MOONYOGA – Ashtanga Yoga with Sharon Moon

When all the ties that bind the heart are unloosened, then a mortal becomes immortal. –Katha Upanishad

Ashtanga Yoga with Sharon Moon

Sharon Moon

Picture of Sharon Moon Sharon has been a student and practitioner of yoga for 50 years. Along with the yoga postures, her practice has also included study of the yogic texts, meditation, pranayama and chanting. Manju Jois is her Ashtanga teacher and she has been authorized by him and given his blessings to teach Ashtanga Yoga. She first learned Ashtanga from David Swenson in 1994 and will forever be grateful for this and what she continues to learn every time she practices with him. She has also been inspired by Nancy Gilgoff, Louise Ellis, Mark Darby and Dena Kingsberg. Sharon’s additional interest and experience includes a black belt in Cha Yon Ryu from Grandmaster Kim Soo, Tae Kwon Karate Association. She has also studied Tai-Chi Chuan with Fang Xiang Liu of Mainland China and Shi Jen Liao of Taiwan. Sharon holds degrees in graphic arts and visual arts and is a State of Texas Certified Art Instructor. She has attained Reiki Master level of the Usui method of Natural Healing, Reiki.

Sharon has taught yoga to the deaf and blind in Austin, Texas and Nairobi, Kenya and was honored by the Southwest Yoga Foundation for her work. She helped to organize the first annual free day of yoga in Austin. She also created the Ashtanga program, gave teacher training, and taught classes for many years at YogaYoga studios. Ashtanga Yoga has taken Sharon to many places in the world to teach classes, workshops and teacher training. Including a year in Taipei, Taiwan and spending a year in Nairobi, Kenya for the Jois Foundation (now known as Sonima) in partnership with Africa Yoga Project. Her primary role was in training a group of locals to be teachers, to then be hired to teach in the settlement schools, orphanages, special schools and prisons.

On a personal note: I continue to practice Ashtanga as I grow older. My yoga practice certainly does not look like it did 20 years ago, but does still bring me joy and keeps me healthy in body, mind and heart. I have found that I can still experience the magic Ashtanga has to offer even when I have to now modify postures or in some instances, let go of certain postures. I am honored to be able to still share my experience and love of Ashtanga through teaching.

May life be sweet for you and may each moment be filled with infinite love so that infinite possibilities come your way.

Namasté,
Sharon

November 2013

The summer of 2012 I moved to Nairobi, Kenya. I was hired by the Jois Foundation in partnership with Africa Yoga Project based in Nairobi. I chose ten hearing and four deaf yoga students from the local community. I then trained them to be Ashtanga vinyasa yoga teachers. They were hired by AYP to expand its existing program to teach in the settlement schools, orphanages and centers. We reached out to special schools teaching to the deaf, blind, mentally and physically challenged children and youth. We also made our way into the prison system working with incarcerated male youth. And as I left we began teaching to former prostitutes HIV/AIDS who are part of an organization to rehabilitate them and train them with job skills. The age range of those we reach is 3 to 25.

The fourteen received an income to support themselves and their families in an environment where unemployment is extremely high. This opportunity for an income and personal empowerment trickled down into the lives of over a thousand children and young adults a week with the yoga classes. Several of the schools and orphanages were also recipients of a much needed food program through the partnership.

During my year there I also taught Ashtanga classes at AYP's Shine Centre. I also taught various workshops and Kundalini classes. On my departure some of the Jois teachers took over those regular classes.

My last two weeks in Nairobi I did another Ashtanga teacher training at AYP's Shine Centre for over 50 people. Many of these people are now out in Nairobi teaching in various venues. I recently received a note on Facebook from one of those students that made me smile: "we are already spreading Ashtanga to everyone. You will not believe it when you come back."

Once in a while we are given moments of real grace in our lives. Kenya was a year of those moments of real grace. I will always be grateful for this opportunity that certainly turned my world upside down. A piece of my heart will always remain in Kenya.

The evening before I got on a plane to leave Kenya students threw me a surprise party. One relatively new student took me aside to tell me this: "What started out as exercise has become a journey."

Most people live their whole lives not knowing they are meant to find their purpose on this earth. And once finding it, pursuing it. I am blessed beyond measure to know all three.

With love from my heart to yours, Sharon