Question: Your Shakti flow class is inspired by devotion to a Supreme Love. For someone walking in who has never encountered those ideas, how would you describe what that energy and shakti feels like, and why does it matter on the mat?
Ainhoa:
Shakti is the nectar of life, the creative energy that shimmers in the cosmic sky or in the rivulets of fresh flowing water, it is the unveiling of a spring blossom, fragrant and alive, the colorful flight of autumn leaves and our hearts embracing and expressing the prana of life flowing from the Supreme Light of Consciousness. The gift of yoga is a sacred garden that begins within and as we cultivate and transform, we begin to bridge harmony to life. Shakti yoga is about discovering the inner universe of oneself and all that shapes us.
Before discovering yoga, I had a heavy heart and felt great sadness for many seasons in my life. I left all I knew to seek truth and traveled very simply, sleeping beneath the stars on this sacred earth, listening and giving life one more chance. Through my surrendering to life, I discovered the Divine in so many powerful and unique ways that my fears began to diminish and I began to truly embrace life.
When I first started my path of yoga, my mat was but a battlefield. I struggled deeply to be still and face the present. The more I showed up, the more things started to surface. I was on the battlefield and struggled deeply, but I kept going as I began to shed and shed, falling on the altar of compost and cultivating new soil from my inner garden.
I began with practicing Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga which I find very powerful and amazing. It helped me grow in many ways. Thanks to my beloved husband Gota, who taught me the Spirit of yoga on and off the mat. He also introduced me to different forms of yoga. Many moons passed, and I began to explore a kundalini kriya for the first time. A huge shift occurred that transformed my life. I found my heart practice here and fell in love with kundalini yoga and the history of the Sikh gurus, the sacred books of the Sikhs and the practice transformed me so deeply that I knew in my heart I could make a difference to share this powerful practice with others because it works.
Over 5 years back I used to teach Kundalini yoga here at AYC. Yoga in any form can transform all beings; I love it all. My heart awakened. Before these happenings, I felt like I was tangled in a tight, dark chrysalis, I couldn’t see or understand, I had a hard time connecting to life. Then one bright day, I broke through the darkness onto a new world where grace and love are infinitely present. Before this shift, I resisted teaching for a long time because I didn’t have the confidence and felt you had to be perfect to be a teacher. The gift of yoga in my life was such a lifesaving treasure, that I knew if I could give anything back in this world, then may it be the gift to remember that all is possible and that all are capable of being touched by love. How can we arrive in this place? Simply by connecting with our breath, our hearts, our bodies, our minds to this one moment. Yoga is a bridge of deeper connection to life here, within and beyond. Shakti Flow is an offering to come home to this present moment through sacred movements, breath awareness, and stillness inviting all to dive into the hidden depths of the heart.
I grew up in a family with many different cultures and faiths and no faiths and honor all paths as long as we can come together with one heart, one breath. This is yoga, harmony within and harmony brimming forth to the world. I feel immensely grateful for each moment. I am passionate about sharing all the tools that have helped shape and transform my life from the inside out. I have shared yoga with every age and children on the spectrum, foster children, children that had great obstacles and trauma as well as adults from young to nearly 100 years old and I have beheld the power of presence, the power of transformation and beauty in all who partake in yoga in which ever form they connect with. It took me a while to connect to who I truly am, but it is never too late. I had to release my burdens and unveil my heart.
Our breath is a miracle, bringing us home to our innermost sanctuary of our heart. It is a river of life, a wave of prana that brightens the darkest night with love in a great vast ocean. May we all bathe in the fresh showers of prana and steep in the light of awareness. It is an honor to share this path of yoga that has brought forth great transformation, joy and inspiration. I am passionately moved to share with all that wish to partake that you may have a genuine experience and that you may discover your heart to be but an infinite brimming river of love. Deepest bows.
Question: Your practice weaves together Kundalini yoga, Bhakti poetry, and shamanic earth-based spirituality. How do these traditions speak to each other in your body and in your teaching, and what do you hope students feel when they meet all of those threads in one class?
Ainhoa:
Weaving together Kundalini yoga, Bhakti poetry and Shamanic earth-based spirituality in my practice is simply a way of honoring the inner sanctuary of one’s being in connection to the circle of life where all is alive and sacred.
Shamanic journeying has opened me up to the spirit of nature in a deeper relationship with earth, water, fire, air and Akash: space within me and all around me. I also have come to learn from all beings in nature, the deep rooting trees, tending to a tiny seed in connection with tending to our own inner and outer garden of life within us and around us. Honoring the mud of our being and the process of traveling forth from the dark unseen roots, through the waters, unto the fresh spaciousness of air and bright rays of the sun like a lotus. I find all of nature to be full of a Great Spirit, a Supreme Love guiding me through every season and growth so that I can discover more balance in my life as the Sun and Moon teach me, bringing a deeper connection.
Kundalini yoga honors the inner pilgrimage of energy expressed in various forms of our subtle energetic body, from engaging with our breath into the unseen energetic pathways through meridians, bandas, chakras and koshas; liberation can begin to unravel. Kundalini yoga is a way to surrender to that which is higher than I and begins from the root of our muladhara to the crown unveiling any stagnation and welcoming the inner kundalini shakti to rise. Bhakti poetry is an expression of the bridge from the heart to all experiences of life within and outside of us, allowing the sacred metaphors of life to embody prana through the many expressions and blessings of yoga which is about bringing true harmony within and around us.
Question: You are equally a bhakti visual artist, storyteller, and poet. What is the relationship between making art and practicing yoga for you — do they feed the same hunger, or are they doing something different in your life?
Ainhoa:
As a young child, before learning how to write, I would create visual stories and draw people tilted diagonally over the earth as the wind blew over them, and unveil all the wonders and curiosities that filled my heart. This journey continues. I feel yoga is oneness with life. I am deeply enjoying reading the Puranas and so many stories from India. Like a river overflowing into the sea, yoga overflows into all my life. I am presently creating Bhakti art that expresses my deepest gratitude and love for the Supreme Love revealed in many unique forms. Ever since I began chanting and lifting up praise, my heart began to brim in new depth and through my adoration of the Supreme Love and how that is revealed to me, I have created many art works. One of my latest series is created on white clay boards covered with Black Indian ink with a process of unveiling the top black surface using sharp fine metal tools as a form of scratch art. It reminds me of our very beginnings in a sacred darkness where birth and life begin to unravel. As the image begins to take form, I feel my heart over flowing as if there is an unseen hand drawing me closer to the Heart of hearts.
Many of my stories come from simply being present and allowing my inner ear to listen to the stories I discover in a stone, a tree, a flower or in any way life wishes to express through me. Art is a portal of the heart, a way to express what colors and form and formlessness reveal in many unique ways. Yoga is also a way of diving into this vast ocean of breath and depth and allowing my soul to swim with the undercurrent, to rise and fall with the waves and learn to embrace life here in my heart, on my mat, off my mat, on a bumpy road, or in an overflowing meadow of Spring, with an open heart and with the miracle of my breath. Yoga and art are portals of expressing what is already within each and every one of us, a beautiful Light and soul that is beyond this sacred vessel of our body and mind but that helps guide us to our highest potential. My heart is passionate to share and inspire the gift of life that is here for all! I feel everything is interconnected, there is no separation from Spirit and art, yoga, or story, it is all threads woven on the same fabric of life and heart.
Question: What do you hope to offer students who may be on a completely different spiritual path than yours — and what does it mean to you to invite everyone, regardless of where they are, to discover their own limitless potential?
Ainhoa:
I welcome all people to come and connect in their own unique and genuine way so their hearts may be fed. I offer the opportunity for our breath to be the sacred guide to open us up to the gift of living this present moment. I welcome each asana to be a portal to embody the sacred & subtle energy that fills our being. I envision that all people that thirst find a sacred well throughout this beautiful earth and drink forth. Each well may be different but the source is that same underwater current that yields to a large vast ocean and so I welcome all hearts to connect in their own unique way to that which lifts them up, to the energy that fills their heart and life. The Supreme Love may have a different name or form or be nameless and formless so I welcome and leave it open ended so that no one is excluded to connect in their own unique way. I have connected to the Divine in many unique and diverse ways and honor all to find and connect with Source or Great Mystery that fills their soul in their own unique way. I also welcome anyone who hasn’t discovered it and just allow yoga to be an open doorway to experience life in this sacred moment, to discover the inner pilgrimage of our being and all the energetic spaces throughout our body and heart that it may begin to open like a sacred garden bringing life and vitality, allowing each to discover their own limitless potential.
We usually complete a class by offering “Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu”, a chant which means may all beings everywhere be happy and free and then I welcome all to chant or just listen through their heart another simple chant, “Peace to all, Love to all and Light to all”, as I strum my guitar lightly, allowing no one to be excluded from this “vast ocean” of blessings. I also love to include this beautiful earth, all her elements and all living beings, human and non-human, here and beyond but I don’t usually mention it, I just allow all to connect in their own unique way leaving it open ended.
Through yoga, I offer opportunities to overcome the obstacles of the mind through the power of breath, intentions, curiosity and exploration through asana, pranayama and breath guidance or meditation. Coming home to our breath brings presence, awareness and helps settle us to simply be.
