudra-Laya, Yoga of Sounds, Mantra Chanting, Detox and more.

For over a year, Shir has been traveling around the world without a home base. This lifestyle invoked in him a deepening of his own inner base. In this period of time, his curiosity toward complementing different healing methods led him to take Ayurveda and Thai Yoga massage courses.

  • Certified as Sivananda Yoga teacher 300 hours.
  • Certified as Dharma Yoga teacher 500 hours.
  • Over 2000 hours and 6 years of teaching experience.
  • Master Degree in medieval music.
  • Ayurveda course with Dr. Ahrun Sharma in Dharmasala.
  • Thai Yoga Massage course with the Sunshine Network.
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