Austin Sanderson

FOUNDER & CO-OWNER OF URBAN SADHU YOGA AND BEAUTY Austin K. Sanderson moved to NYC in 1998 to attend New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, Design and Production Department. After graduating with his Masters degree in set and costume design, he spent the next twenty-two years working as a designer in the American theater. In 2008 he was introduced to Jivamukti Yoga in a yoga class at a local neighborhood gym in Jersey City New Jersey. As he continued to take Jivamukti classes both locally and at the Jivamukti Yoga School NYC. Austin wanted to learn more about yoga and share with others his life changing experience brought about while practicing the Jivamukti Yoga Method. In 2011, Austin attended the Jivamukti 300+ hour teacher training program at the Omega Institute. In 2012, he continued his studies and completed his 800-hour Jivamukti Teacher Certification at The Jivamukti Yoga School NYC and went to become an Advanced Certified Jivamukti Yoga Teacher. In 2013, Austin and his partner Bob opened a 3000 square foot Jivamukti Yoga Center in downtown Jersey City, two blocks away from where he took his first Jivamukti yoga class. Austin is extremely grateful to his teachers, Sharon Gannon and David Life. Austin views Gannon and Life as his upa-guru, a teacher who points you in the right direction. Without them Austin would have never had a full understanding of why veganism is so crucial to a yoga practice. While Austin ran the Jivamukti Center in Jersey City he continued to seek deeper teachings outside the Jivamukti method, ones that would offer a deeper understanding of the ancient teaching of yoga from its roots. It was at this point that Shri Yogishri Sudarshan Kannan came into Austin’s life as a teacher and Sat-Guru. In 2020, Austin founded the Urban Sadhu Yoga Method, “a method of applying ancient yogic wisdom in a contemporary context.” He and his partner Bob are the co-owners of Urban Sadhu Yoga Shala, formally Jivamukti Yoga Center Jersey City. Austin is also if the co-founder and co-producer of Yoga Fest Jersey City, a free public yoga, music and vegan food festival held in the heart of downtown Jersey City NJ during the summer equinox. During the pandemic Austin and Bob began a new line of CBD infused beauty products. The Urban Sadhu Beauty line of full-spectrum CBD topical products is designed to both to invigorate and relieve the body and mind. With nothing available in the current market, the product line was developed by yogis who wanted a CBD product that was vegan, with no GMOs, free of animal testing, organic, paraben free, made in small batches, and made in the USA. These products were originally intended to be used during and after the yoga practice, but Urban Sadhu Beauty™ products can be applied by anyone who is looking for a high-quality, effective CBD product. During the pandemic Urban Sadhu was privileged to collaborate with the renown Mythologist and Illustrator Devdutt Pattanaik to create the Urban Sadhu Yoga™ Chant Book, A Collection of Chants, Kirtans, Prayers, Sutras, Shlokas, Shastras, Devotional Songs, and Inspirational Texts for the Modern Yoga Practitioner. The illustrations by Devdutt Pattanaik really make Austin's first foray into the publishing world something very special.