Meet Your Next Teacher : Shiva Rea

SHIVAREA, THIS MONTH’S FEATURED TEACHER in Yoga Journal’s new online Master Class series, calls herself a movement alchemist. Since earning her master’s degree in world arts and cultures and dance from the University of California, Los Angeles, Rea has spent 25 years honoring and adapting yoga and other ancient movement practices so that her students can experience “a connection to movement meditation in a universal way.” She also developed Prana Flow Vinyasa, which has roots in Krishnamacharya’s yoga system. Here, Rea shares her love of Sun Salutations, a focus of her Master Class with YJ. Read on for her inspiring story and an exclusive practice.

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My love of Sun Salutations is twofold. Like most human beings, I really love sunlight. I was born in Hermosa Beach, California, where I learned to appreciate sunrises and sunsets from my mother. On a deeper level, a Sun Salutation, or Surya Namaskar, is an accessible way to practice moving meditation. Namaskar is translated as “to bow or offer respect,” which has more heart than how it’s often translated—as a “salutation.” A namaskar is an opportunity for awe and natural reverence, which is expressed by people around the world in relation to the rising and setting of the sun. This is what I’ve been delving into during my 25 years of teaching— embodying the state of namaskar and how to go deeper—not just into Surya Namaskar but also into Chandra Namaskar (Moon Salutation) as well as what came before both (and is perhaps their origin): pranams, or prostrations.

I learned Surya Namaskar A and B, which are what most people think of as Sun Salutations, when I studied Ashtanga vinyasa with founder Sri K. Pattabhi Jois and other Ashtanga teachers, including Chuck Miller, Maty Ezraty, Richard Freeman, and Tim Miller. These are set sequences of poses that Jois learned from his teacher, Krishnamacharya. To keep the orthodoxy of those sequences when I taught Ashtanga, I never varied from the set form that Jois taught. However, I also studied yoga with Krishnamacharya’s son, T.K.V. Desikachar, and in the Bihar School, so I have an appreciation for different approaches to the beginning of practice.