A PHOTOGRAPHIC EXPLORATION OF THE POWER OF YOGA TO UNITE PEOPLE ACROSS CULTURAL AND PHYSICAL DIVIDES

"I have a regular yoga practice and one thing I know to be true is that yoga opens me,"

says photographer and yoga practitioner Robert Sturman.

"Through asana [yoga posture], I have become more aware of my own actions and how my footsteps in this world leave prints. I have faced everything on my mat. I had no choice. I think that yoga just does that.

Sturman believes in the universality of yoga and has travelled the world photographing yogis across physical and cultural divides.

"All around us, there are people in every field creating the life they want to live," he says.

"Yoga has a way of bringing us into our heart."

From New York to Nairobi, Kathmandu to Havana, his photographs capture professionals and prisoners, warriors and children all united in their connection to yoga.

These are some of their portraits.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY ROBERT STURMAN