THE HOW/WHY OF SHAKTI YOGA DANCES? I have always been a dancer as it is the most joyful process I know. From performer to teacher, I have loved sharing the exuberance and emotional nurturing movement offers. The imagination for Shakti Yoga Dances began in 2009 after becoming a Yoga Instructor. Much as I love Yoga, it is a bit stiff and structured for my dance bones to be happy. We had moved to New England from California, where life is decidedly more structured, and though I was teaching modern dance at Wellesley College, I missed emotion on the Yoga mat, so I began creating short dances that embodied more emotion, plus energies of the season. As a professional Astrologer, I know that when we partner with the cosmos, energy flows, and movement can grow energetic wisdom that informs the brain. As I’ve become more courageous, the dances have grown freer, bolder, and more trusting that spirit will walk in and dictate the movement. I love a Practice that pushes and supports me to become emotionally alive, where I’m willing to embrace risk and move out of the past to stand in greater vulnerability. I want structures that hold many confluences, that tell a story and embrace all the pieces and parts of Self. The unfolding of Shakti Yoga Dances through the years has given me a greater understanding of the power of a small step-by-step practice that grows from alchemical layering. It is the tiny bites that taste the luxe in life and bring a rich ‘sabor’ of pleasure to the process. It is this magical process I love sharing with others, especially Yoga teachers. Hence the beginning, in 2020, of virtual SHAKTI YOGA DANCE Teacher Training that now embraces teachers around the globe.
~Samantha Cameron, E-RYT 500, Master of Arts in Choreography & Dance UCLA, Creator of Shakti Yoga Dances
