Akasha and the Spirit Dog

Akasha Ellis met Kundalini master Yogi Bhajan as a young boy in the seventies. After a group workshop in New Mexico, the guru invited the ten-year-old and his father to speak with him privately. He bestowed the boy (whose birth name is Shane) with his spiritual name, Akasha, because of the bright light that shines from within him. Yogi Bhajan also gave him a personal meditation and mantra, which he began to practice daily. Eventually, Akasha was proclaimed ready to begin teaching Kundalini yoga, so he did.

After dropping out of college in his early twenties, Akasha traveled around India and took up the practice of Ashtanga yoga without knowing what it was. A friend visited and saw his practice, she prompted him to make his way to study with Pattabhi Jois. After some years of dedicated practice, Akasha was encouraged by his main teacher Vishwanath (Pattabhi’s nephew) to start teaching Ashtanga.

A natural and radiant teacher, Akasha has thrived on instructing and assisting students for over three decades. He co-owns Birmingham Yoga, a flourishing studio that offers classes and teacher training courses in Alabama. Akasha now spends part of the year teaching internationally, offering his unique brand of southern hospitality along with decades of dedication as a yogi and teacher to all who cross his path.

When he first arrived at Lake Atitlan on a sunny day about ten years ago, Akasha stepped onto the grounds of Villa Sumaya retreat center (where I now work), and like most visitors, looked around in blissful awe at the lush gardens full of exotic plants with vivid blooms and the beautifully-designed structures with thatched palm roofs nestled into the hillside.

The first person he met on the path happened to be the owner and founder of Villa Sumaya. “You must be Akasha,” she said. Their energetic connection was immediate and deep, and the two spent hours in rapt conversation into the wee hours of Akasha’s first night at the center.

Akasha’s first few nights at the center were challenging. While sleeping in the yoga studio, Tara Temple, he was plagued with intense nightmares and insomnia. He sat with these experiences, and after two consecutive rough nights, he prayed for rest so that he could meet the demands of leading a three-hour Kundalini Sadhana beginning at five o’clock each morning as well as a physically-intense Ashtanga/vinyasa practice. Yet again on the third night, Akasha was awoken feeling emotionally and spiritually tormented. Just then, in the still and quiet night, a gentle German Shephard made his way up to the fourth floor Tara Temple and sat with Akasha for hours, even staying for the morning yoga session as the students filed in.

Later, Akasha found out that the dog was named Balto and belonged to a hostel in the neighboring pueblo of Santa Cruz. As it turned out, on the night that Balto found Akasha, a canine friend of Balto’s had died. Man and dog had been drawn together by an invisible, magnetic energy. They comforted each other, and Akasha’s nighttime struggles dissolved. He slept peacefully for the remainder of the nights that first week.

Akasha has been leading yoga retreats over New Year’s at Villa Sumaya annually since 2008. He teaches to all levels and welcomes people of all generations, shapes and sizes to the practice. Some of the attendees have come for several years, others just once. Some bring their parents and adult children, others come on their own. I myself was blessed to attend the retreat a month ago, and I’m still processing all the deep and subtle transformations that occurred during that sacred week of practice, practice and more practice. I intend to submit a piece about the experience to elephant, just as soon as I find the words. Namaste!

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