Yoga

I believe that our loftiest dreams are in alignment with the highest needs of this planet.  The hoop taught me that. The hoop and my yoga practice – not that I can tell where one ends and the other begins. As a dancer, yoga, music and dance don't exist as separate entities. All provide fertile ground for self-discovery, shri and joy. Yoga for me is about diving deep into the depths of my Being, and making art with my body in that exploration. And of course, music and dance, rhythmic vibration, is the essence of all things. It's the beat to which I unfold, unmesa - in movement, in song, in creativity and in flow.

I’ve been in the hoop now for six years and practicing yoga for twelve. I guess you could say it was through yoga that I found the hoop but I think of it more like getting permission.  Yoga gave me permission to come into myself, into my body and into dance. 

When I first picked up the hoop I felt soft in the circle, impressionable.  I don’t know if it was the hoop itself – a sacred and timeless geometrical symbol, or the constant physical rhythm, but I stopped thinking and started experiencing. Inside the hoop I became totally in the present moment.  I reunited with a deeper Self. 

The hoop is one of my meditations.  The act of moving along in a steady, continuous stream, harmonized with breath, brought a surrendering of the need to ‘do’ and instead allow. It gave me confidence and purpose.  I believe it is higher purpose that is more of what this world needs. Because what are we doing here if not to live to our highest potential, if not to live by the creed of our own unique and inert gifts? 

When I hoop, I hold my dreams in my heart and move from them.  I send them out, whirling and spiraling into existence. 

Breathe. Release. Expand. Dream. Breathe. 

Shakti was certified in 2008 in Beginning Hatha Yoga at the Shambhava School of Yoga on the Big Island of Hawai'i. She is an avid and enthusiastic practitioner of all forms of yoga, and is currently undergoing intensive training in Anusara Yoga specifically. She is studying Tantrik philosophy, and sanskrit with Yogasthana, The Foundation for Yoga, whose mission is to educate yoga students in the West about Yoga as a complete spiritual path. Her long-term vision involves actively fusing the world of Tantra and Anusara Yoga with other forms of movement art, leaning heavily on the 'yoga off the mat' principles of community-building.