![2007-08-24 Hawaii Shiva Rea](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/2007-08-24_Hawaii_Shiva_Rea.jpg)
Shiva Rea (born 1967) is a teacher of
Vinyasa flow yoga and yoga trance dance. She is the founder of Prana Vinyasa Yoga. She is one of the best-known yoga teachers in America, and around the world.
Life
![1 dancing Hindu god Shiva Nataraja Tanjore, India](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/1_dancing_Hindu_god_Shiva_Nataraja_Tanjore%2C_India.jpg)
Shiva Rea was born in
Hermosa Beach, California
Hermosa Beach (''Hermosa'', Spanish language, Spanish for "Beautiful") is a beachfront city in Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California, United States. Its population was 19,728 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census. The c ...
, in 1967;
her father, liking the image of
Nataraja
Nataraja () also known as Adalvallaan () is a depiction of the Hindu deities, Hindu god Shiva as the divine cosmic dancer. His dance is called Tandava.''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (2015) The pose and artwork are described in many Hindu texts ...
, dancing
Shiva
Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...
, named her after that Hindu deity. She studied dance anthropology at
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...
, completing her master's thesis in 1997 on "hatha yoga as a practice of embodiment". She studied under yoga and tantra masters including
Swami Sivananda Saraswati and
Daniel Odier
Daniel Robert Odier (born 17 May 1945 in Geneva), is a Zen master, Chan master, writer, poet, screenwriter and essayist, specialist in Kashmir Shaivism. Praised by Anaïs Nin as "an outstanding writer and a dazzling poet," he is also a spiritual ...
.
She practised the vigorous
Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga for ten years, adopting a more
restorative style when she became pregnant. She teaches
Vinyasa flow yoga, having created her own style called Prana Vinyasa, and yoga trance dance.
She teaches in the USA and many countries around the world, touring each year. Teachers are similarly trained in the USA and around the world in 200, 300 and 500 hour courses in her Prana Vinyasa yoga, which claims to combine
tantra
Tantra (; sa, तन्त्र, lit=loom, weave, warp) are the esoteric traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism that developed on the Indian subcontinent from the middle of the 1st millennium CE onwards. The term ''tantra'', in the Indian ...
, yoga, and
ayurveda
Ayurveda () is an alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. The theory and practice of Ayurveda is pseudoscientific. Ayurveda is heavily practiced in India and Nepal, where around 80% of the population rep ...
.
She has contributed to publications including ''
Yoga Journal
''Yoga Journal'' is a website and digital journal, formerly a print magazine, on yoga as exercise founded in California in 1975 with the goal of combining the essence of traditional yoga with scientific understanding. It has produced live events ...
''
and ''Yoga International''.
Honors and distinctions
The author and
yoga therapist Janice Gates
Janice Gates (January 28, 1965 – October 11, 2022) was a teacher of yoga as exercise and mindful yoga, known for her emphasis on the power of yoginis, women in yoga and her work in yoga therapy.
Life
Education
Janice Gates was educated at ...
honored Rea with a chapter of her 2006 book on
women in yoga, ''Yoginis''. Rea has contributed invited forewords to Mark Stephens's book ''Yoga Adjustments: Philosophy, Principles, and Techniques'',
to Alanna Kaivalya's book ''Myths of the Asanas: The Stories at the Heart of the Yoga Tradition'',
and to Lorin Roche's book ''The Radiance Sutras: 112 Gateways to the Yoga of Wonder and Delight''.
She has been called one of America's leading yoga teachers.
''The Library Journal'' described Rea as a "big name" and a "well-established instructor", whose DVDs embodied the "highest production values". In 2009 she created Global Mala Day to coincide with the United Nations
International Day of Peace
The International Day of Peace, also officially known as World Peace Day, is a United Nations-sanctioned holiday observed annually on 21 September. It is dedicated to world peace, and specifically the absence of war and violence, such as migh ...
.
The ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
'' described her as one of "yoga's rock stars", and her classes as feeling "more like a multicultural dance session".
In 2007 ''
Vanity Fair'' called her "the
Madonna of the yoga world" in a desert photo shoot; the photographer, Michael O'Neill portrayed her in Dancer pose (
Natarajasana
Natarajasana ( sa, नटराजासन, translit=Naṭarājāsana), Lord of the Dance Pose or Dancer Pose is a standing, balancing, back-bending asana in modern yoga as exercise. It is derived from a pose in the classical Indian dance form B ...
) wearing bikini briefs and an outsize bead necklace, with two tigers in a featureless flat landscape. The article said she was "the best-known instructor of Vinyasa flow yoga" and famous for "Yoga Trance Dance". It stated that she visits up to thirty-five countries every year on her teaching tours.
Controversy
In 2017, Bizzie Gold of Buti Yoga published "An Open Letter to Shiva Rea", criticizing her claim to be teaching traditional yoga.
Works
Books
* 1997 ''Hatha Yoga as a Practice of Embodiment'',
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...
thesis
* 2014 ''Tending the Heart Fire: Living in Flow with the Pulse of Life''. Sounds True.
Videos
* 2006 Sun Salutations: awakening the flow
* 2006 Yoga Shakti
* 2006 Yoga Trance Dance
* 2007 Fluid Yoga
* 2007 Fluid Power
* 2007 Radiant Heart Yoga
* 2007 Fluid Yoga Spinal Stretch
* 2007 Fluid Yoga Standing Strength
* 2008 Flow Yoga for Beginners
* 2009 Surf Yoga Soul
* 2009 Daily Energy - Vinyasa Flow Yoga
* 2009 Creative Core + Upper Body
* 2009 Daily Energy Flow - Yoga Upper Body Core Stretch
* 2011 A.M. Energy Yoga
* 2011 More Daily Energy
* 2012 Daily Energy Collection
* 2013 Yoga in Greece - Deep Lunar Stretch
* 2016 Creative Core Abs: Spontaneous Core
* 2016 Creative Core Abs: Water Core
* 2016 Creative Core + Lower Body - Creative Roots
References
Sources
*
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rea, Shiva
American yoga teachers
1967 births
Living people