Dedicated to fostering ecological consciousness, reverence and action in the Yoga community.
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Opening to Nature through Yoga:
An Interview with Shiva Rea
by Magdelena Winter
For Shiva Rea, a leading teacher
of vinyasa flow yoga, change begins
from within and expands from there,
like ripples in a
pond. "When
people start
studying hatha
yoga they bec
ome more
aware of the
physical body,
and the seed is
planted. A natural
healing process
develops
that leads to action,"
she says.
In her
younger days as
an environmental activist, Shiva
worked closely with the Earthways
Foundation, a nonprofit organization
that supports small-scale projects in
the areas of environmental preservation,
human potential, and sustainable
development. Through her work
she was able to observe the activist’s
life up close. Shiva came to identify
two different types of activists: what
she terms "hard-core activists" and
"natural activists."
Hard-core activists spend long
hours at the computer, so completely
absorbed in their projects that they
forget to take care of themselves.
Ignoring their own bodies, they skip
meals, eat protein bars, and drink
bucketfuls of coffee just to keep going.
These hard-core activists could
use a little yoga in their lives. In contrast,
natural activists have a desire
to help, but this desire comes from
a healthy center of self-awareness.
As a student of the ancient healing
methods of Ayurveda, Shiva believes
in the importance of cleansing
and nourishing the body and
adhering to daily rituals. Her daily
practices, also known as Dina
Charya in Ayurveda, include touching
the floor by her bed to connect
with the earth as she awakens,
massaging her skin with oil, and
sitting down to a home-cooked
lunch. These practices help her feel
grounded and more in tune with
nature and its cycles.
Shiva believes that for her students
as well, eating healthily becomes
a natural choice as their
yoga practice deepens. Yoga practitioners
naturally turn to organic
foods and begin to prepare more
wholesome meals at home.
"Looking around you, you see that
the yoga community is sustaining
whole foods in this country," she
says. The desire to cleanse and
nourish the body continues to ripple
outward and affects the way yoga
practitioners interact with their surroundings.
Shiva says that this natural lifestyle
creates a feeling of being
grounded, of belonging to nature.
"We begin to observe and honor the
seasons and the phases of the
moon," she says. This sensitivity to
natural cycles is called Ritu Charya
in Ayurveda. "Yoga came from the observation of
nature and experience of the cycles," she notes,
alluding to the earliest Indian yogis and yoginis
whose yoga studios had no walls but only nature
itself.
Rea now channels her passion for nature and the
environment through her teacher training programs,
teaching outdoors whenever possible and
even taking her groups rock-climbing. "I like to get
out...and be in nature, where the energy is very
powerful." The language she uses while teaching is
intended to help students connect with nature and
to feel themselves part of a greater whole. Her
phrasing evokes powerful images, such as "irrigate
your body with breath," or "cultivate the soil of your
awareness." She encourages students to worship
the life force within and to let go of thinking. "Feel
the organic in your own body," she says. "Allow
that Shakti to flow."
Magdalena Winter grew up in Uruguay, where she was
introduced to the joys of Yoga. She is a member of the
Green Yoga Association Volunteer Working Group, and
co-founder of North Beach Yoga, a studio in San Francisco.
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