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Dashama Konah Gordon
Personal details
Born	Dashama Konah Gordon (1981-07-08) July 8, 1981 Black Hills ,South Dakota, Spearfish.
Founder	Pranashama Yoga Institute
Creator	30 Day Yoga Challenge
Website	Dashama Pranashama

Dashama Konah Gordon (commonly known as "Dashama") is an American author, humanitarian and yoga teacher. She is the founder of Pranashama Yoga Institute and creator of the 30 Day Yoga Challenge.

Early Years

Dashama was born on July 8, 1981 in the Black Hills of South Dakota, in a town called Spearfish. Her parents are Richard David [1], New York raised Jewish, Rutger's University educated English professor who was born in London, England and Kristen Alice Estrup an American born architect, herbalist and fashion designer.

Due to her mother’s spiritual beliefs, which were influenced by yoga and eastern mysticism, Dashama was born at home. Soon after, their family moved to Northern California where her youngest sister Bokhara was born and then they all moved southeast to settle and build a house in Northern Florida in a rural area known as the Three River Estates, where the Ichetucknee, Suwannee and Fe Rivers all meet together.

For the first 7 years of her life Dashama was home schooled by her parents. In 1988 her mother was clinically diagnosed with drug induced schizophrenia. At that time, due to excessive drug and alcohol use, both her mother and father were deemed not fit to raise Dashama and her 3 sisters, so the children were sent to live in foster care.

Starting public elementary school in 2nd grade, Dashama began her humanitarian work in 1989, at age 8 when she was selected to make weekly visits to the Veterans Hospital, VA Sunshine Healthcare Network in Florida, as part of the VITAL program to uplift the spirits of military war veterans who had been severely injured, suffering from PTSD or disabled from their service in WW1 and WW2.

Dashama also demonstrated an early interest in film and theater, which won her the lead roll in the school play Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea at her school in 1990. The following year she was casted along with her younger sister Bokhara in their school play musical titled Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier.

In addition to her other sports and yogic practices, at age 10, she began training in tae kwon do Martial arts.

After living for 5 years in various foster homes, at age 12, Dashama was sent to live with her mother's adopted sister, Robyn Opstedahl, a social worker living in Rapid City, South Dakota. In middle school, Dashama was a weekly volunteer at the YMCA throughout middle and high school, and was also one of the youngest citizens selected to work for the US Bureau of the Census in 2000.

An award winning student, Dashama's artwork, writing and scholastic achievements won her numerous awards at local, state and national levels.

At the age of 14, Dashama was involved in the first of 5 car accidents, each of which caused damage to her spine, eventually leading to a diagnosis of scoliosis by her doctors. She was also diagnosed with Graves Disease which lasted for 4 years and leading to chronic health near fatal health conditions which lead to her doctors prescribing radioactive iodine to destroy her thyroid gland function to prevent further damage to her health in 1999.

Despite her health challenges, Dashama was an avid athlete, participating in cross country running, volleyball, track and field and long distance running, swimming, diving, soft ball, basketball, cheerleading as well as being involved in extra curricular activities such as DECA, pep club, student council and Toast Masters to name a few. She was also the assistant to the coach for her high school gymnastics team. She was also an avid rock climber and nature enthusiast who spent her child hood years cliff jumping, hiking and camping outdoors.

Higher Education & Early Career

After a tumultuous childhood, Dashama graduated high school with a full ride scholarship to attend Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, FL where her paternal grandparents lived.

In 2000 Dashama was hit by a car while riding her bicycle. She was later diagnosed with scoliosis from the impact this accident had upon the curvature of her spine.

Dashama excelled in her studies at the University and in 2001 she was awarded a plaque for "Student of the Year" from the Pre Medical Society for stumping her science professors with questions they couldn't answer about the nature of the Universe.

In 2002 Dashama went to abroad for summer study at ESIC in Madrid, Spain where she received a certification in International Business.

During college, Dashama also worked as a licensed commodities broker in 2001 and later also as a licensed real estate agent for investors in the state of Florida.

She was hired as a promotional spokes model for the South Florida region for Russell Simmons Def Con3 energy beverage company he launched in 2003.

After her college graduation she worked at Nightingale Nurses, arranging job interviews between hospitals and traveling nurses.

In 2005 Dashama became a certified fitness trainer with Afaa and also was certified to teach yoga, initially trained by the Sivananda Yoga School.

Dashama started her career teaching yoga and health at country clubs, private schools, corporations and Coral Springs Medical Center where she developed an 8 week fitness challenge and wrote a weekly health newsletter for 200 hospital employees and also taught kids and family yoga classes weekly.

Media and Partnerships

In 2006 she launched one of the first guru channels on YouTube.

Although several of her earlier videos went viral in 2007 and 2008, Dashama became world known in 2009 when she launched the first social media based yoga challenge (30 Day Yoga Challenge, aka 30DYC) which went viral, reaching millions of people and later inspired a global trend or fad of yoga challenges online.

Her 30 day yoga video series was then picked up by Alison Education, based in UK, and quickly became one of the top online learning courses on their platform for their 5 million students. After that she was recruited by Udemy, a startup platform for online education, where Dashama's 30 Day Yoga Challenge online course again quickly rose to the top of the selection and became in the prestigious Udemy Top Sellers Circle.

In 2009, Dashama published the first paddle board yoga (aka sup yoga) video online, on her youtube channel, which went viral inspiring the Sup yoga trend to become popular world wide. She was soon invited to teach sup yoga to the guests at the Waldorf Astoria, Boca Raton Resort. She was also invited to perform her unique blend of yoga and fire dancing at the Boca Raton Resort and club.

In the same year, Dashama produced her first yoga dvd series, featuring 4 DVDs designed for families including Kids Yoga Adventure, Yoga Family Funtime, Thai Yoga Tantra and Balance Your Life with Yoga. Her company Perfect 10 Lifestyle LLC was awarded a distribution contract with MVD to sell her Dvds in Best Buy, Barnes and noble, target, Amazon and Walmart. These DVDs were printed on eco friendly recycled DVD cases with the proceeds going to the Pranashama yoga scholarship fund.

That year Dashama was also featured in the Sunday Times UK, London's largest selling Sunday newspaper, in an interview about paddle board yoga.

Books

In 2011 she officially published her first book, Journey to Joyful released through Random House in its revised edition with a new cover and additional instructional yoga content. That year she also embarked upon her first global book tour, kicking it off in Los Angeles, California and including Europe, Mexico, Hawaii, USA and Bali, Indonesia.

Journey to Joyful became one of the training manuals for her Pranashama Yoga Teacher Training curriculum. She was also interviewed for CBS and featured as one of their "11 Beautiful Writers" that same year.

Dashama has also written several other books, self published in ebook format such as the Green Smoothie Cleanse, Intro to Yoga, Pranashama Yoga Training Manual, and her 3 Stage Energy Diet.

She has also been featured in multiple best selling books including the Miracle Morning, James Altucher's Choose Yourself,

In 2015 she was also a featured author of a chapter about paddle board sup yoga and her photo was on the back cover of the Falcon Guides Book "Art of Stand Up Paddling" along with Laird Hamilton.

In 2018 Dashama wrote her book "Yoga for Surfing: Tips, Techniques and Living the Flow State", published by Globe Pequot Press, as a compilation of interviews with 10 experts in the fields of yoga and surfing with an emphasis on the topic about Flow and how yoga and surfing can help people to access the Flow State of Consciousness.

Pranashama Yoga Institute Dashama registered her yoga school, Pranashama Yoga Institute with Yoga Alliance in October 2011 to offer 200 and 500 hour yoga teacher trainings and continuing education programs world wide. That same year she launched her 300 hour yoga teacher training certification programs, registered with yoga alliance in Bali, Indonesia inspired by the movie and book Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.

In 2012 she opened the first Pranashama Yoga studio in the Isle of Man, UK with Dave Smyth, senior Pranashama yoga teacher to many of the top level TT racing athletes in UK.

Pranashama yoga has certified over 200 yoga teachers, which are also called Prana shaman or energy healers.

Humanitarianism

Dashama flew to New York as a sponsor / contributor to the Clinton Global Initiatives fund raising gala featuring Former US president Bill Clinton, the Queen of Funk Chaka Khan and Avatar star Zoe Saldana

Dashama has also worked with numerous charitable foundations ranging from local NGOs in Bali bringing volunteers and donations to orphanages, supporting children through the adopt a child program with Compassion International and World Vision, as well as leading her own fund raisers for under privileged children and teaching yoga in Haiti with the Global Empowerment Mission with Michael Capponi in 2016.

Media & TV

In 2010 she auditioned to have her own show on the Oprah Winfrey Network, where her audition rose to the top 1% out of 20,000 auditions world wide.

In 2012, while living in Santa Monica, California, Dashama was casted and starred as Shaye the yoga teacher, in a comedic short internet TV series called YogaPhiles, directed by Celeste Thorson, which qualified her to become SAG (Screen Actors Guild) eligible.

In 2013, Dashama produced a 12 DVD series titled The Prasha Method, which was later picked up for distribution by Target, Walmart, Best Buy and other international retailers.

The 12 DVD series was filmed live in Bali Indonesia, with yoga workshops created to provide continuing education unites (CEUs) to yoga teachers or fitness professionals seeking to deepen their knowledge of yoga or expand their professional education.

Dashama has been a regular writer and contributor to Lance Armstrong foundation Livestong and is often featured with Jillian Michaels and other top fitness celebrities through her affiliation with the Fitfusion media platform. Now a member of Bell TV Canada and AT&T Uverse, Dashama's videos are being seen by millions of viewers on an ever growing network of media platforms globally. She can also be found on Apple TV, Roku, and her own platform and community membership site.

In 2015 Dashama was casted to be featured in a Discovery Channel episode on their Seeker Stories Network, for the Art of Stand Up Paddle Boarding in Miami, FL.

She later posted a photo on Facebook of 1 million children meditating in Thailand at the World Dhammakaya Centre which reached over 12 million people virally.

In 2016 Dashama teamed up with Matt Granite from NBC's show the Deal Guy, starring as her self in a yoga for lower back pain relief segment both on TV and on Youtube.

Public Speaking

On March 21, 2016 Dashama was selected to speak at the United Nations for International Day of Happiness for the tribute to the Kingdom of Bhutan and presented by the permanent missions of the Republic of Palau, held at the UN headquarters in New York City. Her 15 minute speech was broadcast live world wide on the UN website and her 21 minute guided happiness and gratitude meditation can be heard on the UN website and can also be downloaded on the I DO Happiness Website.

She has also spoken at many other events and Universities world wide including Warwick University in UK, XDubai Yoga Festival, University of Virginia, Florida Atlantic University, Sony Motion Picture Studios and she also spoke at the Leaders Causing Leaders conference in Long Beach, CA along with other notable speakers such as Jason Mraz, Mariane Williamson and Mastin Kipp in 2011.

Events

In January, 2011 Dashama was invited to create Yoga Awareness week at Sony Motion Picture Studios headquarters for National Yoga Week in Los Angeles where she spoke to the employees of Sony about the benefits of yoga as a health and happiness ritual and practice.

In October of 2012, Dashama produced an Eco Fashion Show and Charity Ball, in Miami Beach, FL to raise funds and awareness for the Charity : Water foundation.

And featuring some of Miami's top musical talent including Kendra Williams, who was a finalist on the show X factor and fire dancing performances with Debby Carrigan who has been featured in a music video with Beyonce.

In 2014 she was hired by Nike to teach yoga to their senior executives at their global leadership summit at the Mandarin Oriental in Miami, FL.

On April 23rd, 2016 Dashama produced the Earth Day Yoga Festival at Island Gardens in partnership with the City of Miami, Michael Capponi and the owners of Deep Harbour Marina and the Deck at Island Gardens in Miami, FL. Sponsors included Athleta, a yoga apparel brand owned by Gap Inc and Fiji Water. They were featured in Ocean Drive Magazine and promoted by Gilt City, both media platforms owned by Niche Media founder Jason Binn.

Global Campaigns

Dashama has inspired millions of people online with her global campaigns starting in 2007 with her 8 week fitness challenge at Coral Springs Medical Center, then in 2008 with 30 Day Yoga Challenge on youtube, with her Journey to Joyful book and tour in 2011, Her Free Hugs video featuring I'm Yours music by Jason Mraz on youtube to spread more love in 2012, WeR1Race campaign for health and sustainability in 2013, the Global Gratitude Challenge to inspire thankfulness, happiness and appreciation in 2014 and her Be the Change campaign and tour spreading yoga and ocean awareness which kicked off in 2015 and now the newest campaign Oneness Movement to unite influencers with United Nations Global Goals to achieve measurable results with consistent action steps in 2018.

Dashama created a campaign called WeR1Race to promote health, environmental sustainability and human equality which attracted top sponsors such as Gopro, nike and zico coconut water. The campaign took place online and offline, leading Dashama to speak about it at the Illinois State Senate about the platform and she was also interviewed in a number of local and national publications.

In her 5th year, Dashama's 30 Day Yoga Challenge (30dyc) global campaign, was sponsored by Nike and Vitamix and launched on instagram with notable Instagram influencers such as Laura Sykora and the acroyoga duo Yoga Beyond.

In 2012, Dashama inspired over a half a million people with her Free Hugs campaign video featuring Jason Mraz's hit song I'm Yours.

In 2014 she collaborated with Starboard International, one of the top water sports and board producers in the world distributed in 80 countries, to co-create her signature line of inflatable paddle boards designed specifically to practice yoga on the water. Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s message, she launched her “Be the Change” world tour, to raise awareness about the water crisis world wide showing people how even the small actions can create a big ripple effect, The campaign was also spreading awareness about “sup yoga". She kicked off the world tour in Thailand, then traveling to Bali, California, Miami, Costa Rica, London, Isle of Man, Costa Brava, Spain, Mexico, Japan, Germany and Hawaii.

Dashama was featured on the top TV and newspapers in Germany, such as front page of Bild, Germany's number 1 newspaper demonstrating Sup Yoga during her Be the Change world tour.

She was also featured on ABC Channel 10 news in Miami, FL with a headline story about her initiatives with paddle board (sup) yoga locally and internationally.

She was then flown to Tokyo later that year to make press appearances at the largest water sports expo in Japan and featured on Japanese TV and in multiple news outlets.

After leading her 30 day yoga challenges online for 8 years, Dashama's Trademark was published on USPTO for her brand 30 Day Yoga Challenge6 in 201, which was established in 2008, and she was featured in an interview in the Wall Street Journal article about 30 Day Challenges.

Media Features

Dashama has been interviewed and featured in numerous media outlets including Teen Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Family Circle, Men's Journal, The Next Web and others. In January of 2013, Dashama was awarded "Yogini of the Year" and published as the cover model for New York Yoga Magazine (aka New life magazine).

University Research:

Dashama started working with Harvard Research professor Dr Sat Bir Singh Khalsa in 2013 when she was invited to participate in an online panel of experts for his lecture about the effect of yoga on health. Later, in 2017, Dashama was selected and flown to UK to partner with Dr Haley Beer, research professor at Warwick University in England and she invited Dr Sat Bir Khalsa to be involved in the research to include his expertise with medical research at Harvard to develop a yoga research project to demonstrate through qualitative research that how yoga and mediation can help people in corporate settings access the Flow State to attain greater well being, creativity and productivity.

The Various Meanings of Dashama's Name

The name, Dashama Konah, given at birth, is a combination of 3 languages of her ancestry: Hebrew, Hawaiian and Lakota Indian, meaning The Sacred Friend. Dashama also shares her birth name with a Hindu Goddess Dashama, known in India the destroyer of adversity and goddess of success, who is most popular in the Gujarat region of India, home town of Mahatma Gandhi. Dashamahavidya is also Sanskrit word for the 10 Great Goddesses in Hinduism and Dashama is also a Sanskrit word for the number 10 and the 10th Chakra.

Spiritual Beliefs

Dashama's spiritual beliefs were influenced through her exposure to the world's various religions and through spiritual practices such as vipassana silent meditation as taught by Buddha, her studies of the life of Jesus, the life of Buddha, Judaism, Taoism, Zen, Sikhism and Hinduism later lead to her philosophy about universalism and oneness.

Fire Dance Performances

In 2010 Dashama performed yoga fire dancing ceremony in front of an audience of 5000 people at Bhakti Fest in Joshua Tree, CA. She was also invited to perform her unique Yoga Fire Dancing for Reverend Beckwith's birthday celebration in Los Angeles. She was also invited to audition for America's Got Talent that same year and traveled to perform and teach yoga in numerous locations including Ibiza Spain, Mexico and Whistler Canada.