Jasper Johal

Acro yoga

POETRY (#JasperPoetry)

Lift, and you shall be lifted
Give without expecting anything back,
because beneath the forest floor
all our roots are interconnected

– Paredesi Pyara

King pigeon pose

POETRY (#JasperPoetry)

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly

–– from a poem by Langston Hughes (1902–1967)

Flow Yoga

“Where there is ruin, there is hope for a treasure.” – Rumi

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Sometimes flow yoga can turn into a dance flow, specially when one has some feelings to work out.

Story behind the name: THE BODY AS TEMPLE

When I first started shooting nudes of my yogi and dancer friends I was very clear that I wanted to create images that inspire, not titillate.

But when talking to people who were not familiar with my work it became apparent that most people when they of hear of “nude photography”, the first thing that springs to their mind is salacious images from "men's magazines", or soft fuzzy pictures commonly referred to as "glamour" or "boudoir". (Not that I think such photography is bad, or w...

Sign up to see art nude photo essay of this model

I have just posted the best 22 images from my shoot with this model named Eclipse. She is a wonderful yogi and dancer. Please join my Patreon at Tier level 2 or 3 to see this photo essay of art nudes.

Members will also see over two dozen image posts already online besides this photo essay, and the numerous new images I will continue to drop on my feed in the coming days and weeks.

SPECIAL OFFER: Join before the end of this month (March 31st) and you will also receive a set of vint...

Photo Essay - Eclipse

Eclipse Monday has one of the coolest names, doesn’t she?

With her slender build, pale skin and cascading curly tresses she also looks like she just walked out of a Pre-Raphaelite painting, like John Everett Millais’s Ophelia or one of dozens of paintings by Dante Gabriel Rossetti of his wife, Elizabeth Siddall. So I set about shooting her with some golden light, evoking the palette and look of paintings from the 1800s.

But Eclipse lives in the current time, not 150 years ago....

Inverted

POETRY (#JasperPoetry)

If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
I shall not live in vain.

– from a poem by Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

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PHOTO: Kitti is a skilled dancer and aerialist from New York. We met when she was visiting Los Angeles some years back.

IG: @kkitcat 2021-03-24 10:51:12 +0000 UTC View Post

Phoenix

POETRY (#JasperPoetry)

As if you were on fire from within,
the moon lives in the lining of your skin

–– Pablo Neruda

Drenched

Betcee had just arrived at my new studio. She asked to use the bathroom. Soon as she entered, I heard a squeak of delight. She popped her head back out and said, “Love your bathroom! Let’s shoot in here!”

Body beautiful

POETRY (#JasperPoetry)

Some consider it sinful
from the day it was born
Others inflict austerities on it
damaging its form
But embrace this body, this vessel
For it is the only temple
your divine soul resides in
till it’s gone

–– Pardesi Pyara

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PHOTO: Sweet dear friend Kristin, from a shoot we did a decade ago.

IG: @koyogafitness 

Transcend

LIFE OBSERVED:

“Sorrow prepares you for joy. It violently sweeps everything out of your house, so that new joy can find space to enter. It shakes the yellow leaves from the bough of your heart, so that fresh, green leaves can grow in their place. It pulls up the rotten roots, so that new roots hidden beneath have room to grow. Whatever sorrow shakes from your heart, far better things will take their place.”  ― Jalaluddin Mawlānā Rumi

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PHOTO: Sifting throug...

Cat cow

POETRY (#JasperPoetry)

what a privilege
to be human
for this speck of start dust
to experience emotions
to experience love and loss
cherish your time

–– Pardesi Pyara

Undulating

POETRY (#JasperPoetry)

dancing in moonlight
for the love that was
dancing for love
that is yet to be
like the phases of the moon
life repeats
don’t despair

–– Pardesi Pyara

Suspended in memory

POETRY (#JasperPoetry)

Dance me through the curtains that our kisses have outworn
Raise a tent of shelter now, though every thread is torn
Dance me to the end of love

– from a poem by Leonard Cohen

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PHOTO: Missing my friends in California. This photo is from my first shoot with dear friend Crystal, over six years ago.

IG: @mustbecrystal 

Strong yet supple

POETRY (#JasperPoetry)

Take a deep breath and find your strength
It is not the sprint that matters
but the marathon

— Pardesi Pyara

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PHOTO: Dear friend Jasmina, who just became a new mama, is a beautiful human in so many ways. Love shooting with her. She has been on three of my Body as Temple calendar covers.

IG: @yazsmachine 

Heart opener

Often all that is required
is that we keep our heart open

.–– Pardesi Pyara

Twist

POETRY (#JasperPoetry)

Surprised by joy—impatient as the Wind
I turned to share the transport—Oh! with whom
But Thee, deep buried in the silent Tomb,
That spot which no vicissitude can find?

– from a poem by William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

Rebirth

POETRY (#JasperPoetry)

Hardships of life cover us,
like mud covering a seed, until we sprout again
That which smothers us now,
is what provides us strength to rise again

–– Pardesi Pyara

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PHOTO: Met graceful Aria through a secret Facebook group. Ended up doing several magical shoots. Such a joy to work with.

IG: @aria.vesper.love 

Temple

POETRY (#JasperPoetry)

Your soul and mine have gone the way of life
We twain have bleeding wounds from love's deep knife,
But you have kissed the tears that moist my cheeks
And lifted me beyond the cragged peaks—

– from a poem by Fenton Johnson (1888-1958)

Eternity

POETRY (#JasperPoetry)

Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.

– Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)

Passion

POETRY (#JasperPoetry)

I loved you first: but afterwards your love
Outsoaring mine, sang such a loftier song
As drowned the friendly cooings of my dove

– from a poem by Christina Rossetti (1830 - 1894)

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PHOTO: Years ago I was visited by a feisty angel.
IG: @shantiaveney 

Rising

POETRY (#JasperPoetry)

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise

— Maya Angelou

Unfurling to the wind

POETRY (#JasperPoetry)

Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin
Dance me through the panic 'til I'm gathered safely in
Lift me like an olive branch and be my homeward dove
Dance me to the end of love

— Leonard Cohen

Floating like a feather

POETRY (#JasperPoetry)

O, lift me from the grass!
I die, I faint, I fail!
Let thy love in kisses rain
On my lips and eyelids pale.

–– Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)

Melting into camel pose

POETRY (#JasperPoetry)

Oh plunge me deep in love—put out
My senses, leave me deaf and blind,
Swept by the tempest of your love,
A taper in a rushing wind

– from a poem by Sara Teasdale (1884-1933)

Friendship

POETRY (#JasperPoetry)

Two sturdy oaks I mean, which side by side,
Withstand the winter’s storm,
And spite of wind and tide,
Grow up the meadow’s pride,
For both are strong.
.
Above they barely touch, but undermined
Down to their deepest source,
Admiring you shall find
Their roots are intertwined
Insep’rably.

–– from Henry David Thoreau’s ‘Friendship’

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PHOTO: Another time Erin visited my studio with her friend, Devon....

Floating

POETRY (#JasperPoetry)

She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes;
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

–– Lord Byron (1788-1824)

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PHOTO: I have been fortunate enough to shoot with some exceptionally gifted dancers over the years. Erin was a ballerina with Texas Ballet Theater and Los Angeles Ballet. This image is f...

Stillness

POETRY (#JasperPoetry)

Turn within
when the world gets too much
Like the eye of the storm
stillness lies at the center of your being

–– Pardesi Pyara

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PHOTO: Over the years, each time Julina visits LA, she drops by my studio to share a meal, to converse into the night, and to shoot some beautiful images. Waiting for her to come visit me in Texas now.

IG: @julinabliss ...

Wheel pose

POETRY (#JasperPoetry)

Let our dreams rise like flames
let them consume our heart so fully
the Universe has no choice
but to let our dreams become real

–– Pardesi Pyara

Suspended Repose

POETRY (#JasperPoetry)

When buffeted and beaten by life’s storms,
When by the bitter cares of life oppressed,
I want no surer haven than your arms,
I want no sweeter heaven than your breast.

— from a poem by J. W. Johnson (1871-1938)

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PHOTO: Ballet dancers, yogis and aerialists make hard things look easy. Supporting one’s whole body weight with a small grip but still managing to look light as a feather is a feat. Crystal can hang effortlessly from just ...