Jasper Johal is a leading photographer of yoga and fitness in the country.

When Los Angeles Times decided to do a story on super star yoga teachers, they came to his studio to shoot teachers like Shiva Rea and Duncan Wong. There is hardly a major yoga teacher of national renown who has not traveled to have their photograph taken at his studio. For over five years, every month his advertising and editorial photographs have appeared in the pages of top yoga and Pilates magazines: Yoga Journal, Yoga + Joyful Living, Fit Yoga, Pilates Style, Yogitimes and LA Yoga.

Besides his astonishingly busy schedule of commercial work, Jasper has been taking time to create an eclectic collection of fine art images called "The Body as Temple". This work is based on the ancient yogic philosophy of "Atman" and "Paramatma".

According to this philosophy each of us carries within us the spirit that makes us alive, called the "Atman". This spirit is a continuous and inseparable part of the universal divine spirit called the "Paramatman". Since our body is where this divine spirit resides, our body is literally a temple. Just as we spend the effort taking care of any house of worship, such as a church, synagogue or mosque, we are required to respect and take care of our bodies. This is the basis for practicing the physical rigors of yoga; to design a body that is worthy of holding the divine within it.

Jasper's "The Body as Temple" is a collection of classic black and white photographs of yogis, dancers and athletes. Dramatic lighting serves to sculpt every nuance of muscles in motion, capturing the exquisite poetry of the human form. During the last four years there have been over a dozen exhibits of "The Body as Temple" across the country from New York to San Francisco. Every year prints from this series have been sold to raise money for charities serving Aids, diabetes and breast cancer.

Jasper grew up in India. He now works out of a studio located near the colorful Venice Beach in southern California. More examples of his art can be seen on his web site.
 

Please visit www.jasperphoto.com to view his online art gallery "Body As Temple" series.