Dharmakrit is a foundation that will spread the knowledge of Ashtanga yoga. We deeply believe that it will bring a lot of benefits and deepen the practice for the people who already practice yoga, and introduce the beginners into the ancient yogic methods the way they were practiced for thousands of years. Dharmakrit was founded by Tonći and Gorana Gulišija.

Tonći

Already in high school I have felt the ephemerality of life. I wondered where all our strivings to secure the existence and «happy» life ended. I knew then that I needed a deeper knowledge that would give more sense of what I was doing. I sensed that the whole story was much more than education, job or marriage and that feeling was the initiator of my search. I wanted to find out who I really was and what was all of this around me, but I didn't notice anyone in my surrounding who had experiential answers to such questions.

In mid 1990s I have read the first book that gave me certain intellectual knowledge about that and calmed the waves of my mind. It was the work called «Sanyasin» by Satyananda Sarasvati. It gave the examples of wise men who have reached self-realization and the way of achieving it.

A little bit after that, I started to practice Hatha yoga and liked it a lot. Immediately afterwards I learned Transcendental meditation and Reiki, but those were all beginners steps that have lead me to the fulfilment and joy that I experienced on the first course of the Art of Living Foundation in 1999. After doing the Sudarshan kriya, breathing technique given to this world by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, I have stopped feeling that there was anything missing in my life, and the life itself gained a completely new dimension.

I have met the founder of Art of Living, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in 2000, and that experience was very intimate and deep. Immediately, in him I have recognized my teacher and my guide on the path of self-realization. Since then, every year I go a couple of times to advanced workshops or just to be in his presence, because every encounter with him brings new realizations. In 2002, I became a teacher of the Art of living and since then, together with my wife, I have been teaching Sudarshan kriya and other methods.

I have put a lot of energy in the effort to show the value of this knowledge and methods to young people, especially students, so that they can experience positive changes that happen while practicing. I have also thought of becoming a full time teacher, but I have realized that teaching wasn't the only thing in the world and that family is something extremely important. Goge, my wife, is a big support in everything I do, and we also have a girl called Nika.

Ashtanga yoga became a part of my life in the beginning of 2006. Already after the first training I felt I got something that had always belonged to me. I noticed that everyday practice brought immense stability and huge amount of energy. At the same time, I became more subtle, but also more grounded. I liked the combination, so it made me research everything about that method.

The main force is Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, realised master who died on 18th May, 2009, at the age of 93. He wasn't much of a talker, but the fact that such a master taught Ashtanga for 65 years and that two main postulates were "practice, practice, practice and all is coming" and "Ashtanga yoga is 99 % practice and 1% theory" shows that it is an outstanding phenomenon. To say something like this and to really mean it, you have to give something powerful to the people, something efficient that will bring tangible progress on a daily basis. According to my experience, that happens very fast, and what is most important it gives great benefits on all levels, physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. Practice is not simple and it requires discipline, but because of the benefits it brings, in time it becomes a part of you.

I did my teacher's training with Michael Gannon, an advanced Ashtanga teacher, in Mexico by the end of 2006. I got my certificate and officially became a teacher (RYT 200, Ashtanga yoga). Regardless of that, I could never teach without the blessing of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, which I received to my immense pleasure. At the beginning I did a few workshops and, in spite of the thrill of the participants – I stopped. I continued to give only Art of living workshops, but Ashtanga simply wanted to come out of me so, with the incentive from my wife, I started all of this. Now we are officially registered, and we also have a blessing from our teacher to teach Ashtanga within the Art of living, which brings me immense joy.