About

Shamita is a yoga teacher, and former professional dancer and choreographer. 

She was born in Scotland, and moved to London in the 1990s to train in ballet, contemporary dance, and bharatanatyam (Indian classical dance). For 20 years, she worked as a dancer – performing, teaching, and choreographing all over the world. She has had the privilege of working with some of the world’s top choreographers, including Shobana Jeyasingh and Wayne MacGregor. She also worked for Tabula Rasa Dance company (Scotland), Tanzfabrik and Tanzfestival Bielefeld (Germany), Axel Danses (Belgium), Sinha Danse (Canada), and Tatarstan State Opera (Russia). In her solo choreography, including Dark Matter and many more me, she sought to develop a personal movement style, blending Western contemporary dance with South Asian techniques such as bharatanatyam and yoga.

Throughout her career as a dancer, Shamita was an avid practitioner of Iyengar yoga, which she found beneficial in developing flexibility and complementing dance training. However, a chance wandering into an Ashtanga class one day turned what was until then, a mere hobby, into a lifelong passion, rivalling her love for dance. She went on to become a yoga teacher, exploring the many facets of the practice, and developing her own style of Dynamic Flow yoga, and Yin yoga with Gong. Thirsty to explore yoga’s history, philosophy, and language, in 2023 she completed an MA in Traditions of Yoga and Meditation at SOAS, University of London. Her dissertation, titled Cinmudra: Origins, Evolution and Meaning, was subsequently published in the Journal of Yoga Studies.

Shamita teaches full time, including a regular programme of yoga classes in London, and runs workshops and retreats worldwide. She also offers trainings for teachers and teacher trainings, and most recently, has trained in the Reformcore method, which she also teaches.

Committed to giving back, Shamita is dedicated to supporting charity projects around the world. Her first project was a collaboration with Earthwatch and saw the creation of a Tiny Forest in West London. In partnership with Calcutta Rescue, she has also supported the creation of a new school for disadvantaged children from the streets and slums of Calcutta.