Sports had been a passion for Nir Haim Shakaroff, a former windsurfer who represented his country Israel at various international platforms. On a surfing trip to France, Nir met with an accident, paralyzing him for years until he recovered again. At the young age of 17, Nir had to let go of his love for sports and could only wait to recover completely through an intense medical routine. Amidst these conditions, Nir started learning Yoga and gradually spreading it across Israel.
Today, Nir organizes one of the biggest celebrations in Israel – the International Yoga Festival. The three-day festival sees the participation of Yoga experts and enthusiasts, musicians, spiritual seekers and culinary aficionados from across the world.
In this conversation, Nir shares his journey of discovering Yoga and his endeavor of spreading Yoga in Israel and across the world.
How did you discover Yoga in Israel?
As a young kid I had always been very passionate about sports from athletics to extreme sports. I was also very interested in philosophy and spiritual seeking. have studied philosophy in high school and I really liked it and I had a lot of questions about the world, about the self, about everything. However, these two worlds, the physical side of the sports, and the intellectual side of studying philosophy were very separate for me. Worlds apart.