James Samkubam has recently returned to the United States from his home country of Cameroon. In seeking to remove his family from a deteriorating political situation there, we in the Washington area have gained a rare chance to study with this accomplished and masterful yogi. James was pulled into the practice of yoga years ago, to help rehabilitate from an injury while playing soccer at the University of Maryland. In the course of his studies, he found inspiration from Paramahansa Yogananda, Swami Rama Tirtha Pratisthan, Swami Sivananda, and others.

Desiring more, he searched for the TRUTH, a Guru, and delved deep into the philosophy and practice of yoga and its associated metaphysics. James is a graduate of the Willow Street Yoga Center teacher training program, class of 2005, a Hatha yoga program in the Anusara style or tradition. He has also completed several master teacher training intensives in the Koshas, the Sutras, Tantra, Kundalini, and more. James and Thomas are both initiated into the Kriya yoga lineage of meditation, popularized in the West by Paramahansa Yogananda.

A consummate yogi, James has taught yoga and meditation on different continents to a wide variety of students of different levels, cultures, and backgrounds. His ability to take his students deep into the essential experience of yoga is awe-inspiring. James teaches in the Anusara style, because as he says, “Yoga is firstly a spiritual tradition, and the most powerful perceived experience of change, growth, wellbeing, starts in or with the heart.”